The Washington Post reminds us why I’m not the only Democrat who {hearts} Senator Elisabeth Warren:
… Warren — a second-year senator from Massachusetts who is not up for reelection — might be one of the few Democrats in the nation who are enjoying 2014. She has been invited to rallies for candidates in six states, even in conservative places such as Kentucky, where on Tuesday night she campaigned with Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes.
One secret of Warren’s success has been her mastery of an old political art: the stump speech. Other Senate Democrats, after years on the defensive, have been trained to give mumbly attack speeches focusing mainly on what their opponents get wrong. Warren, by contrast, uses old rhetorical tricks to sweep her audience into a celebration of what she says Democrats get right.
Warren’s speech might not win any elections this year, but it certainly seems more fun for people in the back row.
“So, this is a rally? Let’s rally for a minute. Let’s remind ourselves what we get out there and fight for,” she told the small crowd in New Hampshire. And she started in with a kind of credo, reciting the things they all believed together. “We believe we need more restraints on Wall Street.”
“Woo!” said the crowd.
“Yeah!” said the senator from Massachusetts. “Woo!”…
“Nobody should work full time and still live in poverty,” Warren said. She was drowned out by cheers.
“Everyone is entitled to get an education without being crushed by student-loan debt,” she said. Cheers again. “Woo!” Warren said. Then she turned to students waving signs on the stage behind her. “Woo!”
Warren shouted other beliefs: that Social Security and Medicare should be preserved, that women deserve equal pay for equal work. These were well-worn Democratic policy ideas, repackaged as the bylaws of a movement.
Then the big one, the line that usually draws the loudest applause in the speech.:
“Corporations are not people,” Warren shouted….
***********
Apart from remembering what we’re here for, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
raven
Axe and ye shall receive.
Corner Stone
I just made some of the best homemade salsa I’ve made in a decade or so.
Hotter than the hinges, and nice bite on a tortilla chip.
Comrade Scrutinizer
Problem is, it’s not about entertainment. If her speeches don’t translate into electoral victories, then what’s the point?
Hal
I picked up my car today after having the calipers, rotors and pads replaced. 646 bucks, so there goes most of my check this week, but man did I miss having a car for a few days. My job is 22 miles from home, and requires two separate buses and at least 2 hours one way. That is one thing I miss about living and working in San Francisco. No need for a car, and you could get anywhere in the city on the bus and trains.
PurpleGirl
Yes, indeed. Corporations are not people. They are entities created by the state for certain specific purposes.
srv
I’m for putting the z back in Elisabeth.
Corner Stone
@Comrade Scrutinizer:
I’m not a big one for moral victories, but as far as rhetoric goes, I am a huge backer in not ceding ground to bad ideas.
If her speeches can delineate solid ideas and platforms, then I am all for them.
Baud
@Comrade Scrutinizer:
Well, hopefully they will translate into electoral victories at some point, even if not this year.
Sherparick
@srv: Hey, that is way the name is spelled in German, as my German born wife liked to remind anyone who tries to put a “z” in her name. For the nay sayers out there, this how we start getting some of that white working class vote back, reminding them that their interests are ultimately the same as their Black and Brown brother and sisters. If Democrats win some close races in Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, etc, a lot that will be due to Elisabeth Warren.
Linda Featheringill
@Comrade Scrutinizer:
Her speeches definitely translate into votes for her. Whether she is effective at getting out the support for other candidates remains to be seen.
ETA: And yes, I love her, too.
gelfling545
@PurpleGirl: one of those purposes being to distinguish them from the natural persons involved.
Tree With Water
Warren is such an emo-democrat it makes some people puke.
HR Progressive
Funny how that story portrays it as that she simply has the ability to get a crowd going, without really truly diving into the fact that the core message does resonate with voters…even “Red State Democrats”.
Although I have enjoyed watching her campaign for Grimes, Tennant, and others…how does her success accurately get measured?
