Fortune: McConnell just made an in-kind donation to Liz Warren's 2018 campaign.

[pnwmom]

http://fortune.com/2017/02/08/elizabeth-warren-impunging-senate-scott-king/

Immediately, the hashtag #LetLizSpeak began trending on Twitter. The poetic phrase McConnell had used to admonish Warren —"She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted."—was slapped on merchandise and picked up as a rallying cry for supporters who used the tagline to promote the accomplishments of other female pioneers like Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, and Malala Yousafzai.

Political commentators joked that McConnell had essentially made an in-kind donation to Warren's potential 2020 presidential bid by silencing her Tuesday night. Even Matt Drudge, conservative commentator and editor of the Drudge Report, criticized Republicans for the move.

Warren's name was tossed around as a Democratic contender in the 2016 presidential contest, and she was immediately thrown into the 2020 mix following President Donald Trump's surprise win in November. The rebuke Tuesday night will help Warren win over liberals who have been frustrated by her committee vote in favor of Ben Carson's nomination for secretary of Housing and Urban Development. The episode will also resonate with female voters—it was, perhaps, the ultimate example of 'manterrupting'—and could help her with African American voters since Warren was cut off while reading a letter from a civil rights icon, during Black History Month, no less.

All told, the campaign ads for Warren's re-election bid in 2018—and maybe the 2020 race—based on the gagging essentially write themselves. The senator's office did not immediately return a request for comment on how the rebuke will factor into her reelection bid.

SNIP

[riversedge]

1. "She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted." was all over

the tweeters last night and this am.