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Brown and Warren: Is It Just Politics As Usual?

It’s been an interesting week in the U.S. Senate Race between Democrat Elizabeth Warren and incumbent Republican Scott Brown.

 

First it was revealed that Harvard University once touted Warren’s marginal Native American heritage as proof of their faculty’s diversity. That story was followed up with another revealing one that Warren had listed herself as a minority professor between 1986 and 1995 in the Association of American Law Schools desk book, a major reference for legal professors.

On Tuesday it was revealed that Brown, who ran for office vowing to kill President Obama’s health care law (and who has since voted three times to repeal it) took advantage of a key provision in it: the provision that allows him to keep his elder daughter on his congressional health insurance plan.

Meanwhile, both candidates downplayed their wealth this week as they revealed their tax returns and as it was also reported that this race is the costliest in the nation so far.

So what’s your take? Are either hypocrites? Are both? And does it matter to you? Vote in our poll and be sure to leave a comment below to explain your thinking.

  • Are Brown and Warren Hypocrites?

    (Voting has been closed for this question)
    • Yes: Both will say what is advantageous and then act in a different way.
        41 (11%)
    • No. Just Brown. How can he fight against a law while consciously making a decision to reap benefits from it.
        69 (19%)
    • No. Just Warren. How can she claim to be honest and a Native American when the only shred of evidence shows she’s 1/32 American Indian?
        195 (54%)
    • No. Neither are. It’s just politics as usual.
        50 (14%)
    Total votes: 355
  • Your vote will only count once. This is not a scientific poll. View Results Vote!
Related Topics: All Politics is Local, Elizabeth Warren, Government, News, Scott Brown, Senate, and elections 2012
Who is the hypocrite? Tell us in the comments.

D. Fuchsen

8:01 am on Thursday, May 3, 2012

At this point, look rather at what they are likely to do. Who has stood up for "the little people"? Who has stood up for their screwers?

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henric

8:09 am on Thursday, May 3, 2012

A conservative controlled senate is a definite path to austerity. Vote for Elizabeth Warren.

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Mark

7:42 am on Friday, May 4, 2012

Typical liberal. Try to reshape the truth with a false statement.
There is nothing conservative with Warren.
And this senate is far from conservative with Harry Reid leading it.

D. Fuchsen

8:57 am on Thursday, May 3, 2012

To be exact, Henric, it's a path to austerity for us "little people". Brown's kind won't go without a thing.

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Southender

9:18 am on Thursday, May 3, 2012

It is amazing how few people see thru the shallowness of Scott Brown. In two years he has done nothing for our State. Not one job. Yet he manages to jump into the limelight at any opportunity e.g. during the winter storms he demanded the electric company explain why so many people had service disrupted. Is this the best he can do? Probably. Bring him home. He doesn't belong in the big league.

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Mark

7:46 am on Friday, May 4, 2012

You still can not get over the fact a liberal did not get the position.
Brown always said he would vote what he thought was best for the state but both republicans; what few there are in this state and liberals are not happy.

Raj

9:31 am on Thursday, May 3, 2012

My wife used to joke because her great great grandmother was of a Cherokee tribe that she and my son should claim Native American heritage on job, financial aid and college applications. She said these things in jest because it is so far-fetched to believe that anyone would actually do this! Turns out Warren is less related to American Indian heritage than my wife and touted it to probably get preferential treatment at Harvard and elsewhere....just totally disgusting!

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JJ

4:07 pm on Thursday, May 3, 2012

Given how brilliant this woman is I doubt very much she did it for any type of gain. She is liberal and probably very proud of her heritage as I am proud of my very very distant Jewish heritage. I have friends who tout American Indian heritage yet don't have any idea where it came from; however, some of their family member sure look like they are.

stevieB

9:55 am on Thursday, May 3, 2012

Warren is just another in a line of democratic frauds...Obama. deval, markey, Kerry, Frank etc. The nitwits of Massachusetts deserve everything they get when they vote these fools in.

