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Elizabeth Warren Tag

Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren blatantly dodged simple questions from CBS News reporters this week who wanted to know why she hasn't endorsed a Democratic candidate and if she believed Hillary Clinton should release the transcripts of her speeches to Goldman Sachs. Could she be angling for the position of Hillary's VP? Inquiring minds want to know. Nick Gass of Politico has the details:
Warren won't say whether Clinton should release Goldman Sachs transcripts Sen. Elizabeth Warren declined multiple opportunities on Thursday to say whether Hillary Clinton should release the transcripts of her paid speeches to Goldman Sachs and other financial institutions.

In what would be a dream ticket for some and a nightmare to others, Bernie Sanders has been dropping some not-so-subtle hints that he would select Elizabeth Warren as his running mate. This would be a smart move on Bernie's part. He has been functioning as a stand-in for Warren and derives support from her wing of the Democratic Party. The left would be electrified. The rest of the country would be horrified as these two Neo-Marxists traveled the land promising to take wealth from some and give to others. Mohit Priyadarshi reports at The Inquistr:
Feel the Bern? Bernie Sanders Leads Hillary Clinton in New Poll, Tips Elizabeth Warren for Vice President Bernie Sanders’ supporters may finally have something to cheer about. The Vermont senator seems to be establishing a significant lead against fellow Democratic Party presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, with Fox News January polls tipping Sanders to be ahead of Clinton by a 50-37 percent margin among New Hampshire Democratic primary voters.

Professor David E. Bernstein has written a great last-minute Christmas present or belated Hanukkah gift. Lawless: The Obama Administration's Unprecedented Assault on the Constitution and the Rule of Law is sure to ruin the holiday for whoever reads it - Republicans because it confirms President Obama has run roughshod over Congress and the Constitution, and Democrats because it confirms what they have so long denied.  Which is why everybody should read it, digest it, debate it and institute changes to prevent future presidents of any party from doing such damage again. Bernstein teaches Constitutional Law, among other things, at George Mason University School of law, and his easy facility with technical, legalistic topics makes Lawless accessible and understandable without eliding over details. The picture Bernstein paints so adroitly is of an unprecedented and unlawful consolidation of power in the executive, and a president unrestrained by his own promises, by custom, by standards of legal ethics, by statute or by the Constitution.

Hillary Clinton met with all of the female Democrat senators Monday who happily endorsed her. Well, almost all the female Democrat senators. One rather important Massachusetts lawmaker was missing. Sam Frizell reports at Time:
Warren Absent From Clinton Fundraiser With Female Senators A meeting of female Democratic senators backing Hillary Clinton’s campaign Monday had one glaring omission, but no one mentioned it. In fact, some in the room seemed to suggest that it wasn’t happening. Thirteen of the 14 women from Congress’ upper chamber met for a fundraiser at the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Washington. Not joining them was Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has not yet endorsed Clinton’s campaign.

Despite pleas from numerous high level progressives over the last few years, Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren is still insisting that she will not run for president in 2016. In an appearance on the Late Show this week, Stephen Colbert gave Warren celebrity treatment and asked her the question one more time. Curtis Houck of NewsBusters has the story:
Stephen Colbert Cozies Up to Elizabeth Warren, Pleads with Her to Run for President Near the tail end of his opening monologue, Colbert hyped that Warren “has launched a one-woman crusade against the billionaire class” and is “like Batman, but her enemy is Bruce Wayne.” Later in the September 24 program, Colbert introduced her as “the sheriff on Wall Street” and admitted to her that “you’ve come a long way, baby, if I may coin a corporate phrase.” Reminiscing about the first time he met her, Colbert hyped that she serves as “one of the household names in American politics and yet you are one of the few household names that is not running for president of the United States.” He then pleaded: “Are you sure you're not running for the president of the United States?

From Kate:
Harrisonburg, VA...northwest of Charlottesville, VA (looks like car owner from Charlottesville). Just took this picture in a retirement home 15 minute parking space...so probably owned by a baby-boomer who has a parent in the retirement community. :(
Bumper Stickers - Harrisonburg, VA - Obama Warren You know, I'm also from the Elizabeth Warren Wing of the Democratic Party.

