I might never sit down and shut up EVER AGAIN.
41
Women should stick together and fight the man and man's estimation of how women should act in the workplace. Like, for example, in Oakland California, where the city mothers decided to hire a black woman fire chief, the first in the nation for a major metropolitan city. The mayor Libby Schaaf rightly refuses to fire the incompetent fire chief that could not effectively do her job of inspecting illegally occupied warehouses used for residences and venues for public entertainment. The fact that 38 people have been killed in two, separate, but similar warehouse fires should not affect her battle against sexist men.
3
I cannot tell you how many times I have sat with a group of men and had my opinions completely ignored or debunked. Now, I may not be the smartest person in the room but I do have a Masters Degree, have a fairly high IQ, know how to write a decent sentence and demonstrate some critical thinking skills. This is frequently the lot of women and only those like Senator Warren who "persist" really get heard. Then we get criticized for being strident, hysterical and/or "bitchy". Thank you, Senator Warren, for standing up. You are a wonderful role model for women everywhere.
32
Let's see what the Apostle Paul had to say about women in 1 Timothy 2
"I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ...
I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.
A womana should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety."
He is talking to you Senator Warren. Sit down, shut up, and go have another baby. You too Hillary.
He is also talking to you too Melania and Ivanka.
Oh yeah, Democrats, pray for President of the Electoral College Trump.
"I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ...
I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.
A womana should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety."
He is talking to you Senator Warren. Sit down, shut up, and go have another baby. You too Hillary.
He is also talking to you too Melania and Ivanka.
Oh yeah, Democrats, pray for President of the Electoral College Trump.
7
“She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”
Doesn't that ring a bell of some old New England Puritan justifying why a woman was put in the stock?
I guess, ole Mitch, going for a cheap red meat shot for his base, forgets that the image of him silencing a woman, reading a woman civil rights letter, during Black History Month, just might not play well to women or minorities? Oh right! He doesn't give a flip.
Doesn't that ring a bell of some old New England Puritan justifying why a woman was put in the stock?
I guess, ole Mitch, going for a cheap red meat shot for his base, forgets that the image of him silencing a woman, reading a woman civil rights letter, during Black History Month, just might not play well to women or minorities? Oh right! He doesn't give a flip.
36
Every last Senator who sat silent as Senators Sanders and Merkley read the same text into the record are nothing but hypocrites and cowards. That includes five Republican women.
33
Elizabeth Warren, maintaining her integrity and dignity, beat Trumpists at their own game. She came out on top in the news and social media world.
She had help, of course, from Darth McConnell, looming out of the darkness to pronounce his mechanized admonition. Obviously, Trumpists recognize her as a real threat: intelligent, personable, appealing, honorable, energetic. They haven't figured out how to deal with her.
The democrats have some truly great leaders, including both of Connecticut's senators and a number of our members of the house. I envision a future with Elizabeth Warren as president, and one of CT's present senators (they are both so good!) as vice-president (and future president).
These people are honest and they work hard. Thank you, thank you!
She had help, of course, from Darth McConnell, looming out of the darkness to pronounce his mechanized admonition. Obviously, Trumpists recognize her as a real threat: intelligent, personable, appealing, honorable, energetic. They haven't figured out how to deal with her.
The democrats have some truly great leaders, including both of Connecticut's senators and a number of our members of the house. I envision a future with Elizabeth Warren as president, and one of CT's present senators (they are both so good!) as vice-president (and future president).
These people are honest and they work hard. Thank you, thank you!
11
I have asked my children to write these now infamous words on my tombstone, She was warned, She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”
25
I remember when Bill Clinton fired his Surgeon General because she answered a question about AIDS prevention among school children, teenagers.
Is that the same as being told to shut up.
Is that the same as being told to shut up.
4
I remember when there was a huge outcry by right-wing evangelicals about his surgeon general answering a question about contraception. Then Clinton gave in to their political pressure as democrats are wont to do.
10
It wasn't about contraception, it was about prevention of AIDS transmission among sexually active teenagers. She suggested teaching teens about masturbation, perhaps in the schools. Of course Clinton wouldn't appreciate that as an option.
5
We need these defenders of Sen. McConnell to explain (mansplain?) why Sen. Warren was out of order, but Sens. Sanders and Merkley were NOT out of order for breaking the very same rule.
22
I'm a nurse. I once had a doctor tell me I was being impudent.
18
Better impudent than impotent, I say.
12
"Did YOU write this paper?"
"How do YOU know that?"
"Let's hear from someone else."
"I don't see what use Mathematics will do for a girl."
"No one will like you if you seem so smart to them."
"No boy will go out with you if you act smart, smarter then him."
"BE QUIET. We've heard enough from YOU. Sit down or I will have YOU removed!"
All the thousands of efforts to quiet, quash, and kill the uninhibited intellects of women, move about the atmosphere of the mind when hearing Mitch McConnell silence opposition to the approval of his old boy to the most difficult of all Federal jobs, Attorney General of the United States.
Clearly the Republican Senate which is almost an all white male, southern leaning, Christian majority legislative body, has no respect for Elizabeth Warren, who is I believe an attorney herself and taught law. I am worried for all women who speak out.
"How do YOU know that?"
"Let's hear from someone else."
"I don't see what use Mathematics will do for a girl."
"No one will like you if you seem so smart to them."
"No boy will go out with you if you act smart, smarter then him."
"BE QUIET. We've heard enough from YOU. Sit down or I will have YOU removed!"
All the thousands of efforts to quiet, quash, and kill the uninhibited intellects of women, move about the atmosphere of the mind when hearing Mitch McConnell silence opposition to the approval of his old boy to the most difficult of all Federal jobs, Attorney General of the United States.
Clearly the Republican Senate which is almost an all white male, southern leaning, Christian majority legislative body, has no respect for Elizabeth Warren, who is I believe an attorney herself and taught law. I am worried for all women who speak out.
28
We used to have a name for McConnell and his republican brother. Male chauvinist pig. Still sounds right to me.
36
Why does it need to be a matter of sexism. Maybe they just don't like her. Liberals see racism or sexism everywhere and have alienated white men. Hence, we now have a maniac in the White House. Let's throttle back the accusations of racism and sexism and any other -ism and focus on the real issues of corporate domination over the world. The greed of the 1% making the rules that suit them at our expense and at the expense of our planet. These other things are just shiny objects. Who cares if they shut her up. She got to read the rest of the letter on YouTube anyway. Mission accomplished.
6
As a man you simply don't understand.
8
So you all elected a madman to what, punish us?
Unreal.
Unreal.
17
Do you have a wife? Mother? Daughter? If so you need to sit down with them and let them explain a few things
17
This is why HRC is not our president. Many men and some women are just like the old white men of th senate
34
If anyone is going to "drain the swamp" it would be Elizabeth Warren.
So why don't all the "angry white guys" support her?
Is it because she's on the "wrong team"? (like all of those incumbent Republicans in the House and Senate who were returned to office this past November and not drained out of the swamp?)
Is it because her voice is "grating" or annoying in some other way? (like HRC's voice, or so the complaint went?)
Is it because the "angry white guys" really just want more tax cuts and deregulation, and somehow, SOMEHOW, that's going to bring their jobs back?
Well, its probably "all of the above".
But whatever the reason, I can't see how anyone isn't be bothered by this silencing last night. They used an obscure rule that is almost never invoked AND she was reading someone else's opinion of Senator Sessions, not impugning his character, AND another male colleague was allowed to continue reading the letter.
So before all of you Trump fans try to explain this away, ask yourselves what "draining the swamp" really means, and whether you really believe in it.
So why don't all the "angry white guys" support her?
Is it because she's on the "wrong team"? (like all of those incumbent Republicans in the House and Senate who were returned to office this past November and not drained out of the swamp?)
Is it because her voice is "grating" or annoying in some other way? (like HRC's voice, or so the complaint went?)
Is it because the "angry white guys" really just want more tax cuts and deregulation, and somehow, SOMEHOW, that's going to bring their jobs back?
Well, its probably "all of the above".
But whatever the reason, I can't see how anyone isn't be bothered by this silencing last night. They used an obscure rule that is almost never invoked AND she was reading someone else's opinion of Senator Sessions, not impugning his character, AND another male colleague was allowed to continue reading the letter.
So before all of you Trump fans try to explain this away, ask yourselves what "draining the swamp" really means, and whether you really believe in it.
23
Which women? I don't know of any women today who would listen to a command to siddown and shut up. If women want equal rights then they should also exhibit equal responsibility. If a man can be told to be quiet then so can a woman.
Senator Warren clearly violated the rule and the application of the stipulated penalty, to shut up, was appropriate.
Senator Warren clearly violated the rule and the application of the stipulated penalty, to shut up, was appropriate.
8
It's truly shocking how many comments here decrying the purported "sexism" of holding Elizabeth Warren to a long-standing Senate rule do so by making largely unchallenged and disparaging ageist and racist comments directed at "old white men." I guess those guilty until presumed innocent old white men are fair game. You can criticize a Senator's actions without disparaging him for the crimes of being old and white. I would love to see the reaction if someone made disparaging remarks aimed at Tim Scott based on his race...oh wait, they did! And none of the Democrats seemed to have a problem with that either.
5
The untold war on women occurs in at-will workplaces like the nonprofit victims abuse agency that severed a director in her 29th year there while she was on temporary disability from a near-fatal fall. Nearly a dozen women have had their lives disrupted by a new female executive director. But secret severance agreements shield that woman-on-women abuse. This is worse than a Senator being told to stop smearing a colleague in violation of Senate rules. Incidentally, she is not the only female in the Senate.
1
E. Warren is in the GOP bullseye and they'll use every reprensible trick in their dirty arsenal in attacking her from now on. Their attacks will be relentless and well organized which is what they do so very well.
21
The unchecked right wing brat pack in the US is a huge deterrent to sane and competent people contemplating runs for public offices.
18
Thanks McConnell. I wouldn't have read this letter if it wasn't for your's and the GOP's continual insecurity of losing votes legitimately.
25
As a man in my 60's, I am predisposed to be dismissive of women in general--even my partner--so today I chose to make myself listen to understand, rather than demand I be understood. I'm sure that my wife-beating and berating father had a lot to do with my patterns of thinking, but my culture did too. Sadly, I still hear talk about "crazy bitches" from young people, even young women. However, today my behavior is a choice, not a conditioned response.
I see women taking on positions in industry and they're often very good at what they do. I saw Elizabeth Warren doing her job as a senator and being told to shut up by misogynistic relics of a bygone era. Thank you "gentlemen". You couldn't have made her point any louder or clearer.
I see women taking on positions in industry and they're often very good at what they do. I saw Elizabeth Warren doing her job as a senator and being told to shut up by misogynistic relics of a bygone era. Thank you "gentlemen". You couldn't have made her point any louder or clearer.
51
The republican senators who say that McConnell had the right to shut Senator Warren down but did nothing to rebuke the white male senator (wilson) who cried out "you lie" to President Obama are guilty of - if nothing else - disparate treatment. Not that women and minorities are surprised by this - it happens to us.
We have the right to expect more of the people who are voted into office to represent all of us.
Like many today - I worry about the road we are on - and the comparisons of this administration and Germany in the 1930's. There is a major difference between the two time periods however. Women and minorities will no longer keep silent - and the president and his minions need to be aware of that.
We have the right to expect more of the people who are voted into office to represent all of us.
Like many today - I worry about the road we are on - and the comparisons of this administration and Germany in the 1930's. There is a major difference between the two time periods however. Women and minorities will no longer keep silent - and the president and his minions need to be aware of that.
28
Reading letters written well over 30 years ago aloud to trash a fellow senator ... really?
Her actions illustrate precisely why roadblock and inaction exists.
Her actions illustrate precisely why roadblock and inaction exists.
9
What were you don't in 1986? I bet it wasn't trying to intimidate elderly black voters into not voting.
At least I hope not. If so, you shouldn't be attorney general either.
At least I hope not. If so, you shouldn't be attorney general either.
13
So it was alright to yell, You lie!" at the President from the crowd but not to quote Coretta Scott King when you had the floor?
28
When she is on the Senate flor, she is a Senator. Not a man, not a woman...a Senator.
You cannot demand equal rights, then, cry sexism when you are told to play by the rules.
Whether or not it was a smear on Sessions is an entirely different argument, as is whether the censure was appropriate. But, bringing out the sexism card, well, you demean your argument, our country's political decorum and real sexism when you cry wolf like this.
You cannot demand equal rights, then, cry sexism when you are told to play by the rules.
Whether or not it was a smear on Sessions is an entirely different argument, as is whether the censure was appropriate. But, bringing out the sexism card, well, you demean your argument, our country's political decorum and real sexism when you cry wolf like this.
13
The male senators who read the exact same letter were not made to shut up. That's called sexism, whether you can handle that truth or not.
30
Then how come male Senators were not stopped when they made that same "smear"?
There's a term for that: double standard.
There's a term for that: double standard.
27
Hi I use to belong to a group of Disabled American Veterans. As the only woman they expected me to do the work for the Group. So they pushed all the work on me.
I was trying to help and was helping but being that I volunteered and was part of the groups people who actually worked and did the jobs of the Commander and Adjutant Treasurer and was also on many of the committees I figured i had a voice in the group. BUT when the Holidays Christmas, Hanukkah as well as many other religions holiday celebrations are at that time and Many veterans are not just Christian but many other religions I suggested that it would be a good thing if we just said it should be a Holiday Celebration. That after all it was a Jewish Wounded War Veteran who started the Disabled American War Veterans Why couldn't we INCLUDE everyone all religions By just calling it a Holiday Celebration I was told to sit down and shut up that Christmas was a Christian Celebration. And I should shut my mouth. Raised in the Army and out ranking most of the men in the group as well as having been in a WAR I refused and resigned my positions of Treasurer, Adjutant, committee Person and acting Commander. Saying if i can do all the work to run the group I should certainly have a voice in the group and be able to voice an opinion. So I certainly know of Senator Elizabeth Warrens problem. But I even experienced this same thing with a woman's group because they didn't agree with my point of view and I was doing all the work.
I was trying to help and was helping but being that I volunteered and was part of the groups people who actually worked and did the jobs of the Commander and Adjutant Treasurer and was also on many of the committees I figured i had a voice in the group. BUT when the Holidays Christmas, Hanukkah as well as many other religions holiday celebrations are at that time and Many veterans are not just Christian but many other religions I suggested that it would be a good thing if we just said it should be a Holiday Celebration. That after all it was a Jewish Wounded War Veteran who started the Disabled American War Veterans Why couldn't we INCLUDE everyone all religions By just calling it a Holiday Celebration I was told to sit down and shut up that Christmas was a Christian Celebration. And I should shut my mouth. Raised in the Army and out ranking most of the men in the group as well as having been in a WAR I refused and resigned my positions of Treasurer, Adjutant, committee Person and acting Commander. Saying if i can do all the work to run the group I should certainly have a voice in the group and be able to voice an opinion. So I certainly know of Senator Elizabeth Warrens problem. But I even experienced this same thing with a woman's group because they didn't agree with my point of view and I was doing all the work.
9
Been there. Still am to some extent, but as a women of a certain age, I fight back now and d__m the consequences. Senator Warren's treatment makes my blood boil.
19
I retired as a Colonel from the Army. When I wore that uniform, the Red Sea parted before my path. When I spoke at a meeting, everybody hushed. When I walked down a hall or got into an elevator, people called me "Ma'am." Outdoors, I was saluted with respect and dignity. The second I took that uniform off I was just a girl. In my civilian jobs, I was told I came across as "too aggressive" even though I was being talked over and often had to stand up in meetings to be heard. When I was still attractive, I got cat calls and eyeballs up and down and downright dismissed. I have been told to "shut up" in community meetings. Watch Tootsie sometime. That is how women get treated.
40
How did she win the battle? She gained some attention. Unfortunately she is still a woman and will most likely be treated the same again and again.
Sessions still was confirmed. It's like I said in Collins column. She is banging her head against a wall.
Those men even usurp the election. Hillary won, but gerrymandering allowed the electoral college to vote for the nonwinner.
Sessions still was confirmed. It's like I said in Collins column. She is banging her head against a wall.
Those men even usurp the election. Hillary won, but gerrymandering allowed the electoral college to vote for the nonwinner.
10
Really? People think Republicans are disrespectful to Elizabeth Warren because she's just a girl? What I see in her is a brilliant, courageous, and tenacious senator who threatens every anti-social impulse the other guys cherish, so naturally she is the one they most fear, and the one they most need to silence. That anyone could look at the powerhouse Elizabeth Warren and see a timid victim mystifies me. They're scared to death of her.
15
It boggles the mind that something like this could even happen in 2017. Just as Trump has given every racist license to spew hatred, he has given men permission to denigrate women. I cannot wait for the day (I believe it comes in 2032) when minorities become the majority and a woman becomes president.
16
White women and white men need to stop having male children together. Seriously.
4
This treatment in the workplace is also reflected in school and, probably worse, in families, where it becomes reflexive behavior for all parties. I speak as one female who grew up with three brothers and a domineering father. At family meetings, I was the "secretary" and took notes. (Okay, my family may have been a little weird.)
4
It is incredible that, in 2017, this is still so prevalent. Forget the Russians. Our own sexist society was what did in Hillary Clinton. Our society, so easily threatened by ambitious women, would choose a buffoon over an experienced woman.
18
Warren is my Senator. I was surprised to see that in a recent poll, only 44% of Mass residents think she deserves reelection, our Republican governor polls higher. I have no real reason not to vote for her at this point, but i've been disturbed over the past year or so by her penchant for grandstanding. When i like her best is when she knuckles down and gets to work. Writing legislation, combing through policy and calling out the stealth and not so stealth corporate bent of both parties. Keep it up, and lay off the hysteria, grandstanding, and teenybopper tweetstorms. There's a very decent Republican eyeballing your seat who could win it.
http://www.wbur.org/politicker/2017/01/23/warren-baker-poll
http://www.wbur.org/politicker/2017/01/23/warren-baker-poll
4
Seems that's how the Dems lost -- by not "grandstanding" enough the GOP's racism, tyranny & despotism. Playing 'nice & quiet' didn't / doesn't work.
12
So all of Clinton's ads about how awful Trump was in the heartland were what clinched the the oval office for her. Got it, good thing she didn't run ads about jobs or something trivial like that.
1
alas, "...a senator who has rankled members of both parties with her nose for the spotlight..."
(says the times elsewhere today), has replaced the cogent economist who first drew, not sought, attention, (saying some hard things about the nation's financial industry that are not that far away from similar remarks made by barack obama and donald trump, for those who are keeping score.)
she has become a scold, disdainful of opposition voices, (the ones h(r)c ignored to the detriment of the democratic party)...her rage a manifestation of her guilt at having been silent at the mugging of bernie sanders and deferential to the "entitlement" of ae aforementioned and inferior candidate...her complicity a shame and, it says here, a mark on her trustworthiness as a future candidate for the presidency.
ms chira's rehearsal of tired gender tropes
neglects to note the context, the u.s. senate a gender-neutral enclave of dysfunction, it members pushing and shoving each other according to party political diktats.
(says the times elsewhere today), has replaced the cogent economist who first drew, not sought, attention, (saying some hard things about the nation's financial industry that are not that far away from similar remarks made by barack obama and donald trump, for those who are keeping score.)
she has become a scold, disdainful of opposition voices, (the ones h(r)c ignored to the detriment of the democratic party)...her rage a manifestation of her guilt at having been silent at the mugging of bernie sanders and deferential to the "entitlement" of ae aforementioned and inferior candidate...her complicity a shame and, it says here, a mark on her trustworthiness as a future candidate for the presidency.
ms chira's rehearsal of tired gender tropes
neglects to note the context, the u.s. senate a gender-neutral enclave of dysfunction, it members pushing and shoving each other according to party political diktats.
2
The broader point is correct. I have seen such behavior many times, to my great regret. However, not specifically in this case. Ultimately, Warren is unhinged, counterproductive and plays only to a limited echo chamber. She knows the rules and decided that her own grandstanding was the correct path. If the Democrats want to stay in the wilderness, Ms. Warren will lead the way.
5
Evidently those rules apply to a senator, EW read the letter as part of the confirmation hearing for Attorney General (just because Sessions is a senator doesn't mean he is not to be vetted for the high-ranking position).
Obviously it was not a rule, or 3 other male senators would not have been allowed to read the same letter!
Obviously it was not a rule, or 3 other male senators would not have been allowed to read the same letter!
8
Doesn't help here cause,that she's crazy.She should run for President with Bernie Sanders,deserving each other.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, no dummy, is quite willing to build up Sen. Elizabeth Warren because he would love to have her be the Democratic candidate for president in four years: “Another hectoring woman to beat easily.” “Democrats, the party of women.”
Her response should be quiet development of her eventual administration: intense study of American demographics; foreign study trips; mastery of issues beyond banking, sex and race; and, biggest task of all, build up her Rolodex to staff her eventual campaign & administration. The parties used to provide that Rolodex, but no more.
Her response should be quiet development of her eventual administration: intense study of American demographics; foreign study trips; mastery of issues beyond banking, sex and race; and, biggest task of all, build up her Rolodex to staff her eventual campaign & administration. The parties used to provide that Rolodex, but no more.
2
Based on what I saw of the video, it looked to me like McConnell had the entire situation planned. He had the rule in front of him and he was reading from a statement. The Senator in charge of the Senate was new and had no idea what he was doing. A staffer was below him telling him what to say. So McConnell knew he was going to pull this trigger
As for the charge that women are asking for special rules, to the contrary, there have been several instances when a male Senator, think Ted Cruz, has impugned the character of those in the Senate with no rebuke. Ted Cruz called McConnell a liar. Senator Tom Cotton called Harry Reid a cancer and said he was incoherent and rambling. So if there is a double standard, we can see where it is aimed.
As for the fact that female Senators voted for the rebuke so that means it was not sexist, let's be clear. It is no secret that women are not very supportive of each other. In fact, women can often act like two scorpions in a box. We don't always hold hands. Think of how many women just hated Hilary. So that fact that Republican female senators joined in should not be surprising.
As a woman who is often deemed aggressive in a male world, I expect to be called names and certainly, the men are out in force right now calling Warren a whole host of adjectives. Like Warren, I also expect men to try and put me in my place. Like Warren, I say, let them try.
As for the charge that women are asking for special rules, to the contrary, there have been several instances when a male Senator, think Ted Cruz, has impugned the character of those in the Senate with no rebuke. Ted Cruz called McConnell a liar. Senator Tom Cotton called Harry Reid a cancer and said he was incoherent and rambling. So if there is a double standard, we can see where it is aimed.
As for the fact that female Senators voted for the rebuke so that means it was not sexist, let's be clear. It is no secret that women are not very supportive of each other. In fact, women can often act like two scorpions in a box. We don't always hold hands. Think of how many women just hated Hilary. So that fact that Republican female senators joined in should not be surprising.
As a woman who is often deemed aggressive in a male world, I expect to be called names and certainly, the men are out in force right now calling Warren a whole host of adjectives. Like Warren, I also expect men to try and put me in my place. Like Warren, I say, let them try.
23
This is not about feminism. This is about suppression of opposition in the Senate. As the Trump administration and growing total control of the federal government and of state government by Republicans lurches into action, we are facing a massive takeover of our nation and our governance by wealth and extreme conservatism. This country is facing serious danger. Not just women. All of us.
16
Even those of us who support the Senator's position, and the Senator generally, find increasingly tiresome the cult of victimhood she tends to foster. More broadly, the celebration by many American women of their real or imagined victimhood flies in the face of the reality that, as a class, American women are the most privileged creatures on the planet.
Senator Warren has been identified in leaked Reublican PAC documents as the most effective voice against them, who needs to be countered early and forcefully. That would be a rational motive for McConnell to rise with his objection. It is possible, of course, that he did so in a fit of late-night misogyny, but, really?
Self-absorbed whining is no more appealing in Trump's critics than it is in Little Donnie himself.
Senator Warren has been identified in leaked Reublican PAC documents as the most effective voice against them, who needs to be countered early and forcefully. That would be a rational motive for McConnell to rise with his objection. It is possible, of course, that he did so in a fit of late-night misogyny, but, really?
Self-absorbed whining is no more appealing in Trump's critics than it is in Little Donnie himself.
3
A letter from 1986 - written 31 years ago, by a woman so passionate about what she wrote that she didn't show up to testify in person. I read the letter, and minus the dramatically eloquent speech and name recognition, all it presents are accusations and opinion. It's hard to debate a person who isn't there, much less a letter read by someone who didn't write the letter. Shall we devolve confirmation hearings to the point of reading opinion letters from people who don't like other people? Apparently that's where we are now.
Regardless, an existing Senate rule was exercised. Boo-hoo. And speaking of this rule, I couldn't help but notice the striking similarity between this Senate rule and the nationwide Progressive movement that champions safe spaces, trigger warnings, and microaggressions. Democrats seem shocked to find out that the Senate floor can be a safe space too - free from triggers and microaggressions.
And this rule was exercised against a Senator who happens to be a woman? Oh my! The entire Senate must be comprised of sexist/misogynist men.
If you want to go down the same road that lost you the 2016 election, by all means, look to the Native American woman, Elizabeth Warren, to lead the way. I can't wait for her to tell us more about how the Voting Act, and maybe the 19th amendment too, will be repealed by the boogeyman. (rolls-eyes)
Regardless, an existing Senate rule was exercised. Boo-hoo. And speaking of this rule, I couldn't help but notice the striking similarity between this Senate rule and the nationwide Progressive movement that champions safe spaces, trigger warnings, and microaggressions. Democrats seem shocked to find out that the Senate floor can be a safe space too - free from triggers and microaggressions.
