Elizabeth Warren: quiet revolutionary who could challenge Hillary Clinton in Democrats' 2016 race

[BelgianMadCow]

From The Guardian

Not many political "rock stars" inspire audience members to knit, but, even by Washington's sedate standards, the darling of America's new left is a quiet revolutionary.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a former Harvard professor turned Wall Street scourge, is one of a clutch of unlikely radicals giving hope to those disenchanted with mainstream Democrats.

Hours before a rare public appearance last week, one of the largest rooms in Congress begins slowly filling up with an odd mix of groupies: policy wonks, finance geeks, Occupy activists, and, yes, the type of political conference attendee who brings their knitting in.

Warren proceeds to calmly recite numbers that could inspire even librarians to storm a few barricades. The Wall Street crash has cost the US economy $14tn, she says, but its top institutions are 30% larger than before, own half the country's bank assets and are in receipt of an implicit taxpayer subsidy of $83bn a year because they are deemed too big to fail.

I thought this might lift some spirits. It's not too late to ask her - or rather, it's about time. But don't forget 2014 either, of course.

[Cirque du So-What]

2. Are you familiar with the Creative Speculation forum?

That's where paranoid fantasies about collusion between disparate parties belongs.

[gopiscrap]

3. Welcome to DU

[SHRED]

8. LOL

Welcome to the DU...enjoy your stay.

[cali]

9. OK then. Interesting nonsense first post.

[cheri010353]

12. ???

Is this supposed to be sarcasm?

[AgingAmerican]

15. Ahhhh, how could we have missed that obvious tidbit...

lol welcome to DU )

[cantbeserious]

4. Hillary No - DLC No - Progressives Yes - Warren 2016

eom

[Enthusiast]

46. +1 a whole bunch.......nt

[VanillaRhapsody]

5. Where is this coming from...not from Warren herself..

she has ALREADY proclaimed her support of Hillary. So if you are a fan of Warren...I suggest you follow her lead.

[cali]

10. Sorry, but signing a letter urging her to run is not the same thing as outright support

and it doesn't mean that if Warren felt there was enough support for her, that she wouldn't run.

[VanillaRhapsody]

18. Yeah right! Keep telling yourself that...

whatever gets you through the night...it's a nice dream....and maybe after President H.R. Clinton serves 8 yrs

But for now....it ain't happening...

[cali]

19. keep telling yourself that CorpoHilly ad her dirty money are good things-

and inevitable.

Why don't you tell us why we should support her- particularly as regards economic justice issues?

[VanillaRhapsody]

20. I ain't telling Hillary shit....

perhaps you are on a first name basis with Warren...but I am not on it with Hillary Clinton.

I am telling you because you can take it to the bank. Hillary is running....Warren is not going to run against her.

[cali]

21. I'm not pushing Warren. I'm simply opposing Hillary.

She's a corporate shill who supports the TPP, fracking, hasn't been clear on Social Security and on and on.

YOU can take all that to the bank.

[Victor_c3]

41. Don't forget her stance on war (especially Iraq)

Maybe I need to get over it already, but I can't forgive her for her vote for war on Iraq - especially after she was quoted saying "I don't have anything to apologize for".

Unlike most of America who at the time was too busy watching Survivor or the downward spiral of Brittany Spears, Iraq and its consequences were real to me.

She doesn't feel the need to apologize for the death of 4% of the population of Iraq since our war on Iraq? She doesn't feel the slightest bit sorry for (depending on your source) the estimated 100,000 - 1,000,000 dead Iraqi civilians, the US lives squandered in Iraq for nothing, and the shattered lives on both sides? And Hillary Clinton is the sort of soulless person that we as the democratic party want to be our next candidate?

I'll vote for her if she makes it past the primaries, but I won't be happy about it. Actually, I'll take that back. I live in a very blue state. My vote probably won't make much of a difference. If she makes it past the primaries, I won't vote for her unless it looks like a close race in my state. I simply can't do it until I hear a legitimate apology to the Iraqi people and veterans like me.

[VanillaRhapsody]

57. You both might want to read up..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Hillary_Rodham_Clinton


I think you will both find some surprises there...

[Victor_c3]

58. I'm aware of the political moves surrounding an apology

however she did vote for the war and all that is represents.

Not apologizing for the war is the politically prudent thing to do in 2007 just as voting for the war in the first place was the politically expedient thing to do in during the buildup to the conflict. Failing to admit a mistake because you are afraid of the repercussions is an insight into a person's ability as a leader and personality.

