Lingle no longer appears to be ‘superstar governor’

Former Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle was in the middle of her Republican National Convention speech when the hate talk started.

Lingle spoke early Monday in Cleveland. Lingle’s speech served to praise Republican support for Israel and to make the argument that Jewish-American voters would find a more comfortable home in the GOP.

“American Jews have supported the Republican candidates in increasing numbers. Support of Jewish Americans tripled in the last 25 years,” Lingle said in the nearly five-minute speech that was carried on the RNC’s YouTube channel with an accompanying live chatroom discussion.

As Lingle talked, it was in the chatroom where things quickly became ugly.

Lingle was saying Republicans led by Donald Trump would be stronger supporters of Israel than the Democrats, but the discussion was filled with anti-Semitic hate.

“Nuke Israel and all the dirty Jews NOW!” said one comment.

The liberal blog Raw Story reported: “Monday’s explosion of Jew-baiting and racist trolling that took place on the Republicans’ official YouTube page shocked the RNC into closing down the comments section.”

The chat became inundated with anti-Jewish slurs praising Adolf Hitler, calls to “Ban Jews” and calling the politician a “kike,” the Times of Israel said.

Lingle did not respond to requests for comment.

Lingle, who is Jewish, has been a strong supporter of Israel.

In 2004 she led a Hawaii delegation to Israel and signed a “Memorandum of Understanding between the state of Hawaii and the government of Israel, intended to promote cooperation for research and development in the fields of agriculture and aquaculture,” as she said in her press release.

Besides triggering an outburst against Jews, the latest Lingle appearance marked a lessening of the former two-term Hawaii governor’s role in national GOP politics.

During the 2004 GOP convention in New York, Lingle served as chairwoman, filling in for permanent chairman Dennis Hastert, the former GOP Speaker of the House and Illinois U.S. representative who is now in prison, a convicted serial child molester.

Lingle’s big role in 2008 at the GOP’s St. Paul., Minn., convention was to introduce Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential running mate.

Calling Palin a “transformative leader,” Lingle told the convention “She is genuine. She’s comfortable in her own skin — truly authentic.”

By 2012, Lingle was running for the U.S. Senate from Hawaii, downplaying the Palin speech and also skipping the GOP convention, telling reporters it was a 14-hour flight to Tampa Bay and her time was better spent campaigning in her home state, a campaign she decisively lost to Democrat Mazie Hirono.

By 2014, Lingle was teaching a course in public policy at California State University, Northridge.

The next year, 2015, Lingle was in Illinois, welcomed by GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner, who called her a “superstar governor” who would help him in a turnaround of the state.

Lingle was hired as the Illinois chief operating officer and left the cabinet earlier this month, with little speculation as to what happened except for Rauner’s press release, which said, “Linda made a commitment to help us with our transformation efforts, and she has done a great job of helping to move our state in a new, positive direction.”

A specific political future for Lingle appears even more unclear.

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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.