And this rule was exercised against a Senator who happens to be a woman? Oh my! The entire Senate must be comprised of sexist/misogynist men.
If you want to go down the same road that lost you the 2016 election, by all means, look to the Native American woman, Elizabeth Warren, to lead the way. I can't wait for her to tell us more about how the Voting Act, and maybe the 19th amendment too, will be repealed by the boogeyman. (rolls-eyes)
4
Coretta Scott King died in 2006. I suppose that must be why she didn't show up in person to read her letter.
19
@ Maria - I was referring to why the letter exists in the first place. Obviously I wasn't referring to the Senate confirmation hearings. Let me know when you get an invite to one of those. But you do make a great point, the person who wrote this letter is now deceased so we can't even inquire as to her opinions of Mr. Sessions 31 years later.
2
It was exhilarating to once again see Elizabeth Warren present a forceful Democratic perspective. That has been sadly lacking in most of her male colleagues and it must be said her female colleagues too.
What is dismaying is the feminist critique that once again jumps to a sexist explanation for any adversity that may incidentally involve a man and a woman. From other sources I know that the readings by the male senators occurred under different circumstances: the Republicans quickly realized their PR problem and would not want to compound it, the male senators offered the letter by different means (reading only part or asking that it be entered in the record without actually reading it, etc.), to cite only two differences that are not sexist. Other commenters should ask themselves why they think that demeaning terms such as "mansplaining" and "old white men" have any place in discussion that is about respecting the other gender.
What is dismaying is the feminist critique that once again jumps to a sexist explanation for any adversity that may incidentally involve a man and a woman. From other sources I know that the readings by the male senators occurred under different circumstances: the Republicans quickly realized their PR problem and would not want to compound it, the male senators offered the letter by different means (reading only part or asking that it be entered in the record without actually reading it, etc.), to cite only two differences that are not sexist. Other commenters should ask themselves why they think that demeaning terms such as "mansplaining" and "old white men" have any place in discussion that is about respecting the other gender.
2
" Other commenters should ask themselves why they think that demeaning terms such as "mansplaining" and "old white men" have any place in discussion that is about respecting the other gender."
I am also puzzled, but no longer surprised, by this attitude. It seems identity politics works best on simple minds, with simple slogans, and clear enemies. Any nuance would get the haters confused on whom to blame for their shortcomings; the target demographic seemingly not being the brightest. And self-proclaimed victimhood seems to come with a clear entitlement to make sexist and racist remarks on others.
I am also puzzled, but no longer surprised, by this attitude. It seems identity politics works best on simple minds, with simple slogans, and clear enemies. Any nuance would get the haters confused on whom to blame for their shortcomings; the target demographic seemingly not being the brightest. And self-proclaimed victimhood seems to come with a clear entitlement to make sexist and racist remarks on others.
1
The worst part of this is that her Democratic colleagues did not support her and object to her treatment. Shame on them all, men and women.
23
Actually, the the Dems DID support her. The subsequent vote split down party lines, 49 to 43. The travesty is that four male Dem senators read the exact same letter aloud on the Senate floor but were NOT censured.
10
Senator Sanders DID object - that was the Republican rabble that voted to have her shut up - sounds like it was railroaded through quite quickly
5
What are you talking about? It was a "party line vote"? Now, if you would like to criticize the other women senators (Murkowski and Snow), then go at them.
2
It is beginning sound like a reincarnation of the Reichstag with dissent being silenced and rules of law and order thrown out the window onto the Wilhelmstrasse. There is a creeping authoritarianism slowly enveloping our government and a rabid reaction of out thin-skinned president and communications director, coupled with an inappropriate and unethical interference in business by a Tweety president who cannot accept the fact that the sun does not rise and set on Trump and Ivanka. Rather than focusing on the business of government, Trump continues to take cheap childish shot at those who would tell the emperor he has no clothes (or maybe that is Ivanka). I wonder what will happen if Trump gets up one morning at 0300 and sees if the nuclear launch codes work. Just a boy having some fun.
12
Hey, I support Elizabeth Warren, but while all the female commenters wave their misogynist flags, lets' not forget, that Trump got the majority of the white female vote. Women, like Elizabeth Warren, voted for Trump over Hillary. Sad.
5
Millions of us did not. It was not a huge majority, just enough. And plenty surprising.
2
Really? Including all ~3 million of those additional ballots that HRC won? Oh, and news flash: WOMEN CAN be misogynists! Dig a little deeper, will ya?
From Psychology Today: "The answer may lie in their “internalized” misogyny, says Silvia M. Dutchevici, LCSW and founder of the Critical Therapy Center. Which is the “subconscious internalization of all the sexist and negative views and hatred of women that exist within our culture and ideology.”
These subconscious beliefs, she continues, “are passed down through cultural norms, messages and socialization… and requires a strict adherence to gender norms.” And, it’s also nothing new."
From Psychology Today: "The answer may lie in their “internalized” misogyny, says Silvia M. Dutchevici, LCSW and founder of the Critical Therapy Center. Which is the “subconscious internalization of all the sexist and negative views and hatred of women that exist within our culture and ideology.”
These subconscious beliefs, she continues, “are passed down through cultural norms, messages and socialization… and requires a strict adherence to gender norms.” And, it’s also nothing new."
3
So women didn't ALL vote for the woman Feminists were telling them to vote for, because ya know, women HAVE to vote for women (except maybe for those Republican candidates)?
I guess women, as a social group, aren't as stupid and obedient as Feminists expect them to be. That's rather reassuring!!
I guess women, as a social group, aren't as stupid and obedient as Feminists expect them to be. That's rather reassuring!!
1
I can't help but remember back in 2010, when Joe Wilson, R-SC, interrupted President Obama's State of the Union address shouting at him from the floor "you lie!"
I don't remember him bring removed, or censured or any big to-do from the Republicans over this unforgivable lack of respect for the Presidency and the rules of decorum.
Of course, it was a white male yelling insults - personal ones - at a black man, not a white woman quoting a black woman eloquently destroying a white male with the facts of his past.
Uppity of them both. "Warned", "Nevertheless" they both still persisted and, I would say, prevailed.
I don't remember him bring removed, or censured or any big to-do from the Republicans over this unforgivable lack of respect for the Presidency and the rules of decorum.
Of course, it was a white male yelling insults - personal ones - at a black man, not a white woman quoting a black woman eloquently destroying a white male with the facts of his past.
Uppity of them both. "Warned", "Nevertheless" they both still persisted and, I would say, prevailed.
44
I love Sen Elizabeth Warren and deeply appreciate her speaking up for so many of us. Bravo! Persist persist persist! I hope she will be our first female President.
16
Thankfully, the GOP never learns. They stopped Elizabeth Warren from becoming head of the Consumer Protection Agency, which she was instrumental in creating. So she became a Senator. They stopped her from speaking on the Senate floor, and gave her an audience of millions more than she would otherwise have had. If they keep this up - - and they most surely will - - they will (fail to) stop her all the way to the Whitehouse.
Resist. Persist.
Resist. Persist.
15
The so-called presidency of Donald Trump has made good men ask themselves important questions about their feelings towards women, about how much they should get involved as citizens, and about what it means to be a good man. Despite his own best efforts, Trump is helping to illuminate the stark differences between good men and bad ones, weak men and strong.
One insidious tactic of weak men that women and men should watch for on the job is that when there's no flaw in your work performance to justify criticism, a weak man justifies his attacks on a woman based on nothing more substantial than her "personality". That kind of attack is unprofessional and unjust, but common.
We may not be able to do anything about the misogynists we work with, but we can vote out of office the misogynists who let Bernie Sanders read the very same words they refused to let Elizabeth Warren speak. It wasn't about the worth and value of what she was saying -- it was a display of power to remind women everywhere that we can only say what men allow us to say and only be what they decide we should be.
Thank you to all the strong men who actively oppose weak men in their persecution of women -- and thank you to all the women who keep fighting for the right to be themselves.
One insidious tactic of weak men that women and men should watch for on the job is that when there's no flaw in your work performance to justify criticism, a weak man justifies his attacks on a woman based on nothing more substantial than her "personality". That kind of attack is unprofessional and unjust, but common.
We may not be able to do anything about the misogynists we work with, but we can vote out of office the misogynists who let Bernie Sanders read the very same words they refused to let Elizabeth Warren speak. It wasn't about the worth and value of what she was saying -- it was a display of power to remind women everywhere that we can only say what men allow us to say and only be what they decide we should be.
Thank you to all the strong men who actively oppose weak men in their persecution of women -- and thank you to all the women who keep fighting for the right to be themselves.
12
Was "Rule 19" invoked because it was applicable or because of her gender? If the former, the headline is misleading.
1
It was selectively applied.................
8
Yup.
If Warren had continued reading, Sessions would have had a chance to respond. He could have said he'd changed, he could have said he was misunderstood and explained why. He surely knew that letter would resurface somewhere --it already had quietly, across the internet. These guys aren't just evil, they can't think strategically to save themselves.
3
Republicans to women: sit down and shut up!
4
Senator Warren has been loud, aggressive and usually right in doing her job in the Senate. She grates on the good old boys and especially the old white conservatives, who seem to want to recreate the 1960s world of "Mad Men", where guys ruled and women "knew their place." After all, we just elected a president who proudly calls women ugly and "pigs" if they don't resemble his adolescent ideal.
15
Most of you supporting Warren are ignoring the fact that she was in violation of Senate rules. She is not the first Senator to be cut off and she probably won't be the last. This had nothing to do with her being a woman. I agree with one John Diamond who said that she was grandstanding for a 2020 Presidential run. As a centrist Democrat I can only hope that actions like this by Warren will keep her from getting the nomination.
5
She was in violation of Senate rules? Really? Then why were several male senators subsequently allowed to read the same letter into the record?
And, by the way, had she been allowed to read the letter, it probably would have gone unnoticed by all but her most ardent supporters (of which I am not one). Instead, Mitch McConnell looks like a fool. This incident may or may not propel Elizabeth Warren in.to the presidential race in 2020, but this is hardly the first time that's been talked about.
And, by the way, had she been allowed to read the letter, it probably would have gone unnoticed by all but her most ardent supporters (of which I am not one). Instead, Mitch McConnell looks like a fool. This incident may or may not propel Elizabeth Warren in.to the presidential race in 2020, but this is hardly the first time that's been talked about.
13
I consider myself fortunate having working in education, where as an administrator, I mostly worked with women in various capacities. Because education has a high proportion of women in the field, the resulting culture accepted level playing fields at meetings as a norm. More importantly, men and women do come at problems differently and in education view the care and education of children differently. Not to go into the particulars of the differing perspectives, but, to say, that lives of children were always made better when both perspectives found their way into the classroom.
1
Come on. Sanders and Merkley were allowed to read the same letter simply because Republicans realized trying to silence the issue was bringing ever more attention to it. It had nothing to do with Warren being female, only that she was the first one to try to use the King letter to demean Sessions.
2
For years, I have taught my children and later my grandchildren to beware of elderly white males. I have pointed out to them scenes in which these same males were disrespecting others in public situations, the others often being the women with them. It didn't take long for the children to spot them on their own and point out the rude, disrespectful behavior. My grandchildren are adults now, and I am proud to say that they are teaching their children to be aware of the same disgusting behavior by elderly white males. (by the way, we are all white).
Awareness comes first, then hopefully rebellion against the status quo.
Awareness comes first, then hopefully rebellion against the status quo.
8
Poor kids! But I guess they'll make great, stereotypical, self-loathing Liberals.
2
Not all women agree. I see her as a harpy, attention-seeking grandstander.
This is all for political show...she's already set her ambitions on the 2020 Presidential race.
Lord help us (And no, I'm not a Republican).
This is all for political show...she's already set her ambitions on the 2020 Presidential race.
Lord help us (And no, I'm not a Republican).
7
I don't think she can win the presidency, though the nomination seems up for grabs with no depth on the bench.
1
A "harpy?" She is a very outspoken woman. That makes her a "harpy?"
I hope she stays in the Senate. Like Teddy Kennedy, she'll have far more influence there than she would in the White House. And Massachusetts will keep re-electing her.
I hope she stays in the Senate. Like Teddy Kennedy, she'll have far more influence there than she would in the White House. And Massachusetts will keep re-electing her.
6
So I guess women are held to a lower standard than men. They can get away with whatever speech they choose to use because of their gender. Any challenge to their words is seen as sexism. I saw this over and over in the business world, as well as the use of tears by women when they were challenged or questioned during normal business meetings. It's a cop out.
5
The ignorant men in the senate do not realize that Warren got way more publicity because of all their antics of stopping her than she would have got if she just read the letter. Good work Warren!
5
Women who complain about anything rarely get heard EVERYWHERE!
3
Warren complains about EVERYTHING, and never with a solution in tow.
1
I have enormous admiration for Elizabeth Warren and am appalled at her silencing, but she was right in not turning this into a sexism issue which would distract from the real issue (Sessions character) that she was trying to highlight.
The focus had to be on Sessions. By reacting to the silencing as a gender issue, Warren would have succumbed to the identity politics that cost progressives this election and done nothing to block the Sessions confirmation. Let's never forget that 53% of white women (who voted) voted for Donald Trump.
The focus had to be on Sessions. By reacting to the silencing as a gender issue, Warren would have succumbed to the identity politics that cost progressives this election and done nothing to block the Sessions confirmation. Let's never forget that 53% of white women (who voted) voted for Donald Trump.
4
"but she was right in not turning this into a sexism issue.."
So the New York Times did.
So the New York Times did.
1
Brings back the old memory of the time I was passed over for promotion at my first job after college. The man they promoted was incompetent. He had left a previous career because of alcoholism and bankruptcy. He would leave his desk for hours at a time with his glasses resting over his paperwork to make it look like he had just stepped out to the men's room. Many times I had to do his work in addition to my own to meet deadlines.
At the time I was the most efficient, competent, and reliable person in the unit, but they gave the position to a man with more seniority because "he has a wife and four kids to support." The boss also said, "You are young and probably will get pregnant and leave us understaffed." I should have sued for sex discrimination, but I didn't dare.
At the time I was the most efficient, competent, and reliable person in the unit, but they gave the position to a man with more seniority because "he has a wife and four kids to support." The boss also said, "You are young and probably will get pregnant and leave us understaffed." I should have sued for sex discrimination, but I didn't dare.
10
This exact thing happened at my first job after college. But the guy only lasted a few months and then I got the promotion.;)
3
"At the time I was the most efficient, competent, and reliable person in the unit," (and the most humble? Apparently not)
Don't worry, most people who don't get promoted think they're the best, those promoted over them are the worst, and that all this is the unjust result of a conspiracy to undermine either their poor little self, or the subgroup they think they represent.
Women get promoted over men all the time, to comply with corporate Diversity mandates, to avoid frivolous discrimination lawsuits, and to build publicity on the fashionable "promoting Diversity" mantra. Ironically, some of these poor souls actually believe competence was rewarded in their promotion, and claim discrimination whenever their g̶e̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ competence fails to award them automatic advancement down the line.
Don't worry, most people who don't get promoted think they're the best, those promoted over them are the worst, and that all this is the unjust result of a conspiracy to undermine either their poor little self, or the subgroup they think they represent.
Women get promoted over men all the time, to comply with corporate Diversity mandates, to avoid frivolous discrimination lawsuits, and to build publicity on the fashionable "promoting Diversity" mantra. Ironically, some of these poor souls actually believe competence was rewarded in their promotion, and claim discrimination whenever their g̶e̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ competence fails to award them automatic advancement down the line.
Shutting Hillary Clinton up and getting rid of her by men was a piece of why she lost. Many men don't want not young women telling them what to do and being the boss. They are ok with women of a certain age if they need to be cared for and if they feel affectionately towards them. They'll take a little bossing from a hot young thing. This is lizard brain stuff and right now we have a so called president and other government "leaders" getting away with using their lizard brains. All of us have experienced being shut up and shut down by men.
22
Never forget that 53% of white women for voted for Trump. This is not as simple as it sounds.
Elisabeth Warren was underestimated before, and she came back as Senator, this time she coukd come back as a President, try to silence her at your own peril GOP. You were advised.
17
And I'm sure all involved are very impressed. Not.
Hear Hear!
4
Susan, to be frank, I was surprised that Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader would silence one of the most vocal and a staunch liberal among most of the 'pussy cat' like male liberals who can't even call out Trump and Jeff Sessions as the 2 most racist persons in America today.
So all the kudos to Ms. Warren for standing up on the floor of the Senate and not backing out from reading a letter from Rev. King's widow, Ms. Coretta Scott King.
In that letter written in 1986, against one of the most racist persons in America until Trump took over the mantle, MS. King clearly showed to all the Americans how a horrible human being our current AG Mr. Sessions was, all his life.
So by not allowing Ms. Warren to read that letter on the Senate floor, Senator McConnell proved to all the Americans, especially all the American women that "Women, your voice don't count".
But it is not just now, the Republican party had been waging these wars on women for more than a century now.
And if not for that damning letter from the F.B.I. Director just 11 days before the election,Trump would've never gotten those extra votes from lot of women that he got, to put him in the White House.
I blame those women too, who changed their minds in those horrible 11 days and voted for Trump instead of Hillary.
These women by ignorance voted for one of the most misogynist persons in this country as well as in the whole world.
I don't know how they could forget about what Trump said in that 'tape' .
So all the kudos to Ms. Warren for standing up on the floor of the Senate and not backing out from reading a letter from Rev. King's widow, Ms. Coretta Scott King.
In that letter written in 1986, against one of the most racist persons in America until Trump took over the mantle, MS. King clearly showed to all the Americans how a horrible human being our current AG Mr. Sessions was, all his life.
So by not allowing Ms. Warren to read that letter on the Senate floor, Senator McConnell proved to all the Americans, especially all the American women that "Women, your voice don't count".
But it is not just now, the Republican party had been waging these wars on women for more than a century now.
And if not for that damning letter from the F.B.I. Director just 11 days before the election,Trump would've never gotten those extra votes from lot of women that he got, to put him in the White House.
I blame those women too, who changed their minds in those horrible 11 days and voted for Trump instead of Hillary.
These women by ignorance voted for one of the most misogynist persons in this country as well as in the whole world.
I don't know how they could forget about what Trump said in that 'tape' .
13
Of course any woman with a grain of consciousness can relate, and immediately recognize McConnell's obvious shout-out to all those misogynists who support DT.
But what I don't get is Sen. Warren's response the next day to a reporter who asked point-blank, twice, "Was this sexism?" Both times Warren avoided answering the question, when she could have used the opportunity to point out that of course it was sexism, doubled-down sexism, AND racism, in that McConnell's intent was not only to silence her but to erase the words of the late Coretta Scott King as well. Sen. Gillibrand has done the same kind of thing when talking of the boorish treatment she has endured from some of her male colleagues.
We might get further on this front a bit faster if women in power were more explicit about calling out these incidents for what they are and why some men still believe it is their right to treat women this way. Name it. Shame it. Change it.
But what I don't get is Sen. Warren's response the next day to a reporter who asked point-blank, twice, "Was this sexism?" Both times Warren avoided answering the question, when she could have used the opportunity to point out that of course it was sexism, doubled-down sexism, AND racism, in that McConnell's intent was not only to silence her but to erase the words of the late Coretta Scott King as well. Sen. Gillibrand has done the same kind of thing when talking of the boorish treatment she has endured from some of her male colleagues.
We might get further on this front a bit faster if women in power were more explicit about calling out these incidents for what they are and why some men still believe it is their right to treat women this way. Name it. Shame it. Change it.
6
Ms. Chira is absolutely correct in her comments.
The spectacle created by Senator McConnell in silencing Elizabeth Warren was truly horrifying. When will the American public rise up and defend women's rightful role alongside men in our society? When will we put an end to the scandalous behavior of politicians bent on furthering ideology over the national good and trampling over hallowed institutions?
The spectacle created by Senator McConnell in silencing Elizabeth Warren was truly horrifying. When will the American public rise up and defend women's rightful role alongside men in our society? When will we put an end to the scandalous behavior of politicians bent on furthering ideology over the national good and trampling over hallowed institutions?
8
Thank you Mitch McConnell, for showing the true face (along with a gratuitous smirk) of the GOP, and for highlighting the disdain and subtle and not so subtle attitudes that your party and many OWM (old white men) have towards women, race inequality, bullying. I guess whatever emotional/psychological challenges that DJT has must be contagious, as you are now exhibiting the same kind of behavior he does when challenged. So go ahead and raise your finger and in a condescending voice tell Sen. Warren:
"She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.” Never thought the GOP would give women's rights advocates a great byline!
Guess this GOP attempt at gagging her backfired, since Sen, Warren's speech that she had so carefully prepared, instead of being delivered to a near empty Senate Chamber, has now been viewed by millions on national TV, and has dominated the news cycle. Her actions have torn off the last shreds of the supposed leadership mask that the GOP has worn. There is a difference between a majority party that stands for governing and representing its constituency, and the petty power plays that keep escalating. Remember the first Amendment, Mitch? Additionally, Jeff Sessions as a nominee for Attorney General was not being considered as a Senator....so even if there was any validity in your objections, they did not stand up to the rule you invoked.
"She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.” Never thought the GOP would give women's rights advocates a great byline!
Guess this GOP attempt at gagging her backfired, since Sen, Warren's speech that she had so carefully prepared, instead of being delivered to a near empty Senate Chamber, has now been viewed by millions on national TV, and has dominated the news cycle. Her actions have torn off the last shreds of the supposed leadership mask that the GOP has worn. There is a difference between a majority party that stands for governing and representing its constituency, and the petty power plays that keep escalating. Remember the first Amendment, Mitch? Additionally, Jeff Sessions as a nominee for Attorney General was not being considered as a Senator....so even if there was any validity in your objections, they did not stand up to the rule you invoked.
12
Imagine the Broadway show: a brilliant woman, lawyer and professor, reads another woman's factual account of a craven old man's racist actions. Then a sad turtle-like man with a history of voting against civil rights legislation rises to say such words, recorded already in the King Kongressional Record decades ago. are the current senator's own words and violate the rule against denigrating a senator - and wins the argument! Can we hear something that bothers us and not be calm and simply ponder the quote?
Is Trumpomania contagious?
Are Trump's coat tails that hypnotizing? Kongersmen that rude? That sexist? That illogical? All the above...
Is Trumpomania contagious?
Are Trump's coat tails that hypnotizing? Kongersmen that rude? That sexist? That illogical? All the above...
6
Here is here in Los Angeles, there are transgender women who love being a feminine woman. How come they seem to be the only women who take pride in femininity anymore? Also, perhaps Jeff Sessions was wrong man for the job in past. But perfect man for now. There are times when things have gotten out of hand and someone has to play the bad guy.
1
As a woman who has been brought up in the Southern part of the U.S., I am aware of how the women become enculturated to follow orders or experience the consequence of publicly or privately shaming or sometimes worse; however, this dynamic is not just in the South. Many women are taught at an early age that they have to "go along to get along." If one looks at the cycles of abuse of women and girls, the studies indicate that far too many boys and girls learn that boys have the power in this culture as demonstrated in the US Senate by the Republicans. If more fathers don't become enlightened about this dynamic, they will be perpetuating and reinforcing the behavior which leads to the abuse of their own daughters and granddaughters. While women and girls must learn to stand up to express themselves, achieve at all costs, and support other women who do stand up, the men and boys must learn to be respectful of women and girls, so that they can freely contribute, achieve, participate fully, and just speak. Thank yous go to Senator Bernie Sanders and Jeff Merkley for delivering not only Senator Elizabeth Warren's message, but also the meaningful information provided by another woman, Coretta Scott King. The Republicans interrupted both women, Black and White women! Thank you, Democratic Senators for supporting
13
The larger issue is the one Warren was making.
Sessions has embraced classic Jim Crow tactics to limit the number of Black people who can vote.
That's the issue here.
It has two parts.
1) Black votes are reliably counter to conservative dogma on many issues. So, why would the conservative south want them to vote?
2) In order to suppress the black vote, white men like Sessions justify their tactics and ploys to themselves by diminishing the validity of black people's rights.
How else can you disenfranchise a person unless you hold a thought in your head that they are less than you. Less deserving than you.
Call it racism or hutzpah or insanity.
It's serves your power hungry needs and desire to rule others undemocratically.
No mystery here.
Been done for millenia.
Just ask yourself, is it fair, or right?
Is it American or constitutional?
Warren was trying to educate us about the bad behavior of a man who Correta King knew about and called out.
Simple.
Now, with Republican blessing he calls the shots.
This man of bad behavior.
He won't win.
He's a dinosaur.
Sessions has embraced classic Jim Crow tactics to limit the number of Black people who can vote.
That's the issue here.
It has two parts.
1) Black votes are reliably counter to conservative dogma on many issues. So, why would the conservative south want them to vote?
2) In order to suppress the black vote, white men like Sessions justify their tactics and ploys to themselves by diminishing the validity of black people's rights.
How else can you disenfranchise a person unless you hold a thought in your head that they are less than you. Less deserving than you.
Call it racism or hutzpah or insanity.
It's serves your power hungry needs and desire to rule others undemocratically.
No mystery here.
Been done for millenia.
Just ask yourself, is it fair, or right?
Is it American or constitutional?
Warren was trying to educate us about the bad behavior of a man who Correta King knew about and called out.
Simple.