There has been speculation Joe Biden may run. There has been speculation Elizabeth Warren may run. Either of them individually would be a dream come true for the pure theater of it (and with Warren, for some other reasons). But together, it will have the conservative media and blogosphere shouting "Thank You God!" Could it be? Consider this unexpected development, first reported by CNN, Biden meets with Warren in Washington:
Vice President Joe Biden met privately with Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Saturday in his residence at the Naval Observatory, CNN has learned, another sign he is seriously deciding whether to jump into the Democratic presidential race. The meeting between Biden and Warren, confirmed by two people familiar with the session, is the biggest indication yet that Biden is feeling out influential Democrats before announcing his intentions.

All the pieces are falling into place for Elizabeth Warren to enter the presidential race. First, long before Hillary began to falter, I predicted that Elizabeth Warren would crush Hillary, and they both know it:
For all my criticisms of Warren, and they are extensive, I am convinced that if she ran, she would crush Hillary, just as Obama did. Warren, as did Obama, has a unique ability to demagogue the core Democratic narrative of victimhood in ways that would make Hillary blush. She is more cunning than Hillary, more popular with the base, would bring an excitement the contrived Ready-for-Hillary movement could only dream of. Democrats may be “ready” for Hillary, but they don’t really want her.
Bernie Sanders' success in mounting a credible campaign is the best evidence that Warren would crush Hillary. Sanders is a proxy for Warren, the second choice of the progressive movement when Warren declined to run (for now). Imagine how HUGE the crowds would be for Warren, if Sanders is getting crowds in the tens of thousands. Second, Sanders' message is Warren's message. The system is rigged by Wall Street and the banks against the little people:

On Monday, Elizabeth Warren took to the senate floor and made a series of bizarre accusations about the awful series of Planned Parenthood videos. Senator Warren apparently believes this is all part of a vast right-wing conspiracy to take away women's rights. Maybe progressives should find a different politician to clone. MSNBC's Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough called Warren out for hypocrisy and for suggesting that anyone who objects to the horror contained in the Planned Parenthood videos is against women's rights. Even the left-leaning Huffington Post took notice:
Morning Joe To Elizabeth Warren: 'Stop Insulting Our Intelligence' MSNBC's Joe Scarborough on Tuesday slammed Sen. Elizabeth Warren, accusing the Massachusetts Democrat of conflating support for women's rights with support for Planned Parenthood. "You can be against the funding of Planned Parenthood without being against the support of women's health," Scarborough said. "Nice try, Elizabeth Warren."

If you thought the faith progressives have in Elizabeth Warren was over the top, you ain't seen nothing yet. So strong is the left's love of all things Warren, they're now trying to create an army of political candidates just like her to run for public office. Sam Frizell reports at Time:
The Left’s Quest to Create Hundreds of Elizabeth Warrens “Elizabeth—she’s here?” The thumbs up came from the back of the meeting room, and two hundred future Sen. Elizabeth Warrens stood up and waited for their prototype to enter. Spindly and with a bouncy step, the Massachusetts senator strode rapidly into the room and was waylaid by a friendly sea of imperfect facsimiles calling for selfies. “What a way to start the morning!” Warren said at last, breathless at the podium.

She said she's not running. Ready for Warren and MoveOn.org have gone to spend the Weekend at Bernie Sanders, the stand-in for who progressives really want, Elizabeth Warren. Bernie!? Really? Is an open Socialist really going to stand a chance in a general election? And weakness in the Hillary campaign may be just what is needed for the Democratic Party to grovel for a Warren entry, writes Doug Shoen, The potentially mortal threat to Hillary’s candidacy:
Pundits have focused recently on Hillary Clinton’s narrowing lead in polls among a group of less well known Republicans, along with voters' growing skepticism about her integrity. But a much more immediate threat to her electability is beginning to appear: in the last few weeks, Clinton has lost significant ground in both New Hampshire and Iowa to socialist Bernie Sanders....
But Sanders isn't a viable national candidate, so who will Democrats turn to if Hillary continues to falter? Schoen sees the need for a new Bobby Kennedy. Who’s the Bobby Kennedy in this race? Elizabeth Warren, say Schoen.

