Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., greet each other before the first of two Democratic presidential primary debates hosted by CNN Tuesday, July 30, 2019, in the Fox Theatre in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
My RedState colleague Bonchie wrote last night about the feud that has erupted in recent days between Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
The two socialist senators, you may recall, made a private “non-aggression” pact of sorts towards each other during a private meeting in December 2018 before they declared their candidacies. But their respective campaigns have effectively nullified that agreement with he said/she said accusations about what happened at that meeting, and it has blown up spectacularly not on Sanders – but on Warren, for reasons I’ll get into in a minute.
To briefly recap what’s been reported over the last few days: In response to a Politico article from over the weekend that talked about how Sanders campaign volunteers were being given a negative talking points script to use when talking to primary voters who indicated they were leaning towards Warren, CNN reported anonymous sources as confirming Sanders told Warren during that December 2018 meeting that a woman couldn’t win.
Sanders himself exploded over the report, denying the conversation went that way. “What I did say that night was that Donald Trump is a sexist, a racist and a liar who would weaponize whatever he could,” he angrily told CNN in a statement.
However, Warren herself issued a statement in response to Sanders’ which contradicted his claims and which seemingly confirmed the original CNN report:
In response to a great deal of questions we’ve had today, below is a statement from Elizabeth Warren: pic.twitter.com/PdBCHJQCJE
— Kristen Orthman (@KristenOrthman) January 14, 2020
BUT the Washington Post spoke to anonymous sources familiar with the conversation who say Sanders’ version is the correct version:
NEW: WAPO confirms Elizabeth Warren is lying! pic.twitter.com/q2I5IGdGNh
— Aisha Sharna (@SharnaAisha) January 14, 2020
That the he said/she said drama is playing out just hours before tonight’s scheduled Democratic presidential debate in Iowa is popcorn-worthy and in of itself. But the ensuing Twitter backlash and the trending of the #RefundWarren hashtag as people who wouldn’t have dreamed of questioning Warren’s stories two weeks ago are doing it now is like the icing on the cake.
Warren has no one to blame for the backlash on this but herself. She has a history of not being honest with voters about her history, including her false claims of a Native American heritage, her false claims that her children only went to public school, and her false claims about allegedly being let go from a teaching job because she was pregnant.
Even if Warren is telling the truth about her conversation with Sanders, she’s made it harder to believe because thanks to conservative sleuths, new media websites, and President Trump, even Warren’s supporters know she’s not above telling a whopper or two at the expense of other candidates in order to get ahead.
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