Unhelpful

I do not approve of this: Sarah Palin: Let's Shake Up California

I’d like to tell you about a Commonsense Conservative running for office in California this year. She grew up in a modest home with a school teacher dad, worked her way through several colleges, and then entered an arena where few women had tread. Through a combination of hard work, perseverance, and common sense, she proved the naysayers wrong to reach the top of her field, where she led with distinction – facing hard truths, making tough decisions, and showing real leadership through a rocky transition period. Where others had failed, her company had weathered the storm and settled on a stronger new foundation.

Her name is Carly Fiorina, and I’m proud to endorse her for U.S. Senate.

Fiorina seems to have convinced Palin that she is the sort of "Common Sense Conservative" who will help lead the counter-revolution in Washington.

Carly is the Commonsense Conservative that California needs and our country could sure use in these trying times. Most importantly, she’s running for the right reasons. She has an understanding that is sorely lacking in D.C. She’s not a career politician. She’s a businesswoman who has run a major corporation. She knows how to really incentivize job creation. Her fiscal conservatism is rooted in real life experience. She knows that when government grows, the private sector shrinks under the burden of debt and deficits. We can trust Carly to do the right thing for America’s economy and to make the principled decisions she has throughout her professional career.

More important, Palin has looked at the state of the race and decided that Fiorina is the GOP candidate who would most likely be able to defeat Barbara Boxer

Please consider that Carly is the conservative who has the potential to beat California’s liberal senator, Barbara Boxer, in November. I’m a huge proponent of contested primaries, so I’m glad to see the contest in California’s GOP, but I support Carly as she fights through a tough primary against a liberal member of the GOP who seems to bear almost no difference to Boxer, one of the most leftwing members of the Senate.

Palin's right about Campbell. He is ridiculously liberal, going as far as to have supported the tax-and-borrow CA budget "deal" that was defeated last year. She's also *probably* right that Fiorina has the best shot, practically speaking, of defeating Boxer. But, that doesn't mean Fiorina is the best candidate out there. Here, for example, is what one CA conservative activist had to say about Fiorina's positions: Packard Letter

Taxation:While she claims to be against tax increases she has repeatedly called for taxation of the internet

Cap and tax-While she claims to be against this assault on America's competitive edge and tax on its working class, she is in favor of the "climate legislation" sponsored by Senators Kerry and Graham and has repeatedly advocated for government sponsored green jobs

Education-You say she will oppose "radical 'government takeover' policies," but she wrote a thesis advocating for just such a federal takeover of the education system from individual states.

Judicial nominees-When asked her position on Justice Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation, Ms. Fiorina stated "I probably would have voted for Sotomayor. She seemed qualified." Had Fiorina been in the Senate, she would

have disagreed with all but 9 members of the Republican caucus.

• Affirmative action-Ms. Fiorina has gone so far as to state that there will be no "truly representative democracy unless women make up half at least of our elected representatives." She is a longtime associate and cheerleader for Jesse Jackson.

It's easy to see why GOP leaders are eager to nominate Fiorina. She's wealthy, glamorous, and accomplished. She's a member of America's pseudo-celebrity class, in that she has written books, appeared in the news, been on television, etc. Fiorina is also a woman and would presumably be immune to the shrieking feminism that Boxer practices against her male opponents. Still Fiorina's strengths are more than offset by her negatives: her tenure at HP - supposedly her selling point - ended with her termination after the disastrous Compaq merger (which finally became less a matter of business judgment and more an exercise in ego to show she could close the deal. Sound familiar?). She has no demonstrable political interests or affiliations that pre-date 2008. And, I don't think that we should hide from the fact that Fiorina is recovering from a recent bout with breast cancer. Are we really going to try to hold on to a CA Senate seat with someone who might die in office?

Tactically, Palin might be right that Fiorina is the one who can take on Boxer. But, let's not kid ourselves. She shows every indication of joining the media-friendly McCain/Graham caucus in the Senate, meaning she'll spend as much time running against conservatives as she does against Democrats. But the idea that Carly Fiorina is a "conservative" - when there is an actual, battle tested conservative in the race! - is simply not in tune with reality.