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You are here: Home / Politics / Let’s flip the track, bring the old school back

Let’s flip the track, bring the old school back

by DougJ|  September 22, 201012:29 pm| 122 Comments

This post is in: Politics

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This is how we do it (via Steve Benen):

I don’t know how well demonization of the rich will play as a concerted strategy but when Republicans put up super-wealthy whack jobs for state-wide office, you’ve got to hit them with good old-fashioned class fucking warfare.

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122Comments

  1. 1.

    aimai

    September 22, 2010 at 12:30 pm

    I don’t even understand why the Democrats seem not to know these simple words, and true: “go medieval, go biblical, go fucking Homeric”–whatever works.

    aimai

  2. 2.

    Kryptik

    September 22, 2010 at 12:30 pm

    But why do you want to demonize the rich, don’t you know those are the only REAL AMERICANS left?! They’re the ones that deserve all our taxcuts, WHY CAN’T YOU SEEEEEEE?!

  3. 3.

    Zifnab

    September 22, 2010 at 12:31 pm

    Ha! Go Barbara Boxer.

  4. 4.

    TR

    September 22, 2010 at 12:31 pm

    Bring it on.

  5. 5.

    JGabriel

    September 22, 2010 at 12:32 pm

    I don’t know how well demonization of the rich will play …

    The rich demonized themselves. We’re just pulling off the masks.

    .

  6. 6.

    Trinity

    September 22, 2010 at 12:32 pm

    More of this please!

  7. 7.

    Midnight Marauder

    September 22, 2010 at 12:33 pm

    @JGabriel:

    The rich demonized themselves. We’re just pulling off the masks.

    A-fucking-men.

  8. 8.

    Corner Stone

    September 22, 2010 at 12:36 pm

    If I (FSM forbid) lived in CA, I would look at her time at HP and say, “She…outsourced jobs? Laid off 30K or more? And that’s the cred she is running on?”
    And run screaming to the polls to vote against her.

  9. 9.

    cmorenc

    September 22, 2010 at 12:36 pm

    This ad is pure class warfare, but it’s also dead spot-on true about the character of the GOP toward the business elite. It’s pure social Darwinism: we have what we have because we deserve it, and if anyone (make that everyone) else gets screwed over along the way, well that’s business.

  10. 10.

    Corner Stone

    September 22, 2010 at 12:36 pm

    I like class warfare. I have never understood why anyone would run from it.

  11. 11.

    Bob L

    September 22, 2010 at 12:37 pm

    All Boxer needs to do is interview ex-employees of HP to show how despised this jerk is.

    Fiona sucks even by the pathetic standards of her own greed is good class; successful company + buy an unsuccessful company + adopt unsuccessful companies business plan = good news for competitors. Oh yes, Fiona was the greatest Exec Dell ever had.

    At lest this election I get to cast a vote against Fiona so it all an’t bad.

  12. 12.

    NickM

    September 22, 2010 at 12:38 pm

    Love it!

  13. 13.

    WereBear

    September 22, 2010 at 12:38 pm

    @Corner Stone: It’s like OMG SOSHUL ISM. Once people find out what it is, they like it.

  14. 14.

    Certified Mutant Enemy

    September 22, 2010 at 12:40 pm

    Especially if said super-wealthy whack job damn near wrecked a prestigious high tech company…

  15. 15.

    Binzinerator

    September 22, 2010 at 12:41 pm

    @aimai:

    I don’t even understand why the Democrats seem not to know these simple words, and true: “go medieval, go biblical, go fucking Homeric”—whatever works.

    I don’t get it either. Christ on a moped, they don’t even have to make up shit. They can gut these fuckers just by telling the truth.

    The rich demonized themselves. We’re just pulling off the masks.

    Bingo.

    What did Truman say? He doesn’t give them hell, he just tells the truth and they think it’s hell.

  16. 16.

    KevinNYC

    September 22, 2010 at 12:42 pm

    Good Ad. Isn’t Boxer off the charts wealthy too, though?

    This is a great ad targeting labor. They should also run one stating just how awful a CEO Fiorina was for investors.

  17. 17.

    Culture of Truth

    September 22, 2010 at 12:42 pm

    that’s kind of cheap for a yacht

  18. 18.

    dmsilev

    September 22, 2010 at 12:42 pm

    The amazing thing is that Fiorina is running on a platform of “vote for me; I was a CEO”. She was a *horrible* CEO, even if you restrict your metric to “was good for shareholder value”. Hell, when she was fired by the board, the share price soared in reaction.

    So, even by Republican metrics, she should be counted as a lousy CEO.

    Somehow, that doesn’t seem to matter for the GOP. Didn’t for Bush either

    dms

  19. 19.

    liberal

    September 22, 2010 at 12:43 pm

    @Bob L:
    Exactly. While I don’t think it’s as hard-hitting as the “laying off workers” line, everything I’ve heard is that she screwed up HP.

