It was a bit of a rough start for Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren, who held her first official press conference following her victory Tuesday. Suddenly, the voluble Harvard Law School professor and longtime media commentator sounded uncertain and impatient, offering terse answers to questions about fiscal policy and the success of women candidates.
“I’m glad” was all she said when asked to expound on the support she received from women voters and on the influx of women elected Tuesday. Asked to elaborate, she refused, saying: “I’m glad that women turned out to vote for me. I’m delighted.”
Comments
Sadly, the new Senator-elect, much like the President, cannot function well without talking points or TelePrompTer. For a champion of women's rights to defer to the male governor on the question should be embarrassing to her and to the state who just elected her.
I have been waiting for the first comment condemning Warren. Would you like to censure her for showing too much deference or not enough?
you'll be okay when you get to Washington, John Kerry and Harry Reid will tell you exactly what you need to do.
So...you wanted her to be a mouth breathing liberal at her press conference?
Let's remember what compromise means. It can't be about getting dragged further and further to the right.
What???? This country, and especially this state, are soooo far to the left, we're about to fall off the fiscal cliff into the Pacific Ocean. The next step is to elect Putin as our President.
Buyer's remorse, anyone?
The sheep voters asked for it (D) dumb
Not even a little. Still thrilled to have "seat-warmer" Brown out of there. Three years and he didn't do anything; not surprising, since he didn't do anything for years as a Massachusetts state legislator. Warren will be very good, just wait and see.
So...did the Globe expect her to say "I'm the women's candidate and I'll work on liberal issues"? She has to represent all Bay-staters and not just her base. She won't have much to say about committees either, so if she says she wants the Judicial committee and gets Agriculture she'll look like the new senator that she is. She was never as liberal as Brown made her out to be!
On the defense spending question, she didn't have an idea on how to answer it. The WBZ news clip shows Patrick having to prod her to respond and it shows his uncomfortable look as she stumbls through it. She may not be aware that defense spending is a major piece of the state's economic make-up.
She's our Senator now, so she'd better learn to be less thin-skinned and speak up for us!
Well what do you expect from a puppet? This woman doe not have an original thought in her head. The only reason whe won is that MA is so overwhelmingly Democrat that those who voted for Obama also voted straight Democrat ticket.
Not a single Republican won a seat in the last 2 elections here. Something very fishy about the whole thing when in both elections, as in the just finished national election, most all the polls were wrong. How does MA elect a crook like Tierney over Tsei, when polls said Tsei would win. How did Suzanne Bump win her election in 2010 when all the polls had Mary Connaughton as the winner? And why are the votes sent to Spain to be counted, for heaven sake? They might just as well have been sent to Venezuela.
The country..and I say the world..lost a chance to bring us back from the brink of fiscal disaster by electing an incompetent, know-nothing, celebrity instead of Romney, a man of character, intellect, kindness and ability. And Lizzie Warren will only add to the upcoming crash since she has not clue how to solve our problems. And neither does Obama.
Scot Lehigh has a few words for you in his column today.
"And Lizzie Warren will only add to the upcoming crash since she has not clue how to solve our problems. And neither does Obama." ... as compared to Scott Brown? C'mon, Scott was way out of his depth. He was good at the personal touch part of the job (until he made some of the stupidest moves I've seen a candidate make this cycle) but was terrible on policy. The 'crash' (who's fearmongering now, BTW?) will require compromise -- something a Norquist follower can't give -- and perhaps now we'll get some.
I think she was entirely right not to tip her hand before she even gets to the Senate. As they say, "Discretion is the better part of valor."
Spoken like a true lemming...we only pay her salary now, why should we get answers...god you dems on this blog, like redglare, sound like occupiers and teabaggers...
Oh she will be a big help with the crash- She has never had a real job in her life. Academic, policy wonks are just what we need now.
Teaching the youth of tomorrow isn't a real job?
Professors and teaches don't have a place in politics?
How are people who go directly into politics after finishing their education any different?
