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Watching Sen.-elect Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) earn a big win last night, I couldn't help but think about the way in which Senate Republicans were indirectly responsible for the outcome.
You'll recall that it was Warren's consumer-advocacy work that led President Obama and congressional Democrats to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. GOP policymakers fought the agency's existence, but they also drew a line in the sand: under no circumstances would Warren be allowed to head the CFPB.
As a result, Obama asked Warren to help structure the agency; Richard Cordray got to work looking out for consumers; and Democrats approached Warren with an idea: "You know, there's this Senate race coming up in Massachusetts...."
Sen. Scott Brown (R) looked to be in a fairly strong position, but Warren beat him with relative ease yesterday, ending up with an eight-point edge with nearly all the precincts reporting.
If Senate Republicans had allowed Warren to receive a simple, up-or-down vote, she very likely would have spent 2012 at the CFPB, instead of on the campaign trail, and Democrats may have struggled to find a candidate who could have dispatched Brown so easily.
But the GOP's obstructionist instincts stopped the party from thinking ahead. They'll be reminded of the misstep every day for the next six years.
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The Confederacy didn't rise again (again). They can take their crazy religion and their crackpot politics and their pirate's world view and go to hell.
Hell is too nice a place for these scoundrels.
Hell won't have 'em. They'll have to move to Texas.
It ain't over 'til it's over.
Every public officeholder swears an oath of office. Ask yourself, 'What's the point of ANY additional pledge?' Follow the money.
Any officeholder who genuinely believes in representative government should have already publicly denounced the Teaparty/Taliban's efforts to disenfranchise Americans.
If you stood in line to vote, write your STATE legislators an invitation to the 21st century. Washington state voters had their ballots weeks before election day.
The Teaparty/Taliban are still afraid of women making decisions. (John 8:3-11)
Trickle down not only doesn't spur economic growth, it stifles it.
"Corporations are people" = "He with the most gold rules"
Some are already feeling like they're in Hell, I'm sure.
Worked out PERFECTLY!
So happy that this smart, thoughtful, articulate (Native American) woman is in the Senate.
i agree.
As we who have ancestors of Cherokee, who are undocumented, we say .......Whaaa Hooooo! You go Elizabeth
she is a scoundrel who doesn't tell the truth and takes advantage of a heritage's perks to an advantage that doesn't belong to her.
She's 1/32nd Native American and some institutions give benefits if you are that much Native American. Your complaint is with the institution since THEY are the ones who make the decision as to what percentage of Native ancestry is needed for a person to receive benefits.
Again just because someone isn't in a headdress and brown skinned doesn't mean they're not Native American.
I am so sick of GOP racism- seriously I thought that was going to stop today; guess I was being naive.
"she is a scoundrel who doesn't tell the truth..."
TRUTH? TRUTH? This coming from a member of the tearatz that couldn't tell the truth if it hit them in the face with a 2x4? PUHLEAZE! Crawl back under your piles of lies and go to sleep. Don't you get it? All the lies and all the millions and still YOU LOST! Eat it!
Make that every day for at least the next six years.
How about only 4 years as she may have work to do in 2016 on a national ticket.
Brown and Warren???
In their infinite wisdom they lost Mr.Luger and his seat. They dissed women by not trying to stifle gov. vaginal probe and his ilk. They did not stand up for the right to vote. They wrote off non-white Americans. Only by the grace of the corporate owned media did they even stand a chance. Will this be a wake-up call or will they begin to conspire how to better steal the next election? I have little confidence in their better nature.
Excellent points, NMT.
I hope they continue with all of their current strategies and I'll have the popcorn at the ready for when they come to the realization that in 2016 they'll be running against either the standard bearer for the white working-class male (Biden) or a supremely qualified woman (Clinton).
Thankfully, foresight is not a strong suit for today's Republican Party.
i agree NMMT and MB.
one has to wonder how sincere they will be when changes are made by the repub party. the tea party LIED to get elected, running on jobs, and then after they got in, all they did was obstruct and worry about abortion.
will they use "change" as an excuse to get into office, and then do what they want anyway? i think it will take alot for the american people to trust the repub party again.
I think it would be good to take advantage of their preemptive complaints about electronic voting machines "flipping votes" from Willard to the President and try to get rid of any such machines that do not provide a concurrent paper trail for the purpose of verification. One less avenue for cheating.
Got Enraged and Engaged:
Mooched the Vote 2012!
;-)
I think instead of planning for 2016, we should be working on 2014. You can bet whatever plots they work on, it will start in 2014. There's deadwood in Congress that needs to go from both parties in 2014.
