It's not often that we get to agree wholeheartedly with Republicans, so let's celebrate this moment of unity. Apparently, California Republicans are openly embracing comparisons of their newly minted Senate nominee to Sarah Palin. Yes. Sarah Palin and Carly Fiorina. If you love one, you'll love the other!
The San Francisco Chronicle's Carla Marinucci does the honors:
Senate candidate Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, broke ground in American corporate leadership and is now being heralded as a pioneer again - the vanguard of a new breed of "pro-woman, pro-life" feminists in the mold of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Of course, Fiorina mostly broke ground at H-P by nearly breaking H-P. And she's certainly in the vanguard of Republican ignorance about climate change.
"This race is going to be a test of all the dogmas of feminism and women in political life, because we'll have perfect contrast between these two women," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life political action committee based in Virginia that said it is donating $3 million to key 2010 Senate races, including California's.
By all means, let's make this a vote about reproductive choice. Californians long have been strongly pro-choice, and in 2008 defeated a measure on parental notification. As Marinucci notes, a March 2010 Public Policy Institute of California poll found that more than two-thirds of California voters oppose stricter abortion laws, with a whopping 75 percent of independents opposing them. Fiorina wants Roe v. Wade overturned. Let her run on that!
Dannenfelser provides the perfect summation:
She called the California Senate race "a bellwether for women running in the future," and a "banner election" for female candidates who she defines as feminists in the conservative model of "Palin-Fiorina-Bachmann," a reference to Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann, a favorite of Tea Party activists.
Once again, how nice it is to be able to agree with a Republican! Palin-Fiorina-Bachmann. Let the voters decide!