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On ABC World News, Diane Sawyer doesn’t list Elizabeth Warren as first female Native American Senator

On ABC World News, Diane Sawyer doesn’t list Elizabeth Warren as first female Native American Senator

Last night’s broadcast of ABC World News featured a segment in which Diane Sawyer interviewed all twenty female U.S. Senators in the newly sworn in 113th Congress.

The segment touched on an array of issues, from contraception, to abortion, to who they thought would be the first female President of the United States.

Though the interview was a bit heavy on “men-bashing,” I thought it was a very interesting segment. Much of the interview centered around the 113th Congress being a body of “firsts.”

Sawyer opens the segment reflecting on the historical significance of this particular Congress.

Across the capitol, a milestone in history. One after the other, women were sworn in as Senators. For the first time ever twenty U.S. Senators in all, and they were lawyers, ranchers, a former Governor. They were also mothers… They are living breathing history.

Later, Sawyer specifically identifies individual trailblazers among the group of twenty.

These new female arrivals signal a modern era. The first female Senator from Nebraska, Deb Fischer. The first Asian-American woman elected to the Senate, Mazie Hirono. And the first openly gay Senator, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin…

Credit should be given where credit is due. And this is a truly remarkable group of women, many of which are pioneers for their race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.

However, one thing was conspicuously absent from the recitation of the “firsts” achieved by this group of female Senators.

Sawyer failed to list Elizabeth Warren as the first Native American female U.S. Senator. Throughout her campaign for the Senate, Warren was dogged by her unrelenting claims of Native American heritage despite the fact that she never produced any real evidence to prove it, and consistently ignored those who questioned it. (Jump to 3:28 to see where Sawyer begins the list)

I inquired with ABC as to why Warren was left out. As of yet, they have not addressed my question. My assumption is that ABC presumably required a certain level of documentation to corroborate claims of heritage before broadcasting their validity on World News.

As has been documented here on numerous occasions, the proof offered by Warren is not sufficient to satisfy any real inquiries into her heritage.

Here’s one example of Warren’s “proof.”

Explanations like that may have cut it at Harvard Law School or the University of Pennsylvania, but it is apparently not enough for World News with Diane Sawyer.

Update: An e-mail from a reader alerted me that a new law maker with Native American heritage was, in fact, sworn in to the 113th Congress. Via The Oklahoman:

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, said [Markwayne] Mullin’s election doubled the number of American Indians in Congress. Cole is a Chickasaw. Mullin is a member of the Cherokee Nation.

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker presented Mullin with a tribal blanket at Thursday’s reception, and Cherokee Council member Jack Bauer read a resolution honoring Mullin’s election to Congress.

Congratulations to Congressman Mullin and his family.

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Comments

diane, HOW in the world could you be so crass, as to not mention those high cheekbones!

Quick, get Raven on the phone, somebody needs to confront Diane Sawyer! This is a very historic moment and Diane is trying to suppress this important first!

Operative word is “News”

Everyone already knows she the first impregnated law sutdent, giving birth to #OWS, all the while being the first Native First American to accomplish…anything everything.

Oh serendipity!!

One of today’s photographs on Shorpy is Daughter’s of Pocahontas. It was a ladies auxillary of a Masonic group calling itself the Red Men. White folks who liked to dress up as Native Americans.

Barring further evidence I believe I have uncovered the origin of Warren’s claims.

CSPAN did not acknowledge Elizabeth Warren’s native American ‘heritage’ either. See 00:22:08 of http://www.c-span.org/Events/Senate-Convenes-First-Session-of-the-113th-Congress/10737436963-1/. It shows Joe Biden shaking hands with Elizabeth Warren at the Senate swearing in ceremony. The chyron shows 20 women, 3 Hispanics and 1 african American but no native Americans.

The smugness on that top image is appalling.

We’re in the worst financial shape in at least 32 years, possibly since the Great Depression, and it’s Ha ha hee hee we’re wymyn Senators, ladies!

Once you get to that level, it’s a big game in which all the outcomes are rigged in your favor. Lose an election, make seven figures lobbying.

Until the whole thing comes crashing down.

If America doesn’t evade the consequences we deserve, may these clowns–irrespective of their race, gender or party—live to see experience the results of their actions.

    jacksonjay in reply to gs. | January 4, 2013 at 3:55 pm

    Come on man! In every interview I’ve seen they have all spoken about their abilities to compromise, get along, work together, be bipartisan, etc…! As America becomes more and more feminized, I think we will all agree that they are right!

    Men just need to accept the Woman’s World that we are leaving to our sons!

You forgot to mention that she is the first woman admitted to the Senate who took the bar as a nursing mother.

Surely that deserves accolades and praise.

“Credit should be given where credit is due. And this is a truly remarkable group of women, many of which are pioneers for their race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.”

Sexual orientation pioneer?!?

No. No credit should be given to those who pioneer new
ways to sin against God.