  20. 20.

    Kryptik

    September 22, 2010 at 12:43 pm

    Unfortunately, the prevailing winds here seem to say the Rich are sacrosanct, why do you want to hurt them when its really all those goddamn poor bastards hurting us all.

    At least that’s how it feels whenever this comes up on the broad scale. And my god, it wears. It wears on the goddamned soul.

  21. 21.

    JenJen

    September 22, 2010 at 12:44 pm

    I’ve seen similar ads here in Ohio, hitting John Kasich on his Lehman Brothers ties, and Rob Portman as being Bush’s US Trade Representative.

    I worry it’s too little, too late to save Gov. Strickland, or to help Lee Fischer win the Senate seat George Voinovich is vacating, but it’s a start, and I happen to believe this kind of message is the only effective kind, this particular election cycle.

  22. 22.

    beltane

    September 22, 2010 at 12:44 pm

    Imagine if the non-rich in this country had the same sense of class solidarity that the rich do.

  23. 23.

    TR

    September 22, 2010 at 12:48 pm

    @liberal:

    While I don’t think it’s as hard-hitting as the “laying off workers” line, everything I’ve heard is that she screwed up HP.

    During her tenure at HP, the company’s stock price fell from $52 per share to $21 per share – a loss of 60%. Not surprisingly, she was named one of the top 20 Worst American CEOs of All Time by Portfolio magazine.

  24. 24.

    cleek

    September 22, 2010 at 12:49 pm

    i picture a an ad showing a cartoon Fiorina getting pushed out of an HP company jet by an angry board member, opening her golden parachute and choosing to land in DC, smiling and counting her money the whole time.

  25. 25.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    September 22, 2010 at 12:50 pm

    More like this, please. Go Galt, Fiorina, it’s your only hope!

  26. 26.

    beltane

    September 22, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    @dmsilev: Fiorina walked away from HP with millions of dollars. She is a rich woman which makes her a smashing success in the eyes of the GOP. Remember, Republicans don’t care about what you do or how well (or badly) you do it; they care about how much money you have.

  27. 27.

    Culture of Truth

    September 22, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    what ever happened to the demon sheep?

  28. 28.

    Tom Hilton

    September 22, 2010 at 12:53 pm

    Yeah, that is a fantastic ad. How can any voter forget the smug smirk with which Fiorina says she’s done a good job?

  29. 29.

    Poopyman

    September 22, 2010 at 12:53 pm

    @Midnight Marauder:

    The rich demonized themselves. We’re just pulling off the masks.

    A-fucking-men.

    Ditto! We’ve got the technology. Let’s use it!

    Praise the Lord and pass the YouTube links.

  30. 30.

    Culture of Truth

    September 22, 2010 at 12:54 pm

    i picture a an ad showing a cartoon Fiorina getting pushed out of an HP company jet by an angry board member, opening her golden parachute and choosing to land in DC, smiling and counting her money the whole time.

    Would that be an ad for Boxer or Fiorina?

  31. 31.

    Binzinerator

    September 22, 2010 at 12:55 pm

    @beltane:

    Imagine if the non-rich in this country had the same sense of class solidarity that the rich do.

    I’d imagine we’d have another FDR and another New Deal.

    Which is why the goopers have worked for decades to dismantle the old one and divide and divert the non-rich using bigotry, religion, disinformation, fear and scapegoating.

  32. 32.

    John Bird

    September 22, 2010 at 12:55 pm

    Demonization of the rich plays well as a concerted strategy, but neither big party has had the balls to do it for years because of the DLC.

    Class interests are not class warfare, and the interest of our class is currently against the interests of the rich. Ergo, the rich must suffer; we didn’t make that the choice. They did.

  33. 33.

    wasabi gasp

    September 22, 2010 at 12:55 pm

    Down goes Boxer as Fiorina socks it to her.

  34. 34.

    Kryptik

    September 22, 2010 at 12:55 pm

    @beltane:

    But then who will they get to hate the Blacks Irish Italians Jews Gays Muslims Other?

  35. 35.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    September 22, 2010 at 12:56 pm

    While someone is making ads, could they make one that calls all those people who brag about not having to pay all of their taxes unpatriotic people who should leave the country? Those ads are really starting to annoy me.

  36. 36.

    Napoleon

    September 22, 2010 at 12:58 pm

    OT, I just love the “DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice”

    Oh, and Dems should not run from running class warfare ads and giving class warfare speeches. It is the best thing they have going for themselves. The Reps whining about class warfare is just an attempt to get the Dems to preemptively give up their strongest argument.

  37. 37.

    Bob L

    September 22, 2010 at 12:58 pm

    @TR: When she had HP buy Compact Computer she had to blackmail the banks into voting for it at the share holders meeting because it was such a dumb idea. Before Fiona HP was the gold standard of electronics hardware & test equipment and now they are a pricey PC & printer maker. There are dozens of companies that most people haven’t heard of like Tektronix that Fiona was godsend with her stupidity.

