Good news: Elizabeth Warren has stopped hiding behind aides to cover up her choices. Bad news: She’s now hiding behind everyone else. When MSNBC’s Chris Hayes asks Warren about the report from Politico about the six “women of color” who walked off her Nevada campaign over racism and tokenism, Warren tells Hayes, “I take responsibility for this.” Just before that, though, Warren explains why it’s really the fault of America’s “long legacy” of “racism and oppression.”
Remind me again which country’s voters she’s trying to woo:
Sen. @ewarren blames America’s “legacy” of “racism and oppression” for her campaign staff creating a “toxic work environment” for their minority staff pic.twitter.com/yf29uW10l7
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 7, 2020
HAYES: There’s a story in Politico that I saw you responded to, and I just want to get your response to it here on air about six women of color that quit your Nevada campaign with complaints of a toxic work environment and tokenism. One of them went on the record. I saw that you responded to that and apologized. What do you want to say in response to learning about that?
WARREN: You know, I believe these women without any equivocation, and I apologize personally that they had a bad experience on the campaign. I really work hard to try to build a campaign and a work environment where it’s diverse and open, and everyone is welcome and celebrated and gets to bring their whole self to work every day.
But I’m also very aware that racism and oppression in this country have left a long legacy. And it creates the kind of toxicity where people — power structures, people take advantage of other people. It’s something for which we have to be constantly vigilant and constantly determined to do better. I take responsibility for this, and I’m working with my team to address these concerns.
This is just another version of the Forrest Gump excuse: It’s just Johnson and the g*****n war! If this was a product of America’s “long legacy [of] racism and oppression,” shouldn’t this be happening on other campaigns? These walkouts should be a regular occurrence, if Warren’s theory holds up. Why has this only managed to happen on her campaign? And who hired the people who “take advantage of other people” in the first place?
Besides, even if one takes Warren’s explanation at face value, we’re still left with someone who’s apparently incompetent at dealing with this toxic legacy. Wouldn’t voters be better off going with candidates who don’t have this kind of drama taking place within their organizations?
Warren’s claim to “take responsibility for this” are transparently false. She’s trying to pass the buck literally to everyone else except her. It’s your fault, America. And vote for me!
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