New Site Says ‘Lieberman Must Go’
From Susan Davis at The Wall Street Journal
A new Web video and online petition is calling for the ousting of Sen. Joe Lieberman from the Senate’s Democratic Caucus because of his support of the war in Iraq and his endorsement of expected Republican nominee Sen. John McCain.
“We CANNOT tolerate a leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus who supports George Bush and McCain’s War in Iraq. We CANNOT tolerate a Democratic chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee who endorses and stumps for McCain,” states www.LiebermanMustGo.com.
The Video features a mash-up of cable news talking heads and Lieberman himself discussing his support for the war and McCain. Since his unsuccessful 2000 bid on Al Gore’s presidential ticket, the Connecticut senator has increasingly parted ways with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.
Lieberman lost the 2006 Democratic primary to Ned Lamont, but ultimately won the general election running as an Independent. He still caucuses with Democrats in the U.S. Senate, who hold a narrow 51-49 majority with the help of Lieberman and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, also an Independent.
Lieberman’s support of McCain has been vexing to many Democrats, including Obama at times. The Illinois senator had a widely reported exchange with Lieberman on the Senate floor earlier this month, shortly after Obama secured the party’s nomination. At the same time, Lieberman was criticizing Obama for his statements on Iran.
So far over 32,000 people have signed the online petition. The video, produced by Los Angeles-based Brave New Films, has already been viewed about 100,000 times, according to their Web traffic. The left-leaning outfit has also produced Web videos critical of McCain, including one in late May that has been viewed over 2.5 million times. “Americans are tired of this type of old petty partisan politics. Sen. Lieberman will continue to put the country’s interests before partisan interests,” said Marshall Wittmann, Lieberman’s spokesman, in response to the site.
Carly Fiorina is a Job killer
By Peter Rothberg at the Nation
This morning, Carly Fiorina, a Tea Party–backed political neophyte running against California Senator Barbara Boxer, a three-term Democratic incumbent, released two new ads with the same message: her opponent represents the failures in Washington and she represents change.
What’s left unsaid is what Fiorina’s disastrous tenure running Hewlett-Packard represents. The company’s stock price dropped by 50 percent during her reign , only to rally 10 percent on the announcement of her firing. And despite touting her business experience, as company CEO she laid off 30,000 employees and shipped their jobs overseas. But now she claims that, as a senator, she’ll be a catalyst for creating jobs!
Watch this new video from Brave New Films for a detailed report on Fiorina’s record as CEO of Hewlett-Packard and meet some of the people who worked for her.
New Video Blasts Fiorina’s Business Decisions
By John North at ABC7 Online
LOS ANGELES (KABC) — The November general election is just three weeks away, and attacks picked up Tuesday against Carly Fiorina, the Republican challenger for U.S. Senate.
Democratic U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer got one vote Tuesday as she cast her ballot. Boxer’s allies accused her Republican opponent, Carly Fiorina, of being reckless and insensitive when she headed Hewlett-Packard. They’re doing it with people Fiorina laid off at HP, and by posting a cutting video on the Internet.
They’re doing it with people Fiorina laid off at HP and by posting a cutting video on the Internet.
The video is supplied by Brave New Films, a production company that in the past has targeted Republican John McCain, as well as retail giant Walmart.
Fiorina, who got millions from HP when she was fired, laid off more than 30,000 people.
Fiorina and the layoffs were the targets at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, which has endorsed Boxer.
Two of the people fired by Fiorina were in attendance at a news conference held by Boxer supporters.
Susan Walsh was an executive administrative assistant at HP.
“I’m one of 30,000 and I’m struggling, and I’m on unemployment,” Wash said. “And let me tell you, it’s not pretty in my household.”
Mike Angles was a manager with 21 years at HP. He was within 18 months of retirement.
“I’m really frightened by the potential damage that she can do in the future,” Angles said. “But not at a company level — now at a national level.”
Before campaigning in Northern California on Tuesday, Fiorina was in Orange County on Monday and was asked about laying off all those people. She turned the subject to her opponent.
Union sponsors new anti-Carly Fiorina video; Fiorina fights back with own video called “Truth”
By Caroline Lochhead at SF Gate
Brave New Films and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor has a new video out tying Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina to California’s high unemployment rate, interviewing several of the 30,000 former Hewlett Packard workers who were laid off during her tenure there from 1999 to 2005.
Fiorina’s campaign is fighting back back with its own video, called “Truth.” It quotes former Intel chief Craig Barrett, a big Fiorina fan, and has former H-P manager Vince Blecha asking, “What would Barbara Boxer have done? Would she have just raised product prices so we could cut even more jobs? She had to adhere to a budget. She couldn’t just spend her way out of problems.”
Documentary Film Company Takes On Fiorina
By Janie Lorber at The New York Times
Brave New Films, the documentary film company behind a series of damaging anti-McCain viral videos in the 2008 presidential campaign, has put its sights on Carly Fiorina, the Republican candidate for Senate in California.
In the latest of three videos attacking Ms. Fiorina that the company has released since July, several former Hewlett-Packard employees who say they were laid off during Ms. Fiorina’s tenure as chief executive of the company describe her as ruthless and extravagant.
The video, which asserts that the workers are among 30,000 whose jobs were shipped overseas when she ran the company, comes as dozens of candidates in both parties run campaign advertisements criticizing their opponents for supporting policies that encourage outsourcing American jobs.
A spokeswoman from Ms. Fiorina’s campaign said the company had a history of distorting the facts. ”This group has consistently made misleading videos,” Andrea Saul, the spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
Indeed, the group’s first film linking Ms. Fiorina to the The Tea Party splices footage of Ms. Fiorina addressing a Tea Party crowd with shots of angry Tea Partiers calling President Obama a communist at a rally that her spokeswoman said Ms. Fiorina did not even attend.
Robert Greenwald, who founded the California-based production company in 2005, says the state’s Senate race between Senator Barbara Boxer, a three-term Democratic incumbent, and Ms. Fiorina, a Tea Party-backed political neophyte, is emblematic of the choice that voters face around the country.
“There are clear alternatives,” Mr. Greenwald said. “There are substantive differences of opinion. We aren’t talking about some ridiculous character flaw — it’s about the fundamental direction of the country.”
Mr. Greenwald made his first big political splash in the 2008 presidential campaign with a series of films that, among other things, shed light on Mr. McCain’s real estate holdings and highlighted his relationship with a conservative evangelical leader who’d made harsh statements about Islam. That was the company’s first foray into electoral politics, and though Brave New Films is undeniably liberal in orientation, it still does not claim to support a party or endorse particular candidates.
The other videos in the latest series — entitled “The Real Carly” — focus on her ties to the Tea Party and her stance on immigration, including her support for the tough new law in Arizona.
Brave New Films Hammers Carly Fiorina
Brave New Films, the documentary film company behind a series of damaging anti-McCain viral videos in the 2008 presidential campaign, has put its sights on Carly Fiorina, the Republican candidate for Senate in California.
In the latest of three videos attacking Ms. Fiorina that the company has released since July, several former Hewlett-Packard employees who say they were laid off during Ms. Fiorina’s tenure as chief executive of the company describe her as ruthless and extravagant.