    And this walking disaster wants to be part of our government?

  38. 38.

    aimai

    September 22, 2010 at 1:00 pm

    @wasabi gasp:

    I can’t believe I was gullible enough to click on that link, Wasabi Gasp. You deserve to serve time in purgatory for that.

    aimai

  39. 39.

    artem1s

    September 22, 2010 at 1:00 pm

    @JenJen:

    not only too late but too little. Kasich has been running triple the ads that Strickland is running (before the primary the ratio was 1:0). I have yet to see a Fisher ad. Not one. It’s been obvious from the get go that the state party chose him to lose by not too big a margin based on name recognition.

    I’ve seen more work by Brunner since she lost in the primary than by Fisher’s campaign.

  40. 40.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    September 22, 2010 at 1:05 pm

    I dunno…

    After an instant classic like the Demon Sheep ad, how could you not vote for Carly?

    Srsly… I lived in the Bay Area during her tenure at HP… she lost money for what, 8 straight quarters? As much as I’m not particularly fond of Boxer (or Feinstein for that matter…) I’m surprised this race is even close…

  41. 41.

    ...now I try to be amused

    September 22, 2010 at 1:06 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Somehow, that doesn’t seem to matter for the GOP. Didn’t for Bush either

    That’s crony capitalism for ya. Once you’re in The Club, competence doesn’t matter.

    I could never understand why, when Bush was running to become “the CEO president”, he wasn’t slammed as a bad CEO. I had to read it in Molly Ivins’ Shrub.

  42. 42.

    eemom

    September 22, 2010 at 1:07 pm

    agree with all the above, but I think it would help if we had a clever, snarky, buzzwordy response to the “class warfare” buzzword. “It’s not class warfare, it’s ________.”

    My creative juices aren’t flowing right now, but I’ll work on it.

  43. 43.

    Mnemosyne

    September 22, 2010 at 1:07 pm

    @KevinNYC:

    The problem isn’t that Fiorina is rich. The problem is that she’s a total incompetent who parachuted away from the smoking wreck of two previously profitable companies with $50 million in her pocket.

    If she gets a single vote in all of Central California, I would be astonished.

  44. 44.

    BR

    September 22, 2010 at 1:08 pm

    We need more folks calling congressional offices in support of the Obama tax cut plan. I called mine this morning and was told that I was one of the lonely voices on this matter. And I’m in a fairly Dem district, which means that the teatards are out in full force.

    We need to make more calls.

  45. 45.

    Napoleon

    September 22, 2010 at 1:09 pm

    @artem1s:

    I have yet to see a Fisher ad. Not one.

    I have seen them, and in some quantity, though I would guess like Kasich/Strickland they are running 3 to his 1. They are negative ads focusing on Portman in the Bush admin. running up the deficit and signing trade deals with China.

    By the way I don’t know what part of the state you are from but if you are outside NEOhio the Boccieri/Renacci ad wars for the 16th district have been brutile and the Dem Boccieri is carpet bombing the Rep Renacci with the most brutle negative ads. Boccieri may have more ads up in this part of the state then Strickland or Fisher.

  46. 46.

    4tehlulz

    September 22, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    @The Republic of Stupidity: You have to start wondering if people have decided to troll the hell out of pollsters. It would explain the recent NY polls.

  47. 47.

    WereBear

    September 22, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    @…now I try to be amused: I could never understand why, when Bush was running to become “the CEO president”, he wasn’t slammed as a bad CEO. I had to read it in Molly Ivins’ Shrub.

    Since Mr WereBear juuuuuuuuuuuuust had it sink in, and he lives with me, I’ll repeat it again:

    We don’t have news organizations any more, no matter what they call themselves. This feeling you have of reality being bent out of true… is true.

    Most media is presently in a state of free fall where they are either paid well to peddle propaganda, like FAUX News, or they are unwilling to buck the idiocy trend that is taking over television; shows, commercials, news, everything.

    When only fools watch television, television will be only for fools. And we’re headed that way.

  48. 48.

    4tehlulz

    September 22, 2010 at 1:14 pm

    @eemom: “common sense” could work.

  49. 49.

    Napoleon

    September 22, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    @Napoleon:

    Here is what I am talking about on the OH-16th push against the Rep.

    http://www.therealrenacci.com/

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSqLwh_aqEw

  50. 50.

    mclaren

    September 22, 2010 at 1:16 pm

    when Republicans put up super-wealthy whack jobs for state-wide office, you’ve got to hit them with good old-fashioned class fucking warfare.

    And when you do, the genial golden-voice superwealthy whack job chuckles, “There he goes again,” and the audience rises to its feet as one and claps their hands raw, cheering like wild animals.

