Free Republic

The daunting task of restructuring Hewlett-Packard will begin in earnest next Wednesday when the company reports its quarterly earnings. Sources familiar with the company’s plans say that CEO Meg Whitman will discuss the opening steps of a company-wide restructuring plan that will include the elimination of about 30,000 jobs. A report by Business Insider yesterday pegged the range of cuts at HP to between 10 percent and 15 percent of its current work force of 320,000 people. But sources familiar with HP’s plans tell AllThingsD that the cuts will be carried out over a relatively long period of time, perhaps...

The president of the National Organization for Women may have said it's wrong for anyone to call a woman a "whore," but the head of the California NOW affiliate says Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman is one. California NOW President Parry Bellasalma told the TPM blog on Thursday that the description of the Republican candidate for governor of California is accurate. "Meg Whitman could be described as 'a political whore.' Yes, that's an accurate statement," Bellasalma said after a TPM blogger called to ask her about a story that appeared on the Daily Caller website. In the Daily Caller report,...

Ah, Mr W, you are still one of my musical heroes…… At 87 Slim Whitman is still around (though he heard rumours of his own death in 2008) but in the early 50s he was very big on the US country scene. In America he had faded in the charts by the end of the decade but he was always popular in Europe and frequently toured there.

Breaking. Just a banner.

All Things D reports that former eBay CEO, gubernatorial candidate could replace Apotheker. Silicon Valley veteran and politically connected former eBay CEO Meg Whitman is being considered to replace Leo Apotheker as Hewlett-Packard's CEO, according to sources speaking with All Things D. The NYSE seems to be on board, as HP stock spiked after the rumors surfaced. (You can follow the stock in real time here.) Apotheker's recent moves -- shuttering TouchPad, WebOS and shopping the PC business -- has left at least 500 people out of work. Those layoffs were announced this morning. The TouchPad was on shelves only...

...Whitman doubts she will ever again run for elected office, and for many months she said little about the campaign. But she has started popping up recently on radio and TV. For a beaten candidate who wishes to remain relevant in politics – Whitman is advising Republican front-runner Mitt Romney in his presidential campaign, and she plans to involve herself in California ballot initiatives – it helps to stay in view. (snip) She said she plans to support ballot initiatives perhaps as early as this summer, likely involving education policy. She said she will recruit and support Republican candidates for...

Former staffers for defeated California candidates Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina have an urgent message for fellow Republicans: Their political future depends on Latino voters, and the Obama administration may be providing an opening. (snip) Mr. Wilson, managing partner at Wilson-Miller Communications Inc. in Sacramento, said that if the topic of immigration arises, Republicans should avoid anti-immigration rhetoric meant to stir up the conservative base. "We're on safe ground when we say, 'We have to secure our borders and get a guest-worker program, then work on a pathway for citizenship for people who are already here'—and then quickly pivot off...

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who made her first foray into politics with a bid for California governor last year, said that after losing that race, she’s probably out of politics for good. “I doubt it,” she said Wednesday on Fox Business Network when asked whether she’d run for elected office again. Some had speculated that Whitman, who lost to Democrat Jerry Brown by 13 points in November, might consider a run for Senate. Last month, she said she was “definitely not” plotting a 2012 Senate bid challenging Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

The former housekeeper of California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman was honored at an immigrant rights gala in Los Angeles Thursday. The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, which organized the event, says Nicky Díaz Santillán's situation is similar to many undocumented immigrant household workers. The Mexican-born Díaz Santillán made headlines during California's gubernatorial election after her lawyer, Gloria Allred, claimed the housekeeper was "exploited, disrespected, himiliated and emotionally and financially abused" by Whitman. Díaz Santillán, who is an undocumented immigrant, claimed Whitman knew about her status during the nine years she was employed, which the republican gubernatorial candidate denied.

The former housekeeper of billionaire California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman is being honored at an immigrant rights gala in Los Angeles. The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, which organized Thursday's fete, says Nicky Diaz Santillan's situation is similar to many illegal immigrant household workers.

Once again, political pundits are saying that the California Republican Party is dead and never to rise again unless it begins to embrace more moderate candidates. And just where has trying to be Democrat-lite ever gotten the Republican Party but in trouble? You can’t out-promise or out-spend liberal Democrats! Politics is about real choices. In these challenging times, Republicans must teach, motivate, inspire, and, ultimately, draw a stark contrast between itself and the progressive politicians. Do citizens want more freedom or big government control, Constitutional rule or activist judges, individual rights or group advocacy, low taxes or wealth redistribution? Yes,...

