Last year, I wrote about how Elizabeth Warren, in a reversal of position, was backing an Indian gaming bill tied to special interests. The bill is called the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act. It aims to circumvent legal obstacles currently thwarting the Mashpee Wampanoag’s attempts to establish a casino in Massachusetts.
Warren had been a consistent opponent of legalized gaming. I suggested that her reversal was a transparent attempt to mitigate her “fake Indian” problem by gaining good will from the tribe and/or an effort to gain favor with an influential PAC connected to the gaming interest behind the casino.
I’m pretty sure it was the former. Quite possibly, it was the latter, as well.
But when the House Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples met this week to debate the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Reservation Reaffirmation Act, Warren was absent. Why? Reportedly because the Indian tribe didn’t want her to be present.
“She’s been waved off,” a gaming industry source told Michael Graham. “Everyone knows it’s her bill, but they [the Mashpees] don’t want her anywhere near it.”
Graham adds:
Why would they? If you’re a proud Mashpee Wampanoag who treasures your Native American heritage, Warren’s an embarrassment. And if you’re just an opportunist hoping to make a few bucks off an Indian casino—she’s even worse.
A spokesperson for the Mashpee tribe, declined to comment on reports that the tribe has asked Warren not to offer public support for the casino project. But, asks Graham, “what other explanation is there for Warren’s transition from a proud co-sponsor to persona non grata?”
Warren keeps trying to remedy, or at least mitigate, her “Fauxahontas” problem, but it won’t go away. If anything, it keeps getting worse.
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.