    That was what happened back in 1980 when the superwealthy whack job Ronald Reagan went up against Jimmy Carter. It happened again when the superwealthy whack job George H. W. Bush went up against George Dukakis.

    Prepare for president Palin in 2012.

  51. 51.

    Roger Moore

    September 22, 2010 at 1:16 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    “She…outsourced jobs? Laid off 30K or more? And that’s the cred she is running on?”

    No, I think she’s running on the part where she got into a spat with members of the HP Board and used company resources to illegally spy on them. Doesn’t that just prove what a great leader she is?

  52. 52.

    John Bird

    September 22, 2010 at 1:18 pm

    @eemom:

    I’d use “common interest”.

    What’s happened is this:

    1) There was a time when the interests of the rich and the interests of the country were better aligned.
    2) Recently, though, the income gap shows that the interests of the rich have departed from the interests of the country.
    3) Suggestions that the rich be brought back into the fold are derided as “class warfare” by those speaking for the rich.
    4) However, the idea that the rich have a responsible role to play in America is simply promoting the common interest that was once accepted by all.

  53. 53.

    Binzinerator

    September 22, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    I don’t know how well demonization of the rich will play as a concerted strategy…

    If you demonize the rich for being rich, not so well I think. Too many Joe Schmoes still believe and have been conditioned to believe, deep down inside, they’re still gonna get rich themselves one day. And who aspires to be poor? (You can ignore the example set by Christ; pretty much everyone of his followers does.)

    But hammering not at what the rich have but what they have done — bankrupt their company, send Joe Schmoe’s job overseas or lay him off then give themselves a smug pat on the back and a bonus for a job well done — hammering them on that is gonna leave a nice bruise.

  54. 54.

    ...now I try to be amused

    September 22, 2010 at 1:23 pm

    @WereBear:

    We don’t have news organizations any more, no matter what they call themselves. This feeling you have of reality being bent out of true… is true.

    I never expected the media to call Bush out on being a bad CEO; I expected the Gore campaign to do it.

  55. 55.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    September 22, 2010 at 1:23 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    Doesn’t that just prove what a great leader she is?

    Certainly explains why she’s a Republican…

  56. 56.

    WereBear

    September 22, 2010 at 1:28 pm

    @…now I try to be amused: I getcha now.

    And why not?

    Sometimes I think it’s because deep down, Democrats want to be “good” and can be shamed into NOT doing something Republicans do quite shamelessly and gleefully.

    But while we must look into the abyss, we don’t have to be monsters, either. This, again, is classic Truman: just tell them the truth, and they think it’s hell.

  57. 57.

    John Bird

    September 22, 2010 at 1:28 pm

    @Binzinerator:

    One element of the strategy I suggested is also the idea that we need “a new kind of wealth”, that is, it gives people who believe they will be wealthy and strive to be wealthy a niche to displace the already-wealthy by telling folks that we need a new class of rich person who is concerned with the national interest.

    Another good way to frame this is that the wealthy in America right now are internationalists; they do not care if America is doing well, or if any other American becomes rich, instead of, say, whether Korea or China becomes wealthy. It’s true and also a good strategy, because it gives people who want to be rich another way to define themselves as the people who should be rich, rather than the people who are already rich.

  58. 58.

    sparky

    September 22, 2010 at 1:30 pm

    anything in this direction is welcome, so i have no interest in being critical of the ad itself.

    but, this being a blog with comments, i feel ok about critiquing the post. :P

    it seems more like a personal attack than class warfare, as it’s not about “the rich” as such but this particular person–thus the closing line. it’s also a negative ad, which IMO is not the way to play the class war game. after all, the idea (IMO) is to get more for the mass, not simply take away stuff from the rich. the latter never plays well given the uninformed masses and the veniality of the flacks of the rich.

  59. 59.

    DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.

    September 22, 2010 at 1:30 pm

    @eemom:

    You know, that’s a pretty good idea.

  60. 60.

    Paul L.

    September 22, 2010 at 1:31 pm

    Does she dock her million-dollar yacht in another state to avoid paying taxes?
    John Kerry Vows to Pay Mass. Tariffs on Yacht Berthed at Rhode Island Tax Haven

  61. 61.

    Napoleon

    September 22, 2010 at 1:31 pm

    @John Bird:

    You have some interesting ideas.

  62. 62.

    DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.

    September 22, 2010 at 1:32 pm

    it’s also a negative ad, which IMO is not the way to play the class war game. after all, the idea (IMO) is to get more for the mass, not simply take away stuff from the rich.

    I think going after rich people personally is a good idea, if done properly.

  63. 63.

    Roger Moore

    September 22, 2010 at 1:33 pm

    @Bob L:

    Before Fiona HP was the gold standard of electronics hardware & test equipment and now they are a pricey PC & printer maker.