If Grimes wins, is it because of the Warren Effect?
If Tennant loses, is it because the Warren Effect is overhyped?
I’m not sure the Warren Effect, at this point in time, especially in a midterm election where so many possible voters are screened out as being “unlikely voters”, can accurately be quantified.
Hell, unless there’s data to back it up, I’m not sure you can attribute every single time Palin rallied for a shitty candidate and they lost that it was directly her fault. They probably would have lost without her “help”. Also, too. But yeah.
Warren 4 Ruler of Earf.
Baud
Saints and Panthers play tonight for a 4-4 record and first place in the NFC South.
Yes, the division is crap this year.
kindness
If I could commit voter fraud to elect Warren as my Senator too I would.
DiFi: Pack your Bags!
@Comrade Scrutinizer: The point is the message gets repeated and that does help. Don’t be cranky.
Linda Featheringill
@Tree With Water:
“Democrats fall in love with their candidates. Republicans fall in line.”
Yeah, we like emotional speeches. Bill Clinton has a speech, Why I’m a Democrat, that almost makes atheists get religion. Hellelujah!
Baud
@gelfling545:
In all matters except religion!
srv
@Sherparick: They may nazi that one coming.
raven
@Baud: FSU and the Ville at 7:30. Lots of potential hate there.
Baud
@raven:
I don’t follow college much at all. How long have they been doing the Thursday night crap?
Corner Stone
@HR Progressive:
Why do we give a shit?
She’s out there doing the damn thing.
dmsilev
Speaking of Massachusetts politicians, RIP Mumbles Menino.
Baud
@Corner Stone:
I find Village consternation a good measure of Democratic success.
Keith G
@Comrade Scrutinizer:
Can speeches translate into votes? Experience has shown me that yes they can™. All the more so if the speeches are not isolated or ad hoc efforts, but part of a well thought out and unified pattern of behavior on the part of many. It is entertainment, and marketing, and branding, and bandwagoning, as well as a bit of a revival thrown in.
It seems that for many decades there has developed a notion among some elites in the Democratic Party that is just enough to be smart , have good ideas, and ability to speak with a sense of earnestness. It most certainly is not. Not only is that a poor way to get continued media coverage, but it is a behavior in opposition to the fact that the public likes to see a bit of razzle-dazzle, a bit of assertiveness, and an appeal to emotion. The best political communication has a lot in common with the best theater.
Felanius Kootea
@Comrade Scrutinizer: How many Dems try to do what Warren does? Most of those in Red states seem to spend their time trying to pretend to be Republican instead of focusing on common sense issues that resonate. How has Lundergan-Grimes made it clear that McConnell getting rid of “Obamacare” means people in Kentucky lose Kynect, which they like? Are there no people in Kentucky who believe in a living wage? What does she stand for besides keeping Big Coal happy or running away from Obama?
Baud
@Keith G:
tl;dr. Dems need more jazz hands.
Corner Stone
@dmsilev: I caught something earlier where The Kornack said a poll in 2008 or 2009 reported something like over 50% of respondents had actually met Menino in person.
*I’m paraphrasing but it was something crazy balls like that.
ranchandsyrup
My co-blogger on that moment you realize you’re turning into your parents
Trollhattan
She distills big issues into small bites that manage to not lose their meaning in the condensing. She speaks with (hard-earned) authority in an easy, friendly manner that seems genuine.
These qualities cannot be overvalued, and are at the core of why she’s important to the party. Just look at the vile attacks on her, aren’t they the best evidence that she’s feared by our oligarch class?
The Big Dog can do the same thing but with a whole lot more words. His last DNC speech was a beautiful thing to behold, even if it was epically long.
NobodySpecial
I can imagine Reagan Democrats might not like the idea of a lefty with a positive message.
Howard Beale IV
@dmsilev: That was quick. Wasn’t over a week ago he announced he was stopping treatment.