You are SOO correct and McConnell is the 1st with Boner 2nd!
McConnell is my piece of sh$t Senator from hell and not one day has he ever represented me!
Target # one, Darrell Issa!
Actually, I think they would have had a great candidate in Rachel Maddow. At least, then Senator Brown thought that was who was running against him.
I saw her in Santa Barbara last month. Rachael said "she has no desire to be a politician, ever.
As someone that has had family members in politics, I don't blame her and she's that much smarter for it.
Maybe folks are getting a clue that the freakazoids like Gingrich, Giuliani, and Trump have nothing to offer.
As Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out last night, when Senator Warren arrives in the Senate she will widely seen as one of the smartest people in the body and will no doubt be given some pretty choice, and in your face, assignments for a freshman.
A lot of progressives knew her back in the day when she ran a little consumer oriented blog a TPM.
Actually, I think that Senator-elect Warren's margin of victory was partly due to acknowledgement - and disgust - with Scott Brown's complicity in Republican obstructionism. For those of us in Massachusetts who have been paying attention, this was consciously factored into our votes. For most of the others who voted for her, I think it still factored in on some sub-conscious level.
Regardless, I'm sure the Republicans will wish she were out of their hair. :)
Gerri,
thanks for your insight. i also wonder how much it had to do with his "tacky" (disgusting) campaign against her, that really showed up in the debates.
The attitude of Scott Brown and his campaign toward Elizabeth Warren is indicative of the attitudes of Republican men toward women. As we say down here in the south "She learned him good!"
Although I live in South Carolina, I contributed to Elizabeth's campaign. We need smart women in the Senate AND the House.
Congratulations, Senator Warren! Elizabeth Warren is a brilliant economist along with protege' (dare I say the name) Juliette Schor. Warren will be insturmental in turning the US economy around and fighting for the working people in this budget debacle. I am sure she will serve on the appropriations committee and work closely with the Office of Management and Budget. She is a powerhouse and I am proud to have supported her campaign. Six years is just the beginning of her service.
Correction - she can't serve on the appropriations committee. She's in the Senate.
Um, yeah - I just assumed you must have meant something like the Senate Finance Committee.
Got Enraged and Engaged:
Mooched the Vote 2012!
;-)
This is the Senate race I followed most closely (sorry, Deb, you were a lock). I couldn't believe that Warren wasn't doing better last summer,against that stuffed-shirt Wall Street mouthpiece. She really took care of him in the debates.
You GO, Lizbet!
Unless some Democrats approach her with an idea: "You know, there's this Washington home with white columns and a lovely Rose Garden coming available in 2016..."
Clinton/Warren 2016? Sounds pretty good to me...
Got Enraged and Engaged:
Mooched the Vote 2012!
;-)
Oh man! Why did you have to say that? Now I'll be unable to leave the computer for the next few years, looking for any hints of a Warren/? run. I would love to see that!
If 1 of 3 people in Congress had the common sense of Elizabeth Warren this would be a much, much better country than it is now. Republicans have embarrassed themselves to the country and the world and they have embarrassed the country to the world.
Hey! How long was Barack Obama a Senator before he became President? Did anybody notice: 2016 is four years away for Senator Warren.
DWIA,
i hear you, but i think the repubs have proven themselves to be UNembarassable. they will not change their "tactics" due to humility or a real desire for change. it will be completely self-serving for survival of the repub party and the hope for power.
that's what i will believe until i see proof of something different.
Surely there enough sensible, wise republicans who can see that left is better and right is wrong.
The truth of the matter is, no, they can't be embarrassed, but any repubs they had, that's past tense, that had scruples and willing to work for the people of this country instead of the party and big business, they've pushed out of office.
BTW, how is Joe Walsh's kids going to get their support now that he has no wages to garnish?
Joe Walsh will just have to do what everybody else does, find a job! I'm sure it will kill him to have to actually work.
But, seriously, some stupid right wing think tank or lobbying firm will hire this jackass.
Disgusted withitall, I was delighted for Senator Warren's victory. She is the best thing that has ever happened to the Senate since young Ted Kennedy, IMO. Smart, appealing, down to earth, and so likeable. She made her way to Harvard the hard way and knows what living in a working class family is like. What a great asset she will be!
I was feeling really good today about Obama's win...........until I heard the T-Party chair-woman, John Boehner, and Eric Cantor speak. They pretty much all summed it up the same way, in what their message was to the president seeking cooperation. It kind of boiled down to just two letters to the president. The first letter was F.
