A Referendum on Liars

The LowellSun had an excellent article about the issue of Elizabeth Warren pushing the narrative about women being undervalued and could not be president.  Bernie Sanders appears to be in the crosshairs now.

The article makes the point that a candidate credibility crisis is at hand.  Since the female POTUS candidates are dwindling, there is the opportunity to stake out a cause greater than one’s self.

Reliably, as with the 2016 election, CNN is all in on the candidate of its choice, and played a lead role in changing the battlefield from a conflict in which Warren would fight on her own merits to a wider and more important referendum on equality.

In other words, the candidate was no longer the ultra-flawed Elizabeth Warren, she was now ALL women.

Watching CNN collude with the Warren so overtly in an effort to reframe the race should be shocking, but they are in the public relations and advocacy business more than anything else these days.

The news network reported that Sanders had told Warren that a woman could not beat Donald Trump. She reportedly told two people and two others were familiar with the exchange. It happened at Warren’s house. Warren herself has confirmed it.

Why then, would the other four people demand anonymity? They are obviously in Warren’s circle. An objective observer might suspect that some wholesale manufacturing is afoot.

Then, the article highlighted CNN’s role in crafting the narrative…

CNN then embedded the weak premise that Sanders had said it, into a question in the debate as fact. The moderator wound-up and delivered a meatball to Warren who seemed as prepared for the pitch as Alex Cora’s 2018 Red Sox batting lineup.

She hit it out of the park and at the end of the debate pretended to be miffed at Sanders for calling her a liar.

Of course, by the standards of media fact-checks and damning Pinocchios, she is a liar.

Just to tick off a quick example, recall that on her 1986 State Bar of Texas registration card she listed herself as “American Indian.”

“American Indian,” as in unequivocally the real deal. Think Trail of Tears. The assertion is equivalent to stolen valor in which someone falsely claims to have fought in a war except there was real, unique currency in claiming Native American heritage when Warren did and she knew it.

At the end of the debate, CNN captured the moment when Warren refused to shake the hand of Sanders as the two exchanged inaudible remarks.

Miraculously, not-at-all planned, and totally on-the-level, CNN managed to find audio of the exchange, in which she read her lines with the authenticity of a nervous telemarketer: “I think you called me a liar on national TV.”

With that, the national media ran with the gender war narrative in the hopes that voters will now see the Democratic Primary as a referendum on all women, personified by one woman: Elizabeth Warren.

Unfortunately for her, it may turn out to be a referendum on liars.

Feel the bern!

Bernie struck me as a wimp in this situation.  He should have answered “Yes, as a matter of fact I did call you a liar.” but instead he went with “Well, you called me a liar.  Let’s not talk about this now.”

I was waiting for it to flair up into “Did not” – “Did too” or the reliable go-to of “Liar, liar pants on fire.”

I do have to say I saw another side of her – a vicious side.  A side that is hungry for power and will craft a convenient narrative to achieve her goals, whether that narrative is true or not.

Women do have it tough, I’ll grant them that.  They have to show that they are assertive enough to square off with someone, but at the same time not invoke the “B” word.

Bernie would do good by taking a few arrows in the back – pun intended – and dodge that whole issue or he will have to announce a female running mate and allow Warren to craft his campaign.

Just like the “Beer Summit” that Obama had to cover up for his own mistake for stepping into an issue he shouldn’t, we all have to endure something playing out to correct something else that didn’t go right.

Politics as theater.

Category: Politics