Democrat Elizabeth Warren left a big opening when she failed to tell her side of the story of the legal work she did for Travelers Insurance in a case involving asbestos victims. Republican Senator Scott Brown lost no time using that lapse against her.
At a morning press conference following their first debate, Brown called Warren’s claim that she had actually worked for asbestos victims “outrageous.” Describing the Harvard law professor as a “hired gun”, he said Travelers retained her “to get them off the hook for settlements sought by victims of asbestos poisoning.” Warren, he charged, is trying to mislead voters into thinking of her as an advocate for the little guy, when “there is only one person who has taken the side of big corporations against working families and that’s Elizabeth Warren.”
Comments
I don't know what the Globe thinks it's accomplishing by having these misleading headlines - sounding fair and objective? When you say "could taint" Warren, you mean "Brown could succeed in fooling some voters into believing that Warren did something to hurt asbestos victims. She did nothing of the sort. "Tainting" implies there is something true about the accusation there was some misdeed or impropriety. There's nothing even contradictory about her mission to fight for the middle class. She didn't hurt asbestos victims; Travelers did. After she left the case. She was there in a role as a bankruptcy expert to protect the law and the chances that victims in such cases would get payments. The headline should be that Brown is distorting her work. C'mon.
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I have faith that the majority of voters to see through this smoke screen, but it does say something significant about the moral underpinnings of Brown. Such extreme distortion of the situation amounts to lying to the electorate and indicates desperation.
From: Mssachusetts Whistleblower-Oversight Watch Massachusetts I am former Inspector and Director of Industrial Safety for Massachusetts and not a backer of Scott Brown and yet to decide mon Elizabeth Warren. The lingering news Candidate Warren self proclaimed champion of workers is troubling especially representing an insurance company against asbestos contamination claims brought by workers or their families. Futher, statements being made by the labor representive and for profit victims attorney appear to be partisan without full disclosure of their facts, involvement and documentation. All details of Elizabeth Warren billing hours, filings, and transcripts involved with this case should immediately be made public for objective analysis.
Brown needs to come clean and admit that the only way victims ever get compensation in cases like this is when there is a permanent fund set up.Otherwise each victim would have to sue separately and the vast majority could never even begin to bring that kind of legal action. They could never afford it!
The Travelers case is complicated as is Elizabeth's role in supporting the victims. However, Scott Brown's statement in this article is laughably and sickenly blatently false: “there is only one person who has taken the side of big corporations against working families and that’s Elizabeth Warren.”
Having graphics problems--but I do not know how to cancel my post.Scott's statement above shows blatant use of Karl Rove's technique: accuse your opponent of your own wrongdoing or weakness. I feel confident that any well-read commenter knows that Elizabeth Warren is the person who stands up for middle class families. Her consumer protection work is one strong evidence of that. Scott's votes for corporations, big oil subsidies and keeping Bush tax breaks for millionaires are all evidence of his votes for corporations and against the middle class. PS: the graphics came out OK.
This headline is misleading and prejudicial.
I agree that the headline doesn't really reflect the contents of the column. Taint is synonymous with such words as corrupt, defile, deprave, stain, contaminate. The headline writer must be a Brown person.