For many, myself included, Senator Elizabeth Warren was a promising candidate, with similar ideology and policy as Senator Bernie Sanders. She was a relatively clean candidate, with few scandals and overall very consistent with her record. Now, thanks to a dirty political trick to kneecap the Sanders campaign, that image has come crashing down around her.
This is, of course, in reference to the accusations by Warren and her supporters, where she claimed that in a private meeting with Senator Sanders, he said that “women can’t win.” While I don’t believe that Warren consciously created this story and lied, it is likely that she misinterpreted something said by Sanders (over a year ago). What I then find “dirty” is the timing of this, which clearly was meant to benefit Warren’s placement in the polls, debates and early state contests. If she was truly outraged at this supposed scandal, she would have come forward right away, not used it as some kind of political springboard.
It should also be noted that this story was “broken” by CNN, which not 24 hours later went on to host and televise the sixth Democratic debate. CNN then accepted it as an irrefutable fact that Bernie had indeed made such an inflammatory statement, throwing out any concept of relative objectivity in reporting. This acceptance of the “fact” that Sanders had made such a statement was truly a disappointing show from the media, showing almost no integrity as they reported the words of a candidate in regards to their political component with no tangible evidence as reputable fact.
However, the culmination of this drama was when Warren confronted Sanders after the debate (the only candidate who refused to shake another hand that night) and asked: “Did you just call me a liar on national TV?” This was clearly a calculated move by Warren, who of course was aware that the cameras and microphones were still on—a ploy to produce an angered and defensive reaction of Sanders.
The move has since backfired, with Sanders raising over $1 million the day of the debate as the “scandal” developed. Perhaps more importantly, the race reflects this as well, with Warren dropping out, cementing the emerging two person Biden vs Sanders race. Moreover, a video of Sanders from the 1980’s stating in no uncertain terms that he believes that a woman can win the presidency
has surfaced, casting a large shadow of doubt that Sanders would ever make the statement
that Warren claimed he did.
What is truly disappointing for the longtime “friend” of Sanders is that she is essentially competing for the same liberal voters as he is. Her attacks did little more than alienate potential voters, and many of Sanders’s voters (who had Warren as their second choice) were turned off by her apparent betrayal.
What’s more, Sanders’s base is extremely loyal and vocal, while Warren has yet to build that kind of political machine and loyalty. Attacks such as these on Sanders, thus, won’t take votes from Sanders, but limit the gains that can be made by Warren with progressive voters.
Much of the scrutiny on Warren as a result of this internal sparring also resulted in a resurgence of the criticism of how Warren got her first seat in the Senate. While she bragged about her election win rate on the debate stage, what she conveniently forgot to mention was how former Senate majority leader Harry Reid had essentially gift-wrapped that Senate seat for her, making her entire argument for electability based on track record invalid. Especially considering how other candidates were involved for longer periods of time and in more challenging races, this just further added to the emerging “dirty” image of Warren.
This has proved to be Warren’s fatal mistake – She backpedaled on Medicare for All (first saying she was for it, then stating only a half measure), used PAC money in her 2018 Senate re-election run (money which has since been transferred into her 2020 presidential campaign), and even flip-flopped on her party, belonging to the Republican party before switching to the Democrats. This clear attempt at a political hit on the Sanders campaign backfired, providing the final nail in the coffin for her candidacy