As a former Infantry Platoon Leader from Iraq who has made some tough decisions (and some of them wrong), I have a problem with that. Even to this day I stand by my decisions and I've put myself out there to the people I've impacted negatively. Not to get too far from the point, but I was in a situation where 5 of my Soldiers were killed. Upon returning from Iraq I reached out and physically met with the parents and family members of 4 of the 5 Soldiers and answered some tough questions. Hillary Clinton needs to put herself out there like I did so that some of us who were affected by her decision can try to move on. That is what being a leader is about.

To quote Hillary Clinton: "If the most important thing to any of you is choosing someone who did not cast that vote or has said his vote was a mistake, then there are others to choose from." As she recommends, I'll be choosing another candidate.

No disrespect to you, but I can't accept Hillary Clinton.

[Enthusiast]

47. +1 a whole bunch.......nt

[Laelth]

43. In 2024, after Hillary's two terms, Elizabeth Warren would be 75.

Elizabeth Warren is only two years younger than Hillary Clinton. If Elizabeth Warren is ever going to run for President, it needs to be in 2016.



-Laelth

[AzDar]

6. No more Clintons, No more Bushes...no more taking it in our tushes.

[AgingAmerican]

16. We could stand another Clinton

Lumping Bill Clinton with Bush is disingenuous.

Having said that, I would love Warren to run. Warren Sanders or Sanders Warren. That aside, she says she won't run and is backing Hillary.

[jtuck004]

17. Bush sent the Army to war against Iraq. Clinton sent the banks to war against the American people

Last edited Mon Nov 18, 2013, 05:24 AM - Edit history (1)

with the passage of the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, and his signing of NAFTA was a surge in the war Reagan's began on our jobs and wealth.

At least we ended the one in Iraq.

So I'm not sure it's all that disingenuous.

One might argue he didn't "send" the banks. But if you load up terrorists with all the guns and bullets and bombs they have ever dreamed of, you would have to be brain-dead not to know what's coming.

[cantbeserious]

23. +1

eom

[dflprincess]

31. Don't forget repealing Glass-Steagall n/t

[jtuck004]

33. +100 n/t

[AgingAmerican]

34. It passed by a veto proof majority

There was nothing Clinton could do about it.

[Laelth]

44. It probably would not have passed with a veto-proof majority ...

... if President Clinton didn't support it.



-Laelth

[AgingAmerican]

60. Absolute made up nonsense

nt

[Laelth]

61. I sincerely appreciate the facts you brought with you to this discussion.

If President Clinton had decided to oppose the repeal of Glass-Steagal, and if he decided he wanted to be a leader on that, it would have never passed. Of that I am certain.

-Laelth

[AgingAmerican]

62. Glass Steagall was repealed by a veto proof majority

It passed in the Senate 90-8 (1 not voting) and 362-57 in the House. It passed by massive margins. Bill Clinton was obligated to sign the bill into law because it was VETO PROOF

No amount of spin or wishful thinking changes these facts.

[Laelth]

64. Yes, I know that it passed by a veto-proof majority.

But that does not mean the President was obligated to sign it. He could have vetoed it. He didn't because he approved of it. No amount of historical revision can erase this fact.

-Laelth

[AgingAmerican]

65. lol

nt

[Laelth]

67. Hmm ...

I seriously want to give you the benefit of the doubt as a Democrat and as a patriot--someone who cares about the future of this country as much as I do. That said, you need to present some evidence that Bill Clinton actually opposed the repeal of Glass-Steagall. Otherwise, you have lost all your credibility with me.

-Laelth

[AgingAmerican]

68. lol

The law was repealed and there was nothing Clinton could do to stop it and you know it.

Your ilk wishes to ascribe GW Bushes refusal to enforce regulations on Bill Clinton. It's what Clinton haters do. Had Al Gore won in 2000 and stayed with Bill Clintons budget policies the national debt would have been paid off by 2009. Facts are stubborn things.

[Laelth]

69. I suspect you're in constant pain, but, seriously, there's no need to be so mean.

Clinton supported the repeal of Glass-Steagall, and you know it. Only the strongest liberals were refusing to buy the BS that Alan Greenspan was selling in 2000. I admire the few liberals who had a little common sense, but Bill Clinton was not among them, and I won't pretend that he was.

