Going Through Your Paces

GOP Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina sat down for an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle's editorial board. It's a ritual all candidates have to go through* but you have to wonder why GOP candidates bother. Does the Chron or its readers even give two sh*ts about who is running in the GOP primary? No. But, it's the biggest newspaper in Northern California, so candidates still feel compelled to compete for its endorsement. Again, does any GOP candidate even want an endorsement from the Chron? (My money, by the way, is on Tom Campbell winning that accolade, as he supported the tax and debt "solution" to the budget crisis that was rejected in last year's special election).

Anyway, California and the US are facing profound questions about the size and purpose of government, the role of government in policing the private sector, plus we are fighting two wars. So, of course, the discussion centered on ... abortion: Carly Fiorina Outlines Her Anti-Abortion Stance

In a wide-ranging interview Friday, Fiorina also explained her opposition to abortion rights in the most personal way since her campaign officially started last fall.

"I myself was not able to have children of my own, and so I know what a precious gift life is," Fiorina said. She helped raised two stepchildren, the daughters of her second husband, Frank Fiorina. One, Lori Ann Fiorina, 35, died last year.

"My husband's mother was told to abort him," Fiorina said. "She spent a year in the hospital after his birth. My husband is the joy of her life, and he is the rock of my life. So those experiences have shaped my view.

"I recognize that a lot of women disagree with me on that," Fiorina said. "But I also know that women in general are not single-issue voters. When I talk to women on this, it's not the issue that is on the table in this election."

Is this even an issue in the campaign? Of course not. Certainly, Meg Whitman has managed to dominate the race for the GOP nomination for governor without saying one word about social issues, not to mention abortion. That's not where GOP voters' heads are this year. Doesn't mean the abortion issue doesn't matter, but it's clear that no one is demanding a war over abortion rights when everyone is more interested in rolling back the Age of Obama.

What it is is opposition research on behalf of Barbara Boxer who is guaranteed to run abortion themed ads (Fill-in-the-blank wants to return to the era of back alley abortions). Whenever she gets in trouble, she puts her career on to the back of her uterus and drags it across the finish line. This year will be no different.

Still, Fiorina didn't do herself many favors with this interview. She tried to establish her conservative boda fides by praising a couple of her favorite Senators:

Asked to cite senators she admired, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO and first-time candidate mentioned Feinstein, for her practical approach to issues such as California's water crisis, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. In 2008, Fiorina served as a top economic adviser to McCain's presidential campaign.

Sorry, but "John McCain" and "Dianne Feinstein" don't exactly come to mind when the phrase "conservative bona fides" comes up. Liberals in the media might think Fiorina is "conservative," maybe because she's rich and used to run big corporations, but she is clearly not in tune with what is or is not appealing to conservative voters.

*indeed, the Chron editorial interview is where Obama bluntly declared that he planned to bankrupt the coal industry),