Carly Fiorina in The Los Angeles Times
On Abortion:
Overturn the Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion
One of the sharpest exchanges occurred when the candidates were asked about abortion. "If my opponent's views prevailed, women and doctors would be criminals, they would go to jail. Women would die, like they did before Roe v. Wade," said Boxer, a fierce
critic of restrictions on existing abortion rights.Fiorina reiterated her support for overturning the Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, but said, "The most important issue right now in this election is the creation of jobs."
Source: Los Angeles Times coverage of 2010 CA Senate Debate
Sep 2, 2010
On Abortion:
Embryonic stem cell research ok if not created for purpose
On Stem-cell research: Fiorina said she felt comfortable allowing federal funding to go to research using adult stem cells, as well as embryos that would have been destroyed otherwise. "It is when embryos are produced for the purposes of destruction,
for the purposes of stem cell research that I have a great deal of difficulty," she said. Boxer did not address the question, which was directed to Fiorina.
Source: Los Angeles Times coverage of 2010 CA Senate Debate
Sep 2, 2010
On Budget & Economy:
Stimulus package is a failure; more tax cuts instead
Fiorina blasted Boxer's economic record in Washington and, specifically, her support for the federal stimulus package. "She believes that the way to get jobs growing, the way to get the economy going, is to spend more taxpayer money, bail out companies
if necessary--that didn't work real well--regulate more, tax more and spend more,'' Fiorina said. She called the February 2009 stimulus package a "failure'' and as proof cited the unemployment rate in San Bernardino
County, which has increased from 11.7% when the stimulus legislation was approved to more than 14.2% in August.
To rescue the economy,
Fiorina said Congress should extend the Bush-era tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003, which she said gave much-needed tax relief to small and family-owned businesses. Those tax breaks are set to expire at year's end.
Source: L.A. Times PolitiCal coverage of 2010 CA Senate Debate
Oct 18, 2010
On Budget & Economy:
Key to recovery is less government, taxation, & regulation
Boxer accused Fiorina of opposing every recent job-creation effort in the Senate, including an education bill that provided California with $1.2 billion to save the jobs of 16,500 teachers, and a bill that would increase access to credit and extended tax
breaks for small businesses. "Every time you really get past the surface, you see my opponent fighting for billionaires, for millionaires, for companies that shipped jobs overseas," Boxer said.Fiorina said that the key to economic recovery was less
government, taxation and regulation. She called for extending the Bush administration's tax cuts, saying that their expiration would further harm the struggling economy, and expressed support for repealing the estate tax and creating additional tax break
for small businesses. "To create jobs, we need to make sure in particular our small businesses, our family-owned businesses, our innovators and our entrepreneurs are freed from strangling regulation and freed from taxation," Fiorina said.
Source: Los Angeles Times coverage of 2010 CA Senate Debate
Sep 2, 2010
On Civil Rights:
No same-sex marriage; yes civil unions; repeal DADT
Fiorina said she opposes same-sex marriage, and supports civil unions and the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." But she declined to answer when asked if the government should recognize civil unions for purposes such as Social Security benefits.
Boxer said homosexual couples would gain full equality only when same-sex marriage was recognized. "The only way to get the rights that married couples have is to go for marriage equality," she said. "I believe people are coming around to see it."
Source: Los Angeles Times coverage of 2010 CA Senate Debate
Sep 2, 2010
On Energy & Oil:
Examine the science; US can't act alone on global warming
Fiorina did not directly answer when asked whether she believes global warming is real. "We should always have the courage to examine the science," she said, "but all scientists agree on this: The only way to impact global warming is to act globally.
A state acting alone will make no difference." She criticized Boxer's efforts to pass federal legislation that would have cut greenhouse gas emissions through a program of emission permits. Boxer's bill, Fiorina said, "was completely the wrong track" and
would have cost "trillions of dollars in lost economic output [and] millions of jobs."But Fiorina declined to take a position on Proposition 23, the November ballot measure that would suspend California's landmark global warming law until unemployment
drops to 5.5% or lower for four consecutive quarters.
Boxer seized on her opponent's reticence: "If you can't take a stand on Prop. 23 I don't know what you will take a stand on," Boxer said. "I want those [clean energy] jobs created here in America."