99% of people with what you consider a 'real job' would not be capable of offering a viable solution to any crisis.
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Oh boy! This isn't good. A politician who has nothing to say???? Well you, the enlightened sophisticated voters of Massachusetts voted her into this important office. I had a good laugh at the part where she turned to the Governor for help. That is because Obama wasn't there to tell her what to say. Whenever I read something about her all I can think of is her campaign advertisement where she is following the President into the Rose Garden. It is like a puppy following its master.
Excuse me for a second...
Hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah!
What did you voters expect? You elected an academic who thinks she knows all the answers, and doesn't expect to be questioned.
Don't worry, she'll be ready to answer lots of questions, once Harry Reid tells her what to say.
Congrats, Massachusetts voters --- doing this and re-elected Tierney as well. You guys must be *so* proud!
Warren, Lil Joe Kennedy and Tierney. Tierney just proves it, it's all about 'My Team' and nothing about character.
Warren "doesn't expect to be questioned", you say? You do know that she went through three debates, ANSWERING QUESTIONS (and she was ready and willing for a fourth, remember?), and she was relentlessly questioned for a year, throughout the primaries and the general election season? No, she's answered plenty of questions, and she'll be ready to answer plenty more, believe me. But of course that won't change your pre-set view of her. No matter what her accomplishments, you'll always be ready with that "Yeah, but . . . . "
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I really expected more from the "first woman of color" senator from MA.
She has answers but "they're not for you!"
"She has answers but "they're not for you!" -- Hah! Kinda like Romney's "secret plan" to save the USA and its economy? Oh, wait, in the final debate, he pretty much agreed with the President on ALMOST EVERYTHING. Ah, but that's yesterday's news now.
Warren is a loose cannon and this so called, "holding-back" will last only so long before she is waving her arms like a wind-mill and making many of us cringe at her connection to Massachusetts.
An insulting - embarrassment - but, what the heck . . . she is a Democrat, s/a Biden, & Obama.
"Cantabrigian" -- Doesn't Warren live just around the corner from you? What, did she throw an extra helping of razor blades in your trick or treat bag last week? Boo-hoo --- BOOO!
The headline should read "Reporters get well-deserved brush-off from Elizabeth Warren". Noah Bierman, Michael Levenson, Stephanie Ebbert, and the rest of the Boston Globe reporters refused to let the campaign be about issues. Ms. Warren gave them ample opportunity for MONTHS to ask about fiscal policy and sexism in government. Instead, journalism's local finest harped on the "heritage" non-issue, filled each day with vapid stories about wives and children, and scrupulously avoided exposing Scott Brown's many loudly repeated LIES. Any actual substance about issues (such revealing that virtually all of Mr. Brown's "bipartisan" votes were on occasions where they were meaningless) was buried deep in the back-pages, while the front pages were filled vacuous anecdotes and second-rate dark-and-stormy-night narrative. Get used to it, guys -- you're dealing with smart, tough hardnosed lawyer who properly treats you as hostile witnesses.
Well said!
Thanks for making excuses for a woman who has shown continously that she feels the public are simply children to be placated. I was a little worred that no one would stand up for this whole mess. The Democrats in this state decided that it was a personal affront to have a republican - even one as left of center as Brown - occupying "Kennedy's Seat". They didn't care that she was unqualified to run for the US Senate and that her coronation was decided early on by Patrick and obama as they both made sure she never faced a more experienced Democratic rival. It's not so bad that the senator from Massachusetts is a Democrat - that was inevitable. It's the fact that this election was manipulated within the party to ensure the election of an unqualified person and the fact that voters were so complicit with such a move.
She won't answer hard questions, what kid would?
Well, some progress -- at least you're not one of those snarks who refers to Warren as "Granny", it would seem. But, since it seems, from your regular posts out here, that you feel you DO have a lot of answers, you may now feel free to write Ms. Warren with those answers, since she's going to be your representative. (Yes, even for Western Mass!)
redglare2 - we'll see if she answers me. I sent several questions during the campaign on policy issues and never got a response. Such as ... I asked if she would have voted for the Paycheck Fairness Act. She 'hammered' Scott Brown for not voting for it, but never said that it was something she would have voted for. The Boston Globe edtiorial boards and other newspapers said it was a bad solution to the problem.