Yes, Clintonian (Republican) fiscal policy balanced the Federal budget, and that was awesome, and I am proud of him for that, but that's not what we were talking about, is it?



-Laleth

[AgingAmerican]

72. I suspect you have run out of arguement

Because you keep moving the goal post (between the insults).

Bushes economic disaster happened because his administration refused to regulate. His regulators sat back and allowed the looting. Clinton had no part in it. Glass Steagall had already been rendered toothless before Clinton took office by the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980, which essentially reversed Glass Steagall.

Information is a good thing

[Laelth]

74. That's very interesting. Thanks for that. n/t

-Laelth

[AgingAmerican]

35. It's very disingenuous

There is no comparing the two, they were opposites.

[jtuck004]

36. You are entitled to your opinion, just as I am entitled to look at the results

of their actions.

But I really don't care about personalities, or American Idol. I care about what they do and leave behind for others to clean up or live with. Or die with.

He said, in retrospect, it was a bad decision. That's all good for him, I guess, but an entire country, and part of the rest of the world, has paid and is still paying, some with their lives, for the actions he pushed, while he collects money by talking on a stage.

Must be tough.

[AgingAmerican]

37. Your entitled to your opinion

I will stick to facts.

[jtuck004]

38. Yeah, that's what everyone says. They just pick and choose,

depending on their side.

I'll stick with real people, the ones the stars climb over to get where they are.

[Major Nikon]

39. It's also fair to ask if the war in Iraq would have ended had the primary gone the other way

Certainly she promised to end it if she was elected, however to this day Hillary defends her Iraq vote, never apologized for it, and won't even admit that it was a mistake. It was hard enough for Obama to end it even without those negatives.

[Enthusiast]

48. +1 a whole bunch.......nt

[woo me with science]

26. You're a poet!

I like it!

[SHRED]

7. Clinton = NAFTA, Pro Fracking, Telcom Act, Financial Services Modernization Act, ...

Just say NO to corporate RW Democrats and yes to those like Warren.

[woo me with science]

27. +1000000 And TRANS-PACIFIC!

I am DELIGHTED to see people talking about Warren, Sanders, Grayson....

Let the jettisoning of the corporate infiltrators begin!

[Marr]

29. +1.

[Enthusiast]

49. +1 a whole bunch.......nt

[Grey]

11. I knit for Warren….. nt

[Decaffeinated]

13. Funny every time...

[IDemo]

14. We get it..

She's a radical, revolutionary Trotskyite. Likely with a little muslin in her closet...

[socialist_n_TN]

25. No she's not......

Sawant in Seattle is. Malala in Pakistan is. But Warren is a left reformist Democrat.

[IDemo]

28. See: "Sarcasm"

I know where Warren's politics place her, exactly where mine do. It's articles like this using absurd descriptors such as "radical" and "revolutionary" that make the media so open to sarcasm and ridicule.

[DiverDave]

22. I would vote for her, get signatures for her, answer phones, ANYTHING to get her in there.

and wall street would spend BILLIONS to see her defeated.
I cannot imagine the dirty tricks the b/millionaires would throw out
but there would be ALOT.

RUN! SENATOR RUN!! she would not be beholden to the DLC, like some others that claim to not be.
Bernie Sanders would be acceptable also.

Warren/Sanders or Sanders/Warren would be a dream ticket.

[brooklynite]

45. So, what's stopping you?

Hillary Clinton's supporters are already at work (we've met with the READY FOR HILLARY people). Why are you waiting for someone else to organize things?

Of course, that whole "Warren says she doesn't want to run and is supporting Hillary Clinton" thing might be a problem...

[DiverDave]

50. "Might be"? what kind of question is that?

rubbing my nose in the fact that we will get ANOTHER DLC'er that WANTS the TPP that WANTS to let big banks get away with it AGAIN. That WANTS to cut medicare and MY "entitlement" that I have paid into for 42 stinking years. So what, we can give MORE tax cuts to the 1% who she is beholden to?
I dont understand the BLINDNESS of people when it comes to her willingness to cut my throat.
Yeah, go hill, and watch our country go to the rich.

[brooklynite]

55. I'm not rubbing your nose in anything...

I believe in getting involved in the process, and started reaching out to Presidential candidates last summer. You appear to be sitting behind a computer fantasizing about a candidate who's made it clear she's not interested, and complaining that nobody's doing the hard work of convincing her otherwise instead of you doing it.

