You have to give Sen. Elizabeth Warren some credit for quickly tapping into the core of left-wing sentiment right now, a seething rage which is as white hot as it is impotent.
I am angry because an extremist Supreme Court thinks they can impose their extremist views on all of the women of this country and they are wrong.
I have seen the world where abortion is illegal. We’re not going back—not now, not ever. pic.twitter.com/5lE8rCQz5U
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) May 3, 2022
“We are going to fight back,” she said. Really? How exactly? She said the congress could change “all of this” which is true, in theory. But it doesn’t seem terribly likely to happen with a 50-50 Senate and a narrow advantage in the House. Where does she think the votes will come from? Does she think her colleagues will be able to end the filibuster? Sens. Sinema and Manchin have already said no to that.
Warren is extreme but she’s not stupid. She knows there’s nothing she can do, except, she can try to add to the pressure building on the court to change the decision before it’s issued. She can show up at the court and try to offer the Justices a preview of the rage to come. And while she’s at it she can keep her name in the news and maybe do a little fundraising on the side.
Keep in mind that it was only about two weeks ago when Warren wrote a piece for the NY Times warning that Democrats were going to lose their majorities if they didn’t pass more of Biden’s agenda prior to the midterms.
Like many Americans, I’m frustrated by our failure to get big things done — things that are both badly needed and very popular with all Americans. While Republican politicians obstruct many efforts to improve people’s lives and many swear loyalty to the Big Lie, the urgency of the next election bears down on us.
Democrats cannot bow to the wisdom of out-of-touch consultants who recommend we simply tout our accomplishments. Instead, Democrats need to deliver more of the president’s agenda — or else we will not be in the majority much longer.
That was, in part, a plea for Biden to forgive student loans, which is at least something Biden could conceivably do. She suggested other things that Bide could do without congress as well. I don’t agree with her but at least it’s a plan. Wasn’t that her thing in 2020? She had a plan for everything. Today she’s acknowledging the obvious, which is that only congress can change this, but she doesn’t seem to have a plan to get there. I guess if you’re angry enough you don’t have to make sense.
After her speech in front of SCOTUS, Warren was followed by a group of reporters and wound up repeated some what she’d already said, i.e. I’m angry but congress can fix this. “The Republicans have been working toward this day for decades,” she said. She continued, “They have been out there plotting, carefully cultivating these Supreme Court Justices so they could have a majority on the bench who would accomplish something that the majority of Americans do not want. Sixty-nine percent of people across this country…want Rov vs Wade to maintain as the law of the land.”
A visibly shaken and angry Senator Elizabeth Warren just spoke in-front of #SCOTUS. @TheNationalNews pic.twitter.com/KzQ2Z0Lg3b
— Willy Lowry (@willy_lowry) May 3, 2022
She’s relying on the same poll numbers a lot of people are relying on today.
Just 30% of Americans say they’d like to see the Supreme Court completely overturn its Roe vs. Wade decision, with 69% opposed — a finding that’s largely consistent both with other recent polling and with historical trends. In a set of three surveys taken last autumn by different pollsters, support for overturning Roe vs. Wade stood between 20% and 31%, depending on the precise framing of the question. And in CNN’s polling dating back to 1989, the share of the public in favor of completely overturning Roe has never risen above 36%.
What Warren won’t tell you is that support for keeping abortion legal drops off a cliff after the first trimester. Here’s an AP poll from last summer:
A solid majority of Americans believe most abortions should be legal in the first three months of a woman’s pregnancy, but most say the procedure should usually be illegal in the second and third trimesters, according to a new poll…
The new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 61% of Americans say abortion should be legal in most or all circumstances in the first trimester of a pregnancy. However, 65% said abortion should usually be illegal in the second trimester, and 80% said that about the third trimester.
Warren was interrupted by a pro-life person saying “We don’t want to dismember children in the womb, ma’am.” A woman filming Warren and wearing some kind of ID lanyard tells the guy to “shut up.” Is she a reporter or is this some left-wing group? Here’s another angle.
Right now: Senator Elizabeth Warren outside #SCOTUS protest pic.twitter.com/PR4niG0Pit
— Lisa Bennatan (@LisaBennatan) May 3, 2022
Democrats are relying on anger and misinformation so far. It may well work since the overwhelming majority of people in the media are on their side. At some point when she calms down a bit, someone should ask Warren about that AP poll.
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