    In fairness to Carly, the Agilent spinoff was already decided on before she became CEO. And while it may have sucked a lot of the life out of the computer side of the business, it really freed up the test and measurement side. The real spirit of HP went to the Agilent side during the split, and they’re a great company to deal with today.

  64. 64.

    Benjamin Cisco

    September 22, 2010 at 1:34 pm

    DougJ kills again with the title, and the ad rocks too.
    __
    As for the class warfare whining, let ’em whine. In the immortal words of Richard Pryor, “You order sh*t, you eat sh*t!”

  65. 65.

    ...now I try to be amused

    September 22, 2010 at 1:34 pm

    @WereBear:

    But while we must look into the abyss, we don’t have to be monsters, either. This, again, is classic Truman: just tell them the truth, and they think it’s hell.

    Exactly. If a candidate declares her CEO experience to be a relevant qualification for political office, then we’re only taking her at her word when we demolish review that experience, no?

  66. 66.

    Nellcote

    September 22, 2010 at 1:35 pm

    Koch Industries, GOP Holding Fiorina Fundraiser in D.C. Tomorrow

  67. 67.

    thomas Levenson

    September 22, 2010 at 1:36 pm

    @aimai: Bring on the gimp room.

  68. 68.

    thomas Levenson

    September 22, 2010 at 1:36 pm

    @aimai: Bring on the gimp room.

  69. 69.

    Strandedvandal

    September 22, 2010 at 1:38 pm

    When we got the email that Fiorina had been canned, out entire office broke out into a spontaneous rendition of “Ding, Dong the Wicked Witch is Dead” In the next few hours, as email were being passed to and fro between regions, we found out that it was a pretty common thing to hear cheers and singing when it happened. It was a thing of beauty. That bitch destroyed a great company that truly cared for it’s people. She didn’t just ship jobs to China, she sent them India, to Mexico, to Costa Rica. There were a hell of a lot more people who lost their jobs than just 30K. We also lost benefits, wages, retirement benefits, time off, etc.

  70. 70.

    John Bird

    September 22, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    @DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.:

    The best way I can see to do it is to pair the freebies given to individual rich people, and to a lesser extent their lavish expenditures, with the ways they’ve kept other Americans from ‘getting rich’, i.e., earning anything at all.

    Pair their big boats with how they shipped jobs overseas, that’s a good one right there. Ask, “those Americans who had jobs – where’s their boat?”

    “Who deserves a boat more: you, or your boss? How are you ever going to be the boss if you get canned for someone in another country, who doesn’t have a chance of being the boss? Aren’t the people in charge just trying to get you out of the way so you can’t get rich yourself? And isn’t that bad for your company, and bad for America?”

  71. 71.

    Jewish Steel

    September 22, 2010 at 1:41 pm

    Absolutely.

    Class warfare is one standard I never get tired hearing. Endlessly re-interpretable, it’s a tune they called anyway.

  72. 72.

    Chyron HR

    September 22, 2010 at 1:41 pm

    @Strandedvandal:

    She didn’t just ship jobs to China, she sent them India, to Mexico, to Costa Rica.

    But did she ship them to RHODE ISLAND?! Like John Kerry’s yatchet?! Focus on the important issues, libs!!

  73. 73.

    Corner Stone

    September 22, 2010 at 1:42 pm

    @4tehlulz:

    You have to start wondering if people have decided to troll the hell out of pollsters. It would explain the recent NY polls.

    Kind of like rolling “flash mobs”.
    Honestly, I think we’re rapidly approaching a part of life in our modern society where small, decentralized actors are going to fuck the whole accepted thing up by instigating DDOS attacks. Both technological and low tech.
    Disrupting polls may be one of the low tech methods.

  74. 74.

    Corner Stone

    September 22, 2010 at 1:43 pm

    @Strandedvandal: I never understood the Compaq decision. And I have tried. But failed.

  75. 75.

    Violet

    September 22, 2010 at 1:44 pm

    I love this ad. More like this please.

    And it’s not “class warfare.” It’s “middle class rightsizing.”

  76. 76.

    Corner Stone

    September 22, 2010 at 1:46 pm

    @Roger Moore: Yes. Yes it does.

  77. 77.

    jrg

    September 22, 2010 at 1:47 pm

    @Strandedvandal: Yep. My company at the time was a customer of DEC, which was bought by Compaq, which was then bought by HP. I worked closely with a small support team for a specific enterprise app.

    The guys I worked with from there HATED Fiorina. Not just because she was a disaster for shareholders… because she treated employees terribly. She nearly destroyed HP.

    Now, when I explain this on one of CNN’s message boards or something, I always get the same “You Libruls are just repeating stuff that your masters tell you to say”… As if Fiorina just appeared out of a wingnut wormhole last year, so the rest of us couldn’t possibly KNOW anything about her. Morons.

  78. 78.

