why won't SF chronicle endorse Senator Boxer?

[littlewolf]

No endorsement in U.S. Senate race
Sunday, September 26, 2010

Californians are left with a deeply unsatisfying choice for the U.S. Senate this year. The incumbent, Democrat Barbara Boxer, has failed to distinguish herself during her 18 years in office. There is no reason to believe that another six-year term would bring anything but more of the same uninspired representation. The challenger, Republican Carly Fiorina, has campaigned with a vigor and directness that suggests she could be effective in Washington - but for an agenda that would undermine this nation's need to move forward on addressing serious issues such as climate change, health care and immigration.

It is extremely rare that this editorial page would offer no recommendation on any race, particularly one of this importance. This is one necessary exception.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/26/EDCL1F4PRK.DTL

This article appeared on page M - 10 of the San Francisco Chronicle

[wtmusic]

1. Boxer has "failed to distinguish herself" largely because

Republicans have controlled the Senate for 14 of her 18 years in office, and she champions a decidedly liberal agenda.

Should I bail on her because she didn't cave more often? Hell no.

[deaniac21]

41. So it's the repukes fault that she sucks?

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

2. Boxer has been dead to me since she campaigned against Ned Lamont

If they can get Brown out of the freezer, they can get John Tunney out of the freezer too.

[EFerrari]

3. She also voted to defund ACORN along with all the other hysterics.

On the other hand, that's two mistakes in a long career of working for progressive causes.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

4. Supporting Joe Lieberman was unforgivable

I don't care what else she has done, she backed Lieberman over Lamont after five solid years of treachery.

[BlueDemKev]

15. Lieberman vs. Lamont

I don't think Ned Lamont would have won had Boxer endorsed him instead of Lieberman. Lieberman had the advantage going into the general election campaign because 1) he had all the Democratic voters who backed him in the primary, and 2) nearly every independent voter who felt that Lamont was too far to the left and were more comfortable with a "centrist". Democratic Senators were placed in a very awkward position after Lamont won the primary but was still the underdog going into the general election. Boxer probably endorsed Lieberman knowing he most likely would win and didn't want to disrupt her good relationship with him as a Senator.

Nevertheless, I wouldn't throw away our Senate majority just because of that decision she made under some very weird circumstances.

[karynnj]

19. I believe this was just in the primary - not the general election

It is genuinely rare for Senators to endorse someone against an incumbent Senator. Look at the Republicans, De Mint has endorsed a slew of tea party candidates for open seats, but I can find no case of him endorsing a challenger to a sitting Republican. (I can find that he gave money and an endorsement to Bennett's opponent and Murkowski's only after they lost. http://www.alaskadispatch.com/blogs/political-animal/6722-new-miller-endorsements-sen-demint-and-his-pac and http://www.usnews.com/mobile/articles_mobile/demints-pac-spends-15-million-in-independent-expenditures ) In 2006, it was news that John Kerry and Russ feingold stayed neutral in the primary - this after Lieberman characterized Kerry/Feingold. No Senator endorsed Lamont in the primary.

Her campaigning was in the primary - and she was far from alone. Here's an article speaking of who was out there at that time:

Former president Bill Clinton campaigned with Lieberman last week, and a parade of Democratic senators has passed through the state to support him, including such purportedly “antiwar” liberals as Barbara Boxer of California, along with Joseph Biden of Delaware, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and Ken Salazar of Colorado.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/aug2006/lieb-a03.shtml

I happily voted for Lautenberg. In Boxer's case, Lieberman and Boxer were allies on a lot of the environmental issues - he had a LCV life time record of over 90 - just a small amount behind John Kerry's, which was said in 2004 to be the highest when they endorsed him in the primary - something they did for no other candidate.

[Cleita]

22. She was actually being a good Senator in the old

fashioned way where you supported the incumbent in the primary. I'm sure many Senators were fooled by Joe Lieberman, who does have a record of voting for a lot of liberal causes before he showed his true colors as the snake in the grass that he is. Barbara did support Lamont in the general election and campaigned for him.

I think the ACORN thing was a mistake, but like you said she has a long and distinguished career in liberal causes, especially environmental ones. If Barbara goes, I feel what little is left of the environmental vote will go too.

[liberal N proud]

5. OK, but do you really want Fiorina?

Corporate pig to the core!

Its a choice!

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

7. I can be pragmatic, I voted for Davis twice and against the recall

But Boxer is still useless

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

16. I understand your anger about campaigning for LIEberman, but seriously...

SENATOR FIORINA?!?!??

Let it sink. Then, wake up and do the right thing.

I believe that at the end of the day when you look outside your window and see people moving to the polls, you'll do just that. :)

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

29. I didn't say I support Cara Sneed

But I am not going to fawn over somebody who is nothing more than a bag of democrat meat taking up space.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

31. I'll put it to you this way. Fiorina is the reason why one of my best friends

lost his jobs and it took years for him to find something else.

Because of her tanking HP, my friend was laid off. He lost his house and eventually had to move back to his home town. (Detroit, no less.)