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Matt C

9:56 am on Thursday, May 3, 2012

Though i do not believe Warren to be perfect, I do think that she will do a better job of representing the interests and desires of those of us in Mass rather than doing what the party tells her. Politicians represent the the whole constituency, not just those that voted for them - they must look at what the average person wants.

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Chief Quannapowitt

10:04 am on Thursday, May 3, 2012

Only people with their faces in the Gov trough would vote for the carpetbagging Lizzy. But at least the press is doing a better job vetting her than they did the fraud in the White House!

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henric

11:49 am on Thursday, May 3, 2012

Ethnic background is not essential to me; control of the senate is. Take a brief time away from your busy day and read about what conservative/Libertarian policies have done to many European countries. We must retain the senate to avoid the destruction of our country. Many EU countries are back in a recession due to tax cuts ideology. This a fact. Please educate yourselves and share with friends and families. We must act now!!!!!!!

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Don

11:49 am on Thursday, May 3, 2012

Very much a no choice for Senate again. First, Scott Brown is well known in Wakefield. He was a bully, picked on others, ect. That book about being abused is wierd, because he abused many nerdy types himself. The real bummer is Warren. Our Democratic party keeps bringing these Martha Coakley/Warren types who are just weird and will never win. Mike Capuano would be the Senator now if we saw through the Coakley smokestack, now we are stuck with a Republican and will be in the future. We need a strong Democrat to get in the race, not some political moonbat agenda.

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henric

12:01 pm on Thursday, May 3, 2012

We must support Warren to avoid the destruction of this great nation. I dare anyone to argue for a Republican controlled senate.

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Don

12:23 pm on Thursday, May 3, 2012

No argument, don't want them at all. Don't want Warren even more.

Ben Akinnodi

12:47 pm on Thursday, May 3, 2012

If Warren is not voted in, it will be sad for the 99% of this great nation. Republicans don't care about the little people. That is a fact.

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Matt C

1:06 pm on Thursday, May 3, 2012

The 99% argument is a bit worn out - the most important thing is to for our representatives to actually represent their constituents and not a national party. That is the issue. if the 99% voted for representatives who are aligned with their own interests rather than a party we would have a government willing to work for us and get stuff done rather then a government committed to making obama a 1-term president.

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DannyBoy

1:35 pm on Thursday, May 3, 2012

Which is why the two-party system of our government no longer works for the voters, because both parties field candidates that are beholden to the ideology of their respective party and to lobbyists for special interests (i.e. Big Oil, pharmaceuticals, unions, etc.) and no longer care about the interests of average citizens, contrary to what they would profess through soundbites in the media and on the campaign trail.

Chief Quannapowitt

2:02 pm on Thursday, May 3, 2012

Democrats are a joke. Full of radicals and anarchist. Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Al Sharpton, Hank Johnson, Rev Wright. Hateful, radical, racist!
And then we have Dizzy Lizzy or Hiawatha Warren from the shores of Lake Quannapowitt. I think she sang the song by Cher once, Cherokee Nation.

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DannyBoy

2:22 pm on Thursday, May 3, 2012

IMO, both parties' radical wings have hijacked the political agenda in this country. There are fewer and fewer moderates in either party. You just gave a list of radicals in the Democratic party, I'm sure someone can come up with an equal number of radicals in the GOP.

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Diana

3:23 pm on Thursday, May 3, 2012

Um, huh? With the exception of Hank Johnnson, none of the people in your first paragraph are political officeholders. Hell, I don't know that any of them are registered Democrats (and I'd wager neither do you). Also, name-calling is what the unarmed resort to in a battle of wits.

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Helena Starke

2:35 pm on Friday, August 31, 2012

Hee Hee !! You are sooooooo right.

Richie M

4:04 pm on Thursday, May 3, 2012

Leave Pinocchio-hontas alone. Like the shameless box checker said, "I did it(checked off the box claiming Native American status) so I would be invited to the luncheons." Huh??? Come on Chief Q and the rest of you naysayers you've been there before. Haven't you ever wanted to check off a box to gain an unfair advantage over others? Put yourself in the squaws moccasins and see how you like it. This is the same delusional fool who's worth $14.5 million and says she's not wealthy. This is the same fraud who rails against EVIL Wall St donors while her campaign accepts their money. What a pathetic farce she has become.