    Mnemosyne

    September 22, 2010 at 1:48 pm

    @sparky:

    it seems more like a personal attack than class warfare, as it’s not about “the rich” as such but this particular person—thus the closing line. it’s also a negative ad, which IMO is not the way to play the class war game.

    I don’t know that it’s a class war ad per se. It really is about Fiorina being an incompetent boob who wrecked two companies and threw thousands of people out of work while she collected bonuses.

    I think we’re best off focusing on the particular morons like Fiorina rather than trying to spread it out to “the rich.” Saying that the problem is “the rich” is much too nebulous, especially when you have Example A of a bad CEO sitting right there waiting to be kicked up the arse.

    (Actual kick at 2:42 if you don’t want to sit through the rest.)

  79. 79.

    Ajay

    September 22, 2010 at 1:48 pm

    I saw the ad few days ago on Steve’s site. I thought it was very effective. Also, what exactly is wrong even if this is characterized as class welfare.

    Its also worth pointing out how rich have benefited compared to others in last 10 years.

  80. 80.

    Strandedvandal

    September 22, 2010 at 1:49 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    There’s a lot of us. It was a horrible decision, it cost HP some of the best people it had including Hewlett. It has worked out some now, but the cost was a great deal higher than they envisioned.

  81. 81.

    JD Rhoades

    September 22, 2010 at 1:52 pm

    If they’re going to piss and moan every time the First Lady goes on anything more elaborate than a picnic, then this is fair game.

  82. 82.

    Rosalita

    September 22, 2010 at 1:52 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    The problem isn’t that Fiorina is rich. The problem is that she’s a total incompetent who parachuted away from the smoking wreck of two previously profitable companies with $50 million in her pocket.

    yeah, but the rich part can do some nice damage ad-wise. whatever works! not that I disagree with you on the corporate fail.

  83. 83.

    Cacti

    September 22, 2010 at 1:55 pm

    Why run away from “class warfare”? Fiorina and her Reaganite ilk have been engaged in top-down class warfare for the last 30 years.

  84. 84.

    Tony J

    September 22, 2010 at 1:56 pm

    @eemom:

    How about “It’s not class warfare, it’s taking our country back.”

    They didn’t trademark that one, did they?

  85. 85.

    Mnemosyne

    September 22, 2010 at 1:59 pm

    @Rosalita:

    I think I’m more saying (and you’re probably agreeing) that we’ll do better by pointing to specific morons like Fiorina than talking about “the rich” in a nebulous way.

    Same way that it’s helpful to point out that when you reduce the estate tax, you’re putting money in Paris Hilton’s pocket rather than just talking about how it helps “the rich.”

  86. 86.

    martha

    September 22, 2010 at 2:00 pm

    @eemom:

    Class warfare? No, we expect rich people to play by the same rules as we do.

  87. 87.

    garage mahal

    September 22, 2010 at 2:01 pm

    I can only imagine how many more libs would donate to candidates if they knew they would kick the opponent in the fucking balls hard like this. Honestly if we can’t prove to 98% of the electorate that they will be better of financially under Democrats, we may as well just give up.

  88. 88.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    September 22, 2010 at 2:03 pm

    @WereBear:

    Since Mr WereBear juuuuuuuuuuuuust had it sink in

    My condolences.
    It sucks to be one of the light sleepers inside Lu Xun’s Iron House.

  89. 89.

    sparky

    September 22, 2010 at 2:07 pm

    @DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.:

    I think going after rich people personally is a good idea, if done properly.

    agreed, but most of the evidence to date seems to call into question the ability to do it properly. and, with the increasing entry of the well-to-do into politics, i would expect punches to be pulled lest the mud besplatter one’s own holdings. (caution–flame-generating remark ahead) i no more expect the Ds engage in real class warfare any more than i expect Obama to stop turning to the corporatist state as the savior of the oligarchy.

    and i might add that a true campaign of this kind (not just an ad here and there) would require someone, somewhere, to develop a new, or at least new-seeming ideology, and i see no evidence of that in the organized political parties or their apparatchiks (IMO the tea party phenomenon is at bottom nothing other than incoherent anxieties bound together with hucksterism as the glue).

    edited for typos

  90. 90.

    Strandedvandal

    September 22, 2010 at 2:08 pm

    @jrg:
    We tried to hang onto the HP Way, which really was a great way to run a company. But Fiorina and the EC did everything in their power to tear it apart, to try and make the company into something else, something they could use as their own legacy. Fiorina wanted to be a rock star, still does it appears. She doesn’t care who she has to hurt in order to get it. In all honesty, Hurd wasn’t any better.

  91. 91.

    trollhattan

    September 22, 2010 at 2:09 pm

    @The Republic of Stupidity:

    Second only to Eeeeeevil Nancy Pelosi, Boxer is demonized relentlessly amongst the Usual Suspects, and over time it takes its toll. It’s gotten to the point that N percentage of Californians would vote for a 2×4 against her (redwood, Doug fir, pine, it matters not). To quote my idiot BIL, “Barbara Boxer wants to take away my big screen.” QED, baby.