Luckily for him, after several years of searching and applying for jobs here and there, he finally landed a good one, but had to move across the country to take it.

You may be angry at Barbara Boxer for her endorsement of LIEberman, but the alternative is just so deplorable that it may just be the catalyst that will get people to the polls.

And from the looks of things, Barbara may be pulling it out.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

33. Cara Sneed is a piece of shit,

but that doesn't absolve Boxer of her treachery in supporting the worst traitor this party has faced in decades.

[LynneSin]

6. Yeah that makes sense, don't support someone who is like 98% liberal over a single issue

:eyes:

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

9. She didn't just endorse him,

She went clear across the country to actively campaign against Ned Lamont, she can go to hell.

[LynneSin]

11. Seriously, if you don't want Barbara Boxer as a senator I can think of alot of people who would

She is an amazing senator who has always campaigned progressive causes and you would rather help enable her defeat so you can have Carly Fiorana?

Lovely!

[saltpoint]

12. Agree. There are terrific progressive citizens in

real red states who would kill to have someone like Barbara Boxer as their representative in the U.S. Senate.

Totally right-on.

[LynneSin]

17. I'm originally from PA and Rick Santorum was my senator for 8 years

I was jealous that California had a senator like Barbara Boxer.

I sometimes question about how progressive Tom Carper is and would even consider supporting a viable candidate against him in the primaries. But come November I would support him 110%. Good chance in 2 years Christine O'Donnell will still be the only one willing to run against him and clearly I don't want her as my senator.

[saltpoint]

18. You're fighting the good fight, LynneSin.

Agree also on O'Donnell -- she's bad news from the word 'go.'

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

28. I will vote for a bag of the yellow dogs shit

and I have, I will always vote a straight ticket, but I won't put somebody like Boxer who went out of her way to support the worst traitor this party has seen since the days of the Dixiecrats up on a pedestal.

[Cleita]

21. Oh, good, then let's get Carly Fiorini in there and you

will see who she will campaign for. Barbara has gone to the mat for liberal causes more years than not. If Carly is a good choice for you, I don't know what you are doing here on a message board for Democrats. You fail to mention that Barbara in the end did support Lamont.

http://firedoglake.com/2006/08/09/democrats-rally-around-lamont/

Remember Lieberman back then fooled a lot of Democrats including Al Gore.

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Cleita]

32. I've been voting for Barbara Boxer since she first

ran for Senator and I have never been fooled.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

35. I was talking about her enthusiastic support for Lieberman

she knew Lieberman was a collaborator and she still flew clear across the country to campaign against Lamont.

[Cleita]

37. Okay, if you know anything about the Senate it's

very clubby. Lieberman was friends with a lot of the old time Democrats when he was a Democrat so sure they supported him, not just Boxer so did Waters and Clinton among others. It was also very political. Primary challengers who beat an incumbent seldom are elected and at that time the wisdom was that Lieberman as a Democrat was better than any Republican. When Lieberman lost to Lamont, she did not support Lieberman's run against him, but supported Lamont, who unfortunately did lose as expected. If anything you should be mad at the people of Connecticut for voting for Lieberman in instead of Lamont in the general election. All this dreck about Lamont is being pushed by the Fiorini campaign that is being orchestrated behind the scenes by puppet master, Karl Rove and you are falling for it hook, line and sinker.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

40. I would rather have seen Lamont lose a clean campaign

Than watch supposed Democrats fall over themselves to support a traitor. And I have been bitching about this since then. Hell Republican Alan Schlesinger was more liberal than Lieberman is and Lieberman only won with the support of Republicans.

I hope Boxer wins, but other than being a democrat I don't care if I ever hear of her again.

[Cleita]

42. There is no such thing as a clean campaign anymore

and to give up and allow the religious fascists take over, because that is what they are, makes no sense to me.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

44. "to give up and allow the religious fascists take over"

You mean like the guy ready to take the US into World War Three to support Israel?

[Cleita]

45. That guy is not Barbara Boxer. Focus. n/t

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

47. It sure as hell wasn't Ned Lamont

[northoftheborder]

8. Boxer

I love Barbara Boxer; even on her worst day, compared to the awful Cornyn and Hutchison who supposedly represent me in Texas. I was surprised to hear the above negative comments about her environmental record, I thought she was effective in that field, but guess I hadn't kept up with the details. The most snarky, petty think I've heard a candidate utter was Fiorino's remark and giggle about Boxer's hair style being so "yesterday." Fiorino really would be a terrible Senator; I'm already sick of her.

[karynnj]

25. That is a phony charge

Boxer is excellent on the environment. The climate change bill was always going to be the toughest bill to get done. There were 14 Democratic Senators in coal states who wrote a letter on their concerns for the cost to their states - including some like Sherrod Brown, feingold and Franken. In addition, as Boxer had said in a hearing in her committee in 2005 on the issue when Kerry testified, he was the Senate expert on it. Then in 2006, Kerry was the entire Congressional delegation to Bali - praised by the official Bush team for the compromise that he was instrumental in getting agreement on. Kerry then informally represented Obama in Poznan. There were 5 committees that had jurisdiction over the bill, including Kerry's SFRC - it would have been as natural to have Bingaman, head of the energy committee head this. Although it impacts the environment, the issues within it are all more in terms of energy. Kerry clearly had more expertise and passion on the issue - and Reid has said he never saw anyone work harder on anything.

