
A fundraiser for Bob McDonnell, which was supposed to include California Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, has been cancelled.
The McDonnell campaign said the event had to be rescheduled, due to the host's wife giving birth. Due to scheduling conflicts, Whitman cannot be at the rescheduled event.
The DNC, however, is accusing Whitman of backing out as a result of the shame of it becoming public -- in other words, that Whitman would end up being associated with McDonnell's hard-right grad school thesis, which denounced working women and government policies that help them.
DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan released this statement:
"With his radical views on women anyone that Bob McDonnell touches is toxic, and now that this closed door event's become public, it's not surprising that she backed out. I'm sure Meg Whitman didn't want Californians to know that she was not only embracing, but was also raising money for, a candidate who believes that women working outside the home are a 'detriment to the family' and who voted against the principle of equal pay for equal work. Indeed, in Bob McDonnell's Virginia, Meg Whitman would not have been able to rise to position she rose to at eBay."
Xantar
October 5, 2009 11:19 PM
I do not by any means want McDonnell or Whitman to win in their respective races, but this reads like a huge stretch to me. Meg Whitman may have been too busy to vote, but she does have stuff to do right now. This thing was rescheduled because of something nobody could really help (the host's wife giving birth), and sometimes schedules just can't match up again. Move on.
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slb
October 6, 2009 2:33 AM in reply to Xantar
I think you are right, but I'm inclined to give the DNC points for creative opportunism in using it as an opportunity to remind voters of the radically conservative (?) views McDonnell expressed in that thesis. Helps to counter the ad that the McDonnell campaign is currently running featuring one of his daughters talking about how supportive dear old dad is.
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DanielFBoone
October 6, 2009 3:44 AM
I think it's more likely Whitman bailed after McDonnell asked her to stay late and help with dishes.
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GTFOOH
October 6, 2009 10:18 AM
Changes nothing! She withdrew her appearance, not her support. Any creative ad man can put them in the same picture and they will!
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