    I’m neither counting Fiorina nor Whitman out in November. Their thunderously large campaign coffers continue to keep their campaigns very much alive, thanks. As a Californian, I fear Whitman more than Fiorina, only because she’ll affect me directly. Nationally, of course, Fiorina would be a disaster.

  92. 92.

    BDeevDad

    September 22, 2010 at 2:10 pm

    As someone who worked under Carly, it’s about time Boxer started talking about Carly’s record of “creating jobs”

  93. 93.

    Jay in Oregon

    September 22, 2010 at 2:11 pm

    I thought this was an entertaining bit about the real problem with Christine O’Donnell:

    http://thebureauchiefs.com/2010/09/pin-ups-explain-christine-odonnell/

  94. 94.

    Rosalita

    September 22, 2010 at 2:12 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    unfortunately it seems like the fact that some of these people are morons doesn’t seem to matter to voters… scary how close some of these races are. why is Fiorina even close to Boxer in the polls?

  95. 95.

    aimai

    September 22, 2010 at 2:13 pm

    @Paul L.:

    Funny that you should mention that. No, she doesn’t have to berth her yacht in another state because thanks to the Republicans CA has a special tax exemption for yacht owners. She’s out and proud!

    aimai

  96. 96.

    fraught

    September 22, 2010 at 2:14 pm

    It’s “tumbriling.”

  97. 97.

    BDeevDad

    September 22, 2010 at 2:16 pm

    @Rosalita: Because if you know nothing about her and just heard her speak publicly, she is good. She is actually a great public speaker, just a terrible manager with no ability to run a large organization. She is a pure self-promoter who is only in it for herself.

  98. 98.

    trollhattan

    September 22, 2010 at 2:16 pm

    @Paul L.:

    The Duke lacrosse team lives on it. Does that give you a little tingle?

  99. 99.

    eric

    September 22, 2010 at 2:18 pm

    @Tony J: I say call them bullies and say we are fighting back. They have bigger bank accounts and they dont play fair. they make the middle class pay the freight while they demand more back. We are fighting back against bullies that use money as a weapon. That is why you see the US Chamber of Commerce, the Koches, etc carpet bombing the airwaves. they are not winning an argument, they are simply trying to make you, the middle class, think something that is not true — that they are making your lives better and the Dems are making them worse.

    Now we are punching back!

    (Subtext: We are not whiny pu$$ie$.)

  100. 100.

    morzer

    September 22, 2010 at 2:20 pm

    Pointing out that Fiorina is a lying, incompetent, greedy fraud is hardly demonizing the rich. It’s an old-fashioned approach called telling the truth.

  101. 101.

    artem1s

    September 22, 2010 at 2:24 pm

    @Napoleon:

    yes, I have seen the anti-Portman ads but not really one ad about Fisher. its like he’s not even running. yes, the Boccieri/Renacci ads are becoming increasingly annoying. I thank the FSM that I don’t have to vote in that one cause both of them are looking pretty reprehensible as human beings let alone candidates. I think I finally understand why negative ads turn voters away. bleh!

    but yes, as far as the thread goes, I do wish Strickland was firing up the Madame DeFarge and the knitters. There is so much ammo he has to fling at Kasich and it seems totally wasted. I didn’t know about half of Strickland’s accomplishments until Bill came to town last week. I’m so glad he’s finally out campaigning.

  102. 102.

    BDeevDad

    September 22, 2010 at 2:25 pm

    This is how good Fiorina was for shareholders:

    The stock options she gave to every employee when she was hired with a strike price the same as the stock price the day they were handed out, expired worthless ten years later.

  103. 103.

    feebog

    September 22, 2010 at 2:27 pm

    @Morzer:

    You are exactly right. This ad has very little to do with class warfare and everything to do with setting the record straight on Fiorina’s record at HP. The fact that she was a total disaster has been well concealed up until now. Time to take the gloves off and punch her right in the nose with the truth.

  104. 104.

    Tim I

    September 22, 2010 at 2:28 pm

    Great ad! That’s some classy, class warfare.

  105. 105.

    Tony J

    September 22, 2010 at 2:29 pm

    @eric:

    Yeah, all that’s true, but it’s not exactly “buzzwordy” is it?

    Now this “It’s not class-warfare, it’s punching back.”

    That’s buzzwordy.

  106. 106.

    Pug

    September 22, 2010 at 2:30 pm

    The headline from February 10, 2005 says it all:

    FIORINA OUT, HP STOCK SOARS

    http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/09/technology/hp_fiorina/

    The day HP announced they had fired the great CEO, Carly Fiorina, the stock closed up 6.9%, after being up as much as 10.5% during the day.

  107. 107.