Source: Los Angeles Times coverage of 2010 CA Senate Debate
Sep 2, 2010
On Gun Control:
Opposed 1994 assault weapon ban; opposes no-fly list gun ban
The no-fly list is still an issue. The election, Boxer said, "is a choice between someone who is working to keep our airlines safe and working to keep guns out the hands of terrorists, versus someone who believes that those on the suspected terrorist
no-fly list should be able to buy a gun--any gun."Fiorina dismissed Boxer's recent focus on gun control--including Fiorina's opposition to the 1994 assault weapons ban--as a "desperate attempt" to distract voters from the real issues that concern
them, including the dismal economy and need for job creation. Fiorina sidestepped a question about her support for allowing people on the federal government's no-fly list to purchase firearms. "Barbara Boxer knows perfectly well the difference between
the terrorist watch list and the no-fly list, and if she doesn't know the difference, then that's really a problem," Fiorina said. "It was Boxer who voted to give constitutional rights to terrorists. Boxer's record on national security is fairly weak."
Source: L.A. Times PolitiCal coverage of 2010 CA Senate Debate
Oct 18, 2010
On Gun Control:
Let people on no-fly list purchase guns; it's poorly managed
The debate between Boxer and Fiorina over the no-fly list emerged after a May primary debate in Los Angeles at which the moderator asked Fiorina and her then-opponents whether people on the "no-fly watch list" should "be allowed to purchase a gun."
Fiorina said they should: "The no-fly list has been, unfortunately, way too large, and I know people who have been on it who have been stopped and if we permit anyone who is on that no-fly list to have their 2nd Amendment rights taken away from them,
that's a terrible problem," she said.
During a subsequent debate with Boxer in September in Moraga, Fiorina asserted that her sister-in-law, a friend's husband and the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts had all been on the no-fly list, which
she added "isn't particularly well managed."
But Fiorina was mistaken at least in part, according to a TSA myth-fact document: Kennedy was never on the no-fly list--but his name closely matched that of someone on the watch list.
Source: L.A. Times PolitiCal coverage of 2010 CA Senate Debate
Oct 18, 2010
On Gun Control:
Assault weapon ban is arbitrary about which weapons qualify
Fiorina restated her opposition to the federal assault weapons ban, saying the law is vague and ineffective. "We have loads of laws, and most of the time, criminals are breaking those laws and we are curtailing citizens' lawful rights to carry guns," she
said. "The assault weapons ban is extremely arbitrary about what qualifies as an assault weapon."Boxer countered that such bans have kept people safe. "To go back to that dangerous yesterday makes no sense," she said. "It has bipartisan support."
Source: Los Angeles Times coverage of 2010 CA Senate Debate
Sep 2, 2010
On Immigration:
No comprehensive reform; but yes to DREAM Act
The candidates sparred over immigration. Fiorina reiterated her objections to comprehensive immigration reform. But in a nod to the importance of Latino voters, who make up 18% of the state's likely voters, Fiorina said for the first time
Wednesday night that she would support the so-called DREAM Act, which would allow certain undocumented youths to earn legal status by attending college or serving in the military. It was a rare moment of agreement: Boxer is a co-sponsor of that bill.
Source: Los Angeles Times coverage of 2010 CA Senate Debate
Sep 2, 2010
On Principles & Values:
I'll work across the aisle, including with Sen. Feinstein
Boxer & Fiorina both began airing new ads this week. Fiorina is continuing her efforts to reach out to independent voters by promising to take on dysfunction in Washington."California jobs gone and Barbara Boxer plays politics," the ad's narrator says
as unemployment figures flicker on the screen. The ad cites criticism of Boxer by the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board, which declined to endorse either candidate and said Californians deserve a senator "able to reach across party lines to achieve
progress" adding that Boxer "falls short on those counts."
"When bickering ends, solutions begin. No partisan games," a smiling Fiorina says to the camera. "I'll reach across the aisle, work with others, oppose my party if needed. Your agenda. Not
mine."
Fiorina has criticized spending increases under both Democrats & Republicans while praising bipartisan efforts to curb spending. She has also promised to work with Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein to boost water deliveries to the Central Valley.
Source: Los Angeles Times coverage of 2010 CA Senate Debate
Oct 20, 2010
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