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JJ

4:09 pm on Thursday, May 3, 2012

What about Brown's claim to have been "unconsumatedly" molested (whatever that means) without naming the perp who could still be at it were the story true?

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Jim Hatherley

4:10 pm on Thursday, May 3, 2012

Warren doesn't even sound like an adult. And, checking off the affirmative action box that she is a Native American because her grandmother told her she had high cheekbones pretty much sums up the Democrat Party and Democrat voters. even for Massachusetts Democrats she is an embarrassment.

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Ron

1:15 pm on Friday, May 4, 2012

I can't even look at Warren. The people of Massachusetts are famous for voting in the worst of the worst. When Brown was elected that changed that. Warren isn't fooling the people who work for a living and she should drop out now before she embarasses herself anymore.

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Richie M

1:48 pm on Friday, May 4, 2012

The next act from this fool will be her standing on the hood of a Prius on Cambridge Common reenacting the final scene from Dances With Wolves. She'll be shouting:
"I am Elizabeth Running Joke and I am a shameless box checker".
"Can't you see that I'm doing it for the children...I mean papooses?"
" I am Elizabeth Running Joke and like all liberals I can get away with making offensive racist comments like," My grandfather had high cheekbones like all the indians do."
" I am not wealthy". "Do you hear me?" "I am not wealthy".
" I am Elizabeth Running Joke and I only wanted to be invited to lunch."

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Diana

4:00 pm on Friday, May 4, 2012

I'm sure that Brown will run on his record of accomplishment.

Hahahahahahahahahah!!! Ow.

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mike festa

5:07 pm on Friday, May 4, 2012

Folks, can we just lay off the cheap personal stuff and focus on the candidates' records and stand on the issues?
I'm a Warren supporter, because I see her as a fighter for the things that matter to me, like protecting the middle class, which has been under assault for too long. Her record of being a strong voice for economic and financial accountability for Wall Street is clear and long- standing. There are too many champions of big business in the Senate already...
Much more to say, but that's my first stab at weighing in on this fine debate

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Diana

5:21 pm on Friday, May 4, 2012

That would be delightful, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, it would require people to know something about the candidates' records and stands on the issues, and most people are far too lazy for that when it's so easy to treat politics like any other sport. Pick a team, buy the shirt, and scream the appropriate cheers and insults.

MB

8:14 pm on Friday, May 4, 2012

You're right Richie. Imagine if Scott Brown or any other republican made that comment about indian cheekbones? Christ there would be phony liberal outrage 24/7 from now to the election. BTW you should have mentioned the Chevy Volt instead of the Prius. The Volt debacle pretty much sums up Liz Warren's campaign.

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Richie M

1:16 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

Good call on the Volt. I forgot about that fiasco. If Scott Brown ever made a vile, racist and imbecilic comment regarding the facial structure of indians like Elizabeth Warren did, the spur of the moment howls of self-righteous indignation from "outraged" liberals would be deafening. There would be an immediate Day of Mourning Parade in Wrentham Center, as well as calls for a ban on the use of twenty dollar bills in the Commonwealth until Scott Brown resigns from office.

MB

10:46 am on Sunday, May 6, 2012

The twenty dollar bill protest!! I haven't heard that one in years. I had a professor who used to preach that nonsense. Freakin classic Richie...FREAKIN CLASSIC!!!

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Ron Sen

12:52 pm on Sunday, May 6, 2012

The "Profiles in Courage" approach to American democracy died long ago. We have the best government that money can buy. Each of us is entitled to our own opinions, but we are not entitled to our own facts. You cannot win a major national election (e.g. every Senate race) without money, no matter which party you support.

Having cared for a number of America's elite politicians for a decade at Bethesda Naval Hospital, I trust none. One of my colleagues who will remain unnamed said that he trusted only one politician in Washington. Later, that politician was convicted of perjury.

Why do you think a billion dollars will be spent on this presidential election? Money buys access, and access buys policy. Those are the facts.

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