At the beginning of the Obama administration, the Kerrys hosted a huge meeting of the Congressional people and Obama people working on this issue. The first bill was Kerry/Boxer - and Boxer spoke of Kerry having authored it. The hearing in Boxer's committee led to a party line vote. However, you need to know Inhofe is the ranking member. Would the SFC prefer him chairing the committee? At that point, conventional wisdom was that climate change was dead. In reality killed by a large number of Democrats as well as republicans. At that point, Kerry started a second path to try to get a bill that could pass and still be a major step in the direction we need to go. That he turned to Lindsay Graham and got him on board gave the issue some new life. That bill, less good in many respects to Kerry/Boxer was an incredibly good effort at reaching out and working out the needs of the coal states to compensate them for higher energy costs, and reaching out to anyone willing to compromise. That it - even though it cut the deficit, created jobs, and cut emmissions died, shows that the Senate was - pure and simple - not going to pass anything.

[saltpoint]

10. The Chronicle should reconsider its position.

Barbara Boxer is strictly top-drawer. It would be a much poorer Senate without her.

And poorer still with her opponent instead.

The circulation area for The Chronicle is going to vote c. 80 percent for Barbara Boxer in November.

[Cleita]

27. The Chronicle has become a right wing rag in

a very blue readership area. The Hearsts are Republicans.

[saltpoint]

43. Hi, Cleita. I hope their readership is willing to let

them know just what they think of the failure to endorse.

I no longer live in that area but felt my past residence there gave me a hall pass to email the sonsabitches and let them know that I thought their failure to endorse Boxer after her demonstrable years of service was cowardly.

[oldlib]

13. Barbara Boxer

has always supported causes that I endorse. Although I dislike Lieberman, her support of him is not cause for me not to vote for her.

[BlueDemKev]

14. Not Voting for Boxer....

...is essentially a vote for Mitch McConnell, Jim DeMint, and Roy Blunt. Do you want the Republicans controlling the Senate? Boxer has held true to the progressive base more than 90% of the time.

[Cleita]

24. Really?

I suppose you must think Dianne Feinstein is the devil incarnate considering Dianne is about five notches to the right compared to Barbara. So I suppose giving the Senate to Carly Fiorini isn't giving the Republicans control of the Senate in your mind? That's a real leap of logic there sunshine. Remember Barbara was one of the few Senators who fought against Bush policy when the rest of the Dems were folding.

[Brother Buzz]

34. I believe BlueDemKev condones voting for Boxer

The subject line is just a little misleading.

Not Voting for Boxer....

...is essentially a vote for Mitch McConnell, Jim DeMint, and Roy Blunt. Do you want the Republicans controlling the Senate? Boxer has held true to the progressive base more than 90% of the time.

[Cleita]

38. That's exactly what it is a vote for them and

the orange man drunk, Boehner.

[BlueDemKev]

49. ...you got it!

[lunatica]

20. I'm voting for Boxer

I love her record.

[Cleita]

23. Everyone who considers themselves a Democrat

and a Californian who cares about our representation in the state better vote for Barbara Boxer. Carly Fiorini would be worse than Christine O'Donnell. Carl Rove is behind the scenes orchestrating her run and those articles against her like in the SF Chronicle are careful plants by his minions. The Chronicle like the Los Angeles Times has been taken over by right wing media companies.

[COLGATE4]

26. Why not ask the former employees of Hewlett Packard (and

the Board of Directors, too) about Carlie's "vigor and directness", as she took a chainsaw to the workers at HP and then ran the company into the ground. Heck of a job, Carlie.

[Nye Bevan]

36. She's certainly not the most effective Senator ever

but she is *much* preferable to the alternative.

[activa8tr]

39. I cannot believe that there are posters on DU who actually would toss out

a fine Democratic Senator because they disagree with her on a couple of issues.

But it seems that there is more than one person here who would rather complain about Fiorina than about Boxer for the next six years.

I guess we found out who the chronic complainers are and how they won't vote for Boxer because they want to be able to complain MORE about Fiorina.

Geeze.

[ibegurpard]

46. wow, what a pile of shit

[MadHound]

48. Actually a pretty spot on article,

"It is a dismal choice between an ineffective advocate for causes we generally support and a potentially strong advocate for positions we oppose. Neither merits our endorsement for the U.S. Senate."

That is a sentiment that is being expressed, and rightly so, across the country. In fact this has been the growing sentiment across the country for thirty plus years. That's why our apathetic voting population is so large. The Dems have always talked a good game, but their follow through sucks. That's the 'Pugs forte, follow through.

What's needed is a party that has the positions of the Dems and the ability to ram them through like 'Pugs.

But sadly we're stuck with what we've got.