Corner Stone
And for all those who were here endlessly bleating that HRC wasn’t doing nothing for nobody because she’s such a princess with a great set of sunglasses…yeah.
evodevo
@Trollhattan: Yes. Go Liz … er, Lis ?? er, whatever. Keep up what you’re doing, ’cause it looks like the rest of the Dem Party has forgotten how to do it…
Corner Stone
I’m not a violent person, but I sometimes wish somebody would elbow Chris Christie right in the stupid fucking face.
Keith G
@Baud:
Dems need more jazz hands?
I’d settle for more votes.
How to get that? I guess something other than what they are currently doing. The problem is that by now, the cake is pretty much baked.
Corner Stone
@Keith G:
I, for one, saw what you did there.
skerry
Took the kid for a flu shot (got mine last week). Voted. Ate a delicious Tuscan bean soup with some really good bread. A productive evening, all in all.
Preparing for a week of action against FERC, the Federal Energy Regulator Commission, next week. Please join us if you are in the DC area.
Also, you can sign a petition that will be delivered to the DNC on Monday calling out Democrats for weak, and even counterproductive, stances on climate change and environmental issues in general.
Keith G
@Corner Stone: It seems like brother Jebby might be willing to give it a go.
Are his ‘bows stout enough?
Corner Stone
@Keith G: Jeb is already miles ahead of Christie. Gov Christie will never win the R nomination, much less the WH.
Jeb may, IMO, win the R nomination but will not ever be president.
The Bush family does not have to personally take down opponents. They have a beautifully choreographed surrogate structure in place that does that.
Jeb wouldn’t dream of punching down at Christie, whereas punching down is all Christie is capable of.
Baud
@skerry:
Democrats aren’t perfect, but you have got to be kidding me.
ETA: Having now read the petition, I’m tempted to donate some money to ExxonMobil.
Mustang Bobby
Okay, based on three attack ads I’ve just seen in the break on “The Big Bang Theory,” I’m going to vote for Charlie Crist, Joe Garcia, and for medical marijuana because those ads told me not to. Neener, neener.
Mike in NC
Beginning the dreary process of shopping for a new car. Got a bill yesterday for $1100 for assorted small repairs on my 2004 Honda CR-V (205K miles on the odometer). Ten years isn’t bad for a car, and I’ll probably get another CR-V. I like the Honda Fit but did some online research that indicated the new plant in rural Mexico is plagued with problems regarding theft, quality control, and above all finding qualified and reliable workers. I also learned that the first two characters on a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) show in which country it was manufactured.
beltane
@Mike in NC: Thanks for the information about the Fit. I have a 9 year old Toyota Sienna that’s becoming quite the money pit and am looking to sell it and buy something else. Maybe I’ll just go for a slightly used Civic since I haven’t been really happy with the Toyota.
Corner Stone
@Mike in NC:
Oh wow. I have a CR-V 2008 with about 62K on it. Love that thing. So easy to park anywhere and gets all my stuff from A to B. Replaced the battery a couple times and the tires once so far. Would definitely recommend to others as a choice in flatland living.
If/when I move to Austin I’m going to need a different vehicle though. Once you cross Mopac heading West on any number of major arteries the twisty hills get intense, real fucking fast. Not mountains, but still more than my little 4 cylinder handles very efficiently.
Corner Stone
@beltane:
Honestly, it just doesn’t matter what kind of motorized vehicle you’re looking at, Hondas can not be beat.
Had a friend who tried for 3 years to kill his Honda CBR 1000RR motorcycle and just couldn’t.
Same thing for their cars, yard implements, etc.
beltane
@Corner Stone: My husband’s Corolla does fine on unpaved Vermont roads, even in the winter. He’s had to do a lot more than just change the battery and tires though but the maintenance costs on any car or truck are very high here. This place chews up vehicles and spits them out. I’m looking to move to a part of the state that’s a little less rough.
