SEPTEMBER 26, 2010 5:35PM
Meg Whitman's Unfortunate Editorial Board Adventure: Fresno v. Detroit
Rate: 11
Meg Whitman stuck her fashionable, yet practical stiletto (ok, pump) in her mouth yet again. This week she compared the economic plight of Fresno to Detroit. That's right. Fresno, where they grow almonds and make lots of raisins is what she compared to Detroit, that bigger city on a Great Lake where they pretty much grow shipyards, auto plants, and Motown, once upon a time.
And how did Candidate Whitman lose her shoe this time? Through a time honored tradition, candidates meet with various newspaper editorial boards for interviews as the election nears. Editorial boards then sum up the meeting and give a thumbs up or down to the candidate.
Candidate Whitman's editorial adventure with the San Jose Merc did not go well. Meeting with the editorial board of the San Jose Mercury News she began the conversation saying that Fresno was as awful as Detroit. Really?
When asked to clarify, Candidate Whitman shoveled a little deeper.
"Fresno looks worse than Detroit. It's awful." She acknowledged it didn't go over well, and explained, "I made a comparison between Fresno and Detroit. It wasn't all that well received but what I was trying to say, what I meant to say, what was absolutely imbedded in those remarks is that it is not acceptable Detroit has a lower unemployment rate than Fresno."
But let's add a little logic to that simplistic comparison of "awful" made by Whitman. Numbers are not always equally significant. Fresno has a population of about 500K while Detroit's numbers are approaching 1M. That 15% unemployment in Fresno and 14% unemployment in Detroit actually makes the automobile city's suffering much more "awful" (using the Whitman awful-scale) based on real numbers of people out of work. And a bright 5th grader might know that each city's various industries are not similar, the unemployed worker profiles are vastly different, and the overall recovery patterns would not be nearly the same.
And just for fun, let’s help out Candidate Whitman with a few more relevant facts.
Fresno is steeped in California history as part of the gold rush and early railroad industry. But since it is in central valley, on the edge of the mountains, it also still serves as a great farming and orchard community; cotton, grapes, almonds and more are grown around Fresno. Fresno is the world capital for raisins. About 60% of the world’s raisins are grown there and provide the majority of raisins sold in the United States. The largest employer in Fresno? The IRS.
Detroit? It began as a flour milling town and moved into copper (you know, like gold only copper). And then there were the shipyards and ship repair, being not landlocked like that other city, Fresno. A big machine industry town, Detroit evolved into something we all think about when we think of Detroit; Motown and Gladys Knight. Oh, and automobiles, too, as in General Motors and Henry Ford.
So much alike are these two cities, it is hard to tell where one begins and the other one ends.
While campaigning in the city of Fresno, Whitman was accompanied by Bobby Jindal, whom she calls a role model. That would Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Rhodes Scholar and exorcist, who thinks creationism is great science; accompanying would-be CA Governor Meg Whitman, a Harvard Business School graduate who only began voting in 2002 and was the boss of Mr. Potato Head for a number of years.
Is Meg Whitman smarter than a 5th grader? You decide.
Comments
I'd like to see her explain The Great Compromise before I decide...but yeah, I've pretty much decided.
Shoot me, but I LOVE hearing when this woman makes an idiot of herself! Keep it up Meg. Why settle for Jindal, when you could be your party's next George W. Bush of the Verbal Bloopers?
Jindal a role model? Run awaaaaaay!
Jindal a role model? Run awaaaaaay!
What's with Jindal in that photo? Does he have stubble?
I guess he's trying to convince everyone he's really a man.
But, yeah, when I think of cities where things are as bad as Detroit, I often think of Fresno.
I guess he's trying to convince everyone he's really a man.
But, yeah, when I think of cities where things are as bad as Detroit, I often think of Fresno.
I cringe at these idiot women candidates. They are an embarrassment to my gender. We are finally gaining political visibility, and where are the examples of female intelligence and integrity? If I was a conspiracy theorist, I might believe Meg and Sarah and that O'Donnell woman are part of a secret plot paid for by old white right wing men to destroy gains made by feminism.
Great. I'm originally from Detroit and I've been to Fresno too and I can assure you that Fresno is no Detroit -whatever that means. Whitman strikes me as another out-of-touch idiot. And it is confirmed with her tag-along-from the Bayou. Whitman and Jindal. Star power for sure. Good luck out there in California.
Heehee! Whitman is nuts. Fresno is much more like Cleveland than Detroit. Maybe she would outsource Fresno's jobs to Detroit if elected. She obviously also thinks that being Governor of Cali is like being CEO of HP. See the logic?
I hope she pisses away another 100 mil and still loses. At least she would be doing something to stimulate the economy that way.
If she wanted to do something positive, she should have given all that campaign money to the schools like Zuckerberg did and kept her nose out of politics.
I hope she pisses away another 100 mil and still loses. At least she would be doing something to stimulate the economy that way.
If she wanted to do something positive, she should have given all that campaign money to the schools like Zuckerberg did and kept her nose out of politics.
can't wait for the debate. I'm hoping she follows in the footsteps of Jan Brewer - but that would happen only if the questions go off into unprepared territory. she is not known for public speaking ability on the fly unlike Brown who has tons of practice.
Excellent! The sad thing is I bet she will carry the county simply because she is a Republican.
I really am between a rock and hard place though.
The Democratic party keep bashing people like me.
But what am I going to do? Vote Republican?
When I was young and naive, I would register as a Dem and vote 3rd party where applicable. Now I know no 3rd party candidate has a chance in hell of making it into office.
However wasn't there Senator Alquist? didn't he run and hold several terms as an Independent? Men like him were rare then and nonexistent now.
I really am between a rock and hard place though.
The Democratic party keep bashing people like me.
But what am I going to do? Vote Republican?
When I was young and naive, I would register as a Dem and vote 3rd party where applicable. Now I know no 3rd party candidate has a chance in hell of making it into office.
However wasn't there Senator Alquist? didn't he run and hold several terms as an Independent? Men like him were rare then and nonexistent now.
the inner city of detroit, when i was a boy there in the 50's, had 2.5 million people. it was the 5th largest city in the country. today it is estimated to have 500,000 at best. they have begun to plant corn in the empty fields. if you don't know what happened in detroit, you don't know the most tragic story of a city in this country since WWII. I've written a book about it nobody wants to publish.
What does that tell you? It tells me Whitman ain't the only one.
What does that tell you? It tells me Whitman ain't the only one.
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