[DiverDave]

75. Wow, you got THAT from what I wrote?

not.even.close.
oh, and welcome to the ignore zone, with reply's like that I would guess
you aren't unfamiliar with it.

[Metric System]

24. Like it or not, charisma matters in a Presidential candidate. It may be unfortunate, but it's true.

Watching Elizabeth Warren in the Mass. debates leaves me unsure of how she'd fare on a national stage.

[BelgianMadCow]

40. In all the vids I've seen, she had plenty of charisma, and what I find on the Mass. debate

doesn't characterize her performance as lacking in the fire department. For example, "fiery" from ABC and here's HuffPo's take on them.

I'm not disputing your reading of those debates - in fact, I don't think she's the most brilliant public speaker. But her passion comes across nonetheless, and her sincerity.

The vids I refer to myself are those like this:

Soft-spoken. Hard hitting, relentless.

I found a debate vid as well:

I personally think that anyone who has made it abundantly clear they want to confront the banks is supremely electable.

[MannyGoldstein]

51. She was allowing Brown to blow himself up

I was annoyed that Warren wasn't her usual pugilistic self, but in the end it worked well: she took out the formerly-most-popular pol in Mass by letting him throw grenade after grenade at himself.

[Cali_Democrat]

53. How come Obama pulled in 61% of the vote in Mass while Warren got only 53%?

Also, Romney was the former governor and Obama still ran up 60% on him. Scott Brown was a horrible candidate, but Warren did not blow him out of the water and she should have.

This is also surprising considering Warren only became very well known after Obama appointed her to the CFPB and she owes much of her popularity to Obama. Perhaps this was a failure on Obama's part. Perhaps he could have talked about her a little more and the voters would have given her a greater margin of victory.

To only pull 53% in a very blue state against a weak candidate is a bit concerning.

I don't think she's as strong as people are making her out to be. Perhaps Obama could give her some pointers on winning the hearts of voters in blue states like Mass.

Just my 2 cents.

[MannyGoldstein]

54. Romney was hated here with a passion

He ran for governor as a Weld Republican (i.e. a rich Democrat), then morphed into a right-wing lunatic once in office, e.g. from his senatorial run:

We don't like liars, and we don't like right-wing lunatics. When Romney left office, his poll numbers were horrific - 30% range IIRC.

Brown OTOH, went into his race against Warren as the most popular politician in Mass, stated off something like 20 points ahead of Warren.

[Cali_Democrat]

56. Not buying it. Obama also blew out McCain in similar fashion in Mass

This is weakness on Warren's part. When you're in a blue state like Mass as a dem candidate and you only pull in 53%, it shows that you're not yet ready for a Presidential run.

All is not lost. Obama can give her some pointers and mentor her on how to win a Presidential primary and a national electoral landslide victory.

Twice.

He made her and he can take her to new heights.

[Agschmid]

59. Mass... In general...

Has a tough time electing female politicians, especially to statewide or federal offices.

Not sure what it is...

[libdem4life]

30. Replace Bill C with Elizabeth W immediately as the Secretary of 'Splaining Stuff n/t

[WillyT]

32. "Not many political "rock stars" inspire audience members to ___________ ."

Yeah... huh ???

& Rec !!!

[Laelth]

42. k&r for Elizabeth Warren. n/t

-Laelth

[MannyGoldstein]

52. Our Party has changed, no doubt

The Third Way is is on the way out.

Thanks Liz!

[LittleBlue]

63. What was the point of defeating Romney

if we're going to nominate his Democratic counterpart?

Hillary is a corporatist to the core. She'll throw you a bone on some social issues, issues which won't address the root of the problem in this country: economic disparity. Just replace the D under her name with Goldman Sachs, it would be more accurate.

[Laelth]

66. Hear, hear!

Help us to encourage Elizabeth Warren to run for President in 2016.

Contact information can be found here. Write to her or call her. You can make a difference!

You can add a Warren 2016 banner to your DU sig. line here.

You can join the Elizabeth Warren Group here.

-Laelth

[LittleBlue]

70. thank you

I'm pretty bitter after my Obama experience, so I'll be cautious with Warren.

But she does appear to be the best Democratic candidate I've seen so far.

[Laelth]

71. My pleasure. n/t

-Laelth

[Pretzel_Warrior]

73. quiet? note exactly a back bencher freshman, eh?

No worries....I'm all for her loud populism. But describing it as a quiet revolution just struck me funny.