links for 2010-06-05

Longtime White House scribe Helen Thomas caused more than a few eyebrows to perk up when video surfaced on Friday of her declaring that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine" and go back to Germany and Poland.

Captured by Rabbi David Nesenoff of RabbiLive.com, the footage made the rounds on mostly conservative and neoconservative sites, with some private complaints that her comments weren't getting wider play.

Thomas on Friday apologized in a written statement, saying she deeply regretted the comments — which were offered, ironically, during the White House's Jewish Heritage Celebration.

But even as she was trying to walk back the remarks, calls for her firing mounted. Among the more vocal was former Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, who claimed to have a close relationship with Thomas when he was manning the daily briefings.
+++++++
Yep, time for her to retire.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she told cheering supporters who were making phone calls to voters on her behalf. "Keep calling. Every call, every vote counts. And with your help, we'll have a helluva party on Tuesday night."

Referring to recent polls, Fiorina told reporters that she's "opening up a substantial lead" but taking nothing for granted against Boxer.

Sounding a cautionary note, she told one supporter: "She's been there 28 years, which means a lot of folks have gone up against her and lost. It's important to have someone who can win."

Fiorina described Boxer as a big tax-and-spend liberal who is out to kill jobs by promoting legislation that would put mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions.

"This is a woman who has been described as among the most liberal, the most partisan members of the U.S. Senate," she said. "And even Dianne Feinstein votes different than Barbara Boxer most of the time."

With three days until the primary election and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina in a seemingly comfortable lead against her two opponents, she and Democratic incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer continued to tangle about who is stronger on national security.

The sniping began earlier this week when Fiorina aired a new ad mocking Boxer by using an interview clip showing the California Democrat stating that climate change is “one of the very important national security issues we face.”

Cue Fiorina, on camera, sounding disgusted: “Terrorism kills and Barbara Boxer is worried about the weather.”

Boxer promptly released a statement defending her work on issues ranging from port security to sanctions on Iran. On Saturday, after touring a new $13.5-million Los Angeles Fire Department Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Facility at LAX — funded mostly by federal stimulus money — Boxer lashed out at Fiorina.
++++++
Let the general election campaign begin……

Fiorina’s second point is that on actual national security issues, she (Barbara Boxer) is an embarassment. Her record:

* In 2007, Boxer was one of just 25 senators to vote against supplemental funding for US efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
* In 2003, Boxer voted against $87 billion in supplemental funding for Iraq and Afghanistan reconstruction. 87 senators voted for it.
* Back in 1999, she also voted against funding for efforts in Kosovo.