    Comrade Kevin

    September 22, 2010 at 2:36 pm

    @Roger Moore: That was her successor who did that.

  108. 108.

    BDeevDad

    September 22, 2010 at 2:39 pm

    @Comrade Kevin: No, the spat was her with a Hewlett heir over the Compaq merger and the spying was Patricia Dunn, the former Chairwoman of the Board.

  109. 109.

    Nylund

    September 22, 2010 at 2:43 pm

    How many CEO jobs have the middle class shipped abroad and how many middle class jobs have CEO’s shipped abroad just so they can buy a yacht? Who is attacking whom?

    If someone walks up and punches me and I say, “hey, you punched me. That makes you bad!” who would dare say that I’m the one picking the fight? And wouldn’t most people think that the desire to punch back would be an understandable emotion?

    And if it happens enough times by the same people and I know its coming, like Han Solo I just might shoot first.

  110. 110.

    BR

    September 22, 2010 at 2:46 pm

    It’s not class warfare, it’s unrigging the deck.

  111. 111.

    Binzinerator

    September 22, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    @eemom:

    “It’s not class warfare, it’s ___.”

    It’s not class warfare, it’s telling it like it is.

  112. 112.

    Pangloss

    September 22, 2010 at 3:28 pm

    Damn. That spot is like a high inside fastball. Chin music.

  113. 113.

    Cris

    September 22, 2010 at 3:36 pm

    Here’s the thing about class warfare: the rich are a minority, but never a disenfranchised one. So go ahead and demonize them with rhetoric, because (1) the people you attract that way outnumber them, and (2) they’re going to find a way to influence your policy anyway.

  114. 114.

    Jim, Once

    September 22, 2010 at 3:41 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    I like class warfare. I have never understood why anyone would run from it.

    This. I’ve been in serious training for carrying a well-groomed head on a pikestaff for some time now.

  115. 115.

    Origuy

    September 22, 2010 at 3:48 pm

    I was with Tandem Computers (started by ex-HP employees) when it got bought out by Compaq. We thought that the deal with HP was good, because we were being run out of Houston by guys who really didn’t know what to do with us. Carly spoke to our division and made a pretty good impression, despite what we had heard about the way she had been running HP. By then, though, the “HP Way” was pretty much dead, and it didn’t seem too much different from the “Compaq Way”. There was relief when she was canned, but there wasn’t the animosity that the long-time HPers had.
    I should point out that the spying scandal was not on her; that was Patricia Dunn, the chairwoman who succeeded her.

    I haven’t seen any Carly bumper stickers in the HP Cupertino parking lot; I’d be really surprised if I do.

  116. 116.

    SB Jules

    September 22, 2010 at 4:06 pm

    @KevinNYC:

    Boxer isn’t as wealthy as Diane Feinstein & Nancy Pelosi, but all the bay area pols are doing just fine, thank you. I think Boxer put her money into a blind trust at one point.

    I think they should do a companion ad about the H/P stock price tanking and didn’t Fiorino basically get fired?

  117. 117.

    Cacti

    September 22, 2010 at 4:23 pm

    Stop saying “it’s not class warfare”.

    It is class warfare. Carly and the rest of the top 1% class have been taking a gigantic shit on the rest of us for decades, while lavishing 8-figure salaries, mansions, and yachts on themselves.

  118. 118.

    maus

    September 22, 2010 at 4:44 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    I like class warfare. I have never understood why anyone would run from it.

    The “organized left” generally runs away from it because the media runs away from it, and I assume they also don’t want to scare off their bigger backers.

  119. 119.

    John Bird

    September 22, 2010 at 5:04 pm

    @BR:

    It’s not class warfare, it’s unrigging the deck.

    You know, it’s funny – this is the metaphor that was employed both by the Square Deal and the New Deal. They weren’t supposed to be deals in the sense of compacts, but deals in the sense of cards.

    It’s an effective way of presenting goals to help the middle and working classes, I think.

  120. 120.

    bobbo

    September 22, 2010 at 5:11 pm

    @TR:

    Not surprisingly, she was named one of the top 20 Worst American CEOs of All Time by Portfolio magazine.

    I sure hope Boxer is saving that choice factoid for another ad.

  121. 121.

    trollhattan

    September 22, 2010 at 5:17 pm

    Good god, Carly really doesn’t care what anybody thinks.

    http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2010/09/prop-23-backers-to-host-fundra.html

    Going to give whoring a bad name if she isn’t careful.

  122. 122.

    Bill H

    September 22, 2010 at 6:01 pm

    Living, as I do, in San Diego, I’ve seen that ad about a million times. “I’m proud of what I did at HP.” Whee. I’ll tell you what, I’m still not tired of watching it. It’s an effective ad. I think I’ll vote for Boxer two or three times, and I think Boxer is an arrogant… Well, whatever. I like that ad. It is very nicely done.

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