You'll be able to guess the second letter.
I cannot see how this country will ever function; their recalcitrance and their hatred for Obama have only gotten stronger now that they lost the election. I had felt optimistic this morning. It was nice for about 6 hours.
And she may very well keep that seat for life!
The GOP congress will turn her hair white within six months. Sadly, they do not like her at all. You can't believe some of the things I've heard the T-Party call this lovely woman.
Congratulations Senator-elect Warren. Now maybe she can straighten out the nonsense in the Senate! It's been GOTP short term myopic power crazed nonsense that started all of this in the first place! Maybe now the GOTP will either implode or change and dismiss all of their crazies back to the fringe where they belong.
LOL, as we were watching Warren widen her lead, my cousin kept saying "I'll bet they're sorry they didn't confirm her NOW!"
She who laughs last......
Mwahahahahahahahahahah!!!!!!!! Love it!
Money didn't buy them love.
voter suppression didn't make them popular,
Self-deportation was a failure.
Trying to turn a women's right to choose around didn't work.
Holding firm to marrage is only between a man and a women....sucked.
willards business skills was a backfire.
alinating 47% of Americans was and insult to most of us.
"Those people" just don't understand moving forward and that is why Obama won.
LOL
Money can't buy them love,
Everybody told them so!
Can't buy them lo-ove, no no Party of NO!
Got Enraged and Engaged:
Mooched the Vote 2012!
;-)
Senator Warren.........just sounds so good
i agree.
how long will it take for the repubs to TRY to completely denigrate her the same way they did Nancy Pelosi?
They have probably started on in the back room of a bar somewhere.
There's only one thing I can think of that sounds better than "Senator Warren"., word that the T-Party congressmen such as Eric Cantor will cooperate with the president to get our economy kick-started.
Unfortunately, they've already said, " NO."
TM, They've already started to denigrate her.
SSDD.
Wrong: Romney Only lost because he was not enough Of a
"Backwoods Bad Ass, who wants a Marriage like the bible says so....” I
mean a Marriage like King David, Like Solomon, with 700 wives and 300
concubines…..We the Backwoods Bad Asses of Amerika, will never compromise OUR
Principles…
Clinton / Warren 2016?
A winning team.....miracle!
Clinton has already said she isn't running in 2016.
I hate to continuously be the party pooper, but I don't know why people insist on saying she's going to run when she's stated explicitly that she's done with politics? Hoping she'll change her mind?
Her win alone brought tears to my eyes last night. Integrity, character, talent, intelligence, compassion deserves recognition and warrants representation.
Rachel must be gleeful today.
We definitely owe a big debt of gratitude to those brave patriotic souls who stood and stayed in long lines in many parts of our great country to cast their votes....THANK YOU!!
Voting should be simple and easy....we need to fix these problems....
Congrats Senator Warren!
Now, get ready to spank some teapublican ass.
Looks like shooter took the day off.
Congratulations, Mass., on sending the second New England Democratic Racist to the Senate! She says she'll work with anyone. OK:
Work with the other senators to pass legislation restoring treaty rights to the Native Nations; restore Treaty land to the Nations; restore tribal sovereignty to the Nations.
Do that and I'll believe the lie that you're "native." Don't do it, and you'll prove the lie. Very simple, if you're really Native.
Riiiiight cause if a Native doesn't do what you want them to do that automatically makes them not a member of their race.
And they're the racist one yup mmhmm sure.
Just want her to do what the law says she has to do, not much more.
And, shows she really cares about her people (as she identified them), and doesn't just use them to advance her personal political career.
That's fair.
Alright fair enough angel
I do have to quibble with the idea that EW won easily. Ms. Warren worked her butt off to win this election. She did everything Martha Coakley didn't the first time Scott Brown ran (and won). Elizabeth Warren campaigned tirelessly, all over the state, all the time, everywhere with everyone. She built an enormous army of volunteers and they (we) were efficiently used. She quickly learned how to campaign and did a great job. But she earned every vote!
That's true. From what I could see, she fought like hell. Mass. is very fortunate to have such a one for Senator.
I live in Ohio, and donated to three candidates - Barack Obama, Sherrod Brown (incumbent Senator from Ohio) and Elizibeth Warren. I am very pleased today.
Wow,,,
I did the same,, cool, :>)
I also donated to several campaigns because there were women I wanted elected and they all won! The jury is still out on WEST but I think he's done-somebody stick a fork in it!