Now, with Republican blessing he calls the shots.
This man of bad behavior.
He won't win.
He's a dinosaur.
10
I still believe in an ideal vision of America. Barack Obama did as well. So, for all the sexist sniping and character attacks, did Hillary Clinton. Elizabeth Warren does. So do the millions of marchers. I am proud of my wife and my daughter. I seek to elevate and empower them. I am confident they will become true leaders. My daughter, a freshman at Emory, was just elected president of her dorm. She is a consensus builder and was rewarded for cooperating with her peers, not for being a bully.
Currently, the hypocrites, the cynics, misogynists, bullies, and racists are in the ascendency. If you disagree with them, you are personally attacked and vilified. Our institutions are being gutted. Our values are being severely tested. The only way for a woman to rise in the Trump world is by being rich or connected to a powerful man. She must look and act the part. Far too few are being elevated.
It is, in the end, up to all of us to decide what to do with these thugs. I am confident that Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump will be consigned to the ash heap of history. So will the racist Sessions and the ignorant, but wealthy, DeVos.
Let's continue to work towards our ideals and punish and remove the thugs that seek to subvert them. Thank you, Elizabeth Warren, for your bold persistence. It is up to us!
Currently, the hypocrites, the cynics, misogynists, bullies, and racists are in the ascendency. If you disagree with them, you are personally attacked and vilified. Our institutions are being gutted. Our values are being severely tested. The only way for a woman to rise in the Trump world is by being rich or connected to a powerful man. She must look and act the part. Far too few are being elevated.
It is, in the end, up to all of us to decide what to do with these thugs. I am confident that Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump will be consigned to the ash heap of history. So will the racist Sessions and the ignorant, but wealthy, DeVos.
Let's continue to work towards our ideals and punish and remove the thugs that seek to subvert them. Thank you, Elizabeth Warren, for your bold persistence. It is up to us!
12
This too has been the story of my life.
I so want a tee shirt emblazoned with
"Nevertheless She Persisted"
I so want a tee shirt emblazoned with
"Nevertheless She Persisted"
8
This is more evidence that Mitch McConnell should not be in a leadership role. If the rule is not to deprecate your colleagues, why invoke the rule in a deprecatory manner? Senator McConnell routinely damages conservative positions, for instance by not having reasonable alternatives to Obamacare at the ready after seven years of noodling about it.
Most of the Times readership will not appreciate the following comment, but I offer it anyway for your education. As a right-leaning academic, I get this "keep quiet" message routinely. It's not just misogyny (although there are definitely hints of misogyny in Senator McConnell's remarks). It's when any empowered group feels threatened by unsettling ideas.
Most of the Times readership will not appreciate the following comment, but I offer it anyway for your education. As a right-leaning academic, I get this "keep quiet" message routinely. It's not just misogyny (although there are definitely hints of misogyny in Senator McConnell's remarks). It's when any empowered group feels threatened by unsettling ideas.
6
Just had this image of a room full of women with one man who was speaking out of order....I like to think there might be a different outcome from what Ms. Warren experienced. Would the matriachal energy differ from the patriarhal...
3
What rule did she break if she only read from the letter? My understanding, having watched the episode myself, is that she was reading the words from King's letter. The letter is fairly damning to Sessions, certainly. However, she was just reading the letter. And then why were the 4 male senators allowed to read the same letter? Bernie even came out on Facebook Live and argued this very point. What am I missing?
11
On the face of it, Mitch McConnell punished Elizabeth Warren for doing what two men did without interference: read a letter into the record. This guy is not a majority leader.
6
The McConnell edict is more like "Shut up and sit down! Woman know your place." He would like to have Obama back in the Senate to treat him likewise.
10
Once, in a meeting in which I, a lawyer, was (as usual) the only woman in the room, I made a point to a Federal auditor who had come to discuss one of my agency's programs. A male colleague immediately piped up: "What [Olenska] is saying is ... "
Close to retirement, with my mortgage paid off, and having experienced this type of thing once too often, I blew up. "Have I suddenly lost my facility with the English language? Did anyone have difficulty understanding what I just said? Was it necessary for Charlie to translate my remarks?" A shocked silence ensued.
Aggressive? Absolutely -- and well worth every horrified, furious glare. This stuff has to end somewhere. (And I'm talking to you, Mitch McConnell.)
Close to retirement, with my mortgage paid off, and having experienced this type of thing once too often, I blew up. "Have I suddenly lost my facility with the English language? Did anyone have difficulty understanding what I just said? Was it necessary for Charlie to translate my remarks?" A shocked silence ensued.
Aggressive? Absolutely -- and well worth every horrified, furious glare. This stuff has to end somewhere. (And I'm talking to you, Mitch McConnell.)
27
“amplification,” taking care in meetings to repeat other women’s points and give women credit for ideas they had first raised.
When what women do to back a colleague is seen as righteous and when a man who does the same thing is automatically seen as a target for outrage should make thoughtful people ask what is going on here? Feminism has some huge blind spots.
When what women do to back a colleague is seen as righteous and when a man who does the same thing is automatically seen as a target for outrage should make thoughtful people ask what is going on here? Feminism has some huge blind spots.
No, LS. That was not agreement ("Olenska is right, in my view as well, that..."). That was indeed an "interpretation", which implies that she is failing to communicate clearly and needs assistance to be understood. It is indeed a way to make the original speaker look less than effective and to take the lead for oneself. Further, you using one anecdote as proof of a "huge blind spot" in feminism is a logical fallacy in itself.
4
We can only hope the ravings of a self serving liar will not become the bell weather for women's acceptance in our society. silencing a hypocritical loon should not reflect on the thoughtful and successful women who have something valuable to contribute to our society and government every day.
It is be a sad day if the self righteous hypocrites Warren, Lee, Pelosi, Williams and Feinstein are the best intellects the US has to offer in our political arena.
It is be a sad day if the self righteous hypocrites Warren, Lee, Pelosi, Williams and Feinstein are the best intellects the US has to offer in our political arena.
2
Please explain how reading the words of Coretta Scott King and Teddy Kennedy are the "ravings of a self-serving liar."
For a moment there, I thought you were referring to President Trump.
For a moment there, I thought you were referring to President Trump.
3
She quoted information that was later retracted. was false or proven unsupportable.
Yes., a shameful double standard does exist. And it tends to depend which side of the ideological line one falls. Warren. Waters, Clinton. et al., have all been emasculated by their Republican counterparts. Whereas individuals such as Alveda King, Condi Rice, Sarah Palin, et al., have been duly labeled by Democrats.
Granted it happens far more often from one side of the aisle but, neither side is without sin.
Granted it happens far more often from one side of the aisle but, neither side is without sin.
Holy Freud - if women have been emasculated, we need a new word.
2
tr.v. emasculated, emasculating, emasculates
2. To deprive of strength or vigor; weaken.
2. To deprive of strength or vigor; weaken.
Well, sure, miriam, the whole genre of male genitalia as synonymous with power or courage (I'm sure you can think of a couple right off) comes from the sexism of the earlier phases of the culture, when women were to be "opposites" and less than men in every important quality. Women and men do have other words for such concepts, though, and can use them, and no doubt coin others as we go.
2
So far, the only people admonishing Elizabeth's behavior in these comments appear to be men. Who would have thought? Did they not read the part about other senators - men senators - picking up where Elizabeth was stopped? Thank you Tom Udall, Bernie Sanders and Jeff Merkley. Interesting...
12
I for one would like to know the exact wording of the warning and explanation given Sen. Warren. The press needs to stop reporting these vague statements without any in-depth follow-up
2
When free speech is silenced on the floor of our nation's Congress, we should be more energized than ever to defend our rights as human beings, especially strong, courageous, well-informed, "get-to-the-point" voices like Elizabeth Warren! Keep talking!!
6
Warren is the Left's version of Trump: loud, obnoxious, so convinced of her infallibility, and not plugged into reality.
5
How so? Loud: she speaks like an orator, easy to be beard. Obnoxious: reading a letter from a widow, then obeying the order to sit. Infallibility: do you mean like denying science because of her gut knowledge? Not a realist: like failing to see the skill set of Jeff Sessions?
What a loser she is
What a loser she is
3
To use an old-fashioned terms, males in the room who stifle women are not very manly, for all their macho.
7
Great article, but it does help to remember: there are few men as old school, mean and authoritarian as Mitch McConnell - and most are smart enough not to beat up ladies in public!
4
A woman who won't stop talking when asked to? Boy, can men relate!
2
The Republicans have long been denying their reputation for sexism, misogyny, racism, segregationism, and an antipathy to freedom of speech that differs from their own. In a matter of seconds, Mitch McConnell has given us all the proof that their denials ring hollow. Mitch McConnell and the other Republicans in the Senate, along with Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III, we know you for what you really are.
5
I feel betrayed by the Republicans politicians who are willing to sell their souls to gain/keep power. If Senators cannot call each other on their crap, we end up with what we have today. A completely dysfunctional government run by a bunch of megalomaniacs.
God help America
God help America
4
Please continue to promote Warren as the 2020 candidate. Her shrieking will guarantee another loss in the presidential race. Reading a 30 year old letter from a deceased person is typical of the low blows the dems have resorted too in this environment. I guess no one ever changes in 30 years or the letter writer may change their opinion. 30 years ago gay people were still in the closet and the last generation of born racists were turning 60. Women get as much respect or disrespect as deserved in this day and age from their peer groups. Old white men may still have a different view but they are dying out rapidly and this vestige of the past will soon be gone. Using identity politics, which seems to still be the playbook for dems, will ensure their demise.
2
Please post a link to a video of Elizabeth Warren shrieking.
Post two or three, because if that's her habitual behavior, they shouldn't be hard to find.
Post two or three, because if that's her habitual behavior, they shouldn't be hard to find.
3
30 years ago Jeff Session was not nearing 60. The child is father to the man
3
You sure use sexist stereotypes, David. They only convince sexist old fellas anymore. You can pretend you're not one of them, but you convict yourself with every word.
4
What was particularly striking, as we were "treated" to the contempt and sexism displayed by McConnell towards Elizabeth Warren, is the fact that this letter from Coretta Scott King was deliberately withheld from inclusion in the Congressional Record by the vile late Strom Thurmond - also a member of the Grand Old Confederate White Male party. This letter was truly a piece of American history, hidden for decades from public view by the racist old white men of the GOTP. Ironic and emblematic that McConnell raised no objections to a white male Democratic Senator placing this letter into the Congressional Record, but refused to permit a female Senator to speak. Coretta Scott King is spinning in her grave. 2/9, 10:20 AM
6
Liz,
You complete me. And my daughter and two granddaughters.
You complete me. And my daughter and two granddaughters.
3
It's satisfying to know that Senator Warren hit Yertle the turtle McConnell's nerve center so deeply and with precision that it made his head explode and he reflexively took an action that even further exposed the limitless depths of his perfidy against democracy.
9
Good grief will the left stop with all of their hysterical and nedgative narratives already. Warren is simply trying to be the democrat candidate in the next Presidential election and was grandstanding. It amazed me that after Harry Reid lied on the senate floor about Romney's tax returns, and then admitted he lied but didn't care, the left is apoplectic because a rule was enforced when Warren was rude and out of line . . I didn't want Trump but the left is truly making me want to vote for the GUY in the next election. Warren should not even be a Politician, after her shameless cultural appropriation of Native American culture, for self enrichment. SO much projected Hatred on the part of dems these days. They still are pretending policy disagreements are based on racism, sexism or xenophobia. YAWN. I have heard these lies since Reagan. perhaps its time for democrats to offer a positive message and engage the middle class Americans again?
3
The revolution that takes out the Republican white male supremacist misogynist regime will be spurred on by women of all backgrounds, cultures, races, and orientations. Time for a matriarchy! Let's hope we can do it before all the boy men blow us all up!
4
Three cheers for Elizabeth Warren! Here's to all uppity women, way to go!!!!
9
That the Republicans did not censure and silence two males (Sens. Sanders and Merkley) for doing exactly what Sen. Warren did is inexplicable. Invoking the rule to silence all three might have been defensible. Invoking it only against the woman made Sen. McConnell look like a MCP.
5
Thank goodness for Elizabeth Warren! She is fierce and we need her fierceness. What McConnell did to shut her down, while letting men speak, is shameful.
SHAME!
Anne Litwin
SHAME!
Anne Litwin
4
If we could only get rid of all the white men what a wonderful world we would have. Of course almost every invention of note. Has been created by those
Hated white men. When are we going to stop bashing white men? I'll answer
That by saying not in this climate.
Hated white men. When are we going to stop bashing white men? I'll answer
That by saying not in this climate.
1
Not true. White men used to steal everyone else's inventions and get away with it. Now that we are more egalitarian, we see how much women and minorities actually contribute.
5
Well done, Ben.
2
"get a job" she says. How upsetting.
I still contend that a key to Hillary Clinton's loss was that a large number of American men - and women - were simply not able to embrace the idea of a strong female President.
8
Senator Warren was out of line and the rule is clear and not gender specific. She is an attack dog and silencing her is next to impossible save rules of decorum.
The way it was enforced was gender specific.
Another lie by omission!
Another lie by omission!
8
For those who are saying she was treated equally and it was the rule, then why weren't Bernie Sanders and Jeff Merkley also shut down?
Somehow, some way, for some reason, it was okay for two men to read the same letter. Period. Tell me why this happened and why that's okay.
Somehow, some way, for some reason, it was okay for two men to read the same letter. Period. Tell me why this happened and why that's okay.
7
The double standard at work here is both obvious and amazingly invisible to some people. This rule hasn't been invoked in 40 years; it wasn't invoked against Ted Cruz when he said on the floor of the Senate that McConnell is a liar; yet is was invoked here. It's sad that several Republican women voted to rebuke Warren. They really ought to know better.
9
The sad truth is that most men won't read this article because they don't believe women are treated unfairly (we're half the population, half of college graduates, etc.). In fact, it's been my experience that men tune out of these types of discussions, and even get bitter about women complaining about unfair treatment. Many professional men- liberal and conservative- really don't believe there are any problems. So I think there needs to be training in unconscious bias, which is the source of much of the problems. In my own professional experience in male-dominated environments, my personality is being evaluated more than my performance (getting feedback like I'm "too aggressive" or "act too confidently" etc.). All the research shows women are more likely to experience personal rather than constructive criticism. Some advice I got from a successful female colleague was to assuage men's egos by phrasing questions like "Can you help me understand how you came to that conclusion" versus saying things like "I don't think this is the right direction," so they're not off-put by strong women. The only resolution so far I've found is to seek out and work for good people, but the reality is we'll have to work with all types of men and women, so it's good to know how to be interpersonally effective until there's truly a level playing field.
6
The one that needs to sit down and keep quiet is that blowhard McConnell.
9
Too many beta males who shrink up and lash out every time they hear a woman speak their mind. Just read the comments here or anywhere discussing anything related to feminism.
Even Pakistan had a female prime minister. The men in this country are weak.
Even Pakistan had a female prime minister. The men in this country are weak.
3
Dry weak, the essence of impotence.
3
Imagine the outrage if a black man had not been allowed to speak these words?
Women, in our society, are disposable and disrespected at every level.
It is high time we recognize the second-class treatment of women in America-- if you wouldn't or act in certain ways because of a person's race, don't say or act in that way towards women!!
How hard is it to understand we are full human beings?
Women, in our society, are disposable and disrespected at every level.
It is high time we recognize the second-class treatment of women in America-- if you wouldn't or act in certain ways because of a person's race, don't say or act in that way towards women!!
How hard is it to understand we are full human beings?
4
There are at least two reasons to shut Warren up. Inside the Senate it was Title XIX, outside it is this: Warren knows nothing about Civil Rights, far less than AG Sessions. It's on record, take a look at this:
http://www.ontheissues.org/Domestic/Elizabeth_Warren_Civil_Rights.htm
An entire page on Civil Rights without mention of Blacks/African Americans. If Coretta King was alive today, she would have scratched her head non-stop (and hugged Sessions). Shut already.
http://www.ontheissues.org/Domestic/Elizabeth_Warren_Civil_Rights.htm
An entire page on Civil Rights without mention of Blacks/African Americans. If Coretta King was alive today, she would have scratched her head non-stop (and hugged Sessions). Shut already.
1
After the Access Hollywood tape came out, Trump claimed no one respected women more than he did? Despite the sheer audacity of that claim, Trump still went on to win the presidency. So it is no surprise three weeks into Trump’s America, we get Senate Majority Leader’s brazenly condescending put-down of Senator Elizabeth Warren, “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.” It was almost like we were back in the 1950s, as Trump’s campaign promised, when America used to be great?
6
Of course. not one of the people wailing "sexism" here had a word to say when male Senators were harsh with Betsy DeVos.
This is typical liberal double standards and easily dismissed as the partisan silliness it is.
This is typical liberal double standards and easily dismissed as the partisan silliness it is.
2
No Senator McConnell. You shut up. Listen and if won't learn, at least respect your colleagues. All of them. That includes women.
7
Women not only encounter this behaviour in most professions, they also encounter it a home, especially if the husband is the only bread winner.
I was in that situation far too long with two children during my first marriage in Europe, and that is the very reason why he became my ex.
I was in that situation far too long with two children during my first marriage in Europe, and that is the very reason why he became my ex.
3
Let's not forget that our country is in this situation partly because in the last election 53% of white women decided to throw their in lot with the likes of Senator McConnell and a good many more of their sex did what was in effect the same thing by not bothering to show up at the polls.
This is all in vain if it does not somehow reach them.
This is all in vain if it does not somehow reach them.
2
And to think that we call Muslim women a victim of their male dominance.
We must all PERSIST! Men, woman, minorities, LGBT, Jews, Muslims etc.. we will not consider the bullying of the republicans and the bully in chief as normal or acceptable.
1
This is exactly the kind of identity politics nonsense that got Trump elected.
Don't go complaining that women get treated just as badly as men when they occupy positions that typically men go for.
You're the one arguing for a double standard.
Don't go complaining that women get treated just as badly as men when they occupy positions that typically men go for.
You're the one arguing for a double standard.
The Senate needs to censure McConnell.
He hauled out an arcane rule from the early 1900's to "control" another Senator but did not apply it to all who spoke the very same words. The difference being gender.
He hauled out an arcane rule from the early 1900's to "control" another Senator but did not apply it to all who spoke the very same words. The difference being gender.
2
BE CAREFUL.
I love Warren, but I've heard a theory that Repubs are setting her up to be the candidate in 2020 because they think that she, like Hillary, has too limited an appeal ("the far left"—that is, the center in any other advanced country) to be able to beat Trump.
I love Warren, but I've heard a theory that Repubs are setting her up to be the candidate in 2020 because they think that she, like Hillary, has too limited an appeal ("the far left"—that is, the center in any other advanced country) to be able to beat Trump.
This coming from the same feminists who were more than happy to watch Sara Palin get destroyed and call her stupid when she ran as VP? Women like Warren should stop expecting special treatment and play the "poor me" card; it's getting old quickly.
Framing Senator Warren as a woman who has been silenced, rather than a Senator who has been silenced further damages Warren and our democracy. Sessions was being evaluated as a nominee for AG, not as a Senator. McConnell's shielding him from Senator Warren was anti-democratic, an absurd application of "Rule 19." Warren's critique of Sessions is as a Senator, not as a woman Senator. This column may be good copy, but it's counter-productive.
McConnell's application of a Senate rule to protect a nominee from a public critique
McConnell's application of a Senate rule to protect a nominee from a public critique
Then how come he let male Senators read the very same letter?
2
In my 40+ years as a financial industries professional, I can't count the times I've been called out for being "strident" in my comments in a meeting when I deigned to express an opinion or clarify an issue. Then to sit and watch as the men in the room took the same position, using much the same language and attitude, later to be congratulated by the boss.
Yes, we have been warned, we have been given "explanations", and yet we persist. We have to persist. If we sit back and behave like "ladies", letting the men take charge, we (and our daughters and their daughters) will suffer the same disrespect and discounting of ideas that women have suffered since Eve ate the apple. Nasty women get things done.
Yes, we have been warned, we have been given "explanations", and yet we persist. We have to persist. If we sit back and behave like "ladies", letting the men take charge, we (and our daughters and their daughters) will suffer the same disrespect and discounting of ideas that women have suffered since Eve ate the apple. Nasty women get things done.
6
Hellooo Congress. Just a short message. We will continue to persist. Too bad for you.
6
And the MTM's hero John McCain was right their to agreed with McConnell. The GREAT WHITE HOPE, yea right.
The silencing of Elizabeth Warren had precisely nothing to do with her being a woman.
You don't get to insult someone to their face on the highest pulpit in the land, then act aggrieved when they don't say "thank you for teaching me how terrible I am."
This is basic kindergarten level social interaction rules. I am shocked that identity politics has somehow regressed us to this point. Well not shocked so much as fundamentally tired of all this nonsense
You don't get to insult someone to their face on the highest pulpit in the land, then act aggrieved when they don't say "thank you for teaching me how terrible I am."
This is basic kindergarten level social interaction rules. I am shocked that identity politics has somehow regressed us to this point. Well not shocked so much as fundamentally tired of all this nonsense
But two male Senators leveled the very same insult and were not stopped - how do you explain that?
2
They just don't like her. Is it so hard to understand without seeing sexism that isn't there. The feminists and minorities have cost progressives the government. Stop with the sexism and racism. It turns people off.
She persists, and when silenced, she still persisted, standing outside the chambers door, knocking back at the White Supremacists Republicans whose misogynistic imbecilic bullying got the better of them.
Last night, Republican displayed their true colors, White Chauvinistic Pigs, oinking on about some Rule 19, an arcane law instituted before Women had the right to vote, because two macho White Males from Segregated South Carolina of all places engaged in a fist fight.
If only Elizabeth has done something like punch The Turtle Mitch in the face then maybe I could see Senator Warren being silences or removed.
On second thought, maybe I couldn't. McConnell and all the White Supremacists Republicans deserve a good sock in the kisser.
DD
Manhattan
Last night, Republican displayed their true colors, White Chauvinistic Pigs, oinking on about some Rule 19, an arcane law instituted before Women had the right to vote, because two macho White Males from Segregated South Carolina of all places engaged in a fist fight.
If only Elizabeth has done something like punch The Turtle Mitch in the face then maybe I could see Senator Warren being silences or removed.
On second thought, maybe I couldn't. McConnell and all the White Supremacists Republicans deserve a good sock in the kisser.
DD
Manhattan
5
It's time for these old men with their twisted souls to go back to the previous century ... or maybe the ones before that.
If they're offended at hearing strong women and people of color talking, they can go back to their caves and dream of the good old days when they hunted woolly mammoths and scratched at their fleas. Every now and again just for fun they can come out and fight with the ISIS guys who live in the next cave over.
The rest of us are ready to move on into the future.
We're dreaming of curing cancer, traveling to the stars, and developing cleaner more efficient energy systems. We want everyone to have a level playing field, no matter their color, religion or sexual persuasion. We believe the pursuit of happiness shouldn't include trying to take away other people's freedom. And that business is great, except when it tries to cheat people. And that we should take care of our weaker citizens.
We love cities and bucolic farm lands. Hand made crafts and sturdy machine made clothes that don't cost a fortune to replace when the kids out grow them.
We want an Internet that's equal too because it's good for small business. We want fast speeds that work in rural areas as well as cities, because the Internet is now the tie that binds us around the nation and the world.
And we're not going to stop fighting. No matter how much those old biddies from the stone age whine.
If they're offended at hearing strong women and people of color talking, they can go back to their caves and dream of the good old days when they hunted woolly mammoths and scratched at their fleas. Every now and again just for fun they can come out and fight with the ISIS guys who live in the next cave over.
The rest of us are ready to move on into the future.
We're dreaming of curing cancer, traveling to the stars, and developing cleaner more efficient energy systems. We want everyone to have a level playing field, no matter their color, religion or sexual persuasion. We believe the pursuit of happiness shouldn't include trying to take away other people's freedom. And that business is great, except when it tries to cheat people. And that we should take care of our weaker citizens.
We love cities and bucolic farm lands. Hand made crafts and sturdy machine made clothes that don't cost a fortune to replace when the kids out grow them.
We want an Internet that's equal too because it's good for small business. We want fast speeds that work in rural areas as well as cities, because the Internet is now the tie that binds us around the nation and the world.
And we're not going to stop fighting. No matter how much those old biddies from the stone age whine.
2
I think a lot of men who seek power do so because they didn't have a secure childhood where they felt loved. Many have "mommy issues" and take it out on the women in their lives as adults. I think Elizabeth Warren triggers something in the psyches of these men. They can't handle direct communication. One must use indirect communication (how women have communicated for aeons) with these guys. I consider myself a strong woman and I refuse to communicate indirectly. It is a waste of time and I consider it to be manipulative. Oddly, people often trust people who are less direct. I think Elizabeth Warren is extremely trustworthy. Maybe that's why the Repubs hate her so much! They've got nothing on her. She'll be our next president....in 4 years!
3
People can have "mommy issues", "daddy issues", or both parents can be crazy. I think Trump grew up with both mommy and daddy issues. Parents propagate an awful lot of cognitive dissonance in the US.
1
At my last job there was a guy who had a habit of repeating my own opinion back to me as if he were providing me with new and insightful information. It would take all of my self control not to respond, "I agree, I told you this on Tuesday." The best part: he was junior to me. Fortunately in my experience men like this are in the minority today; when my mom was advancing in her career it was par for the course.
5
Perhaps Senator McConnell's will have helped Trump become one-term president.
