I read an article in the LA times today about Meg Whitman's stances on issues. It was as painful to read as reading Charlie Brown's congressional website - like quoting from a policy manual before you have actually read the dammed thing...

Meg Whitman revealed a lot about where she does or does not stand on several key issues. The source article is linked here

"I don't know the answer to that question," Whitman responded when asked her stand on school vouchers, a perennial issue of importance to the conservatives who dominate her party's primary. I wonder if Meg thinks that the teacher's union is seriously going to consider her...

Explaining her support for Proposition 8, the November measure that banned same-sex marriage, she called it a "matter of personal conscience and my faith." A quick check of the Presbyterian Church's website shows that they almost unanimously opposed prop 8. http://www.mlp.org/article.php?story=20081117210227218

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/oct/26/local/me-prop826

So is it really faith? Or is it an attempt to have both sides of the marriage issue? Where's the backbone?

But Whitman, a Presbyterian who supports gay civil unions, said the thousands of same-sex marriages that took place last year before the ban should be legally recognized...

This is a slap in the face of everyone who was harrassed supporting Prop 8, the people who got fired from their jobs, got their houses vandalized and people who have been scorned in news articles (see retired baseball star Jeff Kent). What the heck did Prop 8 get voted on for? Either Gay Marriage is legal or not - Whitman actually supported Prop 8 before she is now opposing it.

Whitman's approach on fiscal matters -- a key element of her pitch to voters -- rested on other seeming contradictions... "One of the things which I'm sure you know," she said, "is that 1% of the people in California pay 50% of the taxes, right? And I am not in favor of raising taxes on anyone right now." - Howard Jarvis? Are you paying attention? Whitman says taxes will go up when the economy improves.

In case Jarvis and other taxpayer groups missed the above, Meg was not done: "At the same time, Whitman praised former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson for his role in the 1990s budget crisis. She said the tax hikes imposed by Wilson -- whom she described as the greatest California governor in memory -- made sense at the time, even if they would be inappropriate now." - Was that Right now, or just now? What is the definition of is?

"I trust his judgment back then," she said of Wilson, her campaign chairman."

A New York native who first moved to California in 1981, she called herself "a lifelong Republican." She waited until 2007 to switch her registration from nonpartisan to Republican, she said, because she believed that the leader of EBay, the Internet auction site, should appear politically neutral. She also wanted to vote in the 2008 GOP presidential primary for her friend Mitt Romney, she said. - Her stances on the issues are attempting to be politically neutral, but they are really Liberal.

My neck is getting sore from the whiplash.

Besides objecting to higher taxes -- which along with program cuts formed Wilson 's solution to the 1990s budget mess -- Whitman also said she would have voted against Proposition 187 had she lived in California when it passed in 1994. The measure, pressed by Wilson as he sought reelection that year, was intended to deny education, healthcare and other public services to undocumented immigrants.

"I would not have been prepared to strip all of those services away from children," she said. - Meg Whitman agrees with Fabian Nunez on immigration - no on 187.

At the same time, however, Whitman said Tuesday that schools, hospitals and law enforcement agencies should be required to report undocumented immigrants to federal authorities. She later backtracked on schools, saying, "I want to think about that a little bit." She also said she opposed the issuance of drivers' licenses for those in the country illegally. - Ok so Gil Cedillo won't agree with her, but Whitman supports the estimated $8 billion a year California spends on Illegal Immigrants and is trying to split the baby on Driver's licenses.

Whitman also aligned herself with Nunez on AB32 -

Whitman also called herself a champion of the environment. But she voiced qualms about California 's efforts against global warming, mainly the attempt under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to force car makers to adopt emission standards tougher than the federal government's.

"I would have said, 'Hey listen, let's keep one standard for the country as a whole today; if the economy gets better then let's give those rights to states,' " she said. So there you have it - Whitman agrees with Fabian Nunez... when the economy was good, Nunez wrote and passed AB32.

Lamenting the severe downturn in the auto industry, Whitman said, "I probably wouldn't be doing things that damage the car companies at this very minute." - Is this like raising taxes? Once the economy gets better, lets force 100-mile a gallon deathtraps? How Republican is it anyway to dictate to people what they should drive?

Whitman also cited economic concerns as she expressed an openness to new offshore oil drilling, a stand that has harmed other Republicans seeking statewide office. New drilling techniques, she said, might offset the environmental risk.

"I would ordinarily say no, but I think given these economic times I want to look at the technology again," she said. - In the midst of the parsing of words - when the economy improves, Whitman will raise taxes, turn California into an Ecotopia and help ruin the improved economy with $6 a gallon gas.

The gyrations in this LA times article as Whitman tries to piecemeal issues are amazing. These are clearly the product of someone who needs a political corset inserted into their political armor. Meg Whtiman should probably run for Atherton City Council first so she can get some political experience.

Meg Whitman has apparently been using the wrong focus groups or she has not listened to them at all. In any event, the DTS voter who gave to Democrats consistently came out in this article - not the suddenly Republican donor that emerged in 2007.

There is no way she is going to be taken seriously by Republican groups with the above stances on issues - no wonder why her backers like an open primary.