Gloria Allred On TSA Pat-Downs:

"I Liked It"

The last time Gloria Allred actually shut up...

Gloria Allred, the infamous ambulance-chasing, attention-whoring attorney - who most recently gained notice for her efforts to undermine Meg Whitman's campaign for governor of California - explains why she thinks invasive TSA searches are OK...

Here's the exchange (from Nov. 19):

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: "Did they touch your body parts?"

GLORIA ALLRED: "Yeah, they did and it was a first time anybody touched them in a long time and frankly, I liked it."

Allred, the self- (and TSA-) satisfied watchdog...

NannyGate/Meg Whitman housekeeper Nicky Diaz (left) and Allred: Because Gloria cares...

Note: To see the entire segment from the Hannity show (7:13 in length), go here...

SNL gets Gloria...

In all her Gloria...

Last night during its opening skit, "Saturday Night Live" lampooned the ambulance-chasing, attention-craving political operative Gloria Allred.

It says a lot about the awareness of California's gubernatorial race - outside the state's borders - and the (correct) perception of Allred...everywhere.

To paraphrase a famous quote, "If Jerry Brown and Gloria Allred have lost "SNL," then they've lost the middle."

(The clip begins after a brief/random commercial message...)

Getting "barbecued"...

The illegal alien and the ambulance chaser... (photo: San Francisco Sentinel)

A round-up of "Meg Whitman-employed-an-illegal-alien-as-a-housekeeper"-related stories...

How quickly things change: Here's a strategy: Tear apart the candidate on the front page and then bury the exculpatory follow-up on page 11. How's that unbiased journalism working for you? Bonus quote: "In fact, had she gone ahead and fired Nicandra Diaz Santillan based on such a letter, she would have exposed herself to potential anti-discrimination violations, lawyers said."

Why all the fuss? "Why Meg v Maid Saga Is a Big Deal: The Latino Vote" That explains a lot...(h/t: Calbuzz)

From Gateway Pundit: "This [below] was beautiful. Greta Van Susteren destroyed far left hack and attorney Gloria Allred on her show tonight. Great blasted Allred for her despicable hit on Meg Whitman and for using an illegal alien to smear the Whitman family. Greta ate her lunch. Gloria Allred did not see this coming– watch Gloria’s smile melt away about 15 seconds into the segment. 'Gloria, this is almost delusional!'”

"CNN reporting on Gloria Allred reads like a press release - an embarrassingly written press release: Apparently, CNN is shameless. Its headline is 'Gloria Allred is a girl's best friend.'" (h/t: Althouse)

From the esteemed blog, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, "Gloria Allred is doing more to drive illegal immigrants underground and to target Latinos for racial profiling than anything the State of Arizona has even thought of doing."

Nailing it (as usual): Debra Saunders at the San Francisco Chronicle calls the accusations (a) "Campaign stunt: a bunch of garbage"...

The story doesn't stop with Meg, Jerry, Gloria and the housekeeper: "Fiorina, Boxer both say they never hired domestic help" (SJ Mercury News)

So, how is this (meaning smears) and all of the other "the GOP hate Spanish-speaking folks" efforts playing with Hispanic voters? Put it this way, the dial is moving - in the wrong direction for Democrats. A recent Gallup Poll finds "Hispanic voters' support for Democratic candidates waned in August and September. As a result, Hispanics in September favored Democrats by a 13-point margin (51% to 38%), compared with 32-point margins in June and July."

Meg vs. the Attention-Hungry Ambulance Chaser...

How do you handle a problem like Nicandra?

Sure, it's a cheap play on the old "Sound of Music" number, but things could have been much worse for Meg Whitman today when legal beagle/(insert derogatory adjectives here) Gloria Allred trotted out Whitman's former housekeeper...who just happens to be an illegal alien.

According to the Los Angeles Times, "Flanked by attorney Gloria Allred, former Whitman employee Nicandra Diaz made the accusations at a tearful Los Angeles press conference Wednesday. Diaz said she asked Whitman for help with her immigration status in 2009 and Whitman refused. 'I felt like she was throwing me away like a piece of garbage,' Diaz said."

Gloria Allred: she never met a camera she didn't like...(photo: rybanz.blogspot.com)

Ben Smith at Politico observes, "Allred said her client 'alleges that Ms. Whitman was aware of her status.' She provided no direct evidence for that but suggested Whitman should have known because of the nanny's references to her inability to travel outside the country and by alleged letters from the Social Security Administration reporting that her social security number did not match her name. Her employment and firing were a 'nightmare' said Allred, who cast the case in the most politically inflammatory terms possible, and said her client had been 'exploited, disrespected, humiliated, and emotionally and financially abused' and that she was filing a claim in state court for damages included unreimbursed mileage on the nanny's car. Allred then coached the nanny through a tearful press conference in which she recounted an argument between Whitman and her husband when they learned that she was in the country illegally, in which -- she claimed -- Whitman said the family was 'at fault' because they 'never asked' if she was in the country legally. 'I hope no one else has to suffer the way that I did,' she said. 'She treated me as if I was not a human being.'"

Below is video from an impromptu Q&A Whitman had following an appearance at Cisco today. (h/t: Shaky Hand Productions/SF Gate). The former eBay CEO does a credible - and very humane - job of explaining what happened.

From Politico: "Whitman said in a statement that she's 'worried' about Diaz and that she is being 'manipulated' by Allred. 'Nicky told me that she was admitting her deception now because she was aware that her lie might come out during the campaign. Nicky said she was concerned about hurting my family and me,' Whitman said. 'As required by law, once we learned she was an illegal worker, I immediately terminated Nicky’s employment. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I considered Nicky a friend and a part of our extended family.'"

The GOP/Whitman mailer on illegal immigration: Dems were hoping to hit an artery today...

Considering Whitman's quick, clear and strong denial of wrongdoing, it doesn't seem that this episode is likely to cut into her efforts. If anything - if what she asserts is true - it could even show that she "walks the walk." As Whitman and her team noted, the timing of Allred's allegations were suspicious. Any bets on who Allred works for? Who she's voting for?

Back to the original question: How do you handle a problem like Nicandra? Exactly the way Meg Whitman did today...