Is this a news article or an editorial? It's hard for me to tell as I'm new to internet newspapers There sure is a lot of opinion in it! I suppose it's a good opportunity for disappointed Republicans to express themselves. But most of us wanted and are happy with Elizabeth Warren, as is obvious from the election results. My suggestion for the reporters (if that's what the writers of this article are) is that if you want information, do not jump down the throat of someone like Elizabeth at her first interview as Senator-elect. If you knew anything about her, you'd know that her actual lack of reticence as a consumer advocate has benefited all of us immensely - which is one reason why we voted for her.
Reminds me of the Robert Redford Movie "The Candidate". On election day, Warren wins. In one of the movie's famous scenes, She escapes the victory party and pulls Devall Patrick into a room while throngs of journalists clamor outside. Warren asks Patrick, "Devall ... What do we do now?" The media throng arrives to drag them out, and Warren never receives an answer. Fiction has become reality in Massachusetts.
Elizabeth warren isn't talking because she knows, that taxing the "Rich" sounds good, but it produces little revenue for the government. So soon you will be hearing calls from Harry Reid for "Carbon" credits and a VAT (i.e a national sales tax) like is done in European countries. That a tax on the "Middle Class", because that's where the REAL money is.
A carbon tax is the single most effective way to address the deficit, encourage renewable energy, encourage energy independence, reduce CO2 emissions and future global warming, and reduce the future need for astronomical defense budgets. It therefore stands to reason that right-wingers and the GOP oppose it.
She will be Pres. Obama and Harry Reid's rubber stamp that is all you have to know.
Whew! So, since you've told us "all we need to know", I guess this must be your final post out here, huh? I mean, you've given us the sum total of your wisdom, or at least what you are willing to share with us. So, farewell, and have fun at the Herald (as long as it stays in business).
Good for her. She obviously doesn't "suffer fools gladly". How she felt about women voting as the lead-off question would have discouraged anyone from the possibiity of a discussion of the issues.
People like redglare are obviously the idiots who voted for this abberation...and like Warren, can't mount an argument but, instead, just trashes people for what they said. Joe Biden uses the same tactic and the idiot dems call that "being able to debate." Give it up redglare...now that the campaign is over, this is your Senator. She has no agenda, can't answer a question unless it comes out of a textbook, and is a theorist who has never seen dirt under her fingernails. She is a thorn in the side of banks who have enough lobby money to eliminate anything she tries, her and her friend Obama will cut the defense spending so that you carbon freaks can watch THOUSANDS of jobs leave Massachusetts. Apparently, redglare, your retired and already got yours so you don't care. But the Mass economy is going to get KILLED by Lizzie and Barak...
Turning to a press aide, she said: “Can I say that? Maybe it’s indiscreet to talk about discretion.” How Clintonian can you get?
The Democrat machine rolled over Marisa DeFranco denying her a place on the ballot. Watch and listen: Elizabeth Warren is only a place-holder. After 6 years, she will decline to continue and the senate slot will be open for Baby Joe Kennedy. When he wins the coronation, there will be much crowing that the Kennedy seat has been returned to a Kennedy. We in Massachusetts live in Venezuela or Cuba.
True, I think this is exactly why the Dem machine pushed 62 year old Elizabeth Warren for this seat. They want someone in there who will serve 1 term, vote as 'the leader' tells her and step aside.
The woman doesn't live in the real world. She can't think quick on her feat. She thinks normal people shop at "cheese shops." She won't have Deval next to her when she gets to the Senate. This will be more fun to watch that Patrick Kennedy's rants.
The classroom lecture hall is another world from that of a government senator. You all voted for the Harvard lawyer with White House connections. Borrow Obamas telaprompter next time for all the answers.