From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…
Dumping on ‘Queen Meg’
To be California’s Republican candidate for governor is to be vilified by labor. But this year, it’s not the teachers or prison guards leading the attack — it’s the nurses.
The California Nurses Association has launched a viral campaign mocking and ridiculing former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, portraying her as a Queen Victoria-Marie Antoinette type, trying to buy up the state and overthrow democracy. At a recent pitstop at Santa Barbara, "Queen Meg" imperiously scoffed "Who cares about the environment? When you’re as rich as we are, you can buy your own pristine private land!" Queen Meg, in this case, is a husky man dressed in velvet, wig and crown. In fact, many of Queen Meg’s minions, which includes two squires "Goldman" and "Sachs," wear identical blond wigs cropped just below their ears.
On her own campaign website, "Truth for Nurses," Ms. Whitman notes that only one-third of nurses belong to the union, and that Ms. Whitman runs even with Democrat Jerry Brown in polls of nurses statewide.
Long since obsolete is the stereotype of nursing as a profession for women, but the misogynistic aspect of the union’s campaign is still curious. The union’s executive director Rose Anne DeMoro justifies the tactics by charging that Ms. Whitman intends to cut the state workforce and reform pensions: "She’s going after significant layoffs of public employees, which includes nurses. She’s cutting retirement. She’s getting rid of regulations. We find her credibility suspect."
Yep. Ditto the governors of about 49 other states, who also have runaway public spending and pensions to grapple with. Some are questioning Ms. Whitman’s strategy, saying it would be wiser to ignore the nurses. But given the bruising her image has taken lately, including revelations that she once shoved an employee at eBay, Ms. Whitman may be smart to play up her image as a tough boss — the only kind that can deal with California’s out-of-control unions and sinking economy.
— Allysia Finley
’nuff said!
July 2nd, 2010 at 12:00 am
Yep.. it just started…
Two obviously flawed candidates for governor one with retro ideas prone to flying black helicopters chasing moonbeams and the other noted for selling anything to make a buck and so so busy… not vote for 28 years….
Lets start over!
July 4th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Lets not and say we did.