Hours before tonight’s scheduled Campaign debate Sen. Elizabeth Warren is moving to mute the media fueled controversy pitting her against Sen. Bernie Sanders, according to an account on Buzzfeed.
Elizabeth Warren’s campaign is telling key online supporters that their “goal is de-escalation” and warning backers not to accuse Bernie Sanders of sexism, signaling a desire to move on from a story that has driven a rift between two longtime allies, and within the progressive community, over questions of gender and electability.
The article reports that the first word went out to supporters on Monday night.
...about five minutes after Warren issued a statement confirming that she remembers Sanders telling her in a private meeting he didn’t believe a woman could win in 2020, one of Warren’s campaign officials advised supporters in a large pro-Warren group chat on Twitter that their next step would be to dial back the confrontation. “Re: where we go from here — our goal is de-escalation and focusing on our shared goals,” the staffer wrote to the group, according to screenshots of the chat.
Followed up by this.
Asked to comment on the move to de-escalate, Warren's communications director, Kristen Orthman, pointed to the candidate’s statement on Monday night calling Sanders a friend and longtime ally. “Bernie and I have far more in common than our differences on punditry,” Warren said.
And this from former Housing Secretary and current Warren surrogate Julián Castro.
“I don’t think there’s an attack that’s happening,” Castro told reporters. “I didn’t see it that way at all.”
“Sen. Warren and Sen. Sanders have been friends for a long time; they know each other well; they’ve both run respectful campaigns,” he said. “I believe Elizabeth, and I know that she’s running a campaign that’s inspiring a lot of people. Both of them are.”
If the report is accurate, it will be a disappointment for those hoping for a Progressive bloodletting in tonight’s debate.
It would also affirm my belief in Sen. Warren’s character and political smarts.