At this point, the op-ed piece by the Third Way think tank in the Wall Street Journal attacking Elizabeth Warren has been widely circulated and correctly interpreted as a wildly disingenuous and counterproductive manifesto generated by the typical centrist, corporatist culture that holds sway within Beltway circles.
What I was unaware of until this morning was that among Third Way's Co-Chairs was my Congressional Representative, Jared Polis (CO-2).
As I noted in a previous diary regarding Mr. Polis, while I agree with many of his policies and positions, our positions on the economy, austerity and the Simpson-Bowles plan couldn't be more divergent.
What's most laughable about the WSJ piece in my opinion is that its writers, Cowan and Kessler hold up the defeat of the proposed Amendment 66 in Colorado, which would have raised taxes to raise funds for education, as a warning against the perils of economic populism. What they conveniently fail to mention is that the Amendment as written was flawed from the outset by its vagueness over how and where and why the monies it would have raised would be spent. Additionally, the effort was poorly messaged to the Colorado voters that are interested in and support a better educational system, statewide. The whole effort had a decidedly un-grassroots feel to it.
Congressman Polis knows all this.
The question is, will he have the courage to come out and disavow the disingenuous philosophies put forward by two of the members of the Third Way think tank that he sits on as a Co-Chair?
He damn well better. Because eventually, his political downfall will be, in the words of Cowen and Kessler, "the true Election Day harbinger of American liberalism."
For more related information, check out this article.
1:32 PM PT: 2:30 PM MST. Just got off the phone with Congressman Polis' staff at his D.C. office. Was told by a staffer that Mr. Polis supports both the Third Way AND Senator Warren. He must be wearing anti-gravity boots to defy the laws of physics so well...