5
One might have suggested to Mr. McConnell that he keep his eye on the prize -- if he hadn't stopped Elizabeth Warren, many fewer people would have taken notice. He didn't consider that she was going to be outspoken outside of the Senate chamber -- and that social media would make this whole incident, and the King letter, go viral. But I'm glad no one did suggest that. In the end, he poured gasoline on what has become a raging fire.
3
Children like Mitch should be seen, not heard.
5
Plain truth, McConnell is a serial liar, and weasel who has had a free pass in the NYTs for way too many years. He lies at almost ever press conference and the Times simply parrots his nonsense. Enough is Enough. Whats the deal? He shuts Warren down and its front page news like this is the first time he has diminished women. Grow up Times start reporting all the news that is fit to print.
7
My actual response to men who tell me to be quiet--and it happens: "Don't tell me to be quiet; I'll say whatever I want! You wouldn't say that to me of I were a man." The last time I responded to a man's insult at the gym, I got several thumbs up from women around me and a hero's welcome in the locker room after. The first step is recognizing it and the second is not letting them off the hook. We can all start speaking up along with supporting each other.
5
Let's remember that Senator Warren was one of only 6 Senators who voted against the confirmation of Senator McConnel's own wife, Elain Chao, as Transporation Secretary. Mitch was eager for pay-back time.
6
This from Wikipedia's bio page of Mitch McConnel:
"McConnell is a Southern Baptist. He was married to his first wife, Sherrill Redmon, from 1968-1980, and had three children. Following their divorce, she became a feminist scholar at Smith College and director of the Sophia Smith Collection."
Enough said.
"McConnell is a Southern Baptist. He was married to his first wife, Sherrill Redmon, from 1968-1980, and had three children. Following their divorce, she became a feminist scholar at Smith College and director of the Sophia Smith Collection."
Enough said.
7
Politicians can argue violations of Senate rules and can pundit whether McConnell provided Warren entry into the 2020 Presidential race. They can question Warren's motives.
Ask any woman, though, what her gut reaction was? No discounting it, guys. You know those million women who marched. They're paying attention. Keep punching. We will rise. We'll persist. And we won't be silenced again.
Ask any woman, though, what her gut reaction was? No discounting it, guys. You know those million women who marched. They're paying attention. Keep punching. We will rise. We'll persist. And we won't be silenced again.
4
In the military, both male and female personnel have a rank, a title, be it lieutenant or private. A senator is a senator. Instead of referring to Senator Warren as "she," Senator McConnell might have chosen to say "The senator." That is the title. Nobody could have said Senator Warren was silenced because she is a woman. No gender assigned, simply Senator Warren was warned, Senator Warren was given an explanation. Nevertheless, Senator Warren persisted. Nothing sexist there. Why not use the Senator Warren's title, Senator McConnell, in the future?
1
Then John Cornyn piles on with 'I hope the little lady learned her lesson'. He's too stupid to realize they got the worst of it. Belittling women is their past time but people like Susan Collins accepts it.
4
Akin to venomous Hillary having advanced only because she's married to a successful man, Elizabeth Warren has advanced only because she's falsely claimed that she's Native American, and was lavished with jobs and praise because of this lie. Both women are shrill, loudmouth blowhards who think rules and laws don't apply to them, because they're 'powerful women'. This seems to be the template that most 'feminists/lesbians' cling to when faced with the slightest criticism, which is why most people, including most white women, cringe when these fanatical sexists enter their midst.
1
Right Dr. Paul-!
And she is an expert in bankruptcy and commercial law, and wrote a book on the truth about American bankruptcies, and was instrumental in protecting regular Americans with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and taught law at Harvard, and ran for Senate.........and she did it all because of that native American blood-! What a rip-off!
And OF COURSE because she is strong and outspoken for the little guy, she is SHRILL. Always the word invoked for strong women.
Your cover is blown Dr. Paul....we all know now the narrow range of women that you consider acceptable.
And she is an expert in bankruptcy and commercial law, and wrote a book on the truth about American bankruptcies, and was instrumental in protecting regular Americans with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and taught law at Harvard, and ran for Senate.........and she did it all because of that native American blood-! What a rip-off!
And OF COURSE because she is strong and outspoken for the little guy, she is SHRILL. Always the word invoked for strong women.
Your cover is blown Dr. Paul....we all know now the narrow range of women that you consider acceptable.
5
Leave it to the NYT to turn this into a gender issue. She broke a long standing senate rule. Wouldn't it have been sexist if the rule only applied to men? No doubt Warren deliberately tried to circumvent the rule by finding that passage and then feigning innocence by claiming the disparaging remarks weren't hers. Imagine how the NYT would have covered the same incident if it was done by a GOP senator!
1
Why are we surprised when congress does something stupid? It's all political grandstanding. And it happens all the time on both sides of the aisle. Hillary Clinton turned against TPP. Why? It didn't poll well or it didn't get donations from those who stood to gain from its defeat. These people are foul...all of them. Its politics and its slide continues to keep our country's best and brightest far away.
1
Oh, when will those wimmenfolk sit down and shut up?
"“The vote, I thought, means nothing to women, we should be armed.”
―Edna O'Brien
"“The vote, I thought, means nothing to women, we should be armed.”
―Edna O'Brien
3
As a woman, I did not view this as an attack on women until one of my male colleagues brought it up in a conversation yesterday. I very much appreciated Senator Warren not explicitly addressing the potential for gender politics in the move versus just a quell on free speech in her comments to the media. Having worked in biglaw now for 15 years and being the only woman sitting at the table in numerous situations, and having been villified as angry and a *itch for questioning the status quo (i.e., white males), I agree there is an element of McConnell's move that was included in this, but let's not get off message and start playing gender politics when there are broader items and other more justified places to make these arguments.
We all know that Senator Warren is a tough woman and has been for years, let's not degrade this fight into a man versus woman issue, that doesn't really get us anywhere.
We all know that Senator Warren is a tough woman and has been for years, let's not degrade this fight into a man versus woman issue, that doesn't really get us anywhere.
2
Disgraceful and stifling the right of free speech should not be allowed. Maybe we should go close down the entrances to DC and stage a sit in in both houses of congress. This should not be allowed and rule 19 is unconstitutional. If Republicans want to charge her in the courts that is another matter. Let us see how they like it if we shut them down?
1
Everyone is told to be quiet, I was told to be quiet by a cop. I was told to be quiet by a teacher. I was told to be quiet by my mom. I was told to be quiet by my dad. As a matter of fact it seems like everyone has told me to be quiet.
Perhaps, everyone should not be quiet and we will all be in jail, lets see if there are enough jail cells to hold America.
Perhaps, everyone should not be quiet and we will all be in jail, lets see if there are enough jail cells to hold America.
1
Perhaps the greatest silencers of women are other women. There. i said it.
3
The emotion-laden uproar over the enforcement of parliamentary rules underscores how unreasonable and unhinged politics has become. Citizens can disagree with the parliamentary ruling, but to complain of blatant sexism and "mansplaining" undercuts the seriousness of those citizens' potentially reasonable stances. A misleading title indeed: per Rule XIX of Rules of the Senate: "No Senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator...If any Senator, in speaking or otherwise, in the opinion of the Presiding Officer transgress the rules of the Senate the Presiding Officer shall, either on his own motion or at the request of any other Senator, call him to order; and when a Senator shall be called to order he shall take his seat, and may not proceed without leave of the Senate[.]"
We can disagree, but let's try to be a little more dispassionate and serious.
We can disagree, but let's try to be a little more dispassionate and serious.
Elizabeth Warren wasn't impugning a "colleague," but giving evidence concerning why the nominee for Attorney General would be a setback for civil rights, voting rights, gender equality, free speech, freedom to protest, freedom of religion (etc etc etc). It was entirely appropriate for her to provide an accurate character assessment from Coretta Scott King, who knew firsthand. The Republicans have no regard for democracy or the foundational values of the US. They only care for preserving their own power, which is why they have done 180's to allow Donald Trump's conflicts, abuses of power, to slide through. The despicable shut-down of Elizabeth Warren was the clearest demonstration of everything that Warren was trying to stand against in giving Sessions this vitally important position. Expect police to be given free rein to shoot unarmed black men. Government to snoop in your phone records, email. Protestors to be charged with felony riot (losing voting privileges as well as freedom). Newspapers to be charged with libel. Reporters to go to jail for contempt if they don't reveal sources. More voter suppression targeting the "unreal Americans" (minority, young, urban, seniors, coastal elites). That's the Trump/Sessions America.
1
Also expect from Sessions more voter suppression targeting the "unreal Americans" (women, minority, young, urban, seniors, coastal elites), which is the point Warren was making, based not just on 1986 record but record in Senate. Sessions shows contempt for civil rights, voting rights, gender equality.
Perhaps she should wait until the State f the Union and shout "You Lie!", because nothing happened to that white guy.
2
So because she is female she has earned the right to be out of order? She broke Senate rules; yet you denigrate those who call her on it. She's a Senator. Her gender gives her neither undue privilege nor derision.
"Elizabeth Warren Was Told to Be Quiet. Women Can Relate."
We can all relate and one doesn't have to be a woman. She broke the rule, and was warned about the rule, then broke the rule again! Try shouting in a public library, man or woman and you will also be told to be quiet. What is it with Democrats and rules, do they all think rules are for other people?
We can all relate and one doesn't have to be a woman. She broke the rule, and was warned about the rule, then broke the rule again! Try shouting in a public library, man or woman and you will also be told to be quiet. What is it with Democrats and rules, do they all think rules are for other people?
"Too aggressive". but the same words from a man would be labeled "assertive." I recall a meeting where I related information from the Dean's Council Meeting, which I had attended. My information was totally ignored as irrelevant by the men in the room. One week later, the same information was related by my boss. Then it was deemed important. Nothing seems to change, does it. That Audi commercial from the Super Bowl has special meaning. What do we tell our daughters and granddaughters?
2
We're seeing massive reaction to Trump -- thank the Founders and today's citizens -- but, really, the Senate and the House and all Republicans must become more identified with Trump. They put him where he is. And the Tea Partyers? Where did they go? Let's bring them back into the light. Trump would not have been elected without the militia, the white supremacists, the corpulent Harley riders, the neoCons and trolls who take orders from alt-right fanatics. Getting rid of Trump will not save the Republic; we all should keep the light shining on the Mostly Male Movement that runs the Republican Party.
3
Just look north of the 49th.----Canada.Half of our Federal Cabinet is female.Including our Minister of Foreign Affairs and Our Minister of Health.Our Prime Minister proudly labels himself a feminist.America,you have "so-much" to learn---and i do not just mean those Neanderthals in the GOP.
5
Robert Caro,one of America's finest historians, has been working on a multivolume history of LBJ, including a volume titled Master of the Senate which argues that Johnson used the rules of the Senate to control it. That's what McConnell is doing and righteous outrage is no response,
Obama didn't know the rules and lost a Supreme Court nomination. Warren doesn't know the rules and gets Rule 19'd for the first time in a century. Fool me once .... Doesn't our team know any tricky rules? We've got all the Harvard Law grads. McConnell graduated from the Univ. Of Kentucky with good ole boy honors. Yet we keep losing Super Bowls. Caro might say that this is a game of musical chairs. When the music stops sit your butt down.. Our team is too principled to grab for a chair. I'm tired of pyrrhic victories. Tme to take the gloves off and win a few rounds for LBJ.
Obama didn't know the rules and lost a Supreme Court nomination. Warren doesn't know the rules and gets Rule 19'd for the first time in a century. Fool me once .... Doesn't our team know any tricky rules? We've got all the Harvard Law grads. McConnell graduated from the Univ. Of Kentucky with good ole boy honors. Yet we keep losing Super Bowls. Caro might say that this is a game of musical chairs. When the music stops sit your butt down.. Our team is too principled to grab for a chair. I'm tired of pyrrhic victories. Tme to take the gloves off and win a few rounds for LBJ.
1
Dems have to 'lock and load' and smash 'em in 2018 mid-term elections. They have to wrest the Senate in grandiose fashion and, in the meantime, keep this imbecile Trump in check. Reinforcements are on the way! This administration has plunged off the deep end.
1
I don't see her as a victim. I think she did great. In fact if this lady plays her cards right, she would well be the next President of the United States.
Here's what I learnt from this particular playbook: set up a situation where you'll be silenced by a bunch of men (preferably, white, preferable old). Your message will get amplified x100. and ensure it creates a strong meme - "Nevertheless, she persisted" and an awesome trending hashtag #Let LizSpeak
And no, I don't recognize myself "in the specter of Elizabeth Warren silenced by a roomful of men." I am a woman, and a minority. Yet, this has never happened to me (in Asia, Europe, or America) .. of course that's not to take away from others' experience.. but I disagree with this disempowering version of women as victims. What is up with this American obsession with feminism? Yes I have been cut off off mid-sentence but if I hazarded a guess, women have pulled this aggressive move just as much or perhaps even more than men, in my experience. And, if I have leverage in the situation I will push back. if I don't I'll wait and crush it when I know I can land the punch and win.
Like someone else commented Warren knew what she was doing. While that fool whats-his-name took the bait and walked into the trap. She killed it!
Here's what I learnt from this particular playbook: set up a situation where you'll be silenced by a bunch of men (preferably, white, preferable old). Your message will get amplified x100. and ensure it creates a strong meme - "Nevertheless, she persisted" and an awesome trending hashtag #Let LizSpeak
And no, I don't recognize myself "in the specter of Elizabeth Warren silenced by a roomful of men." I am a woman, and a minority. Yet, this has never happened to me (in Asia, Europe, or America) .. of course that's not to take away from others' experience.. but I disagree with this disempowering version of women as victims. What is up with this American obsession with feminism? Yes I have been cut off off mid-sentence but if I hazarded a guess, women have pulled this aggressive move just as much or perhaps even more than men, in my experience. And, if I have leverage in the situation I will push back. if I don't I'll wait and crush it when I know I can land the punch and win.
Like someone else commented Warren knew what she was doing. While that fool whats-his-name took the bait and walked into the trap. She killed it!
1
McConnell still acts as if he's the owner of a plantation and black men and women need to know their place. McConnell is an impotent, old wind bag that needs to retire. Elizabeth Warren is so far his superior and he knows it ... and so do we all.
6
Mitch McConnell should be forced to apologize to Ms. Warren and all women in America for his blatant sexism. After that he should be tried for sabotaging the American government for the past six years, giving rise to the fascism in the current White House.
1
So maybe Hillary was right after all to "play the women's card," as she was accused of doing during the campaign. In just under 3 weeks women's rights have taken a hit in so many areas--reproductive justice, violence against women, and even freedom of attire, among other things. Let's all, women and men, keep marching, writing, and suing!
2
Senator McConnell's attack on Senator Warren was sexist, patronizing, uncalled for and un-American. It was a broadside on a sitting fellow senator's Constitutional right of freedom of speech and expression meant to belittle her and put her in her place, which is exactly where she was, on the floor of the Capitol, as a duly elected senator from Massachusetts to protest the nomination of someone she felt was unqualified to serve as an attorney general for all Americans.
The Republican Senate should be ashamed of themselves. They supported the public outcry of the right to lock up Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and now they follow through to shut up and silence a senator simply because she's a woman with views with which they disagree. Now, that's deplorable.
The Republican Senate should be ashamed of themselves. They supported the public outcry of the right to lock up Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and now they follow through to shut up and silence a senator simply because she's a woman with views with which they disagree. Now, that's deplorable.
2
As a female filmmaker, who represents the 14% behind the camera, I have fought against this every step of the way. Men with far less experience and skill talk down to me. With over 10 years experience in every department, I have rookies trying to tell me how to do something they can't.
Boys are taught to grow out, to experience and dominate their environment. Girls are taught to retract and grow in. To make space for men. For every yes there are 10 no's. Go outside and play, but don't get dirty, don't mess up your hair, don't interrupt, sit up straight, be polite, keep your opinions to yourself. We are labeled as emotional or irrational because we aren't allowed to act out, so we have to internalize.
I am also a fight coordinator and stunt performer. Continually having to assure my male counterparts I can handle it and they won't hurt me. Being viewed as stupid, emotional and fragile is insulting. Not to mention dangerous.
Labeling 51% of the population as less than only encourages us to prove we are more. Don't forget, we are based on generations of repressed women who found a way around obstructions. And well behaved women seldom make history.
And I aim to misbehave.
Boys are taught to grow out, to experience and dominate their environment. Girls are taught to retract and grow in. To make space for men. For every yes there are 10 no's. Go outside and play, but don't get dirty, don't mess up your hair, don't interrupt, sit up straight, be polite, keep your opinions to yourself. We are labeled as emotional or irrational because we aren't allowed to act out, so we have to internalize.
I am also a fight coordinator and stunt performer. Continually having to assure my male counterparts I can handle it and they won't hurt me. Being viewed as stupid, emotional and fragile is insulting. Not to mention dangerous.
Labeling 51% of the population as less than only encourages us to prove we are more. Don't forget, we are based on generations of repressed women who found a way around obstructions. And well behaved women seldom make history.
And I aim to misbehave.
13
The Republicans have stricken Senator Warren's comments from the Congressional Record but her words and their action will both go down in history anyway. They do not like Warren but they have added to her stature by their stupid petty act. This Congress will be recorded in history as totally lacking in integrity. The GOP have turned a ripple into a tsunami.
2
Not another journalist who sees the world through their gender. What Trump is supposed to have said about how people dress in his companies included men - that they have to wear ties and suits. The ladies get much more freedom to dress how they like, and yet Chira sees that as oppression.
Since I'm not a senator and this isn't the floor of the Senate, let me take a moment to say:
Mitch McConnell, you are a bully and a coward and your behavior is unbecoming of a senator.
And the same is true for every coward who voted with him. I would invoke shame, but they have shown they have none.
Mitch McConnell, you are a bully and a coward and your behavior is unbecoming of a senator.
And the same is true for every coward who voted with him. I would invoke shame, but they have shown they have none.
1
And on top of all these obstacles, biases, prejudices, and archaic norms, a woman must always be the smartest person in the room Anything less and she's road kill.
She cannot be human. She cannot be average or slightly above average. She cannot be distracted by a grave or urgent personal crisis. She cannot be a consummate professional and feminine. She cannot be friendly toward men or there's gossip. She cannot be friendly toward women or there's gossip. Even if she's friendly toward both men and women, there's gossip.
She cannot be human. She cannot be average or slightly above average. She cannot be distracted by a grave or urgent personal crisis. She cannot be a consummate professional and feminine. She cannot be friendly toward men or there's gossip. She cannot be friendly toward women or there's gossip. Even if she's friendly toward both men and women, there's gossip.
2
Warren remains unafraid of these boys but is smarter than most of them and they know it. Mitch is smart in black-ops way, Warren in rep-ing integrity, when it's in short supply.
Definitely feels like the 50s again Donald. And you 'believe' we're all winning. Is that all there is, is this how it's going to be?
GOP bringing out the worst patriarchal instincts in its worst models-- for gender clash during sweeps week possibly, along w/ war with China, or California.
Go Sen Warren! A devolution process has begun and your voice needed as never before. Most of US behind you.
Definitely feels like the 50s again Donald. And you 'believe' we're all winning. Is that all there is, is this how it's going to be?
GOP bringing out the worst patriarchal instincts in its worst models-- for gender clash during sweeps week possibly, along w/ war with China, or California.
Go Sen Warren! A devolution process has begun and your voice needed as never before. Most of US behind you.
3
I can relate too. I was told at least 1000 times by nuns in grade school to "shut up". Here we have a case of a Senator violating rule 19. What's the big deal?
1
There's at least two reasons to shut Warren up. Inside the Senate it was Title XIX, outside it is this: Warren knows nothing about Civil Rights, far less than AG Sessions. It's on record, take a look at this:
http://www.ontheissues.org/Domestic/Elizabeth_Warren_Civil_Rights.htm
An entire page on Civil Rights without mention of Blacks/African Americans. If Coretta King were alive today, she would have scratched her head non-stop (and hugged Sessions). Shut already.
http://www.ontheissues.org/Domestic/Elizabeth_Warren_Civil_Rights.htm
An entire page on Civil Rights without mention of Blacks/African Americans. If Coretta King were alive today, she would have scratched her head non-stop (and hugged Sessions). Shut already.
1
So TMK, do you really believe in Black Lives Matter, or do you hate them just as much as feminists and are using the race card you usually cry about?
3
What Elizabeth Warren was really told was to "Sit down and Shut up" - but in a somewhat more - well, I hate to use the word in this context - "civilized" - manner. And of course many of us recognize that "command" well enough!
Of course the irony is - and the silver lining, too - is that many more thousands of people will now read Coretta Scott King's letter than would ever have read it - or perhaps heard it - otherwise! Can't say that's not worthwhile!
This outrageous event will surely go down in history as quite a remarkable moment - Historical for sure!
And, in its way, rather "delicious." If also abhorrent!
Of course the irony is - and the silver lining, too - is that many more thousands of people will now read Coretta Scott King's letter than would ever have read it - or perhaps heard it - otherwise! Can't say that's not worthwhile!
This outrageous event will surely go down in history as quite a remarkable moment - Historical for sure!
And, in its way, rather "delicious." If also abhorrent!
2
Was that Orrin Hatch sitting behind McConnell examining the contents of
his handkerchief?
his handkerchief?
1
NYT concludes elsewhere that shutting down Warren amplifies her message. Very true, and it seems the liberals rejoice over that.
But from GOP point of view, that was a wise maneuver. They want her message amplifed to the point that the dems will be stuck with it in future elections. Republicans WANT the nation to think that Warren's message is dems' message. They want to keep winning.
But from GOP point of view, that was a wise maneuver. They want her message amplifed to the point that the dems will be stuck with it in future elections. Republicans WANT the nation to think that Warren's message is dems' message. They want to keep winning.
I (a 66 year old man) know from first-hand experience how deeply many men (many heterosexual men, at least)) feel they need to be manly, and to be seen as manly; and how easily that leads to being trapped in the "man box."
The dumbest thing we men (or many of us) do is think we're smarter than the women in the room. To the extent that we do that, we're foolish.
I was on the threshold of elderhood when I really got that I'd long suffered from a hyper-competitive, hyper-masculine mindset. It's crippling, stultifying place to be. Not that growing out of it came easily -- if it had, it wouldn't have taken me 58 years.
It looks like Trump is revivifying feminism; if that's the case, it may be the best thing he does. Sign me up!
Women girls, lead on!
The dumbest thing we men (or many of us) do is think we're smarter than the women in the room. To the extent that we do that, we're foolish.
I was on the threshold of elderhood when I really got that I'd long suffered from a hyper-competitive, hyper-masculine mindset. It's crippling, stultifying place to be. Not that growing out of it came easily -- if it had, it wouldn't have taken me 58 years.
It looks like Trump is revivifying feminism; if that's the case, it may be the best thing he does. Sign me up!
Women girls, lead on!
3
First of all, I stand with Elizabeth Warren and think of her as one of our great Senators. On this issue as on so many others she speaks truth even when it upsets the powers that be. The only fault I have with her politically is her support for Hillary Clinton, who I think stole the Democratic Nomination and whom I blame for Donald Trump in the White House. Senator Warren should have endorsed Bernie and ended Hillary's ego trip.
As to Senator McConnell, he and Paul Ryan are just as bad as Donald Trump. One refused to give Judge Garland a vote and stonewalled all kinds of Presidential appointments even while a member of the minority, and the other wants to cut Social Security and turn Medicare to a voucher program despite both programs being highly successful and having the broad support of all Americans. But they are commonly presented as reasonable men, which they are not.
If the Senate cannot be a place of debate, what good is it? Senator Warren was on topic with the germane thoughts of a cherished American Icon- Ms King- who paid a high price for America's racism. I live but miles from the National Civil Rights Museum, built from the Lorraine Motel where her husband died standing for the rights of African American Sanitation Workers.
Jeff Sessions is unworthy of the office of Attorney General as he was unworthy of the Federal Bench and of US Senator- even from Alabama. History will show Senator Warren and Ms King to be right- Jeff Sessions is not worthy of our trust.
As to Senator McConnell, he and Paul Ryan are just as bad as Donald Trump. One refused to give Judge Garland a vote and stonewalled all kinds of Presidential appointments even while a member of the minority, and the other wants to cut Social Security and turn Medicare to a voucher program despite both programs being highly successful and having the broad support of all Americans. But they are commonly presented as reasonable men, which they are not.
If the Senate cannot be a place of debate, what good is it? Senator Warren was on topic with the germane thoughts of a cherished American Icon- Ms King- who paid a high price for America's racism. I live but miles from the National Civil Rights Museum, built from the Lorraine Motel where her husband died standing for the rights of African American Sanitation Workers.
Jeff Sessions is unworthy of the office of Attorney General as he was unworthy of the Federal Bench and of US Senator- even from Alabama. History will show Senator Warren and Ms King to be right- Jeff Sessions is not worthy of our trust.
3
C'mon. First, the inference that Bernie Sanders is sexist is nonsense. Second, Democratic Senators of BOTH genders later "read into the record." This entire affair was politics as usual, and personal plumbing has precious little to do with it.
1
Warren for POTUS....for sure.
1
Mitch McConnell should be ashamed of his actions and voted out of office. His behavior was appalling. I could not and still cannot believe the irony in silencing a woman. It angers me that he did this. Millions of women experience this every day--at work, in schools, in meetings, and in government. Trump and his supporters will do anything to Make America Great for White Men Again. Shame on them.