My ex-husband got close to 400,000 miles on his Accord before it was totaled by a collision with a deer.
dww44
: @Corner Stone:
and @Baud:
Along these lines, Warren was on the CBS Morning show a couple of days ago and if ever peoples’ faces were the personification of “village” and “bought by the money people” all 3 of the hosts faces, including, surprisingly, Gayle King’s, were etched with disdain. The camera panned from O’Donnell’s face to King’s to Rose’s as Warren did her stuff about student loans and minimum wage. They were NOT impressed;in fact grumpy doesn’t even describe it. Gayle King commented to Warren that she didn’t want to hear a political message, she wanted to hear something about ideas. Now I ask you readers, have you ever seen those 3 or any MSM types give GOP operatives the second degree like they gave Warren. Warren never stopped smiling.
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/sen-elizabeth-warren-on-ebola-midterm-elections-and-new-book/
skerry
Charlie Pierce has an article in Esquire’s November issue entitled: “The Democrats’ Hillary Clinton Problem”
Elizabelle
@skerry:
Good place to drop this one in, too. Al Giordano: Help Wanted: The Case for a Generational Challenger to Secretary Clinton
He kind of dismisses Elizabeth Warren, due to age, but I think Warren could be our best contender. She is not a fake, and she connects with people. She has been studying and writing on income inequality and the middle class for years and years, and communicates very well.
Which is why the GOP attacks her on being an Indian princess and would truly rather run against Hillary Clinton, who can be buttonholed as “fake.”
Redshift
@Comrade Scrutinizer:
To me, that’s the electoral equivalent of “if it doesn’t increase profits this quarter, what’s the point?”
If it doesn’t ever translate into electoral victories, then I’d somewhat agree with you, though fundraising and drawing a crowd for a candidate is never bad. But there’s value longer-term in showing how to talk about things that people like us know are good, in ways that help a much larger audience understand why they’re good.
schrodinger's cat
So should the Fed address income inequality? EconCat says yes!
Elizabelle
Maybe she will give Democrats spine. Too many of them need it. I’m not sure that running away from Obama is not hurting them more.
catclub
@PurpleGirl:
The rulings that allow 501(c)4 corporations to hide their donor lists, and then participate in elections, are an open invitation for foreign actors to influence our elections. And suddenly no one cares.
zmulls
Things don’t change overnight. One speech does not turn a country around (or rarely does — arguably).
Barack Obama has made many great speeches but the change has been incremental (and the hope threadbare by now).
What someone like Obama does….and someone like Warren does….is *CHANGE THE CONVERSATION*. That’s the most important thing. Reagan changed the conversation and in some respects we’re still having his conversation.
Bill Clinton (again, arguably) tried to turn Reagan’s conversation around to get some Democratic ideas in there. But he was still trying to talk Reagan’s talk.
Obama started to talk differently — like in his famous Philadelphia race speech. Too many people put their fingers in their ears and went “nyah nyah we can’t hear you.” But he kept talking and we have marriage equality, gays accepted in the military and the Affordable Care Act. No small thing.
Elizabeth Warren is changing the conversation — in two years, people will be trying to talk like her. Even if the Democrats lose this year.
catclub
@Elizabelle:
the way you do that is you say: Obama got Bin Laden, are you opposed to that? Obama made it so your child with a pre-existing condition will never be refused insurance, are you against that? When Obama took office we were losing over 500,000 jobs every month, but for for the past 55 months we have been gaining jobs every single month, are you opposed to that? Every Democrat should have a long string of these available.
Just like with Obamacare, convert it to specifics. People like the specifics.
PsiFighter37
@Corner Stone: That shithead Joe Kernan was basically jizzing himself on CNBC this morning talking about how much he loved the clip of Christie being his assholish self.
