You may have heard that Elizabeth Warren is off and running for president, so yesterday she came to Council Bluffs. The Omaha World-Herald couldn’t get someone from its own staff to be there; instead it runs this excited news service report. We nevertheless had Nebraska attorney Dave Begley on hand to cover the festivities for us. Dave is a Nebraska attorney practicing elder law and estate planning in Omaha. He is also our occasional presidential campaign correspondent. Dave has filed this report on Warren in Council Bluffs (thumbnail photo courtesy of Matt Johnson and his flickr portfolio here):
It’s 2019 and Begley is back in the saddle again! Last night I was on the campaign trail in Council Bluffs with the Fake Indian, Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Much to my surprise, there was a packed house of 500 in the room and 200 outside. The campaign had a shuttle bus to distant parking lots. This tells me that the Democrats’ intensity remains high, but we saw that in the 2018 elections. And much of that intensity is directed against President Trump. One vendor was selling anti-Trump buttons.
In a nearby post Paul Mirengoff discusses the issue of the likability of candidates. Elizabeth Warren may be even less likable than Hillary Clinton and that is saying something. With Hillary, the American public grew accustomed to her disagreeable manner and horrible personality. Warren is a new commodity on the national stage. Although many of her competitors are nearly as charmless, Warren has the personality of a hectoring harridan from which she simply can’t break free. On top of that she is deeply inauthentic and forced, viz. drinking beer in her recent video.
Yet Donald Trump’s personality rubs many people the wrong way. Last time around I thought Marco Rubio was the most likable by a wide margin. Marco didn’t win. As Paul Mirgengoff pointed out, Ted Cruz is not a warm personality but I found him to be very sincere. One friend of mine calls Cruz “Count Chocula” and, unfortunately, that image sticks in my head.
Because of a parking problem I missed whatever stump speech Warren might have given. (Sorry!) But I did hear the Q & A. The Senator is practiced at the art of the buzz phrase. She cited her work in creating the Consumer Financial Protection Board – an unconstitutional federal agency with its funding not dependent upon the Congress – and then used the line that “the government shouldn’t work for insurance companies.” That statement is kind of a laugher because the several states regulate insurance and not the federal government.
It’s the law and Warren should know better since she earned over $500,000 per year teaching at Harvard Law School. A former law student of the Senator gave her some political advice and told her that many voters in red states see the abortion issue as “murdering babies.” Warren framed the issue as one in which the government needs to stay out of a personal decision.
A retired public-school teacher asked how Warren “could bring us together.” Her answer was that we come together to build a level playing field. The rules decide if we succeed. And, of course, Elizabeth Warren will create the right rules for utopia, Democrat style.
Speaking of rules, Elizabeth Warren dined out on gaming the rules with her false claim of being a Native American. In order to level the playing field, I would like to end the racial set asides and preferences that turn America toward tribal warfare without end.
Personal aside: With my LSAT score, I might have been admitted to Harvard Law if I had applied and then lied on my application and claimed I was part of the Omaha Indian tribe rather than a resident of Omaha. As it was, I received a great education at Creighton and our basketball team is always better than Harvard’s.
The Senator claimed that “we” saved the ACA by one vote. For some reason Warren didn’t pay her tacit tribute to the late Senator McCain by name.
On foreign policy, the Senator noted the rise of autocracies. In a dig at Trump she claimed that some autocrats even get elected. That’s an absurd claim. Trump won the election – against all odds – and the other two branches of the government have worked overtime to stop his legitimate initiatives.
Warren claimed – in a way not explained and unclear to me – that democracy is being “undercut at home.” This is all a part of the Dems attack on the Electoral College — in other words, an assault on the Constitution and rule of law. This claim is ridiculous to boot. Hillary lost the election fair and square and the Steele Dossier she paid for has been used ever since to undermine the duly elected President.
Warren made the transition from misleading buzz phrases to misleading clichés. “Immigration makes American stronger,” she asserted. Legal and controlled immigration, yes. Illegal immigration and an invasion at the southern border, no.
Warren got all cranked up when she talked about her border visit and seeing women and children in cages. Cages! Nine year-old girls are not a threat to the United States! (And they are now guests of the United States at our expense. You got a problem with that?)
For only the second time at one of these events I brought along an apolitical guest. My guest liked how Warren answered questions. She also liked Warren for appearing not to think too highly of herself, although I will have to correct my friend gently on this point.
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