2
Elizabeth Warren is the new target for the Republican Party. Why? Because she represents a threat to their fake narratives and because she is a powerful woman. There will be more unequal attacks on her to come, you can count on it.
2
Only in GOP world is reading a letter from Coretta Scott King
a crime against humanity. Cruz called McConnell a liar.
nothing happened. duh
These same people had no problem shouting hosannahs
to her husband a few days ago.
Forget civil rights equal rights gay rights. the DOJ
is now closed
a crime against humanity. Cruz called McConnell a liar.
nothing happened. duh
These same people had no problem shouting hosannahs
to her husband a few days ago.
Forget civil rights equal rights gay rights. the DOJ
is now closed
4
I heartily support Ms. Warren, but the problem is deeper and more complex than it is being portrayed here. 52% of white women voted for Trump, so this is not exclusively an old boy club versus independent women.
Women, no less than men, may place their primary loyalties with their racial identity, or economic class, or religion, etc., and not with fidelity to the welfare of women on a global scale. Hillary may be a white woman, but the majority of white women rejected her in favor of Donald. Plenty to ponder there in this rumination upon sexual and gender oppression.
The many wives of Trump and Bannon, a kind of harem, give evidence that many women assume their financial security and social conformity secured by clinging to and abetting aggressive males. Both sexes are playing this ancient game.
Women, no less than men, may place their primary loyalties with their racial identity, or economic class, or religion, etc., and not with fidelity to the welfare of women on a global scale. Hillary may be a white woman, but the majority of white women rejected her in favor of Donald. Plenty to ponder there in this rumination upon sexual and gender oppression.
The many wives of Trump and Bannon, a kind of harem, give evidence that many women assume their financial security and social conformity secured by clinging to and abetting aggressive males. Both sexes are playing this ancient game.
4
You make a good point, but looking at the problem as men vs. women misses the larger issue, which is much deeper and more complex than the demographic vote count. Women deserve equal rights and to be treated with respect by ALL others - including other women. And Warren *was* standing up in a room full of men and made to shut up while male colleagues were allowed to speak. Inequality hurts all people. We need to understand that.
2
This had Trump, or Trump surrogate written all over it. Elizabeth Warren is most certainly in his top 10 or 20 on his 'enemies list.'
Despite mocking her disgracefully throughout the campaign season, that isn't enough for this bully.
So, he gave the word, and it was done. This won't be the last time, tho. DJT likes to torment his 'enemies' repeatedly.
Somehow, I expect Ms. Warren is more than ready to take it. Tough, smart and outspoken woman. Just the kind that intimidates him most.
Despite mocking her disgracefully throughout the campaign season, that isn't enough for this bully.
So, he gave the word, and it was done. This won't be the last time, tho. DJT likes to torment his 'enemies' repeatedly.
Somehow, I expect Ms. Warren is more than ready to take it. Tough, smart and outspoken woman. Just the kind that intimidates him most.
7
Commenters have said or implied that Elizabeth Warren is vitriolic, unhinged, and angry. Did the same commenters have anything to say when Mitch McConnell vowed to make Obama a one-term president, or when Donald Trump continuously blathered on and on that Obama was not born in the U.S.?
Another commenter complained that she was "playing the gender card." How is reading a letter in opposition to a candidate playing a gender card? Unless anything a prominent woman does or says is somehow "playing the gender card."
Another commenter complained that she was "playing the gender card." How is reading a letter in opposition to a candidate playing a gender card? Unless anything a prominent woman does or says is somehow "playing the gender card."
21
Elizabeth Warren, my next president! Mitch, the day when you can call up arcane rules of the senate to shut a woman down are coming to an end if I have anything to do with it.
2
A woman is considered shrill because she has a higher range voice. If her vocal range were the same as a man's, they might listen to her. At least they could not call her shrill.
Perhaps we should provide all women who want to enter male dominated professions with an apparatus that would change the octave range of their voices.
Perhaps we should provide all women who want to enter male dominated professions with an apparatus that would change the octave range of their voices.
4
Reading through the comments, I newly realize how necessary and fine this essay is.
9
Nice try, yet again even in this opinion piece which the NY Times is all too happy to publish. Very misleading headline, borderline click-bait, in fact.
The fact is that Elizabeth Warren broke a Senate rule and she was appropriately censured. But given the vitriol since November 8, most of the uninformed public would be led to believe otherwise based on what is coming out from the NY Times.
This was not sexism, it was not misogyny. Warren presented slanderous, 30-year old OPINIONS on a fellow Senate member and she was warned to stop. She didn't adhere to rules, so she was made to stop.
Clearly, Warren isn't above playing personal politics. What a great stepping stone to launch a presidential bid by getting her name in the news as a martyr. And all those on the left who are not well informed of Senate rules are all too happy to make celebrate her as one.
The fact is that Elizabeth Warren broke a Senate rule and she was appropriately censured. But given the vitriol since November 8, most of the uninformed public would be led to believe otherwise based on what is coming out from the NY Times.
This was not sexism, it was not misogyny. Warren presented slanderous, 30-year old OPINIONS on a fellow Senate member and she was warned to stop. She didn't adhere to rules, so she was made to stop.
Clearly, Warren isn't above playing personal politics. What a great stepping stone to launch a presidential bid by getting her name in the news as a martyr. And all those on the left who are not well informed of Senate rules are all too happy to make celebrate her as one.
7
And yet when male senators continued reading the same letter they were allowed to continue...
4
Then how come two men were able to read the same speach?
6
They let male senators read the same letter. The rule hasn't been invoked since 1951, despite many [male] senators criticizing other senators. Nope, this was "shut the annoying woman up."
7
This Republican Congress has got to go. A bunch of frightened, misogynistic little men.
9
I wonder what Mitch would have done had someone pulled the same kind of stunt on the speeches made by his wife during her Cabinet hearings.
Thank you, Elizabeth Warren. Shutting you down, along with the voice of Mrs. King, will come back to haunt these men of a time which no longer exists. Keep persisting!
Thank you, Elizabeth Warren. Shutting you down, along with the voice of Mrs. King, will come back to haunt these men of a time which no longer exists. Keep persisting!
11
Warren violated a well known rule of the Senate by impugning her colleague (it was reported in the Wall Street Journal - although apparently not in the Times - that not only did she read the letter in question, she also attacked her colleague, calling him a "racist" and falsely claiming he was pursuing a "campaign of bigotry").
This is as much a violation of Senate rules as it would be to call her a fraud and a liar by representing herself to the Harvard hiring committee as a "native American" in order to gain an advantage as a "diversity hire." Actually, they aren't the same, since she actually did that and Sen. Sessions, by all accounts, is not a racist.
This is as much a violation of Senate rules as it would be to call her a fraud and a liar by representing herself to the Harvard hiring committee as a "native American" in order to gain an advantage as a "diversity hire." Actually, they aren't the same, since she actually did that and Sen. Sessions, by all accounts, is not a racist.
4
By all accounts, Senator Sessions IS a racist.
2
Wow, what alternate universe do you (airish) do you live in? Not one based on facts. This poor excuse for our AJ is racist, and his actions, words and deeds prove it.
2018 cannot get here soon enough.
2018 cannot get here soon enough.
3
Ted Cruz called Mitch McConnell on the floor of the Senate a LIAR. Cruz was not basically told to sit down and shut up. Fact checking could be your friend airish.....Elizabeth Warren was not a "diversity hire"......she was long employed and teaching when the subject of her Native American Ancestry came up. See two mistruths you have told.......perhaps it is you who should shut up.
2
As has been noted before, nothing fails like success. We all owe the numskull sexists in the GOP a certain kind of ironic gratitude for making such a spectacle of themselves in the obscene 'glory' of their power.
Of course Trump-Bannon are the leading examples of Republicans who've proven themselves unworthy of the authority they've won, but the whole wretched lot of them are creating a fiasco that will most certainly live in history.
So the arrogant blind men forge ahead into their fates, which will most certainly not meet their self-satisfied expectations.
Of course Trump-Bannon are the leading examples of Republicans who've proven themselves unworthy of the authority they've won, but the whole wretched lot of them are creating a fiasco that will most certainly live in history.
So the arrogant blind men forge ahead into their fates, which will most certainly not meet their self-satisfied expectations.
9
I am a liberal. I think Trump is a disaster. I also don't like Elizabeth Warren. Her ambition is almost palpable.
I find myself questioning whether this is a publicity stunt, and I wonder exactly what she said that caused the republicans to invoke this rule. I'm not prepared to take it on faith that all she did was read a letter. I suspect it was something more.
Sessions was always going to be approved. I don't like him, but I strongly disagree with the "blow up the system when you don't get your way" approach. This is the approach that the republicans tried under Obama. In doing so, they wasted my tax money and yours. Now the democrats are taking a turn.
These are our representatives. Can it really be that Americans want our representatives to act like squabbling children? If so, the era of partisan deadlock is only going to continue.
I find myself questioning whether this is a publicity stunt, and I wonder exactly what she said that caused the republicans to invoke this rule. I'm not prepared to take it on faith that all she did was read a letter. I suspect it was something more.
Sessions was always going to be approved. I don't like him, but I strongly disagree with the "blow up the system when you don't get your way" approach. This is the approach that the republicans tried under Obama. In doing so, they wasted my tax money and yours. Now the democrats are taking a turn.
These are our representatives. Can it really be that Americans want our representatives to act like squabbling children? If so, the era of partisan deadlock is only going to continue.
6
Someone's got to do the dirty work of calling out members of congress and businesses that brazenly cheat American people of their rights and financial security. In fact there should be a whole lot more of "impugning" on the senate floor.
3
She also quoted what Ted Kennedy said about then-judicial nominee Sessions.
Apparently, quoting Senate history and letters that have already been entered into the record is cause for censure when you are female.
And Senator Warren is ambitious? Stop the presses! Do you think anyone got to that Chamber by being laid-back or a shrinking violet?
As we found out from the last election, ambitious women are scorned while ambitious men are celebrated.
Apparently, quoting Senate history and letters that have already been entered into the record is cause for censure when you are female.
And Senator Warren is ambitious? Stop the presses! Do you think anyone got to that Chamber by being laid-back or a shrinking violet?
As we found out from the last election, ambitious women are scorned while ambitious men are celebrated.
4
So if a woman has ambition, it's wrong. You don't sound like a liberal.
2
McConnell is the tip of the iceberg of a hackneyed, antiquated, misogynistic, elitist, racist, and cowardly old boy's club. They are relics of the past with termite ridden bodies and fossilized brains.
15
Both men and women suffer the indignity of being silenced by more powerful opponents
This was political maneuvering ; a rules-based way to neuter (yes, I know) a very effective and very vocal adversary. Re-framing a political tactic into gender-motivated discrimination fans the very flames that lit the way to a Trump presidency.
This was political maneuvering ; a rules-based way to neuter (yes, I know) a very effective and very vocal adversary. Re-framing a political tactic into gender-motivated discrimination fans the very flames that lit the way to a Trump presidency.
4
"Re-framing a political tactic into gender-motivated discrimination fans the very flames that lit the way to a Trump presidency."
Because men's feelings are so delicate they can't bear it when misogyny is brought to their attention? Poor things.
Because men's feelings are so delicate they can't bear it when misogyny is brought to their attention? Poor things.
2
It's time for a liberal-progessive revolution that has the integrity to align our actions with our ideals and the viciousness to go toe to toe with these corporate fascists. Was I redundant?
5
What a joke. Warren was treated equally--like a colleague who in the name of political grand-standing impugned the name of a fellow member. She got the kind of treatment any violator of the institutional norms deserved. She is lucky there wasn't this kind of equality in the 1850's--she might have found herself caned.
3
Really?????? Three other Male Democrat Senators stood up on the Senate Floor hours after Senator Warren was silenced and read the same letter Sen. Warren read......the words of Coretta Scott King. They were not warned.....they were not silenced. Ted Cruz on the Senate Floor called out Mitch McConnell as a LIAR.....he was not warned, Sen. Cruz was not silenced. Please lecture us again about the "equal treatment".
1
Then why were tow of her male colleagues allowed to impugn the name of a fellow member by reading the same letter?
The same letter from MLK's widow, Coretta King, was read into the record by Bernie Sanders and another male Democrat. They were not told to shut up and sit down. Where's your head?
1
Obviously we need many more female senators in order to rid the chambers of their musty, old boys club in Alabama stench.
15
Apparently the Democrats and their supporters haven't learned anything from the 2016 Election. Identity Politics no longer works, because female Swing State voters don't care that rich, powerful men just told a rich, powerful woman to shut up. What these Swing State Voters care about is whether this month they will have to choose between paying their rent or making their car payment.
If Senator Warren were, for example, fighting to increase the national minimum wage, then these women would care who's telling her to be quiet.
If Senator Warren were, for example, fighting to increase the national minimum wage, then these women would care who's telling her to be quiet.
8
But Trump said the minimum wage shouldn't be raised so apparently this isn't the reason why the swing state females voted for him.
3
She has fought for that, also consumer protections and many other things to protect the public. . What rock have you been hiding under?
2
That's the big lie, anyway.
The problem with your reasoning is that it's a myth dreamt up to justify why poor people living paycheck to paycheck would vote against their best interests.
The simple fact is that most poor people living paycheck to paycheck don't vote at all. They don't have the time nor the inclination.
Trump didn't win because of a large swath of former factory workers decided they were fed up with liberalism. Trump won because most of the middle class and upper class white people came out for lower taxes and less immigrants. Those people don't want higher minimum wages. In fact, they fought against the raising of the minimum wage while people like Warren were fighting for it.
The problem with your reasoning is that it's a myth dreamt up to justify why poor people living paycheck to paycheck would vote against their best interests.
The simple fact is that most poor people living paycheck to paycheck don't vote at all. They don't have the time nor the inclination.
Trump didn't win because of a large swath of former factory workers decided they were fed up with liberalism. Trump won because most of the middle class and upper class white people came out for lower taxes and less immigrants. Those people don't want higher minimum wages. In fact, they fought against the raising of the minimum wage while people like Warren were fighting for it.
4
This is as troubling as Mitch McConnell's actions, "male Democratic senators including Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Jeff Merkley of Oregon later read into the record the very same letter that Senator Warren was reading when the Senate voted, along strict party lines, to ban her from further debate on the nomination of Mr. Sessions as attorney general."
Notice that not one man walked, or as nearly as I could tell spoke out, in Senator Elizabeth Warren's defense. They simply read the same thing, which said in a different way that men rule the roost. Disgusting.
Many women shrug that kind of thing off and are calling Senator Elizabeth Warren "pushy" and "loud" and all the other things "good little girls" shouldn't be. Well guess what, boys and girls of the old school religious-centered belief that men are inherently "better than" women.
Women have grown up, gotten educated, smartened up and WE are going to put differences aside and WE - over 50% of the population of America and the world - Will Not Be Silenced or Sidelined. Time to move to the 21st Century.
Notice that not one man walked, or as nearly as I could tell spoke out, in Senator Elizabeth Warren's defense. They simply read the same thing, which said in a different way that men rule the roost. Disgusting.
Many women shrug that kind of thing off and are calling Senator Elizabeth Warren "pushy" and "loud" and all the other things "good little girls" shouldn't be. Well guess what, boys and girls of the old school religious-centered belief that men are inherently "better than" women.
Women have grown up, gotten educated, smartened up and WE are going to put differences aside and WE - over 50% of the population of America and the world - Will Not Be Silenced or Sidelined. Time to move to the 21st Century.
11
I don't care to speak for women in general but have learned that Clinton lost because some women didn't vote for her after all that was said about her opponnent. Do you wonder why?
1
Bernie demanded the senate apologize to Warren. He stood up for her.
1
"Well intentioned men", I don't think so. McConnell was not well intentioned.
Hillary's 25 years of this constant barage of sexism, blatant, pervasive, persistent, even from women journalists. The most brutal form were the witch-hunt investigations sanctioned by the press who didn't have the integrity to see a witch-hunt.
Warren observed and experienced this in the political arena, in her academic career, it was no shock to her. It was the fate of having it happen so visibly at the right time in history. Just like all American women, the condescending command to sit down and be quiet.
This will not leave the national conversation soon. Nor should it. It is the unfortunate fate of America that it took the false win of a fascist over a capable woman to bring sexism into full view.
Hillary's 25 years of this constant barage of sexism, blatant, pervasive, persistent, even from women journalists. The most brutal form were the witch-hunt investigations sanctioned by the press who didn't have the integrity to see a witch-hunt.
Warren observed and experienced this in the political arena, in her academic career, it was no shock to her. It was the fate of having it happen so visibly at the right time in history. Just like all American women, the condescending command to sit down and be quiet.
This will not leave the national conversation soon. Nor should it. It is the unfortunate fate of America that it took the false win of a fascist over a capable woman to bring sexism into full view.
15
Women with a point of view have always been denigrated.
My father born in 1918 used to say that my mother "was not vanilla."
But fast forward, if that's possible, 99 years and what on earth is going on?
Trump and his colleagues are sheer, unabashed misogynists.
But what does Chelsea Clinton think? Jenna and Barbara Bush? Dorothy and Robin Bush? Amy Carter? Patti, Maureen, and Christine Reagan?
Presumably they have access to Twitter. Albeit discretion.
Enough about Ivanka and her faililing retail pursuits. Poor little rich girl.
Perhaps some of the aforementioned could weigh in with a sense of gratitude to the American tax-payers.
Otherwise, it speaks legions about a life-long sense of Presdential famial entitlement.
My father born in 1918 used to say that my mother "was not vanilla."
But fast forward, if that's possible, 99 years and what on earth is going on?
Trump and his colleagues are sheer, unabashed misogynists.
But what does Chelsea Clinton think? Jenna and Barbara Bush? Dorothy and Robin Bush? Amy Carter? Patti, Maureen, and Christine Reagan?
Presumably they have access to Twitter. Albeit discretion.
Enough about Ivanka and her faililing retail pursuits. Poor little rich girl.
Perhaps some of the aforementioned could weigh in with a sense of gratitude to the American tax-payers.
Otherwise, it speaks legions about a life-long sense of Presdential famial entitlement.
6
If only Hillary would have handed off the ball to Ms. Warren...
2
Has anyone seen the Dutch film, "A Question of Silence"? It is based on an actual response to these behaviors of men towards women. Maybe the Republican men and their Executive leader need more realistic fears than Islam and Mexicans. It sounds like American women are reaching their limits of tolerance and good will.
6
Dutch men have always treated women with distinction.
/sarc.
/sarc.
Maybe not always. I lived in Holland from 2005-2009 and Dutch women are typically stronger than Dutch men. It's become kind of a national stereotype.
1
oh? looks like someone forgot about how DeVos, was so fiercely criticized yesterday by the very same people now decrying misogyny.
pls, it has nothing to with gender issues.
pls, it has nothing to with gender issues.
3
It is NOT misogyny to be against a person who will become the lead person to a Cabinet position of a Department she has vowed to destroy. Sorry what happened to Sen. Warren at the gavel of Sen. McConnell has everything to do with Senator Warrens And SEXISM.
2
DeVos was a terrible candidate who knows nothing about education. People shouldn't say that?
1
Devos was attacked because she is completely unfit for the office she attained. Warren was attacked for trying to stop a bigot from attaining a powerful position. Totally different issues.
4
Last night, I watched in disbelief as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republican majority silenced two women. The Republicans silenced Senator Elizabeth Warren, and prevented her from reading a letter written by another great American woman, Coretta Scott King. Mrs. King’s letter was written decades ago, and had been entered into the Senate record then. It criticized the Civil Rights record of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, whom President Trump has nominated to be the US Attorney General.
When the Republicans silenced these two great women leaders, they tried to silence all women. We will not be silenced.
Senator Collins and Senator Murkowski understand this. That is why they voted against DeVos for Education Secretary. The rest of the Republican Senators appear to be clueless.
Shakespeare said it best— “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” The Women’s March is only the beginning.
When the Republicans silenced these two great women leaders, they tried to silence all women. We will not be silenced.
Senator Collins and Senator Murkowski understand this. That is why they voted against DeVos for Education Secretary. The rest of the Republican Senators appear to be clueless.
Shakespeare said it best— “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” The Women’s March is only the beginning.
8
I haven't read a rational from Collins or Murkowski nor do I understand the connection to their vote against a woman as Secretary of Education.
On another note, Skakespeare had an interesting way with words. Coupling women to the underworld was no endorsement. Let it go...women on crank comes to mind.
On another note, Skakespeare had an interesting way with words. Coupling women to the underworld was no endorsement. Let it go...women on crank comes to mind.
Collins and Murkowski voted against Devos because they had heavy pressure from their constituents and McConnell allowed them to because he had enough votes. If he really needed their votes, he's have gotten them.
Heaven has no rage, like love to hatred turned,
Nor hell a fury, like a woman scorned.
--William Congreve, "The Mourning Bride"
Nor hell a fury, like a woman scorned.
--William Congreve, "The Mourning Bride"
It is this kind of piece and the attitudes behind it that contributed to the nomination of Hillary Clinton and the present debacle of Donald Trump in the White House. To Ms. Chira the fact that Senator Warren was ignored is an event worthy of space in the New York Times -- apparently because she herself, like all women she claims, have been ignored. This is projection, and like all projective thinking it says more about the author than the real world. What matters is that the Democrats were so wrapped up in gender politics, elitism and a sense of entitlement (with implicit disdain for white working class male voters) that they nominated a dishonest and deeply flawed candidate, lost the election, and leave us with no less that Donald Trump. Thanks.
5
"This is projection, and like all projective thinking it says more about the author than the real world."
Let me guess, you're a man. So, let me tell you something, honey. Women being silenced or ignored by men goes on everywhere all the time. I've never met a woman who didn't have that experience, if she were willing to admit it, that is.
Let me guess, you're a man. So, let me tell you something, honey. Women being silenced or ignored by men goes on everywhere all the time. I've never met a woman who didn't have that experience, if she were willing to admit it, that is.
"Women being silenced or ignored by men goes on everywhere all the time."
True.
"if she were willing to admit it, that is."
That's where your argument falls apart, Clare. You cannot speak for every individual. Most adults in their prime years, I take it, are sexually active, but if they say they're not they're not necessarily lying.
There was also a magazine ad in which a famous man (a fashion designer?) said he likes women who admit they read romance novels. I had to read romance novels in the course of my last job, and they are not the kind of novels I would choose to read for pleasure. So shallow, so trite, such dull prose.
It's also possible to remember being silenced or ignored by men, but to be unsure of whether one's femaleness was the reason for the silencing, especially since women often silence or ignore each other.
Don't write off someone's experience just because it seems atypical.
True.
"if she were willing to admit it, that is."
That's where your argument falls apart, Clare. You cannot speak for every individual. Most adults in their prime years, I take it, are sexually active, but if they say they're not they're not necessarily lying.
There was also a magazine ad in which a famous man (a fashion designer?) said he likes women who admit they read romance novels. I had to read romance novels in the course of my last job, and they are not the kind of novels I would choose to read for pleasure. So shallow, so trite, such dull prose.
It's also possible to remember being silenced or ignored by men, but to be unsure of whether one's femaleness was the reason for the silencing, especially since women often silence or ignore each other.
Don't write off someone's experience just because it seems atypical.
I agree with the censure of Senator Warren; she deliberately slandered and disparaged the Honorable Jeff Sessions for no other reason but political gain. Her words represented an intolerance of the South, which is getting old. Senator Sessions has done much to improve race relations; he is not the man described in letter written 31 years ago by Ms. King. That's old news. Senator Sessions has moved on. Its time for Senator Warren and the nation to move on as well. Thank you.
5
That is some seriously twisted logic. For the record, I grew up in North Carolina and consider myself a southern boy as well. Mitch McConnell does not represent me or my values or my southernness. Nothing in the letter said anything about the south.
If you consider working to intimidate elderly black voters a principle of the south which must be protected, you are the reason people are intolerant of southerners.
And again...men were allowed to say the same word with no repercussions.
If you consider working to intimidate elderly black voters a principle of the south which must be protected, you are the reason people are intolerant of southerners.
And again...men were allowed to say the same word with no repercussions.
4
Using a man's own words is not slander. The truth hurts, huh?
2
"Her words....?" I could have sworn they were the words of Coretta Scot King. Sen. Warren was merely passing them on, but because [a] she's a woman; and [2] Sen. McConnell clearly doesn't like women unless he's married to them and they get high level government nominations and slam-bang confirmations. So don't shoot the messenger. Sen. Warren was trying, unsuccessfully, to make a point. Do you have a problem with all the males in the Senate who continued where she left off? Incidentally, I'm a woman too. Wanna fight?
2
Dear Senator Warren,
It is an honor and a privilege to address you, and I wish to thank you for putting up a fight for what is right. The Freedom of Speech for one.
Earlier this afternoon I mentioned to an excellent doctor an article in the New York Times by Paul Rudnick, 'The Case for Sugar', and she has placed it on her list to read. In sending the above to a friend in Paris, this was the reply "Gloriously funny, and who by the way is the unbribeable Clarence Thomas? A sort of Robespierre impervious to the delights of sugar, one gathers".
It brought back memories of the Panel of Men, facing a young woman alone many years ago, and I remember seething in outrage at their interrogation, causing a short and brisk letter to be forwarded to Senator Orwin Hatchett.
When professional men discuss a business transaction over my head at my expense, as if I were invisible, I bolt. Even if it comes at a great financial loss, which leaves them astounded.