If you’ve ever seen a long-term chart of government growth and spending, there’s a noticeable inflection point in 1920, the year that the 19th Amendment was passed. As John Lott points out:

“For decades, polls have shown that women as a group vote differently than men. Without the women’s vote, Republicans would have swept every presidential race but one between 1968 and 2004…

…Young single women start out being much more liberal than their male counterparts and are about 50 percent more likely to vote Democratic. As previously noted, these women also support a higher, more progressive income tax as well as more educational and welfare spending.”

Let’s face it, women – especially single women – want to be taken care of and will vote for anybody they feel (not think) will fill that empty space in their life.

I confess to being confused by all this First Woman hoopla, and I am a woman! Women seem to want what men have, not literally folks, be they do want to be considered equal, but when they get the jobs that were formerly mostly held by men, then they jump at any chance to be labeled unique by the mere fact that they are female. Personally, I think it diminishes their capabilities, not enhances them.

Further, to be labeled as the first openly gay senator makes her sexuality part of her resumé. Call me crazy, but isn’t that making it about lady parts and not lady smarts?

I expect these new senators to do their job, to represent their constituents to the best of their ability. Period. What they are first of is of ZERO consequence, in my humble opinion!

    It is all about celebrity and numerology. Little to nothing of consequence.

    Browndog in reply to eosredux. | January 4, 2013 at 5:02 pm

    It’s all quite simple.

    They create a victim class, then use their victimhood as evidence their moral authority is superior and cannot be questioned.

Regarding the update, Warren would still be the first Native-American woman elected to the Senate. And Sawyer’s story was about women, after all. So Diane was remiss in not celebrating the historic occasion.

And other fallout from the Warren campaign …

Red-faced state officials admitted last night they are trying to find as many as 19,000 missing welfare recipients — after the controversial taxpayer-funded voter registration pitches the state mailed to their addresses last summer were sent back marked “Return to sender, address unknown.”

The Department of Transitional Assistance contacted 477,000 welfare recipients who were on their books from June 1, 2011, to May 31, 2012, after settling a voter-rights lawsuit brought by Democratic-leaning activist groups that demanded an aggressive voter information effort by the state. That $274,000 push by DTA resulted in 31,000 new voter registrations — but revealed an alarming number of welfare recipients whose residency in Massachusetts can’t be confirmed.

“DTA is in the process of contacting those clients for which a forwarding address was prov­ided to verify their addresses, as a change of address might impact their eligibility,” a statement from the agency said.

DTA critics expressed astonishment at the agency’s faulty address records — which were only uncovered by accident — saying it’s further evidence that the electronic benefits system sorely needs reform.

    Hepcat in reply to Neo. | January 4, 2013 at 7:03 pm

    The welfare payments are directly deposited in the welfare recipient’s bank accounts. They could be anywhere. Or even dead with somebody writing checks on the account. Crazy.

I am in awe of Diane Sawyers sincerity and heart-felt emotion.

Listen to the way she pronounces “college” at 3:40. Oh my god, the first openly gay woman in the Senate “was in college when she was inspired by Geraldine Ferraro.”

Why the emoting there? Am I missing something?

Jack The Ripper | January 4, 2013 at 7:31 pm

Not to worry. Although we are talking about the Senate, not the House, Nancy Pelosi will have photos of Elizabeth Warren airbrushed/photoshopped to give Warren a nice redskin tone and will get ABC News to revamp the piece (retroactively) to refer appropriately to Chief Teaching Bull as the first female native American U.S. Senator.

P.S. – I guess President Obama’s desire to give Israel the finger with the Hagel pick exceeds his desire (and Joe Biden’s) desire not to antagonize gay and lesbian constituents (due to some of Hagel’s past utterances). Speaking of desires, and Biden, and gay/lesbian, and utterances, let me try my hand at a rather low-brow, but still worth a snicker or a chuckle utterance: I hear that Barney Frank is licking his chops at John Kerry’s open seat. Of course, Barney would be a step down for Kerry in the marrying/dating for money/wealth department. You got to hand it to John Forbes Kerry (aka JFK Lite, aka the Poor-In-Law JFK), he did hit the numbers twice in life. Definitely has talent when it comes to marrying well.

Jack The Ripper | January 4, 2013 at 7:40 pm

Also, when I read the WSJ piece today/yesterday on law school grads (44k) vs. legal jobs being created (22k), and the increased borrowing (not very dischargeable in bankruptcy) to attend law school, I could not help but think of “champion of the poor” Tin Lizzy’s $350,000 per year job at Harvard Law School (HLS) while teaching only one class.

The chutzpah, the gall, the hubris. Given that the academic year is not 12 months, and the vacations during the nine months that it is, plus the likelihood that her teaching was only three days a week, this is a woman with no sense of decency.

[…] When ABC News did a segment on new female senators and highlighted all of their historic firsts, Sawyer didn’t acknowledge Elizabeth Warren as the first female Native American senator? […]