Via a post at Blue Mass Group, I thought the dkos folk might want to see this. According to BMG:
9/22/2012, nearby Eire Pub in Boston, at a rally for Scott Brown including former Mayor Ray Flynn. Some supporters of Elizabeth Warren were also gathered around with signs. Here you can see Brown’s staffers making “war whoops” and “tomahawk chops”, presumably in reference to Warren’s Cherokee heritage. Identified in video making the chop are Brown’s Constituent Service Counsel Jack Richard (camoflage shirt) and — we believe — Massachusetts GOP operative Brad Garrett, front and center with tan baseball cap and gray hoodie, leading the whoops and chops. (Garrett is known for having recently delivered a cake to Warren for the anniversary of the Occupy movement.)
(Also present, though apparently not participating in the whoops and chops, are Greg Casey, Deputy Chief of Staff, (black polo near end of video), Jerry McDermott, State Director, (blue fleece and shades on head), and Jennifer Franks, special assistant, (plaid shirt, beginning).
Incredible. Apologies to BMG to largely just posting their stuff here, but they don't do dkos posts as far as I know and this ridiculousness just has to get noticed.
These are official Brown STAFFERS, not just supporters. This is what this race is becoming (on one side). Brown has so little to actually talk about when it comes to issues - except to whine that Warren is questioning his record - that we have extremely offensive and disrespectful (to the native community, particularly) tomahawk chops and whooping at events. We have commercials on *TV* from Brown rehashing this Native American attack line complete with scary music and disjointed quotes from news orgs and Warren herself:
It doesn't end there. Yesterday the conservative internet and talk radio and the con-bots that listen to them (even on my own Facebook feed) came up with a new one, based on the blog post of a conservative law blogger. The line of attack has to do with the same asbestos case Brown is attacking Warren for being a corporate stooge despite the fact asbestos victims and their lawyers stating unequivocally that they stand by Warren's excellent work. [Edit: the attack has to do with the legality of her working on the case...]
Even that conservative law post, which is entirely speculative and without any knowledge of the facts, said (bold mine),
As detailed below, there are at least two provisions of Massachusetts law Warren may have violated. [Diarist's Note: I am sorry to have to link to such drivel and give him ANY traffic, but I have to link the source...]
"May have," as in "I am pulling this out of my ass but let me throw shit on a wall to see what sticks." This attack popped up everywhere yesterday...I kid you not, on my personal Facebook feed from a local conservative friend, on talk radio (I accidentally was listening to 96.9FM in the afternoon, having left the station on my car radio from that morning when Warren was being interviewed), and
on my own blog from a long time but conservative commenter.
Of course, halfway through the day, it was being debunked left and right by many people:
He counts two violations: operating a law office and practicing law without a license to do so in Massachusetts.
[...] Tribe says Jacobson is plain wrong.
“The fact that Charles and I happen to be licensed in Massachusetts is immaterial. That wasn’t the reason I could practice in the U.S. Supreme Court. I was an inactive member of the California bar as well, which was all that was needed,” Tribe says.
Tribe adds that Warren fully met all of the Supreme Court’s requirements for filing briefs and petitions with that court.
“This was not and could not be a violation of any Massachusetts rule,” Tribe says. “In fact, any state rule that interfered with a federal filing would be null and void under the Supremacy Clause of Article VI of the United States Constitution. Elizabeth complied with all applicable federal rules.”
As one would expect. Even
commenters at
that blog post
and at
conservative stolen-name blog Red Mass Group questioned this line of attack, and they have no love of Warren.
The fact that these people start by assuming she committed fraud tells you a lot about the Brown campaign and its supporters! I noted on my Facebook feed that the fact that the Brown surrogates were jumping to all sorts of conclusions ahead of any level of fact checking is because they are desperate as hell. Not to quote myself but...
I get it. Brown is bleeding support and Warren is doing good, and you can’t talk about your candidate’s record because it’s rather unappealing to the voters of the Commonwealth. And you’re following your candidate’s lead, since he’s decided to take the Karl Rove low road, so you feel entitled or like you have permission or something. But please, don’t be so freaking obvious. It’s making our job too easy. And making our side feel that much more motivated to go out on the streets and talk to voters, because the attacks are such lying bullshit you feel like you want to go out and fight the stupidity firsthand.