'She persisted'? Coming from Senator Mitch McConnell, or any of these crucible men, that's rich. It never occurred to them that for once they listen to an historical letter that changed the course of the Nation, regardless of the gender of the Messenger.
It is thanks to Believers like you with a 'True' Love for Country, who take a stand and never surrender that make for progress.
Thank you, Senator Warren.
It is an honor and a privilege to address you, and I wish to thank you for putting up a fight for what is right. The Freedom of Speech for one.
Earlier this afternoon I mentioned to an excellent doctor an article in the New York Times by Paul Rudnick, 'The Case for Sugar', and she has placed it on her list to read. In sending the above to a friend in Paris, this was the reply "Gloriously funny, and who by the way is the unbribeable Clarence Thomas? A sort of Robespierre impervious to the delights of sugar, one gathers".
It brought back memories of the Panel of Men, facing a young woman alone many years ago, and I remember seething in outrage at their interrogation, causing a short and brisk letter to be forwarded to Senator Orwin Hatchett.
When professional men discuss a business transaction over my head at my expense, as if I were invisible, I bolt. Even if it comes at a great financial loss, which leaves them astounded.
'She persisted'? Coming from Senator Mitch McConnell, or any of these crucible men, that's rich. It never occurred to them that for once they listen to an historical letter that changed the course of the Nation, regardless of the gender of the Messenger.
It is thanks to Believers like you with a 'True' Love for Country, who take a stand and never surrender that make for progress.
Thank you, Senator Warren.
3
Mitch McConnell is a petty man with base, petty political motives in every pore. Not exactly breaking news, is it? He silenced Senator Warren because he could, because he could use a narrowly defined rule, interpret it broadly and try to make her look bad. Criticizing "their colleague" was exactly what the debate on the Sessions nomination was about. She did not impugn Sessions motives, she impugned his views of the world.
Being told to shut up and sit down is not just a woman's problem. While women have certainly been "put in their place" much more, most of us go through a lifetime of such situations where we are told, directly or indirectly, to be quiet or where our thoughts are reduced to zero.
Boys are under the control of female teachers for most of the k-12 experience, having escaped the fearful and sometimes domineering influence of their mothers. Can we concede that many of these teachers are not exactly sympathetic to little boys, many outright hostile? The public education experience is a female ordered universe and it is not surprising that girls generally get higher grades. They are willing to be cooperative, boys rebel. In this case, it is as if being a boy is some sort of social crime. (Drug him, please.)
We have been projected into a world where males walk on eggshells, as if men have to assume a secondary role to, on occasion, have any role
Having written these thoughts, however, Warren is right to be outraged and we should all join her in that sentiment
Being told to shut up and sit down is not just a woman's problem. While women have certainly been "put in their place" much more, most of us go through a lifetime of such situations where we are told, directly or indirectly, to be quiet or where our thoughts are reduced to zero.
Boys are under the control of female teachers for most of the k-12 experience, having escaped the fearful and sometimes domineering influence of their mothers. Can we concede that many of these teachers are not exactly sympathetic to little boys, many outright hostile? The public education experience is a female ordered universe and it is not surprising that girls generally get higher grades. They are willing to be cooperative, boys rebel. In this case, it is as if being a boy is some sort of social crime. (Drug him, please.)
We have been projected into a world where males walk on eggshells, as if men have to assume a secondary role to, on occasion, have any role
Having written these thoughts, however, Warren is right to be outraged and we should all join her in that sentiment
1
Those of you who think this was just an example of the GOP behaving badly haven't been paying attention. Hatred of outspoken women is why we're in this mess in the first place. The male silencing of Liz Warren was no different than the unabated slandering of Hillary Clinton for the past 30 years. When a woman DARES to speak up, push forward when told to back off, vie for power, men have no problem shutting her down and telling her to shut up. And if she doesn't listen? If she "persists"? Hell to pay.
It was enraging watching the male Senators read that letter without challenge or hesitation. It was frustrating as well to have none of them call this silencing of Warren for exactly what it was: blatant sexism. And while Sanders demanded an apology for Warren, he stopped short of labeling the behavior of all of them (including the Dems) for what it was.
As women in power, we still fight alone.
It was enraging watching the male Senators read that letter without challenge or hesitation. It was frustrating as well to have none of them call this silencing of Warren for exactly what it was: blatant sexism. And while Sanders demanded an apology for Warren, he stopped short of labeling the behavior of all of them (including the Dems) for what it was.
As women in power, we still fight alone.
5
This starts early. As a child I was often told by adults, "For a little girl you have a big mouth." (I was small for my age, and liked to talk.) I guess I was supposed to act like a sweet, soft-spoken cherub. I always felt somehow ashamed when adults made this comment. Years later I realized how sexist and demeaning their words were. If I had been a boy, adults would never have told me not to talk so much.
11
Elizabeth, thank-you for representing all the people with the truth.
And thank-you McConnell for outing the Republican party's continued disdain of strong women and a particular dislike for the truth.
And thank-you McConnell for outing the Republican party's continued disdain of strong women and a particular dislike for the truth.
9
The GOP are setting Warren up to be the standard bearer of the Democratic party, Hillary ll. Coming across as a scold, she will solidify the GOP's base and neuter the Democrats. The GOP knows she has the self-righteous ego to take the bait. Instead, she should remain where she is, a powerful, if caustic, voice in the Senate.
31
That's right if women speak we're suppose to whisper rather than speak at a normal volume otherwise we're considered a scold.
We should definitely stay where we are otherwise even more people might hear that we speak at a normal volume level.
We should definitely stay where we are otherwise even more people might hear that we speak at a normal volume level.
1
Agreed--except that I'd say the Dems are doing it to themselves and the Republicans are perfectly happy to go along. After all, she was the one who called Sessions a racist, etc. She was daring them to react, which they did. No one forced her to say these things.
Old men who think any woman who speaks her mind is a "scold" are NOT the future of anything, let alone the Democratic Party.
2
It's very depressing that the Trump era has amplified the worst in people. Basic human dignity and respect have been shoved aside, replaced with hatred, deception, and greed.
I miss kindness and understanding. Is this our world for the next 4 years?
I miss kindness and understanding. Is this our world for the next 4 years?
6
I think you re missing something that was never there. The Senate? Kindness?
McConnell has been warned. We've tried explaining it to him yet he persists. Time to let him know what it means to have consequences.
Vive le persistence.
Vive le persistence.
10
What's all wrong with the picture? One big thing, of course, is that in order to enforce this "rule" you would have to assume that when one of the senators' buddies is up for confirmation for a cabinet post the comments of their other senators are restricted to praiseworthy platitudes--let nothing critical be said about our bromance buddy, as his nomination cruises through. Yet what's most amazing is how clueless these old dudes are. They want to shut Senator Warren up, yet what they do is so counterproductive--she's now in the headlines, everybody knows about the Coretta Scott King letter, and she's been positioned as the de facto leader of our loyal opposition. Go Liz!
10
She is our symbol, she is our future. This great, self-made, intelligent, articulate woman deserves to be the first female president. Poetic justice. Can't wait.
13
MkKkonnell might have well said "Elizabeth, fetch me a beer while the men do the talking, you silly woman you". Trump is emboldening Mitch McConnell. Unless Trump is impeached, are you listening Nancy Pelosi, expect civil rights, women's rights, Muslims rights, on and on, to be stampeded with no relief in sight.
10
After the Access Hollywood tape came out, Trump claimed no one respected women more than he did? Despite the sheer audacity of that claim, Trump still went to win the presidency. So it is no surprise three weeks into Trump’s America, we get Senate Majority Leader brazenly condescending put-down of Senator Elizabeth Warren, “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.” It was almost like we were back in the 1950s, as Trump’s campaign promised, when America was great?
10
Is back to the 50s what we want? Remember, women could not get a loan in their own name. It was within the law to advertise for a "young man" to do a certain job if there were any possibility of promotion to something better within the organization. The advertisement was for a woman if it involved washing dishes, sweeping floors, or child care, jobs in which there was no chance for promotion. Black persons could not stay in certain hotels, or drink from "white only" drinking fountains or use restrooms. Surely you remember this if you are old enough, I do.
The women in the military were nurses (only nurses); only recently have they been allowed to join combat units.
Woman's place is right next to her male coworkers and she must have an equal voice and be allowed to speak. Certainly Elizabeth Warren is far more articulate than Trump, is that what upsets him so much about her?
The women in the military were nurses (only nurses); only recently have they been allowed to join combat units.
Woman's place is right next to her male coworkers and she must have an equal voice and be allowed to speak. Certainly Elizabeth Warren is far more articulate than Trump, is that what upsets him so much about her?
1
The advertisement was also for a woman if it involved typing, filing and answering phones. Those were the days of "Help Wanted - Male," "Help Wanted - Female" and "Gal Friday."
It's not only being interrupted or cut-off, but the mansplaining. The condescending tone of voice and slowed down speech, as if I didn't speak English. I will never forget when my graduate advisor, for whom I have the utmost respect intellectually, told me directly "don't play coy with me" when we were in a heated argument over data interpretation (I was right in the end!). I highly doubt he would have said that to the male members of our lab.
I commend Elizabeth Warren for her persistence. I hope I can be more assertive in the future, and can teach my daughter the same.
I commend Elizabeth Warren for her persistence. I hope I can be more assertive in the future, and can teach my daughter the same.
89
McConnell's censorship was beyond disgraceful. 10 million views of her reading make the point. Nice try, Mitch.
90
The "10 million views" really had a profound effect, right? Dream on...
If there is justice in the political world we will soon be rid of McConnell and more of his aging, bloated, white male cronies.
Truth be told, he knows this is a predominantly defective cabinet and an unhinged President but he can't help but to lick his chops to let this all slide so he and Ryan can get down to the real business of gutting social security, medicare, healthcare, women rights, environmental protection while boosting corporate welfare, lowering taxes for the 1% and raking in the payola.
Sad indeed. No moral compass and not one patriot left in the Congressional GOP
We are watching and we know what you are doing - you will be held accountable.
Truth be told, he knows this is a predominantly defective cabinet and an unhinged President but he can't help but to lick his chops to let this all slide so he and Ryan can get down to the real business of gutting social security, medicare, healthcare, women rights, environmental protection while boosting corporate welfare, lowering taxes for the 1% and raking in the payola.
Sad indeed. No moral compass and not one patriot left in the Congressional GOP
We are watching and we know what you are doing - you will be held accountable.
17
This is exactly why Hillary Clinton was so disliked after arriving in Washington DC with her husband, the President. This is why Hillary Clinton "lost" the Presidential Election.
There are too many old white men in power in Washington DC. And they don't like any woman they can't co-op. Fortunately, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris are the future of women seizing power in Washington DC.
There are too many old white men in power in Washington DC. And they don't like any woman they can't co-op. Fortunately, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris are the future of women seizing power in Washington DC.
103
There are too many white, Christian, right leaning, men without any reason to change their lens of perception on the world in "power" in Washington, DC.
“She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”
Doesn't this sound similar to the excuses law enforcement has used for shooting unarmed civilians? It's similar to the reasons men have given for beating their wives or children. "They were warned that I could be aggressive. They kept on objecting or doing whatever it was they did that I, as the male of the family, didn't lie so I beat them."
How sad for the GOP that they are incapable of handling the reading of a letter about a colleague who is up for a very important position in the cabinet. Isn't it vital to know why he was turned down for a previous position, particularly if the new one involves some of the same issues? Aren't we entitled know if the man has changed, how he's changed, or if he hasn't? What McConnell did was outrageous not only because he shut Warren down but because the letter was not immaterial to the issues at hand. If the GOP believes that it's going to earn or maintain any trust from this voter McConnell's action yesterday ensures that it won't.
The GOP is the party that sermonizes and lectures about morality, the sanctity of life, the importance of the family, work, honesty. However, it seems that these principles and ideals do not apply to them. Only little people are expected to have morals and principles. GOP senators and representatives are above that. However, they are not above the law and we should hold them to it. Vote the cowards out of office.
Doesn't this sound similar to the excuses law enforcement has used for shooting unarmed civilians? It's similar to the reasons men have given for beating their wives or children. "They were warned that I could be aggressive. They kept on objecting or doing whatever it was they did that I, as the male of the family, didn't lie so I beat them."
How sad for the GOP that they are incapable of handling the reading of a letter about a colleague who is up for a very important position in the cabinet. Isn't it vital to know why he was turned down for a previous position, particularly if the new one involves some of the same issues? Aren't we entitled know if the man has changed, how he's changed, or if he hasn't? What McConnell did was outrageous not only because he shut Warren down but because the letter was not immaterial to the issues at hand. If the GOP believes that it's going to earn or maintain any trust from this voter McConnell's action yesterday ensures that it won't.
The GOP is the party that sermonizes and lectures about morality, the sanctity of life, the importance of the family, work, honesty. However, it seems that these principles and ideals do not apply to them. Only little people are expected to have morals and principles. GOP senators and representatives are above that. However, they are not above the law and we should hold them to it. Vote the cowards out of office.
21
How does this rule even make sense when you're discussing a cabinet nominee? If a senator is nominated they don't get the same scrutiny. That's rediculous.
I've had to be pushy at various times in my career. It's not very fun. You know you're coming off as shrill. You know you're annoying them, but sometimes there's just not much you can do about it. If you have male allies that can make it a lot easier, but those relationships take time. I'm lucky I've worked with my awesome group of male co-workers for many years now. If I do get in a situation where I'm being ignored they're quick to help out.
I've had to be pushy at various times in my career. It's not very fun. You know you're coming off as shrill. You know you're annoying them, but sometimes there's just not much you can do about it. If you have male allies that can make it a lot easier, but those relationships take time. I'm lucky I've worked with my awesome group of male co-workers for many years now. If I do get in a situation where I'm being ignored they're quick to help out.
39
I don't think there is a single strong-willed women who hasn't been told some version of "sit down, shut up," and I think that familiarity had made the words "Nevertheless, she persisted" as resonant as they have proven to be. I made a site with shirts that say those words and also "Resist. Insist. Persist." All proceeds are being divided equally between Senator Warren's re-election campaign and the ACLU. https://teespring.com/stores/resist-13
10
It is an outrage that she was silenced and it must be taken seriously.
I am from RI and Elizabeth Warren is the Voice of a massive, massive number of voters in this whole New England area.
To silence someone who speaks the mind of so many people, really the majority of people in this whole 5 state region is absolutely unacceptable.
We are on our way to extreme right wing authoritarianism. We must, must do what we can to stop or at least slow it.
I am from RI and Elizabeth Warren is the Voice of a massive, massive number of voters in this whole New England area.
To silence someone who speaks the mind of so many people, really the majority of people in this whole 5 state region is absolutely unacceptable.
We are on our way to extreme right wing authoritarianism. We must, must do what we can to stop or at least slow it.
13
If any senators had issues with Loretta Scott King's 1986 assertions about Jefferson Sessions' ability and willingness to perform the duties of the attorney general's position in a competent and honorable way in 2017, the proper response was to make sure those charged with voting on Sessions, as well as the American people, were provided evidence that King's assertions either were false at the time they were made or that Sessions has changed over the course of the intervening years so that any concerns of that nature should now be moot. I can only think that since that was not done, there was little convincing evidence to offer.
Shutting down the messenger (and then subsequently allowing other more acceptable, or simply not-so-damned-uppity, messengers to offer the same assertions) was a weak-kneed, sorry tactic that every woman who has spoken out and experienced male silencing recognized for what it is every time it happens. I can respect arguments over differences of opinion; what I can't respect is sniveling, cowardly actions that allow those in charge to shut down an honest exchange of information because it is the only way they believe they can win.
Shutting down the messenger (and then subsequently allowing other more acceptable, or simply not-so-damned-uppity, messengers to offer the same assertions) was a weak-kneed, sorry tactic that every woman who has spoken out and experienced male silencing recognized for what it is every time it happens. I can respect arguments over differences of opinion; what I can't respect is sniveling, cowardly actions that allow those in charge to shut down an honest exchange of information because it is the only way they believe they can win.
114
Is there a better compliment these days than to have DT or Mitch McConnell mad at you? Why would anyone decent want to be in their good graces? YUCK!
39
This senior white boy (with three degrees past my Bachelors) believes that the ladies should just "say their piece" and not be self-conscious about it.
But I may be slightly biased. My family includes:
A mother with a M.S.W.
An aunt with a Ph.D.
A wife with a M.Ed.
A daughter with an MD and an MPH
A daughter with a MFA.
(Also a son who has an MBA.)
None of them are (or were) shy wallflowers.
Ladies, last time I checked, you were "people" too. Just say your piece. Do not let anyone silence you. No need to apologize, just do your thing. You are entitled. You are just as good as the guys, occasionally better. Nobody needs to give you "permission" or "validation" or has the authority to withhold them.
But I may be slightly biased. My family includes:
A mother with a M.S.W.
An aunt with a Ph.D.
A wife with a M.Ed.
A daughter with an MD and an MPH
A daughter with a MFA.
(Also a son who has an MBA.)
None of them are (or were) shy wallflowers.
Ladies, last time I checked, you were "people" too. Just say your piece. Do not let anyone silence you. No need to apologize, just do your thing. You are entitled. You are just as good as the guys, occasionally better. Nobody needs to give you "permission" or "validation" or has the authority to withhold them.
43
Thanks for a beautiful example of how to pump up your credentials by citing theirs and then mansplaining how we should respond.
2
Amen. Beautiful!
The sooner we change these ridiculous gender biases the better. This is promising because it's written by a man who understands that rigid, outdated, and dehumanizing stereotypes hurt all of us.
Btw, McConnell spoke volumes about himself... As did the rest of the Repubs.
Why didn't they "Silence" Sanders and the other Congressperson?
Sad. Very sad.
The sooner we change these ridiculous gender biases the better. This is promising because it's written by a man who understands that rigid, outdated, and dehumanizing stereotypes hurt all of us.
Btw, McConnell spoke volumes about himself... As did the rest of the Repubs.
Why didn't they "Silence" Sanders and the other Congressperson?
Sad. Very sad.
Thanks for mansplaining this to us!
2
When are "women" going to accept ONE VOTE'S worth of responsibility for the election of Donald Trump!? You did this to yourselves. Men didn't do it. Women did it.
18
You may wish to review that statement.... more women voted for Hillary. We just didn't get the electoral college, which is, big shocker, mostly male.
1
This is what spotlights the psychopathology of Jame's Comey's hail Mary pass to take down Hillary. Tying her to Anthony Weiner creeped out women on the doorstep of the polls.
James Comey is a bad little boy. I'd like to ask him where he got the idea for this ploy.
James Comey is a bad little boy. I'd like to ask him where he got the idea for this ploy.
Just as soon as "men" do.
I would wager in this instance to guess that it's not about Warren being a woman but that she's a POWERFUL PERSON. Good on Warren for NOT BEING SILENT. For PUSHING. For being the squeaky wheel. Warren and Gillibrand are both winning my heart and my future VOTES.
35
I am curious. Just what would have happened if Warren had refused to shut up and just kept on talking/reading?
Trump and Republican actions are doing more to help energize the Democratic party and the opposition than any other factor. Keep it up.
32
Elizabeth Warren is the new Hillary Clinton to Congressional Republicans which is a very, very good thing. Republicans hate smart, strong opinionated women.
46
"Republicans hate smart, strong opinionated women."
Uh huh. But Dems don't?
Devos, Conway etc? What are they if not 'smart, strong, opinionated women"?
Oh wait--I forgot. They have to have the 'right" opinions.
Uh huh. But Dems don't?
Devos, Conway etc? What are they if not 'smart, strong, opinionated women"?
Oh wait--I forgot. They have to have the 'right" opinions.
Now we can watch in real time exactly how they treated Clinton back in the day because McConnell is the same old guy today.
That is absolutely true. After DEVOS was confirmed as Sec of Ed then the Republican males entered a bill to demolish the Department. She was put up just because The Males believe she will not be able to defend the Dept of Ed budget or existence.
From across the miles I applaud my senators efforts. All women need to emulate her. We are done with all of this and need to ban together to stop this right wing I sanity
26
Warren was hardly "silenced". She couldn't have gotten more milage and publicity out of this if she had planned it. Hmmm, wait a minute.
A toast to all the strong women who were "warned", given an "explanation" (mansplanation?) but yet persisted!
35
Women might identify with Warren's situation more than men. But I grew up in a town where I was a decided minority. Minorities self-censor a lot until it becomes too important. This was too important and I believe everyone has to draw a line in the sand. When your line is crossed and you refuse to shut up that is about being outnumbered in any group I resent women taking ownership of this issue. Minorities in any group own this issue.
10
Women aren't a minority. That's a big difference. They are the only majority group who is routinely oppressed in our society
Women are not a minority. They are actually the majority in this country. That is not to say you are wrong about minorities, but this is even more egregious because women are a majority. We need to learn to stand together.
The sore losers trying everything they can to try and be relevant. Fortunately, they are failing as badly as their poster-girl Clinton.
6
Yea, right.
Women who state their opinions are either "sore losers" or out of control "hysterical" women. Obviously, only the opinions of Men matter in your world, how sad.
Mitch McConnell is a disgrace to the Senate, and yet he can "judge" what a women says as RUDE, this puts the term Chutzpah in a new light.
Mitch McConnell is a disgrace to the Senate, and yet he can "judge" what a women says as RUDE, this puts the term Chutzpah in a new light.
2
Well, it seems to have worked with you guys. The utterly irrelevant, racist, ignorant tea partiers did indeed have an effect. We sore losers are studying your strategies carefully. Being generally highly educated, we will catch on quickly.
To think, Hillary could have seated this women on the Supreme Court and, instead, she is being told to "take a seat" by the likes of Mitch McConnell. And to those 53% of white women who voted Republican, whose self esteem must be as low as the bar they set for the presidency, take a bow. The next time you look in the mirror think to yourselves "Et Tu Brittany."
16
A smart reaction to whistle blowing is to stand up and reaffirm it. To silence it is weakness, negligence, and shows culpability. To object to presenting background and reputation for a nominee during the appropriate time of debate, when the public record of Ms. King's letter was a testament to that reputation; as Ms. King's honor is beyond question, and make sure the public understands the weight of it; proves how deeply in denial and self-deception the senate majority really are. Whistle blowers are always bullied, and that is how truth gets revealed. Silencing a voice in public is like a megaphone, everyone notices and listens that much more. The ultimate hypocrisy is to claim rules of respect and civility when the WH has thrown out that rulebook. The senate majority are blind, deaf, and numb; deluding themselves by trying to blame others for their own sins.
18
And the women in the Senate, including my own Senator Collins, should be very ashamed of their actions.
I was in a work meeting today in which my male colleagues (all nice guys) repeatedly interrupted a woman of very senior rank. I've seen them in similar meetings with males at her rank, but they are very deferential/quiet in those cases. I watched the exchange thinking, gee, even if I attain the highest rank possible, I'm still going to be treated like I'm "less than."
33
Yes, unfortunately, even when the men think they are so enlightened, they persist in that type of behavior. Saw it far too often during more than 40 years of professional career. And please, don't grimace in response: "Why isn't she smiling?" Heard that one, too! Women are expected to play the docile little woman who nods&grins at everything. IMHO, Kellyanne Conway does nothing right, but she HAS mastered one thing: stifling her facial expressions. Can't imagine how much mental gymnastics that must take, though it clearly distracts her from conjuring any truths.
Mitch McConnell seems to have no actual human emotions that are recognizable to me and probably to many others. Paul Ryan seems to know how fake human emotions - rather like a sociopath - while he works to strip people of their basic necessities. But Mitch comes across as a robot - programmed to be heartless, humorless, and soulless.
29
The woman in the senate who didn't speak up for their colleague did not recognize themselves in a roomful of men. They stuck to their partisan political stance and showed their true colors. But will anyone notice.
10
Good to see Sen. Elizabeth Warren making extremely effective use of social media to circumvent the partisan white male sexism she encountered in the Senate while giving her testimony. It was also good to hear Sen. Bernie Sanders come to her defense (as only he can) which also drove home the point that aggressive white men get away with more than aggressive white women.
27
A more appropriate headline would read:" Elizabeth Warren Engages In Smear Campaign, Breaking Senate Rules. Democrats Have Another Hissy Fit"
Outrage and disgrace only begin to decribe the latest stunt by Republicans in congress. Warren read a letter that had been written by Mrs. King on the occasion of Sessions' federal judge confirmation proceedings, read during those proceedings, and which proved to be instrumental in Sessions' loss of the appointment. Not only was the letter deeply relevant to the confirmation proceedings on Sessions' AG nomination, it was and still remains an important document in this nation's ongoing struggle to rid itself of its long and persistent scourge of racism and discrimination. For Republicans to brand it a breach of decorum is akin to saying the Emancipation Proclamation was an unwarranted slap in the face to the South. Only a politcal cadre united by unprinciple partisanship and unspoken predjudice aganst minorities and women would stoop to forcefully gagging this woman by dint of the fact that they simply have the numbers and the undivided gall to do so. I sincerely hope that the majority of Americans (who voted for Hillary Clinton and AGAINST the so-called president) will see this as due cause to make big changes in the congressional roster come 2018. The craven, hostile, underhanded so-called lawmakers on the right, who are motivated by utter fear of America's changing complexion, cannot hope to go on carrying out their un-American agenda for long. Their days are numbered and they will soon fall victim to their own extreme lack of dignity, decency and decorum.
14
You are actually comparing a letter by the wife of a civil rights leader to be as important a document as the Emancipation Proclamation? This is utterly absurd and disrespectful to President Lincoln. I would gather you are one of those members of the left who still can not understand how your party has lost any control of the White House, Senate, House, almost 2/3 of state governments and soon the Supreme Court.