George Skelton has an interesting column today, Whitman paid a high price for Latino distrust of GOP . Writes Skelton, "Senior advisor Rob Stutzman isn't exactly spilling his guts about the former EBay chief's spectacular thumping. The billionaire lost to low-budget Jerry Brown by 54% to 41%, despite spending a record $160 million-plus, roughly $142 million of it her own money."But the veteran Republican strategist is blaming the mini-landslide size of Whitman's loss on some ugly dust-ups over illegal immigration that alienated Latinos from the GOP." Bunk. Let's start with the biggest factor in Whitman's Titanic disaster of a campaign...

-By Warner Todd Huston Meg Whitman’s race for Governor of California seemed to take a nose dive right after it was discovered late in the campaign that she had employed a maid that was an illegal alien. The San Francisco Chronicle reports on the “tantalizing mystery” of just who it was that launched this torpedo at the Whitman campaign. Unsurprisingly, the SFChron has discovered that it was a union that did the dirty work. The illegal alien, Nicandra Diaz, worked for about 8 years for the Whitman’s but was fired in 2009 once Whitman found out she was an illegal....

Meg Whitman's former maid today was awarded $5,500 in back wages she claimed was owed to her from the former candidate for governor. Nicky Diaz Santillan and her celebrity attorney, Gloria Allred, met this morning at the California Division of Labor Standards and Enforcement in San Jose, seeking more than $10,000. She said she was owed the money for work she did beyond the 15 hours a week for which she was paid during the nine years she worked for Whitman. Santillan said she was asked to perform jobs, including running errands and grocery shopping, that fell outside of her...

I am a California conservative. Believe it or not, there are a lot of us, especially in the rural outreaches of this beautiful state. But somehow California was immune from the conservative electoral sweep of the mid-term elections. Granted, we didn't have true conservative contenders for governor, or for the Senator "Don't Call Me Ma'am" spots. In fact, in spite of the fact that Meg Whitman was the founder and CEO of E-Bay, she was also a former devotee of Van Jones. Yikes!! I also think she ran a weak campaign. The story about the illegal alien housekeeper, who...

alifornia Republicans woke up Wednesday with a political hangover. Nationally, they celebrated the GOP's taking control of Congress, but their dismal showing in California gave them a lingering headache. Many of them wondered how they missed the national wave - and differed on which direction to go next. They lost nearly every statewide office, drubbed by double digits in most of the races. Meg Whitman couldn't win the governorship despite straddling the political middle and spending a record $160 million. Carly Fiorina couldn't roust Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, despite tacking right and exploiting Boxer's low approval ratings.For months, party officials...

LOS ANGELES - Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina and Linda McMahon had a lot in common. All sharp, successful businesswomen who made millions as executives in the private sector, they identified 2010 as an apt historical moment for a Republican candidate with no political experience to break into politics. In pursuit of higher office, each committed considerable resources - more than $200 million combined - to challenge seemingly vulnerable Democrats. Each risk taker came up far short of her goal. Whitman, the 54-year-old former chief executive of eBay, burned through more than $140 million of her own money in a colossal...

At his post-victory news conference Wednesday morning, Governor elect Jerry Brown showed why he won the election with a million votes to spare. He's steeped in the issues, he listens to what is happening on the ground, and he's not afraid to mix it up. Now, I don't agree with Brown on a number of issues. But in the course of the campaign, I rarely got the feeling that Meg Whitman was listening to anyone other than her consultants or that she was even curious. California needs a strong governor; Whitman showed them a wind-up doll. Worse, the former eBay...

In the springtime, strategists for Meg Whitman in her campaign for governor of California probably felt they’d died and gone to heaven in. In a state roiled in political in-fighting, effectively bankrupt, and a political atmosphere in which the electorate was sharpening pitchforks and boiling tar, you had a non-political woman, an internet legend, immensely successful, running as a moderate Republican, which all the pundits agree is the only way for Republicans to get elected in California. Meg Whitman, the first female billionaire in fact, with all the private money available one could ever hope to spend. And the opponent?...

I almost spit on my keyboard when on BOR's talking points memo, he says the following: "Jerry Brown is an honest guy!" O'reilly, you've shown your idiocy again.