Too bad the media’s too fucking impotent to follow up on the question – which is, why has the Christie administration, nearly 2 years after Sandy, done pretty much jack shit when it comes to getting people’s lives back in order? I almost feel like Christie cozied up to Obama before the election so he could get his paws on some of that sweet, sweet federal aid and get his grift on. I almost guarantee that’s what has happened…one day, people will wonder where a giant pile of money went.
NotMax
@Mike in NC
Take a look at and a test drive in the Mazda 3 (and check out the reports and reviews on places like edmunds and car and driver online). Very nicely appointed for a reasonable price. That’s what Mom ended up buying when I went back East to take her new car shopping in Sept. She’s loving everything about it (had a Honda Accord previously). At age 87, she marveled at how she was able to drive from NYC area up to Tanglewood area of Massachusetts on less than a half tank of fuel.
Mike in NC
@NotMax: Thanks for the tip. I’ve owned the following cars:
76 Honda Civic (bought used — rusted out being near Navy bases)
81 Honda Civic
89 Hyundai Excel
96 Saturn SL2
04 Honda CR-V
Excel was a lemon; Saturn mediocre. Hondas were terrific.
Corner Stone
@NotMax: I’m thinking about doing some test drives for a 6-spd manual Nissan 370Z Nismo.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: Me, I want something like this.
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus: I thought you liked to go somewhere in a hurry?
I just want to get a stick again. It’s funny because my 1985 Ford Mustang GT 5.0 had about 215 HP, and it was kind of a badass at the time.
The 370Z Nismo has 350.
That should be fun.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: Speed is relative. It was a car that F-1 drivers bought as a personal transport back in its day. Its popularity was due to its ability to move at 80-100 mph all day on European roads. Plus, it’s pretty. I am a sucker for pretty Europeans.
Elizabelle
@catclub:
Yes! Tell it. You do better than the DCCC and its beyond pathetic emails and messaging.
RaflW
@Corner Stone:
If her speeches can put a bit of starch in the shorts of her fellow elected (and/or campaigning) Democrats, then I am all for them. After Nov. 4, she needs to run a f’in boot camp for her fellow Ds on Capitol Hill.
Say what you’re for, you pathetic squishes. (I know, not all D candidates are pathetic, but too many are…)
Arclite
Elizabeth Warren, Fuck Yeah.
low-tech cyclist
What strikes me about the things that Warren is saying is that none of them are particularly radical. Most everything she’s quoted as saying above is going to resonate with most people who have any chance of voting Dem. Like the WaPo piece says, “these were well-worn Democratic policy ideas.” They’re not radical. They only seem that way because the Democrats have lost their way.
I keep hearing that if the Democrats move left, they’ll scare away a bunch of people. That’s bullshit. The reality is, the political center in this country (as defined by our stunted political discourse) has moved well to the right of the center of where the American people are. And it’s taken the Democratic Party with it; the Dems are only mildly right of that latter center, while the GOP is way, way to its right. There’s room for them to move left, and move closer to where the American people are, at the same time.
The Dems’ problem is that they’ve ruined the Democratic brand. They are far too ready to offer to cut Social Security or raise the Medicare eligibility age because Fred Hiatt says they should. There should be no doubt in the public’s mind that the Dems are the defenders of these programs, and the GOP is the party that would gut them in a heartbeat. But because the Dems are such pussyfooters, the GOP can bullshit the public about this, and get away with it.
That’s why it’s important for someone like Warren to speak out in unabashed support of these things.
@Comrade Scrutinizer:
First, you build up a movement. Then, you start winning elections.
Hopefully Warren can help tip the balance in some of our close Senate and gubernatorial elections this year. But whether she does or not, hopefully she can get people seeing the world the way she does, and get them motivated to participate in politics.
You’ve got to sow before you can reap.
J R in WV
@Tree With Water:
If it makes Republicans puke, that’s a good thing!!! And anyone it makes puke is NOT a Democrat, not one.
If you’re inclined to puke over a strong Democratic woman, what the F are you doing here? Go away, and don’t come back! Run Away, Run Away!!!