They way Elizabeth Warren's current devotees talk about Elizabeth Warren reminds me very much of of the way Hillary Clinton's devotees once talked about Hillary Clinton. During my time in high school, undergrad, and law school (so, since 2003 to a couple of years ago,) I remember my girlfriends speaking with awe about the woman who beat the mortification of a cheating husband (who was also the President) to rise to such great political heights, under such pressure, and in the face of such scrutiny and opposition from evil Republicans determined to take out the first woman to ever chip away at the presidential glass ceiling. They didn't just admire her; they loved her, much in the same way that Warren's supporters have now devoted themselves to the prospect of a presidential run. Well, at least they were devoted. They've also been rebuffed by the woman herself (even though the MSM really seems to want her candidacy), and discouraged by a lack of any indication that people close to Warren were setting up a campaign infrastructure. So discouraged, in fact, that Run Warren Run, the drafting campaign set up by Democracy for America and MoveOn.org Political Action, is suspending its operations next week. From The Hill:

Elizabeth Warren had a reputation in academia as a climber with sharp elbows, said New York Magazine in 2011 ("A Saint with Sharp Elbows), and The Boston Globe in 2012:
Behind the scenes, some of her peers bristled at her ascent, viewing her as smart and capable but also as a climber with sharp elbows.
Warren brought those sharp elbows to her 2012 Senate campaign against Scott Brown, and when Brown elbowed back he was accused of sexism. Brent Budowsky at The Hill accused Brown of "sexist slime" for raising the obvious question as to whether Warren's false claim to be Native American in a law directory used for hiring might have juiced her career. Budowsky wrote:
First Brown implied that Warren was a Harvard elitist. Presumably Brown would attack John F. Kennedy for the same reason. Now Brown suggests that Elizabeth Warren is not really qualified to teach at Harvard. Huh? Brown's using the old Karl Rove-style "dog whistle" attack, suggesting Warren just maybe got the Harvard job because of affirmative action. What sexist garbage it is that Scott Brown is trying to sell? Elizabeth Warren got the Harvard job because she was supremely qualified, as are most women who are attacked in this way.
The Warren campaign made the same sexism charge:

David Frum's naive delight in what he seems certain is Elizabeth Warren's completely pure and altruistic populism leads him to insist that she'll run for president, despite her repeated statements that she will notHe writes,
By now Warren knows (assuming she didn’t know before she arrived there) that the only thing the Senate can offer somebody like her is the velvety asphyxiation of every idealistic hope. If what you like best is the sound of your own voice and the deference of those around you, then a senatorship is a wonderful job. If you’re in politics to accomplish things, the institution must be almost unbearable. Can Warren bear it? The endless talk, talk, talk? The scoldings from White House aides whenever she says or does something they deem unhelpful? The merciless editing of her speech at the next Democratic National Convention —and the surgical exclusion from the innermost council of the party leadership? That’s the “unique role in the national conversation” in which a Hillary Clinton led Democratic party will cast Elizabeth Warren. Warren's got nothing to gain from staying put in the Senate except drudgery, ineffectuality, and humiliation.
She's simply too good for the Senate, and her beautiful soul can only be quashed and trampled in the Senate quagmire.  The only way to save herself--and America!--is to run against and beat Hillary for the Democrat nomination, and if she is as sincere as Frum believes her to be, she has no other choice but to run.  Frum explains:
If a politician expresses ideas that are shared by literally tens of millions of people—and that are being expressed by no other first-tier political figure—she owes it to her supporters to take their cause to the open hearing and fair trial of the nation. It would be negligent and irresponsible not to do so. Elizabeth Warren belongs to that unusual group who stick by their principles even when it might cost them something, including an election. But if you’re willing to lose for your principles, surely you should be willing to try to win for them?
However, what if Warren is not sincere but is, instead, inauthentic?