She knew the Senate rules and violated them. She is nothing but an obstuctionist liberal "socialist".
7
This is nonsense. If Sessions were not a senator but some other racist, unqualified nominee, the Senate could not have used that rule as an excuse to make Warren shut up.
This was an unprincipled move, to shut her down like they did no male senators. If they had an ounce of integrity they would have recognized that the rule should be suspended because the nominee must be held to the same standard of examination whether he's a senator or not.
And I don't understand why you threw in that epithet, "socialist". You know that you too are socialist don't you? If you're not, then I assume you are going to refuse both Medicare and Social Security?
This was an unprincipled move, to shut her down like they did no male senators. If they had an ounce of integrity they would have recognized that the rule should be suspended because the nominee must be held to the same standard of examination whether he's a senator or not.
And I don't understand why you threw in that epithet, "socialist". You know that you too are socialist don't you? If you're not, then I assume you are going to refuse both Medicare and Social Security?
2
Keep telling yourself that that's what happened. Apparently you need to make yourself feel better about it.
2
Funny how those 'rules' didn't apply to the FOUR men who read the same passage after her, and suffered no censure.
1
Persist and prevail. Thanks to Senator McConnell for helping to galvanize those of us who have, in one way or another, stood in Senator Warren's place and been treated thus.
12
By shutting down Elizabeth Warren in the Senate, the stupefyingly ignorant Republicans in Congress showed the country once again what they are made of: cowardice and that age-old but seriously misguided belief that the male of the species knows best. Clearly, one half of the human race hasn't come very far. Just wait until 2020!
9
As a young father of two, I can't explain to my children how our president is crazy and is terrorizing our own nation for no reason other than white nationalism. I am scared to tell them that we used to live in utopia but now we are being told that our friends who are Indian might be terrorists because our president said so. I can't allow my children to watch the news because it is dark, pessimistic, and lowering their IQ. Hatred and always winning dominates our headlines. I don't know how to explain to my children that you are our only hope for a better tomorrow.
8
Teach them that participating in government when they are older is crucial to preventing something like this happening again. Don't be afraid to tell them the truth.
Yes, hatred and winning at all costs dominates our headlines. We will be defeated only if we are fearful. Don't raise your children to be fearful.
Yes, hatred and winning at all costs dominates our headlines. We will be defeated only if we are fearful. Don't raise your children to be fearful.
For the past 8 years we have had to try and explain to our children why the president was saying violence against our police officers was okay, Why that, if you did not agree with something it was okay to burn others people's property. That a boy wasn't really a boy if he wanted to be a girl all he had to do was say he was a girl. That they should not worry if a student with male parts wanted to change and shower with them. Why the president supported countries that wanted to completely destroy Israel and wipe any Jew off the face of the earth. Why the president was not concerned about the safety of citizens of this country and prioritized bringing in people of a religion whose leader advocates sec with children and the enslavement or death of any who do not convert to his beliefs., among many others.
So I hope the next 8 years go by more easily for you.
So I hope the next 8 years go by more easily for you.
I certainly agree with Elizabeth Warren's politics much more than I disagree with them however I don't believe that she's all that she's cracked up to be. In a way her position is similar to that of Bernie Sanders. Yes, they both have great ideas mixed in with some that aren't so great but the bottom line is Warren also voted for Ben Carson, saying that she was able to convince herself that he would come around and be decent in his role. Some said she was picking her battles. Well, anyone that followed this campaign knows that Carson is a fool AND that the Democrats didn't get one more vote by "picking their battles" and supporting SOME of the unqualified nominees. YES, this one for AG IS the worst - anyone looking to ALABAMA for "justice" as well as respect for our federal system is hopelessly misguided. The WORST of the states in terms of civil liberties, just looking at the man is enough to cause any decent American the greatest angst when we consider he will be the chief law enforcement official in the land. Well then again, ALL our institutions have been defiled so I guess it doesn't much matter anymore - the inmates have the keys to the asylum and that's that.
4
When I look at Attorney General Sessions, I see a man committed to the principles of law and order. He is no more a racist than Obama was. AG Sessions will bring dignity back to his office that was disgraced by the shenanigans of "fast & furious" Holder and "The Tarmac Queen" Lynch. Sessions is a man of principle and as such would resign his position before acting against his morales if instructed to by the President.
ManhattenWilliam, don't give up the fight! Sure, Warren voted for Carson - if she opposed all Trump's nominees, it would make her opposition to the abhorrent ones like Sessions less powerful.
As awful and disgusting as Trump is, and as great a threat as he is to our country, I am heartened by the vigor of the opposition. Warren is my state's senator, and I think she was positively gleeful that nincompoop McConnell "silenced" her (by making her front page news everywhere!). Go, Liz! There are A LOT of us happy warriors ready to follow you into this battle. And I've protested just once in my life - at the Women's March.
As awful and disgusting as Trump is, and as great a threat as he is to our country, I am heartened by the vigor of the opposition. Warren is my state's senator, and I think she was positively gleeful that nincompoop McConnell "silenced" her (by making her front page news everywhere!). Go, Liz! There are A LOT of us happy warriors ready to follow you into this battle. And I've protested just once in my life - at the Women's March.
Outrage and disgrace only begin to decribe the latest stunt by Republicans in congress. Warren read a letter that had been written by Mrs. King on the occasion of Sessions' federal judge confirmation proceedings, read during those proceedings, and which proved to be instrumental in Sessions' loss of the appointment. Not only was the letter deeply relevant to the confirmation proceedings on Sessions' AG nomination, it was and still remains an important document in this nation's ongoing struggle to rid itself of its long and persistent scourge of racism and discrimination. For Republicans to brand it a breach of decorum is akin to saying the Emancipation Proclamation was an unwarranted slap in the face to the South. Only a politcal cadre united by unprinciple partisanship and unspoken predjudice aganst minorities and women would stoop to forcefully gagging this woman by dint of the fact that they simply have the numbers and the undivided gall to do so. I sincerely hope that the majority of Americans (who voted for Hillary Clinton and AGAINST the so-called president) will see this as due cause to make big changes in the congressional roster come 2018. The craven, hostile, underhanded so-called lawmakers on the right, who are motivated by utter fear of America's changing complexion, cannot hope to go on carrying out their un-American agenda for long. Their days are numbered and they will soon fall victim to their own extreme lack of dignity, decency and decorum.
7
I am generally slow to anger. However, when watching the reprimand of Ms. Warren, all I heard was "Woman, sit down!" My stomach immediately went into knots.
15
As a 66 year old woman, I can relate. When I graduated from college there were very few women who went onto study in male dominated schools, law, medicine, engineering, etc. Those fields of study were considered good fields for males, only. An education was wasted on women unless they went into feminine fields like teaching, nursing, and secretarial studies. It was a cultural phenomenon that was as pervasive as the air we breathed as we grew up. Little girls were raised to be quiet, well behaved and passive caregivers. Any girl who acted otherwise was a Tom Boy, which had a very negative connotation.
I remember wanting to get a law school degree but thinking it as impossible for a woman. My first job interviews after college consisted of being asked how fast I could type. I suffered silently through many jobs where sexual harassment was prevalent as did most of my friends. I became a high school teacher and later found my voice and empowerment in politics as a 16 year town councilwoman for a town of 85,000 in New York. When people disagreed with me, they said I was too loud and aggressive. I can absolutely relate to what happened to Elizabeth Warren. Mitch McConnell reprimanded her for being "unladylike"! Nothing is more intimidating to men than a strong, smart woman. Bravo Senator Warren!
I remember wanting to get a law school degree but thinking it as impossible for a woman. My first job interviews after college consisted of being asked how fast I could type. I suffered silently through many jobs where sexual harassment was prevalent as did most of my friends. I became a high school teacher and later found my voice and empowerment in politics as a 16 year town councilwoman for a town of 85,000 in New York. When people disagreed with me, they said I was too loud and aggressive. I can absolutely relate to what happened to Elizabeth Warren. Mitch McConnell reprimanded her for being "unladylike"! Nothing is more intimidating to men than a strong, smart woman. Bravo Senator Warren!
I immediately signed up to send Warren monthly donations, as I did for her first campaign, even though I am a New Yorker. Best money I ever spent.
7
She was properly told to in effect sit down and shut up. No one is above the Senate rules.
5
Well except the male senators who read the very same letter apparently.
You missed the entire point of the fuss-
Old McConnell hauled out some rule from the early 1900s to try to slap her. It made him look the fool he obviously is.
You missed the entire point of the fuss-
Old McConnell hauled out some rule from the early 1900s to try to slap her. It made him look the fool he obviously is.
Wrong rule. Why didn't they stop Sanders?
The rule regards speaking Senator to Senator. Besides, was she saying anything that wasn't already in the record?
Sessions was sitting as s nominee, NOT as a Senator.
When people don't like what they hear, they shoot the messenger. It's appalling that it was directed at a woman but then not directed at men who did the same thing.
We've obviously got a long way to go when it comes to gender stereotyping.
If MConnell --and the Repubs can't take that kind of heat, just wait until DT says something that instigates a war. They won't be able to silence him, a person in role who is clearly unpredictable.and unprepared.
The rule regards speaking Senator to Senator. Besides, was she saying anything that wasn't already in the record?
Sessions was sitting as s nominee, NOT as a Senator.
When people don't like what they hear, they shoot the messenger. It's appalling that it was directed at a woman but then not directed at men who did the same thing.
We've obviously got a long way to go when it comes to gender stereotyping.
If MConnell --and the Repubs can't take that kind of heat, just wait until DT says something that instigates a war. They won't be able to silence him, a person in role who is clearly unpredictable.and unprepared.
Why don't you believe in free speech and free debate? What do you have to fear?
The fact that the supremely "political" Mitch McConnell threw his well honed political instincts (which have served him so well over the years) to the winds is a clear sign of how deep rooted his patriarchal misogyny is. Not that we had any doubts.
7
Warren is the progressive version of Donald Trump. Deeply annoying and forever yapping for attention.
3
It is a bit regrettable that Ms. King's comments about now former senator Sessions were only reread by Sanders and Merkley and not another woman senator. I write this not as a criticism of those women senators but just as a way to emphasize the injustice of allowing those two males to read without objection after Ms. Warren was silenced.
9
While I completely support Senator Warren here and find McConnell and the GOP senators (including Murkowski and Collins) shameful, I'm not sure this is a "silence the woman" thing. Senator Cornyn attempted to silence Senator Franken in a similar manner during the committee deliberation on sessions. Warren was the first, point made. Also, as others have theorized, McConnell may be trying to elevate Warren as the face of the Democratic Party as she's the one most likely to alienate the GOPs's conservative base; he's no fool.
3
He's clever and shrewd, but also a fool.
1
If people I.e. Democrats don't show up and vote for the mid terms we'll have only ourselves to blame just as we're blaming ourselves for the orange one.
3
I applaud any politician with the guts and determination to speak out against the absurd, and I particularly welcome the intellect of Senator Warren. Hope has no gender.
5
The repubs will live to regret this display of misogyny. what must it be like to be so hateful?
17
It is the quality of the speech and not the quantity that counts. Elizabeth Warren talks too much and most of what she says is irrelevant. Her political career is coming to an end thank goodness.
5
Keep telling yourself that. More proof that people in NYC are out of touch with the rest of the country, like the Trump supporters claim?
Your opposition to the First Amendment noted but I think she is just getting going from the looks of it.
And your time is coming, too.
Unseemly for a woman to criticize a man, not unseemly for other men to do so.
And how many men can relate to a woman screaming at them?
6
I can. I find the misogynist claim to be without merit.
For as long as we have males and females there will be claims of gender discrimination and misogyny, just as we shall always have claims of racism as long as we perceive race as an identifier. Neither can ever be disproved. And so it goes.
For as long as we have males and females there will be claims of gender discrimination and misogyny, just as we shall always have claims of racism as long as we perceive race as an identifier. Neither can ever be disproved. And so it goes.
1
I'm thinking you probably deserved it.
1
As many as we want.
How ironic the same republicans support a president who impugns people for amusement and self-gratification.
11
I'm only in my early 30s, and at every professional job I've held, I've been instructed to "tone it down," or advised that "you get more bees with honey," and even received the specific directive to use more exclamation points and smiley faces, so I don't come across "so mean." It makes you think there's something wrong with you for being audacious enough to assume your words have equal value and do not require a preemptive excuse to be heard. It will take a lot of persistence to keep putting up with this for another 30 years or so.
12
Please persist. It will be worth it.
Keep fighting! While it is important for folks of both genders to watch for an "edge" in their voice -- a happy warrior generally does much better -- just keep pressing the facts. While that may sound out of style in America these days, facts are indeed sticky things. Ultimately we all fall victim to them; and so will those who try to silence you.
Warren clearly broke the rules. which is why she was told to keep quiet.
So then she simply moved her rhetorical grandstanding to a social media venue.
It didn't matter in the end, because the essential self-serving phoniness of her message remained intact.
So then she simply moved her rhetorical grandstanding to a social media venue.
It didn't matter in the end, because the essential self-serving phoniness of her message remained intact.
3
Will, and it will happen, when a Republican male does the same thing, will the result will be the same? I doubt it.
Why were four male senators permitted to read that same letter into the record afterward? Please do respond, as no one has yet. I know that defenders of the rules must be eager to clarify to whom it applies.
1
what "rules " ? Men were allowed to read aloud the same letter .
1
Senator Warren performed an outstanding Queen's Pawn move defending a powerful "King"...way to go Senator!
6
I try to look at the history of women in eras. Our positions are getting better, whatever and wherever they are. But it's always two steps forward and 1 1/2 steps back. And painful along the way. And seems to take forever. But if we need to go back to the "battles" of the seventies and eighties for basic human rights for all women, I promise we will man the ramparts. We remember earning those rights (to be heard, to be independent, to be treated fairly...) and we are still young enough to defend them.
5
"staff" the ramparts, you mean...
no, a Democrat was told to be quiet. said democrat just happened to be female. there is a difference.
2
Why is everyone so angry now that the Republicans and Trump the dictator rule America. This is what The American People wanted because they let this happen.
This is just the beginning. 1984 is now 2017.
This is just the beginning. 1984 is now 2017.
5
I think the "1984ness" of America will take a couple of years to cement, mainly due to the Attorney General's office eliminating the remnant of American freedoms - assembly, voting, etc.
What we learned in the NYT articles today - we still have a lot of work if we want to overcome racism and ensure gender equality and respect.
3
As an independent, I like Warren, but, other than yelling and arguing
With the other side , what exactly has she accomplished in the Senate? What is so special about her?
With the other side , what exactly has she accomplished in the Senate? What is so special about her?
5
We will actually have to supply many more who are on our sides than one, or a few. That's on us, and we'll have to do more than demand "Why hasn't this woman saved us yet?" It seems, frankly, a bit passive-aggressive to do so.
1
She is saving our country from committing national suicide. I oppose that because I think the world is best off without us but I admire and respect her.
2
I understand the Senate rule when speaking about a fellow Senator as a Senator. But I do not believe that the rule should apply to any Senator who is seeking an appointed position for which the Senate provides advice and consent. This was criticism of a nominee, not a Senator and the rule as applied essentially silences 99 opinions of that nominee from those charged with vetting the nomination.
15
Unfortunately McConnell had cover because Sessions was there as a nominee who was also a sitting senator.
The gentleman [not] from Kentucky must think that we need a refresher course in how absurd things can get in this new era. Otherwise, how could we imagine such conduct from the leadership of the United States Senate, at one time thought of as an honorable institution? Does someone like McConnell ever wonder about the what constitutes shameful behavior? He just provided a truly memorable lesson.
6
McConnell was currying favor with Trump and Trump's fervent base, who certainly are not big Warren fans. All about getting a seat at the table.
5
Thank you for adding fuel to our fire Mitch, you and this whole embarrassing and dangerous administration will live to regret it.
9
I'm not sure constantly describing Warren as ä woman" is helpful She may be the next President. The gender is not really the point.
2
Still think there's going to be a "next president," huh?
I wish I could share your optimism.
I wish I could share your optimism.
Here is some grade A, prime, USA identity politics and false arguments. Perhaps she was "silenced" because she didn't honor the rules and decorum of this legeslative body? Oh, I forgot, she is above rules and responsibilities, that's right...
4
You also forgot that several men read the same letter for which she was silenced, without facing any consequences. And you forgot that this was a confirmation hearing for Senator Sessions. Hence, bringing up his past behavior is appropriate. Senator McConnell invoked the rarely used rule because Senator Warren is disliked by the right and he thought it would be a quick way to get some brownie points from the Trump base, without actually supporting anything that would benefit them. I'm sure he was successful. Now he can blithely go on promoting policies that help the well off at the expense of the poor; turning back the expansion of health care coverage to an expansion of the availability of catastrophic coverage; turning public education into an investment opportunity for for-profit companies; getting rid of "loopholes" in the tax code that help the poor and middle class, in exchange for cuts that help the wealthy. Trump's populist movement will have to be satisfied with the objectification of women, reduced civil rights protections and companies giving Trump photo ops for building facilities in the U.S.-- building planned long before Trump was elected.
If an unqualified US senator is nominated for a Cabinet position, no Senator can argue that point on the Senate floor? Sounds like fascism to me.
To: AR in SF If she was "'silenced' because she didn't honor the rules and decorum of this legislative body? Oh, I forgot, she is above rules and responsibilities," then why were four white male senators who followed her allowed to read from the same Coretta Scott King letter criticizing Jeff Sessions without being silenced? Those Senators were Bernie Sanders, Tom Udall, Sherrod Brown and Jeff Merkley.
Yes we are making American grate again.
1
Senator Warren performed an outstanding Queen's Pawn move defending a powerful "King"...way to go Senator!
2
Before she was told to be quiet, she was warned about breaking the rules. We should all be reminded of that, men and women.
5
The day that US Senators cannot make negative comment about a presidential nominee's qualifications on the Senate floor, is the day that we have officially become a dictatorship.
Totally unrelated to this but I just recently purchased the book "In Sheep's Clothing, Understanding & Dealing with Manipulative People".
I never considered myself unassertive but I expect this book will bring it to another level.
It absolutely makes me sick that Elizabeth Warren was silenced.
I never considered myself unassertive but I expect this book will bring it to another level.
It absolutely makes me sick that Elizabeth Warren was silenced.
4
I would think these people really start to grate on one another after a while. Day in, day out, the same old feuds lingering on and on.
2
Time for McConnell to be consigned to the dust heap of history.
8
Oh, God, if ONLY! How on earth do people like him get up there in the first place? I am 76 and have never seen such a sorry bunch of jerks running the government in my life. What has happened to the Statesmen? Oh, that's right, Pres. Obama is gone, and Sen. Kennedy has passed away.
Warren falsely besmirched a Senator. You're infantilizing women to suggest that a woman is incapable and too fragile to take responsibility for her bad actions.
3
McConnel is fundamentally a bully, and he proved in regarding Warren. Silencing a senator-- let's see, perhaps the bill of rights might be a guide---ahhh yes--freedom of speech--to read a letter from the wife of a civil rights icon--during black history month regarding the unsuitability of Sessions to be AG---its time to target and evict McConnel from the senate--he has no business being there.
4
Kudos to Elizabeth Warren. We need more women like her and what she did after McConnell rudely silenced her but failed.
2
Thank you for all your hard work Senator Warren.
1
If, subsequently, Senator Sanders, a male, also read the Coretta Scott King letter without being stilled, what does that say about Senator Warren being silenced?
6
Warren is good at running her mouth but not accomplishing much.
1
My corporate life was an epic serial of such incidents. Of course, I employed humor, charm and self-deprecation to ease the male experience of a smart, effective female.
7
So Elizabeth Warren was shut down for breaking Senate protocol, but that's somehow an infringement on her right to free speech? She knew what she was doing, and likely was preparing to use the foreseeable reaction for political gain. If Mitch McConnell had let her speak, he would have been complicit in her breach of protocol (and have opened the door for other Senators to demand the same leniency); if not, it could be exploited to get know-nothings to believe her right to free speech had been denied. That's what's going on here. Shame on Warren for using her elected position to manipulate the crowds; shame on Chira for further irrelevantly exploiting the gender card in this totally unrelated issue.
Constitutional rights "trump" protocol in a free country.
1
Well, no need to get histrionic. Four men read that same letter afterward and were permitted to do so. Further, reading a letter in public is hardly a bra-burning (gasp!), so no need to orate further about the lack of decorum. Perhaps a sip of brandy would help.
1
The Senate correctly voted to put Warren on a time out.
Congratulations Senator McConnell, you now have your quote for which you will be remembered for in the history books: "She was warned ..."
4
Elizabeth Warren was speaking about a nominee not a senator so the rule did not apply in the first place. Come on millennials, you now outnumber the boomers, get active and help elect these spineless people to unemployment status. Please vote in every election that you can, it's the best way to say I care about what happens.
6
McConnell could not have illustrated more clearly his contempt for women. The backlash must have surprised him, since he's in thrall to a president who feels the same way.
5
I thought our family budget couldn't afford this month to send a donation to Elizabeth Warren and our other fighters in DC. Now I see we can't afford not to.
5
"Was there a woman who didn't recognize herself in the specter of Elizabeth Warren silenced by a roomful of men?" - every woman who was ever silenced by a roomful of men without her story immediately broadcast on half of the smartphones in the country and millions more abroad?
2
What is on display is a group of people who have chosen to sell their intellects and ethics for power. It isn't pretty and it's very public.
There is no appetite for truth or wisdom on the Senate floor by the Majority Party.
There is no appetite for truth or wisdom on the Senate floor by the Majority Party.
2
We all share the same experience not only in politics but also in our jobs.
The situation only slowly improves when there are more women present in a meeting or in an organisation - see UN Reports after thorough research: equal rights and equal treatment will only be achieved if at least 30% of the members of the relevant body are women, and I want to add: if there are enough women in leading positions.
(Politician, Former Member of European Parliament, Former Elected Mayor)
The situation only slowly improves when there are more women present in a meeting or in an organisation - see UN Reports after thorough research: equal rights and equal treatment will only be achieved if at least 30% of the members of the relevant body are women, and I want to add: if there are enough women in leading positions.
(Politician, Former Member of European Parliament, Former Elected Mayor)
4
Not just too "aggressive" but the term often used is "abrasive". What? Too much like men?
To have to check yourself and to always be "sweet" is a dispiriting task women are charged with in business and personally. There is no place for this characterization in a representative democracy especially the Senate. Thank you Elizabeth Warren for being persistent. With you on the ticket perhaps Hillary could have won.
To have to check yourself and to always be "sweet" is a dispiriting task women are charged with in business and personally. There is no place for this characterization in a representative democracy especially the Senate. Thank you Elizabeth Warren for being persistent. With you on the ticket perhaps Hillary could have won.
13
The Republicans can spot exceptional leaders smart and/or charismatic enough to beat them. They will try to "neutralize" Elizabeth Warren by any means, fair or foul, no matter how hypocritical or false, exactly as they did with Hillary Clinton. They know how to play into our society's malign stereotypes about powerful, independent older women. Watch for more of this....
13
A prominent judge told me at a bar social in late 1960s: Be quiet and smile, Anne; we just want to look at you, nobody cares about your opinions. Another attorney saiid at a bar convention: Watch out for Anne; she's dangerous, she's intelligent. My former husband (lawyer/politician) said: You think like a man; you don't fit in with the other wives. In the 1970s, I divorced said husband, joined NOW, went to grad school and earned PhD, MS, MFA, while mothering 4 children. I adore Elizabeth Warren! She can verbally twist those misogynists into a knot.
27
In short, you persisted. Well done.
1
Old white men, old white entitled men, racist men, misogynist men, what a shocker. Oh, or young men that will become old white men and all of the above. I am so exhausted by the end of every day by this current administration and the shenanigans. Is it over yet? And did this country and the planet survive these people?
17
As a woman architect for over fifty years I can so relate to this. It takes real strength to recognize that it is not you who are inadequate, but rather the man belittling you.
23
Note to Mitch McConnell: Just you try and silence Elizabeth Warren!
10
trump has done a lot of stupid things, but this may prove to be the one act that galvanizes this country against him and his "movement."
She persisted! I love it!
She persisted! I love it!
9
A minor point - but I think important. When hyperlinking Sanders and Merkley, we don't need their Twitter feeds, we need the actual clips of their statements.
Let's stay with the actual substance, shall we?
Let's stay with the actual substance, shall we?
2
Mitch was just throwing red meat to his base base. They really don't like Warren. Fox viewers probably loved it the whole drama. And now we've all Mrs. King's letter.
13
I love when democrats violate a rule, it's arcane, when republicans violate a rule it's horrible. She was warned, she was politically grandstanding to her base, the left wing, so she can lay the seeds of her presidential campaign. This is politics nothing more. She was warned, allowed to continue, then was stopped because of her impugning the character of Sen. Sessions. She acted like a man and was treated like one.
4
Sessions impugned his own rep by his actions towards voters in Alabama. That was not good enough for Reagan back in the day and it is certainly not good enough now. Update the files. Wow.
Have you no decency, sir?
Like the other men who read the same letter and were not silenced? Please.
First thing I thought when I saw the exchange was that, yes of course the primary reason she got shut up was because she's a woman, but then again... that's also the first thing I thought when Betsy DeVos got pilloried by everyone in sight (including two Republican women) for her daring to assume a largely toothless post in an administration that has nominated someone as ignorant as Rick Perry to look after the country's nukes. But, oh yeah, he wears fake thick glasses now, so that must give him a pass.
