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Monday, July 18, 2016

After Reading the New Politico Piece I Like Warren Better Than Ever

I like what I'm reading here in a big piece by Glenn Thrush in the Politico Magazine.

"The 67-year-old former Harvard professor had long maintained that she wasn’t running, but no one in Brooklyn or the White House quite believed her. That concern spiked to panic in October, when Clinton lavishly praised Warren at a campaign event—“I love watching Elizabeth give it to those who deserve to get it”—only to get a cold shoulder from the senator, who barely acknowledged her presence."

"So as Obama’s team was jockeying behind the scenes to maneuver Biden to the sidelines, Clinton’s aides were desperately doing all they could to keep Warren happy and prevent her from joining forces with Sanders."

"Luckily for Clinton, Warren resisted Sanders’ entreaties, for months telling the senator and his staff she hadn’t made up her mind about which candidate she would support. For all her credibility on the left, Warren is more interested in influencing the granular Washington decisions of policymaking and presidential personnel—and in power politics. Warren’s favored modus operandi: leveraging her outsider popularity to gain influence on the issues she cares about, namely income inequality and financial services reform."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/2016-barack-obama-hillary-clinton-democratic-establishment-campaign-primary-joe-biden-elizabeth-warren-214023#ixzz4EmmYmSAr

I'm glad to hear she is as this is what matters. I know, that may not seem so serious as what the Berners are up to these days.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/sanders-fans-plan-dnc-fart-protest-clinton-nomination-n611596

Yes, the Berner fart-in at the DNC is a real thing. Guess those of us who thought they were just adolescents have egg on our faces now.

Seriously, Warren sounds like someone worthy of respect here. I know the Berners will say she's thereby shown to be an 'Establishment candidate' or 'insider.' But, excuse me, aren't the 'insiders' the ones who actually have to cast the votes?

Isn't policy what counts? Or does empty symbolism trump-or should I say Trump-everything? I know the Berner fart in is more impressive than mere policy.

“Elizabeth is all about leverage, and she used it,” a top Warren ally told me. “The main thing, you know, is that she always thought Hillary was going to be the nominee, so that was where the leverage was.”

"Warren, several people in her orbit say, never really came close to endorsing the man many progressives consider to be her ideological soulmate. She made a point of meeting with Sanders to hear his pitch and continued checking in. But she prioritized opening a channel to Clinton on policy. Warren’s personal relationship with Clinton was originally frosty (she was irked by Clinton’s support for a bankruptcy bill more than a decade earlier). And while the pair have never developed an easy rapport, they did develop a working relationship, thanks in part to their mutual friendship with a shared consultant, longtime Clinton hand Mandy Grunwald. In early 2015, Warren sent a major signal that she would ultimately endorse Clinton, telling a senior campaign aide, “I’m getting a lot of pressure to endorse Bernie, but I’m not going to do it.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/2016-barack-obama-hillary-clinton-democratic-establishment-campaign-primary-joe-biden-elizabeth-warren-214023#ixzz4EmoNVEmS

So she's about getting things done on policy, not just being a purist gadfly.

In this vein, I don't think you can be too hard on her for not endorsing Hillary till after the primary.

Maybe she did it for her own leverage but maybe it increased the impact for Hillary by waiting.

7 comments:

  1. I'm glad to hear you're warming to her. She is pretty fiery and maybe that's not such a bad thing.

    O/T: this is hilarious: RNC convention secretary hiding sho she can't be presented with a petition:
    http://www.redstate.com/streiff/2016/07/18/breaking.-rnc-convention-secretary-literally-hiding-dump-trump-petitioners/

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    1. Also did you see the sad Charlie Brown photo of Christie arriving at the convention?

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    2. Christie is ticked.

      Christie tells MI GOP of Pence: "We don't need a nother big mouth from Congress...What Donald needed was a partner who governed."

      https://twitter.com/dracioppi/status/755033941552300032

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  2. O/T: a friend of mine and a graphic artist friend of his came up with this character "Lil Flan" the flannel moth caterpillar to make fun of Trump (Flannel moth caterpillars look like Trump's hair):

    http://www.cafepress.com/trumpcaterpillar

    They said if they sell enough they'll buy and island and I'm welcome to visit anytime. Mike, I'm going to assume I have the power to extend that offer to you! Lol.

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  3. By the way, maybe there's still time for your dream to come true for a convention fight?

    "We now anticipate that a group of delegates will present signatures from 7+ states seeking a roll call vote on rules package."

    https://twitter.com/edatpost/status/755099695358160896

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    Replies
    1. Yes, that's interesting! Here's another twitter feed to watch:
      https://twitter.com/jonward11
      If figure there's nothing to lose with a convention fight:

      1.) It's an embarrassing display of GOP disunity

      2.) If Trump survives, he's still Trump, which is good for the Dems

      3.) If Trump goes down, I can't imagine Trump "getting behind the new nominee" or even just being quite about it: he's going to raise a MAJOR stink and will vindictively do all in his power to destroy his replacement (Tom Coburn). In some ways this might be the most spectacularly bad option for the GOP of them all!

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