No, on second thought, keep it up, and we’ll get all of Massachusetts canvassed like four times over by the time Nov 6th rolls around.
I am seeing the same strains of "Obama hatred" that you see from the tea party sorts nationally right here at home...there is this intense hatred for Warren on the right, beyond any sort of justification that I can see, they hate her for being smart, for attacking Brown's really bad record, I don't know...I think they hate her because they are scared shitless, frankly.
Warren herself is also responding, with an amazingly classy ad (not sure if it's for an ad buy but it does have the "approved this message" line so I hope so):
I LOVE that last line. "Scott Brown can continue to attack my family, but I'm going to keep fighting for yours."
It seems like every day we're seeing more "shit on a wall" from the Rovian-style Brown campaign. I don't know where this will end, but it really is like whack-a-mole around here. Thankfully, it's also bracing and motivating, at least to me personally, as I have been doing more canvassing than I originally thought I would...because of all of the baseless, disgusting attacks, I feel obligated to work harder for my candidate. Between the anger I feel at the low blows, and the amazing organization of the Warren campaign (yesterday I got a follow up call from the Lowell organizer who persisted in nailing me down for my next canvass date, man, she was GOOD) I wouldn't be surprised to see the campaign regional HQ even more packed with volunteers than it already has been.
As a point of encouragement, I will say to you that having been through several campaigns (two for Gov Patrick and a couple others), I have never seen SO many people show up to canvass and phone bank. I was Lowell coordinator in 2006 for Patrick and I thought we did pretty OK, but forget it, the local Warren peeps and the Democratic party "coordinated campaign" (an idea which started in 2010, MDP Chairmen John Walsh is a freaking genius) blows anything we did in those heady grassroots days out of the water!
It's how I know we'll WIN!
Quick update:
You also have to check out this Charlie Pierce takedown of Brown! A taste:
On the other hand, there are some obvious explanations. For example, for all his regular-guy facade, this is a shrewd, calculating man who is sublimely impressed with his own importance as a political figure. (Again, Paul Ryan has a similar problem.) He’s also incredibly thin-skinned. It is very likely that the notion of someone challenging him in a serious manner has offended against his sense of himself as the pivotal figure that everybody told him he was two years ago.
[...]
You don’t hire Barnett to sell your pick-up truck and your barncoat and your big happy suburban family. You hire him because you want to throw rocks. Barnett is a wartime consigliere. So is Eric Fehrnstrom. This is the campaign Scott Brown wants to run because these are the people he’s picked to run it.
That’s the role he’s decided to play, even though it’s completely dissonant with the figure he’s playing in his television ads.
Go read!!
Update: STUPID, stupid me!! I should always end with a call to action...as in, DONATE!! Now is crucial! Warren isspending 4 to 1 on STAFF and organization and it shows! And help us get more of these ads on TV...not only do we have to get Warren up there on the issues, but now we have to have ads debunking Brown's very personal attacks.
If you can, help me reach my personal goal...I'd ever so grateful!! :) Or, donate direct to the campaign.
9:04 AM PT: Oh look, there's this auto-update doo-hickey. ~smacks forehead~
WCVB Channel 5 is picking this up. They got a response from Brown, even:
"It is certainly something that I don't condone," said Brown when asked about the video. "The real offense is that (Warren) said she was white and then checked the box saying she is Native American, and then she changed her profile in the law directory once she made her tenure."
Classy. And are you going to fire your staffers for this? My bet is down on "nope."
9:19 AM PT: UGH. Comment by fellow activist Dem Christopher on BMG:
WCVB just reported this on the noon news...
…and presented it as a story of equivalent controversies. Basically, “Brown staffers were caught…, but Warren also has questions to answer about…” Brown was quoted on camera while a statement from Warren was read. Brown said apologies might be in order, but, “the real issue is Warren using her heritage to blah, blah, blah”
2:33 PM PT: Oooh...another Charlie Pierce piece post-whooping. A must read!
2:42 PM PT: My LiL coblogger Jack has a cool analysis about turnout in presidential years, with pretty pretty charts and maps!!