Monday, October 4, 2010

Meg Whitman's hiring of illegal worker now center stage


By Jack Chang | Sacramento Bee
FRESNO — The California governor’s race turned bitterly personal at a debate held Saturday for Spanish-speaking audiences, as Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and Democratic rival Jerry Brown slashed at each other over Whitman’s hiring of an illegal immigrant housekeeper.
Snip
Live by the bigotry; die by bigotry. In the primaries Whitman was more than willing to beat the SB 1070 drum. Now she is getting hoist by her own petard. As she lives in California she has no real excuse for this bit of stupidity. The woeful tale of Pete Wilson should have been a cautionary tale. But no, there is no Republican learning curve on this subject.
Ten years after Pistol Pete became a footnote in national politics, Whitman ran headlong into the buzz-saw that is immigration politics in California.
Immigration for Republicans in California is very much like taxes nationally for Democrats; a no win proposition. Whitman was always going to have problems walking back from her immigration stand in the Primaries; but sweet baby Jesus on a Pogo stick, is she ever neck deep in poo now.
All politicians have skeletons in their closest, but few have Meg Whitman's full scale  reconstruction of a T-Rex hanging out next to the shoe collection.
This is why California politics can be fun. The players rise so high and then crash and burn with spectacular effect. We are witnessing the political equivalent of the Hindenburg disaster with Meg Witman.

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