Meg Whitman isn’t quite the punching bag of say, an iCarly. She’s dumped a bucket load of cash into her campaign, and has some actual support coming in as well.

But, she saw the red meat that Steve Poizner was dishing up to the base, and thought she better get in the action once again.  So, in a speech that she’s giving, oh, right about now, she puts a bunch of ground round on a platter and serves it up rare as can be. Joe Garofoli at the Chronicle just posted some choice excerpts from the speech:

As governor, I’ll cut taxes to create jobs. Specifically, I’ll cut taxes on job-creating businesses of every size and implement targeted tax relief to rebuild manufacturing in California. I’ll expand research and development tax credits. I’ll establish tax incentives and credits for companies that train and hire displaced workers. And I’ll establish a cabinet-level position in my administration dedicated to private sector job growth. (SF Gate)

So, R&D credits, huh? Well, her friends in Silicon Valley will love that. How about her friends in the Central Valley who are struggling to pay the health insurance bill and the mortgage? No word on that issue.  But don’t worry, because unlike Poizner, she’s got a plan on how we afford the tax cuts: Slash 40,000 government jobs.

As I committed to in February, if elected I will identify and implement at least $15 billion in permanent spending cuts from the state budget. I’ll eliminate redundant and underperforming government agencies and commissions. And I will reduce the state workforce by at least 40,000 employees. That’s a 17 percent reduction that would reset the workforce to 2004-2005 levels and save the state a projected $3.3 billion annually. (SF Gate)

Right, that’s the ticket.  I know Whitman is a business scholar, so I’ll leave this question to her: How does the state sustain an additional loss of 40,000 jobs without a consequential, and substantial, drop in consumer spending and thus private sector jobs.

The fact is that this plan is even more half-baked than Poizner’s merely ridiculous plan.  This one carries few specifics other than “we can improve IT efficiency.” Yes, that’s true, but the state government isn’t ebay, and you can’t simply apply feedback scores and tell everybody that they just have to trust reputation and then pretend everything is hunky-dory. And you can’t really outsource your labor to slave labor, as eMeg does. Nope, the state actually needs its workforce to accomplish some very important goals.  Things like fighting fires, protecting its citizens, you know, silly stuff.

I’m not even sure I need to attack this plan, as the Governor’s people have already done so. From back in June, here’s Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear criticizing the plan:

Former eBay CEO and Republican candidate Meg Whitman campaigns across California, advocating job cuts to net a 10 percent “head count” reduction in California’s 345,000-person state workforce.

But she got a brushback from Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear, who suggested such across-the-board cuts are all but impossible.

“The governor only has authority over contracts with 100,000 state employees paid through the general fund,” McLear said. “About two-thirds of those are in Corrections. So it’s unclear how you cut 30,000 positions without affecting public safety.”

Aaah, the battle royale between Whitman and Poizner, where nothing really makes sense, but you get style points just for dressing up your utility grade red-meat.