by CalWatchdog Staff | September 2, 2010 10:04 am
Katy Grimes: Was that a debate between democrat U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and Republican challenger Carly Fiorina? I remember taking debate classes in school, and this did not even resemble debate format. It was more of a very controlled Q & A session, obviously with questions even agreed to ahead of time by Boxer’s team.
There were no real surprises or “gotcha” moments. As expected, Fiorina continually called Boxer an ineffective incumbent, and Boxer called Fiorina a conservative, out-of-step newcomer.
Boxer was asked if it was time to give someone else a turn, after her three terms in the Senate. “Voters will decide whether to give me another shot or elect someone who made her name as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, laying thousands and thousands of workers off, shipping jobs overseas, making no sacrifice while she was doing it and taking $100 million. I don’t think we need those Wall Street values right now,” Boxer replied, trying to align Fiorina with Wall street greed.
Fiorina, attacked Boxer’s decades in the nation’s Capitol. “My opponent has a 28 year long track record in Washington D.C. She should be fighting right now for Northern California, but instead, she’s fighting for another six years in D.C.”
“She voted 6 times against balancing the budget, six times against the debt ceiling, and six times to slow the rate of federal spending,” Fiorina said.
Boxer defended the current state of the economy, and said, “But job by job by job, we are going to solve it.” Fiorina asked, “Then why do you support bills that regulate business and force owners to cut jobs?”
One question asked of Fiorina came from a disgruntled former Hewlett Packard employee who asked about lost U.S. jobs sent offshore during Fiorina’s leadership at HP. Fiorina said that other states and nations give companies tax incentives to bring U.S. companies abroad. and proposed that the U.S. should create more economic zones and offer tax breaks to companies that hire American workers.
Boxer kept referring back to her work on behalf of veterans and of her love for the U.S. military. However, when the topic turned to Boxer’s dressing down of Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh with the “Don’t call me ma’am” episode, she offered a rather cool apology to the General.
A voter wanted to know what the next senator would do about farm subsidies. Boxer bragged of having added many new specialty crops to the federal farm subsidy list.
Fiorina insinuated more than once that Boxer is a Washington relic. “She is for more taxes, she is for more spending, she is for more regulation, she is also for big government and elite extreme environmental groups,” said Fiorina.
Fiorina added that Boxer had accomplished very little in the Senate in almost 30 years, because she is “one of the most bitterly partisan members. Her record is long on talk and very short on achievement,” said Fiorina.
The debate structure was a disappointment. Most people want to see Boxer and Fiorina duke it out — verbally, in a real debate.
posted SEPT. 2, 2010
Source URL: https://calwatchdog.com/2010/09/02/the-boxer-fiorina-jab-session/
Copyright ©2024 CalWatchdog.com unless otherwise noted.