Andrew Kaczynski at Buzzfeed reports that Hillary's often-told story about all her grandparents being immigrants is 3/4 false. Only one was.
Speaking in Iowa Wednesday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that all her grandparents had immigrated to the United States, a story that conflicts with public census and other records related to her maternal and paternal grandparents. The story of her grandmother specifically immigrating is one Clinton has told before. Clinton’s sole foreign-born grandparent, Hugh Rodham Sr., immigrated as a child."
Extensive public records support Kaczynski's findings. Here's a Buzzfeed video file of Hillary recently telling the story. [video width="600" height="338" mp4="https://legalinsurrection.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/HillaryinIowacomments-624x350.mp4"][/video] There's also a Youtube video linked by Buzzfeed.

During the 2012 Massachusetts Senate race, liberals dismissed as irrelevant Elizabeth Warren's false claim that she was Native American, because they liked her progressive politics. Most people don't understand, however, what Warren did. Warren didn't just once check a box on a meaningless form from which she stood no gain. As detailed at ElizabethWarrenWiki.org, for years Warren listed herself as Native American on questionnaires for a law professor directory used for hiring during the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s, as she was climbing the law school ladder from U. Texas to U. Penn. to Harvard Law School. Warren then stopped that ethnic claim when she received a tenured position at Harvard in 1995. While Warren claims that the law schools were not aware of her claim and it had no impact on her hiring, Warren has never authorized or directed Harvard to release its entire hiring file. Somehow, this supposed secret that never was disclosed to Harvard prior to hiring was known to the Harvard Women's Law Journal when Warren was a visiting professor in 1993, which listed Warren as a Woman of Color in Legal Academia. And after hiring, Harvard promptly promoted Warren as a Native American hire.  When the Boston Herald broke the story, Warren initially claimed not to know why Harvard touted her that way. Warren excused this conduct by claiming that she either was Native American or at least thought so because of family lore.

You may have noticed that almost every time Elizabeth Warren is interviewed, she is asked if she plans to run for president in 2016. FOX News media analyst Howard Kurtz thinks it's because the press is longing for a competitive race on the Democratic side in 2016 and perhaps because journalists feel an "affinity" for Warren. Watch this segment from FOX News on Saturday: I think there's a much simpler explanation for the media's obsession with Warren; they love her. The media is overwhelmingly liberal and many journalists view Warren as the next Obama. They'll settle for Hillary and even pull the lever for her in 2016 if they have no choice, but they'd rather get behind a candidate like Warren who has become the left's standard bearer on issues like income inequality.

With Hillary's email and fundraising scandals destined to be a permanent fixture in the 2016 campaign if she runs, and with Clinton fatigue already setting in, the voices calling on Elizabeth Warren to mount a challenge are growing stronger. What started with committed progressives at places like MoveOn.org and Daily Kos, now is going mainstream liberal. The Boston Globe Editorial Board is calling on Warren to challenge Hillary:
DEMOCRATS WOULD be making a big mistake if they let Hillary Clinton coast to the presidential nomination without real opposition, and, as a national leader, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren can make sure that doesn’t happen. While Warren has repeatedly vowed that she won’t run for president herself, she ought to reconsider.... The clock is ticking: Presidential candidates need to hire staff, raise money, and build a campaign operation. Although Clinton hasn’t officially declared her candidacy, she’s scooping up support from key party bigwigs and donors, who are working to impose a sense of inevitability about her nomination. Unfortunately, the strategy’s working .... Fairly or not, many Americans already view Clinton skeptically, and waltzing to the nomination may actually hurt her in the November election against the Republican nominee..... Unlike Clinton, or any of the prospective Republican candidates, Warren has made closing the economic gaps in America her main political priority, in a career that has included standing up for homeowners facing illegal foreclosures and calling for more bankruptcy protections. If she runs, it’ll ensure that those issues take their rightful place at the center of the national political debate. Some of Warren’s admirers feel she’d be better off fighting for those causes in the Senate — but her opportunities to enact reforms there are shrinking, which should make a presidential run more attractive. As a member of the minority party in the Senate, her effectiveness is now much more limited than when she first won election, since Republicans control the legislative agenda. Democrats face an uphill challenge to reclaim the Senate in 2016 and face even slimmer prospects in the House. For the foreseeable future, the best pathway Warren and other Democrats have for implementing their agenda runs through the White House.
To drive home the point, The Globe today features several Op-Eds also urging Warren to run: