Two fascinating tidbits from this Globe story on the latest in the biggest issue that voters really don’t care about. First, Boston Mayor Tom Menino, who has steadfastly refused to endorse Elizabeth Warren and who is generally thought to like Scott Brown, has clearly had enough of the questions about Warren’s heritage.
“I think she has come clean but nobody has let her off the hook,” Menino said. “It’s not relevant at all in the campaign. Let’s talk about the real issues: education, housing, crime. Those are the real issues we should be talking about. This is one of the issues that you [use to] try to divert as a candidate because you can’t deal with the real issues.”
Menino’s comments, which he made just before joining Brown for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Faneuil Hall, are potentially significant because the Democratic mayor has often had kind words for the Republican senator and represents the kind of lunch-bucket values that Brown seeks to embrace.
Of course, Menino is exactly right about this. Warren has said that she bases her claim to Native American ancestry on “family lore.” Maybe the lore is wrong … but even if it is, it’s hard to see how that (a) is Warren’s fault, and (b) has much relevance to which candidate will do a better job in the Senate. And Menino’s final comment – that the heritage issue is the type of thing that a candidate talks about “because you can’t deal with the real issues” is pretty harsh. Brown should be worried about whether he’s really starting to piss Menino off.
Second, check this out, from the same Globe story:
Brown argued that because Harvard counted Warren as a Native American, the university was “potentially hurting other Native Americans who could have potentially gotten those jobs.”
Whoa there! Is Brown seriously suggesting that, having hired one person who it identified as Native American, Harvard would be less likely to hire another one, should a qualified person come along? Does Brown really think that Harvard has a quota for Native Americans, and, having filled it, would slam the door on other Native Americans seeking employment there?
Methinks Senator Brown owes the people of Massachusetts, and Harvard University, at least an explanation as to what he meant, and perhaps an apology. Because that’s a pretty outrageous statement.
Brown needs to apologize to everyone for this slimy “Birther” equivalent, race baiting. Between this disgusting slime and the concentration camp nonsense from NC, I am seriously concerned for the future of this country to a degree that I have never been at any time in my life before this time.
Semper Fidelis.
but he doesn’t have any.
Not just Harvard but all universities were competing to offer students a diverse faculty and there is no question that they touted Warren as a minority in order to respond to that pressure and burnish their image. And there is no question that having hired a female minority, they were under less pressure to hire another. Whether there was another female or minority candidate that got passed over or not isn’t really the point, the point is that Warren didn’t care about that possibility and listed herself as a Native American but she is not Native American, she is a white person who benefited from white privilege and with a huge unremitting sense of entitlement.
This is fun…
As Bill Weld use to say, it doesn’t pass the smell test. I for one, will withhold judgment and wait to see if she checked off Native American when she applid at Harvard. I recall her saying there was no job application, but wouldnt humans resources require it?
I can say this, if she did check it off, then I will come down her like a hammer! But I don’t think she is dumb enuff to do that.
“I can say this, if she did check it off, then I will come down her like a hammer!”
Does that mean you will have a drink?
you know what really, really, really doesn’t pass the smell test?
Reading one of dont-get-cute’s posts and actually paying it credence. He’s the resident John Howard.
The public doesn’t give a damn, dude. You and your Republican pals need to move on.
As all the recent polls show, she’s staying even or has moved up several points, even after relentless coverage over this non-issue for going on a month.
As the saying goes, that dog don’t hunt.
It doesn’t sound like you.
.
What do u think os Joe Biden?
…I’ll happily address his plagiarism. Until such time, I’ll continue to deal with the plagiarists that are here.
I can’t understand what you’re saying.
(guy can’t even cut and paste right, geez)
I don’t cut and paste, just not use to this iPad. I like the pressure of a keyboard. Now answer the question Demintfan, what do ya think of Joe Biden?
danfromwallstreet
with wingnuts
Nobody voted me off the Island, so I appreciate the love and look forward to the exchange of ideas.
I’ll cast that vote in a New York minute…
🙂
The modern Republican campaigner cares more about narrative consistency than truth.
Could slam the door on a qualified white person, bur who cares, right?
Perhaps a lack of qualification.
the Birther’s creed
I read Prof. Warren drove a BMW for most of the last decade, while Brown drove an American made GMC truck. How do you that will play, if at all?
See you at the auto show!
Is it true, did she drive a BMW? Not good, I see a commercial…….
Nite all. Oh that reminds me. You guys have a dreamcatcher above your bed?
The racism is enough to ban people in my opinion. This sort of comment is REALLY disgusting.
Avoiding feeding the trolls notwithstanding, YOU guys are the moderators. This place is becoming a cesspool. Come on, editors…moderate already.
I’m about three more comments like this from ceasing to read stuff here. I hate to say.
Scott Brown drove an Audi for years before he realized that his truck – purchased to tow his daughter’s horse, of all things – was a useful campaign prop. Have you really fallen for that silly stunt?
per this source. 😀
Saab was owned by GM, so a little diff. Thanks for the info
when at least one of Brown’s Saabs was produced.
GM had a stake in the company, but did not own it outright until 2000, three years after Brown bought it (I’m assuming he bought it new – a safe assumption, I’d wager).
If you need further assistance on the modes of livery, hired or otherwise, used by the Brown’s just give me a shout. I’ll be in the bar.
… about Brown taking a limo to a campaign event and having a driver drive his truck so it could make an appearance? I seem to remember one.
People I know strongly influenced by academic values (elite, if you like) tend to think owning a BMW constitutes a tasteless kind of conspicuous consumption, a sign of misplaced values.
Yeah, it does sound kind of “elite”, sounds like people you know are judging a whole group of others based upon the manufacturer of the car which they choose to drive, and because of that, they have misplaced values. Incredible.
In addition, engineers I know strongly influenced by academic values tend to think the BMW brand has evolved from a history of designing and manufacturing cars which are beautiful, well built, and highly engineered. They can be appreciated as fine machines which when maintained properly can last for decades.
When was the last time you saw a fully restored 1976 BMW 2002 tii ? Should I assume it’s owner has misplaced values?
To have values is to approve of some things and to disapprove of others.
He bought the damn truck to ride around the horses he bought for his daughters.
People like you seriously amaze me. You want democrats to answer for every last detail, and even when they do, you disregard it. Then you unquestioningly buy any spin, PR or propoganda told to you by Fox News & Co.
It’s sad, really.
Hence you “read somewhere” that Liz rides a Beamer and think that matters, but gosh, darn, Browny boy put a truck in his commercial, so that makes him one of those reg’lar folk…. when, if you did even a cursory Google check, you’d find out his truck was every bit a vehicle of the 1% as any Beamer.
Not many people buy entire vehicles just to be able to cart around the trailers they bought to cart around the horses they bought for their daughter. A lot of families would like to have that problem.
So, before you go spouting off on the fact that Elizabeth Warren has more money than the average family, maybe you want to check to see if your candidate’s house is glass. Otherwise, that’s some mighty fine double standards you have there.
Ok everyone, there you have it. Marketing and branding do not apply in politics, so says RT.
Let me hit u with some knowledge, that tuck commercial was a home run and launched Brown. The Prez even talked about it in a rally for Coakley, Rememba???? If not effective, why mention it?
The point it that it was (and remains) an act. A fake, if you will. Fakes work all the time – that’s why basketball players (like Brown) and others use them.
You made a big deal out of the fact that she (allegedly) drives a beamer, then praised him as one of the people for driving a GMC truck.
I pointed out that the truck was every bit a vehicle of the 1%, and you casually dismiss it, without retracting your complaints about Warren’s Beamer.
I guess I should just quote myself.
Okay, I get it. Elizabeth Warren is an out-of-touch elitist for driving a vehicle of the 1%, while Scott Brown is a savvy, American political folk hero for driving a vehicle of the 1%. Yup. That’s for clearing that up. /sarcasm off
when he cracked up the Saab
I am genuinely enjoying how every single item that danfromwaltham “just read” is some startlingly negative story about Elizabeth. Dan, do you ever “just read” a story that is positive to Elizabeth? Or how about “just reading” a story that is even neutral?
What a phony, phony troll. Dan reminds me of this terribly arthritic Asian fellow I saw once on Delancey Street in NY’s Lower East Side. He had a table and he played the shell game (guess where the nut is) for tourists and visitors, but his hands and wrists were noticeably slow, which meant that one could always tell where the nut was. The poor fellow thought he was pulling off a trick, but everyone could see from a mile away what was up.
But that raises a different question: dan, does the state GOP still send out the messages you “just read” by email or has the party switched to text message?
Laundromat- knowing your thought process, you likely played the shell game and took the old guys money. Notice quite a few of my questions are considered “off topic”.
Your stories are boring, so stop posting.
is off-topic again. I hear there is a nice little blog in Kalamazoo…
community before you start acting like you own it. A lot of the poor quality of your conversation comes from your troll-like tendencies–calling people names and insulting people to piss them off.
God knows where you were before you came here, but you’re often considered off-topic because you often don’t respond to other people’s arguments. You tend to focus only what you think and want to push and ignore inconvenient questions. You take much more than you give.
.
Mindy Myers, Elizabeth Warren’s Campaign Manager, has sent out an email refuting accusations from the Brown Campaign. You can read it on my blog titled the Republican Distortion Machine. This blog will be a record of the road to, actual events and interviews at the Democratic National Convention. I will be attending as an alternate delegate from the 6th CD.
Scott Brown has used his prodigious media skill to get this story into the news every single day for the past 3 weeks, even if it is just a tickler story like “questions still plague Warren”. It would be interesting to assemble the breadcrumb trail linking these smear stories to Brown and then publicize that, showing how he is the one keeping this alive.
Former Herald reporter might be a start.
fingerprints all over it. He and Howie were a$$hole buddies at the Herald.
they don’t want to get scooped – yeah, right.
paper. They have to cover these things lest they be seen as a partisan paper. And besides, there’s the character issue, which is oh so important to the very serious. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them endorse Scott Brown.
I, too, have noticed the hatchet pieces against Ms. Warren in the Globe recently. I doubt that they’ll endorse Scott Brown, though — I suspect that they are instead giving themselves cover so that when they endorse Elizabeth Warren, they can cite these pieces as evidence of their “objective” reporting.
It is truly disappointing that the closest thing we have to a serious newspaper is keeping this non-story alive while essentially ignoring the many serious challenges that face Massachusetts and that differentiate Scott Brown from both Elizabeth Warren and Marisa DeFranco.
Scott Brown’s voting record makes life harder for nearly every Massachusetts resident. Too many of those residents don’t know about those votes because the closest thing we have to a “newspaper of record” is instead talking about the “heritage question”.
Anyone worried about them being “a democratic paper” isn’t going to care how many negative articles they write about Warren.
Don’t get me wrong, I think you’re right, but it just goes to show how freaking insane the news industry is, and why it constantly bleeds readers. People don’t give a damn about this story anymore. It was old news two weeks ago. I highly doubt it’s selling any extra dead trees.
The many, many posts from and responses to Don’t get cute and Dan from waltham have made this blog much less interesting, and I’d like to float the idea of not responding to what they write.
On the other hand, along with so many other posts, the link from from oetkb, Republican Distortion Machine, is great and I am cheered to read Mindy Myers’ cogent repsonse to the Brown campaign crap.
And, to go back to the subject of original post — Menino’s message — I’m delighted to hear something from another Dem about what it says about the Brown campaign, and Brown himself, to think that an all-attack, all-the-time campaign is the only way he can win.
I hope we hear soon from other Democratic office holders many of whom were so silent in the Coakley campaign.
Amen.
I’ll try and restrain myself
is “do not feed the trolls.” They post here because people respond to their silliness, thereby giving them the attention they crave. If you ignore them, they will inevitably go away.
By continuing to post about Warren’s Cherokee ancestry or lack thereof they are implicitly agreeing that Brown cannot win by running on the real issues in this campaign.
smallpox blanket from The Boston Herald.
You really gotta admit they know how to keep at it.
Happy days.
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