4
I do not recollect Joe Wilson being told by McConnell to sit silently after he impugned a former Senator from the Capital chambers.
26
It is important to note that the republicans silenced two women: Mrs. King and Senator Warren. Absolutely shameful.
34
Way to swallow that partisan narrative. Never led it said that liberals think before regurgitating partisan talking points.
McConnell was only following his Bible's teachings, 1 Timothy 2:11-12. "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet."
3
Well that would explain the male induced depravity of the last two thousand years. All those wars, genocides such beastly behavior God must again regret, as in time of Noah, that He created mankind.
Men, in the main, are useful in providing seeds for eggs. A women centered world would be more humane and peaceful.
Climate change and nuclear war should suffice. Thanks Trump voter.
Men, in the main, are useful in providing seeds for eggs. A women centered world would be more humane and peaceful.
Climate change and nuclear war should suffice. Thanks Trump voter.
1
And what has that got to do with the right to free speech??
"Unfortunately, research suggests that they too often pay a price, being labeled too aggressive- " -All Women we are strong will be labeled.
But history has shown us that only the women who are strong and who will not be silenced will prevail are will change the world.God Bless you Elizabeth Warren . You are my hero.
But history has shown us that only the women who are strong and who will not be silenced will prevail are will change the world.God Bless you Elizabeth Warren . You are my hero.
20
way to go girl!!Until women are in key, senior roles in our government and corporations, we will remain stuck in the 19th century as most men desire.
Please. This has nothing to do with gender. She was quite uncivilly calling her colleague a racist. That is no hero. That is a demagogue.
Well spoken! I agree.
Inundate McConnell by mailing postcards or letters to both his offices (DC & KY; you can find them online).
Be persistent!
Be persistent!
6
I'm going to send Mitch a copy of The Prince--not that he hasn't committed all Machiavellian principles to memory.
Yet far, far too many woman voted for the very politicians who treat woman as second class persons, or worse.
18
Like Bill Clinton?
This wasn't about gagging a democrat- this was about gagging Sen. Warren. That says to me she has been effective in her dissent, and McConnell knows that. But, he misstepped here- thinking all he had to do was shut her down, and that would solve his problem- instead he empowered her voice. You keep going Sen. Warren- I want to hear everything you have to say.
19
Telling Warren to shut up was entirely consistent with Mitchell's retro old white male attitude and reflective of the current state of the Senate.
The Democrats are trapped in the divisive republican attitude. If they rise above the fray they will be called wimps. If they respond in kind, they support the lowered level of humanity in the Senate.
Democracy only works with like minded minds. If either side adopts a fascist shut up value system, then democracy suffers and wilts!
The Democrats are trapped in the divisive republican attitude. If they rise above the fray they will be called wimps. If they respond in kind, they support the lowered level of humanity in the Senate.
Democracy only works with like minded minds. If either side adopts a fascist shut up value system, then democracy suffers and wilts!
5
What I'll never get to my dying day:
Very roughly half of the women voters did not vote, roughly another quarter actually voted for Trump.
The choice was stark and plainly obvious. How on earth did the current crop of misogynists, white supremacists, and christian fanatics get into high government positions ?
Warren was shot down for who she is what she represents: intelligent, independent woman with a record of being ready and willing stand up and be heard. McConnell does not give a crap about what she was saying or what she was reading. She could have been reading the dictionary.
Very roughly half of the women voters did not vote, roughly another quarter actually voted for Trump.
The choice was stark and plainly obvious. How on earth did the current crop of misogynists, white supremacists, and christian fanatics get into high government positions ?
Warren was shot down for who she is what she represents: intelligent, independent woman with a record of being ready and willing stand up and be heard. McConnell does not give a crap about what she was saying or what she was reading. She could have been reading the dictionary.
15
Mr. McConnell,
As a constituent of Senator Warren, I am appalled that you used such tactics to stop her from speaking on my behalf. I find it offensive that you stopped Senator Warren from reading Coretta Scott King’s letter. Mrs. King was not only Dr. King’s wife but also a civil rights leader in her own right.
You stopped Senator Warren from reading the letter but yet allowed two male senators to read from it. If she couldn’t put it into the record why were the men allowed to? Did someone tell you that not allowing Senator Warren to read the letter of a revered civil rights leader was bad optics?
You once again showed yourself to be a sexist and racist. I may be only one tiny voice in our country but I am going to work to make sure that you lose your position as the Majority Leader in 2018. You put your party first during President Obama’s two terms and now you are working to put people who lack the merit to hold positions of responsibility in our government.
By the way for the first time ever, this 62 year will be out on the streets protesting to show my displeasure with the Republicans. I will be doing this of my own free choice. I will not be a paid protester as the White House is suggesting.
As a constituent of Senator Warren, I am appalled that you used such tactics to stop her from speaking on my behalf. I find it offensive that you stopped Senator Warren from reading Coretta Scott King’s letter. Mrs. King was not only Dr. King’s wife but also a civil rights leader in her own right.
You stopped Senator Warren from reading the letter but yet allowed two male senators to read from it. If she couldn’t put it into the record why were the men allowed to? Did someone tell you that not allowing Senator Warren to read the letter of a revered civil rights leader was bad optics?
You once again showed yourself to be a sexist and racist. I may be only one tiny voice in our country but I am going to work to make sure that you lose your position as the Majority Leader in 2018. You put your party first during President Obama’s two terms and now you are working to put people who lack the merit to hold positions of responsibility in our government.
By the way for the first time ever, this 62 year will be out on the streets protesting to show my displeasure with the Republicans. I will be doing this of my own free choice. I will not be a paid protester as the White House is suggesting.
15
I am outraged that Senator Warren was demeaned and discriminated against on the Senate floor. Senator McConnell's action against Warren was egregious. When Senator Warren speaks on the Senate floor she does so as the representative of the people who elected her. So when she is gagged as a form of intimidation, we are gagged and humiliated too. While all her other male colleagues read King's letter, nothing was said or done to them.
Senator McConnell should be officially reprimanded and censured. When a woman of Elizabeth Warren's stature is discriminated against even when a Senator in her workplace, what does that say for the rest of us who are ordinary women in the workplace? McConnell's display just reinforces the fact that powerful men still use power to silence women in the workplace. This must be addressed by letting Senator McConnell know that demeaning women will not stand.
Senator McConnell should be officially reprimanded and censured. When a woman of Elizabeth Warren's stature is discriminated against even when a Senator in her workplace, what does that say for the rest of us who are ordinary women in the workplace? McConnell's display just reinforces the fact that powerful men still use power to silence women in the workplace. This must be addressed by letting Senator McConnell know that demeaning women will not stand.
19
So admire Senator Warren's brilliant heartfelt soulful tenacity.
12
Is this a gender thing or a Massachusetts thing? Something about this story has me thinking:
"Sit down, John. Sit down, John. For God's sake John, sit down...
John you're a bore, we've heard this before. For God's sake John, sit down...
Will someone shut that man up?"
Another version of first rate cross gender casting perhaps -- Elizabeth Warren as John Adams in the next 1776 revival.
Seem fitting -- Trump having taken us back to a time when American laws were dictated by a tyrant.
"Sit down, John. Sit down, John. For God's sake John, sit down...
John you're a bore, we've heard this before. For God's sake John, sit down...
Will someone shut that man up?"
Another version of first rate cross gender casting perhaps -- Elizabeth Warren as John Adams in the next 1776 revival.
Seem fitting -- Trump having taken us back to a time when American laws were dictated by a tyrant.
5
Nice try, well thought out, but it really is a woman thing. Been there, had that happen to me and have seen it happen to other women over and over and over again.
I have printed another of the mottoes I use, so I will from now on be persisting.
3
It's only taken me my whole life - 42 1/2 years - to wake up and SPEAK UP. This year, a confluence of events and people in my life made speaking up and out essential to my survival and my emotional health, and the emotional health of my young daughters. I won't stop. I won't apologize. I'm constantly checking myself, because that's what we've been conditioned to do, but I'm punching through and keeping on. I'm energized by EVERY SINGLE WOMAN who speaks up and out about her passion, her cause. More than ever, NOW is the time to be loud and proud.
73
Warren was engaged in the wrongful smearing of another individual for the sole purpose of painting him as a racist. Will you be teaching your children to do that as well?
In my mind there is a significant difference between disparaging a colleague in the Senate versus speaking unfavorably about a candidate that seeks confirmation. Jeff Sessions in his capacity as a nominee stood before the Senate, not Jeff Sessions the Senator. Grow up Republicans - we are not stupid.
73
I think that if the Democrats want to take the government back they need to stop the identity politics. What the Senate did was plain wrong; the fact that we are saying it is more wrong to insult EW than a male senator is what kept us from winning last time out.
We need to move together, not like a band of arguing tribes of gender and color if we want to take this government back and put it in the hands of the majority. And it I suspect that it is going to take a bigger majority to do it once the Republicans have all three branches under their control... and we would be better served unfurling an even bigger tent than wasting time on the glass ceiling. Right now that ceiling with a rigged system that keeps the majority rule from coming to pass. We need to find someone who will break THAT ceiling; man or woman.
Those rude Senators who voted to censor Warren included six women:
Alaska - Lisa Murkowski
Iowa - Joni Ernst. ...
Maine - Susan Collins. ...
Nebraska - Deb Fischer. ...
New Hampshire - Kelly Ayotte. ...
West Virginia - Shelley Moore Capito.
Wake up, please...
We need to move together, not like a band of arguing tribes of gender and color if we want to take this government back and put it in the hands of the majority. And it I suspect that it is going to take a bigger majority to do it once the Republicans have all three branches under their control... and we would be better served unfurling an even bigger tent than wasting time on the glass ceiling. Right now that ceiling with a rigged system that keeps the majority rule from coming to pass. We need to find someone who will break THAT ceiling; man or woman.
Those rude Senators who voted to censor Warren included six women:
Alaska - Lisa Murkowski
Iowa - Joni Ernst. ...
Maine - Susan Collins. ...
Nebraska - Deb Fischer. ...
New Hampshire - Kelly Ayotte. ...
West Virginia - Shelley Moore Capito.
Wake up, please...
25
Your list is incorrect - the senator from New Hampshire is Maggie Hassan (D), who most definitely did not vote to censure Warren.
1
Certainly looks like the ladies have no problem stabbing a colleague in the back as long as it's not a man. Collins and Murkowski also managed to knife devos, who richly deserved it.
4
Kelly Ayotte lost to Maggie Hassan and is out of the $enate.
1
Where were Senators Collins and Murkowski on this vote to silence Sen. Warren? Haven't seen any info ...?
7
You know, I'm 60, and in the last few years, I began to think that we were finally past all of this nonsense. When I was in college, one of my professors announced to the class that it was a waste for women to go to college. When I started working on my masters degree, my advisor told me it was a waste for women to go to grad school. I persisted and got my degrees, and then went on to get another degree in the computer field. I've been a college teacher and a computer trainer for decades, and I'm damned glad my students get to experience working with a woman who is knowledgeable about technology and a highly competent instructor. No ignorant idiot is going to write off this half of the human race.
244
PoorBut Free: Gee that's interesting. I'm a 76 year old woman and I never had anyone tell me I couldn't or shouldn't do anything. I have two Master's Degrees and was a college professor as well and am still working.
1
Certain schools didn't even offer scholarships to women because "They're just going to get married anyway."
Goody for you if you somehow didn't hear and see, or maybe even somehow escaped the institutionalized sexism that the rest of us have had to deal with our entire working lives. (in my case, 30 years as a govt. lawyer) (I bet you voted for Trump.)
"Under the hashtag #shepersisted, women posted pictures of their own personal heroines ... (including) Margaret Sanger."
It doesn't take much research to learn that Margret Sanger saw birth control as a means to control "undesirable" populations including minorities, the poor, the mentally disabled, and immigrants. She was a proponent of forced sterilization and eugenics.
These views were central to the purpose of her fame, they weren't some ancillary belief of hers unrelated to her life's work. Her life's work was motivated by the ugliest impulses.
Margret Sanger is no hero.
It doesn't take much research to learn that Margret Sanger saw birth control as a means to control "undesirable" populations including minorities, the poor, the mentally disabled, and immigrants. She was a proponent of forced sterilization and eugenics.
These views were central to the purpose of her fame, they weren't some ancillary belief of hers unrelated to her life's work. Her life's work was motivated by the ugliest impulses.
Margret Sanger is no hero.
5
Who cares what anyone said back in time when many of us were toddlers or not even born -- 1986 ?
People like Warren who indulge in meaningless, time wasting, tantrums in Congress are the reason why Americans have so little respect for that institution.
People like Warren who indulge in meaningless, time wasting, tantrums in Congress are the reason why Americans have so little respect for that institution.
6
Thanks for confirming the worst tendencies.
2
Dredging up a law that is more than a century old carries more weight? Reading a letter does not a senator impute!
Interesting thought. It's unfortunate that you think it's appropriate to write off everything said before 1986. Our Constitution was discussed extensively before it was written down. I assume you don't think that's important either.
7
I would say that there is an issue of sexual harassment here. A formal reprimand on the floor would be in order and would be a victory for every young woman and woman in this country who has stood her ground. Senator Warren was silenced by a dominant male group of good ole boys, while two of her male colleagues were subsequently allowed to speak? I think this would be worth pursuing for the greater good of this country!
29
Jane: There are some really important and potentially dangerous issues. Charges of sexual harassment is not going to go anywhere for the same reason she was shut down.
Pick your battles carefully and chose the ones that might have a change and winning and effecting change.
Pick your battles carefully and chose the ones that might have a change and winning and effecting change.
1
I'm a woman and a lawyer and if I had a dollar for every time a man told me to be quiet for doing my job I'd have enough money to fill in the national pay gap.
238
It's so TEEEEEDIOUS that we still have to point out the condescension, the oblivion, the excuse-me-I was-here-first at many local business counters. It kinda makes you cranky after a few decades.
46
The neanderthals might have silenced her last night but they ought to invest in a pair of earplugs because Sen. Warren has many millions of fervent supporters who will NEVER BE SILENCED in our support of her. Unlike Hillary, she is the bees knees in terms of likability and she will mop up the floor with them come 2020, if she is so inclined. Here's hoping.
43
They silenced her on the floor of the $enate, sending her outside to facebook, where her audience was thousands of times that of the C-Spam broadcast of $enate proceedings.
Strategery!
Now she's on the front page of the Times and on the op-ed page. I don't think "silenced" means what Mitch thinks it does...
Strategery!
Now she's on the front page of the Times and on the op-ed page. I don't think "silenced" means what Mitch thinks it does...
2
Mitch McConnell has to do everything he can to diminish Elizabeth Warren's influence so that the Republicans can abolish the Consumer Protection Bureau. Happily, he made a fool of himself silencing Warren. Unfortunately, that will not stop him. There is no shame left on the right.
30
Elizabeth Warren was deprived of her right to speak in the US Senate to which she belongs, representing her cutizen constituents. That is unacceptable. At the same time, Coretta Scott King was deprived of her voice, representing American civil rights history. That is obscene.
Even more than obscene, considering the cause.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
Even more than obscene, considering the cause.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
27
People, especially men, are threatened by women who are--not just powerful--but powerful and smart.
Keep it up, Sen. Warren. Show 'em what persistent and SMART can do!!!
Keep it up, Sen. Warren. Show 'em what persistent and SMART can do!!!
34
Hillary's loss points up this mysogeny as well....but it's not just men. For ten years Maureen Dowd of the NYT has held a double standard for men and women, with the subtext of most of her columns implying the evil Hillary should stand down, but when it comes to Trump,.. "boys will be boys"
45
Been there. In a failing school district that I was assured was open to change and would welcome my involvement, I was shut down at every turn my a male dominated culture. I couldn't even get a return on emails, even simple emails where I sent an interesting article. They were committed to maintaining a structure that shut down input and that lacked creative solutions.
18
Mitch -- whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger. There more of us in college and our representation in the major professions including politics is rising every year. Demographics will be our power.
13
ok I agree. What is the action? Run for local office. Run for state office. Canvas your neighborhood. Our words will only have power in public venues.
10
After several decades of membership on local boards and commissions, I can say it is vital for more people to act as you advise. The treatment of women and newcomers of both sexes are, even in this era of televised meetings, disparaged and silenced by entrenched good ole' boys club bullies. Very little governing gets done, let alone thoughtful land planning and firm financial stewardship. This cannot change until more citizens pitch in and add their voices to local governance, if even for a single term.
1
Senator McConnell: you have been warned, actually. You have been warned by the hundreds of thousands of phone calls flooding your office and those of your Republican colleagues in Congress that we the people will persist in our fight against your draconian agenda. There are so many calls that you have stopped taking them and now just have a voice recording saying that your staff can't do it. Well, we can do it and we will keep doing it. Your right and left support of self-proclaimed, proud racists is disgusting. If you do have a conscience, you apparently traded it in for that nice fat job that Trump gave to your wife. You are in violation of your oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. You will not be shutting Senator Warren up anytime soon, sir. You are so warned. We will persist.
39
The "research" referred to is from last year and deals exclusively with corporate America. My antennae are telling me that, in areas outside of the boardroom, .women are finding it far easier to be thought of as "too aggressive". Most of us don't care anymore. Elizabeth Warren is such a person. Why she was silences is partly because she is a woman, but mostly because she is a fiery, very popular woman who is endowed with intelligence, integrity, and can express herself very compellingly and passionately. Beware, Mitch McConnell and friends. You made a grave error and will pay dearly for it.
13
Senator Warren's voice will be heard, and it will echo across the land in ways that ironically will be even stronger than had she been allowed to speak. McConnell, that self-satisfied bigot, may think he silenced the senator but he actually opened up the floodgates. Impinging on the character of Sessions was needed, the man is an out and out racist and i noticed his nervous demeanor while McConnell stood there and ordered the senator to shut up. Silence will not erase history or the wretched actions of one's past.
14
Yes, there should be very different rules for female US senators, a clearly disadvantaged group.
3
Apparently there is affirmative action for bigoted US Senators -- Jeff Sessions comes to mind...
Wilbur, do you know that FOUR male $enators were allowed to read Coretta Scott King's letter into the record without being silenced, right? Res ipso loquitor.
1
I have encountered many Mitch McConnells in my 75 years. They have only made me stronger. We persist!
15
What really grates is that men were allowed to read the exact same letter that was supposed to be so "impugning." McConnell wanted to silence one particular person. Nevertheless, I think it's safe to say we'll be hearing more from her.
18
Of course we will hear from her. And gladly too. Her intelligence and bravery will lead other women to combat when they are put down for rising up.
Cheers and thanks to Elizabeth Warren.
Cheers and thanks to Elizabeth Warren.
Elizabeth Warren is rebuked for attempting to read a letter from Coretta Scott King.
And yet: "In a mainly party line vote of 240 to 179, the House held that by shouting “You lie” during the president’s speech Mr. Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, committed a “breach of decorum and degraded the proceedings of the joint session, to the discredit of the House.” "
A "party line vote?" Seriously? This should have been a unanimous vote. An overwhelmingly unanimous rebuke.
The good ol' boy network is alive and well in Washington, DC.
And yet: "In a mainly party line vote of 240 to 179, the House held that by shouting “You lie” during the president’s speech Mr. Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, committed a “breach of decorum and degraded the proceedings of the joint session, to the discredit of the House.” "
A "party line vote?" Seriously? This should have been a unanimous vote. An overwhelmingly unanimous rebuke.
The good ol' boy network is alive and well in Washington, DC.
11
Thank you Elizabeth Warren and please, do not sit down and be quiet.
10
This is the real danger of Trump's rhetoric. It's "ok" to demean women and immigrants. If the president is doing it, it must be something we can all do. McConnell and his ilk have no idea what they have stirred up.
11
With racist bigots like McConnell it is imperative that women are aggressive. Republican males like Turtle McConnell are the downfall of our society. I find it incomprehensible how any woman could vote for a Republican after a spectacle like that on the Senate floor is beyond me.
Women need to organize, march, register voters, communicate with their congressman's office and vote any Republican out of office in 2018.
Do not forget these insults.
Men are trying to control your minds and bodies. They send weapons to foreign lands so foreign women have to suffer the deaths of their sons and husbands. These are not thinking women doing this, they are old ignorant men doing it.
Save our country women. Don't let the Republicans put you back in the kitchen. Show these Republican men that you can stand the heat better than they can.
Don't forget the insults of the Republican men toward all women.
Vote for humanity in 2018.
Women need to organize, march, register voters, communicate with their congressman's office and vote any Republican out of office in 2018.
Do not forget these insults.
Men are trying to control your minds and bodies. They send weapons to foreign lands so foreign women have to suffer the deaths of their sons and husbands. These are not thinking women doing this, they are old ignorant men doing it.
Save our country women. Don't let the Republicans put you back in the kitchen. Show these Republican men that you can stand the heat better than they can.
Don't forget the insults of the Republican men toward all women.
Vote for humanity in 2018.
12
Ms. Chira, as editor for gender issues for the New York Times, has a duty to comment on legitimate issues of gender bias and to raise her voice when women are silenced or belittled simply because of their gender. Ms. Chira has twisted the facts in her story: it was Senator Warren's comments that prompted the Presiding Officer to warn her. It was Senator Warren's continued comments that prompted the Presiding Officer to rule her out of order and to take her seat. It was her offending comments, not her gender, that led to Senator Warren being "silenced."
4
1. Her comments were legitimate debate on the qualifications of a Presidential nominee for which the Senate has the legal obligation to advise and consent.
2. McConnell let male senators read the same letter the next day.
Your point is…?
2. McConnell let male senators read the same letter the next day.
Your point is…?
1
Andy, then why were FOUR male $enators allowed to read the same letter without rebuke?
1
In the morning, i put on my heels, my skirt suit and my pearls. After I speak for my clients, I watch the men's faces turn from smiles to frowns then disbelief - disbelief that she can be so loud, so long winded, so aggressive and so willing to stand up for justice and for the poor.
Ladies- every day we must speak up
Ladies- every day we must speak up
13
Mitch McConnell puts me in mind of domestic violence perpetrators (she pushes my buttons) when he said, ominously, "She was warned and she persisted."
18
Thank you for making the point that it is a problem for the Democrats as well. There are twice as many male Democratic Senators than female and double the male Democratic House Reps as well. When it is brought up, Progressive men get defensive as if we should thank them for at least believing we're equal, rather than demand they actually treat us as such. Most democracies and parliaments around the world have gender quotas or 50% reserved seats for women in their constitutions. That we continue to accept men being 4 out of 5 of our legislators is a sign of the real and deep sexism that underpins our social institutions. Until women write 50% of our laws, we are at the mercy of well meaning liberal men who campaign hard on Planned Parenthood and Equal Pay but rarely follow through on any real progress.
1
The Senate has rules. "Rule 19 forbids an especially corrosive form of verbal combat." (NPR) The Presiding Officer of the Senate has the responsibility determine if a Senator has violated Rule 19. If violated, the Presiding Officer is then authorized to call the offending Senator to order and to require the Senator to take his seat. The offending Senator may request to continue, and the Presiding Officer may allow continuance but only in order. Senator Warren was notified that she had violated Rule 19, and she requested to continue. The Presiding Officer allowed her to continue. When Senator Warren's statements were again in violation on Rule 19, Senator McConnel rose and requested to be recognized by the Presiding Officer. Senator McConnel, as ranking Senator, is allowed to make this request and to interrupt the Senator who has the floor. Senator McConnel then addressed the Presiding Officer and stated that Senator Warren had violated Rule 19 again with her comments, and, as such, should be ruled out of order and required to take her seat. The Presiding Officer, using his discretion, required Senator Warren to take her seat.
4
Yet last year, when Ted Cruz called HIM a "liar" on the floor of the $enate, Turtle Mitch did not use his discretion to rebuke Cruz?
And after Warren's red card, FOUR male $enators were allowed to read the very same letter without rebuke or sanction. You can cite the rules all you like, but imposition of sanction is selective, hypocritical and misogynistic.
And after Warren's red card, FOUR male $enators were allowed to read the very same letter without rebuke or sanction. You can cite the rules all you like, but imposition of sanction is selective, hypocritical and misogynistic.
3
And yet when 3 male senators read the same letter they were not censored. Explain that.
Simply stating Rule 19 does not address the fact that the statements and the reading of the letter of Coretta Scott King were also read by men in the chamber just moments after Senator Warren was silenced without a challenge. If it really was about the rule then these men should also have been censored. They were not. This was about Senator McConnell trying, in a very rude and condescending manner, putting Senator Warren "in her place". Something every woman in the work place, in every volunteer board room, and in many homes has had to face. I'm really sorry Mr. Byars that you also seem to share Mr. McConnell's aversion to assertive and smart women.
1
The Republicans have always been a boys' club. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the leadership photo printed in the Times, a ways back, of almost all the Republican Chairmanships in the House being held by white males said it all. The type of humiliation McConnell exercised on Warren is par for the course in Republican circles. It was probably cheered in every white male dominated household in the rural parts of this country. It is known as someone not recognizing their place, being uppity, and being set straight. Yesterday white male privilege was on full display and today with the confirmation of Sessions as Attorney General, blacks in this country got a similar taste.
9
Men can relate too. It's often the case that when men are extremely rude and obnoxious in a professional setting then they too are silenced by the majority. Warren is no victim of sexism.
4
Like our current president? Oh wait, no, he's cheered for insulting and being incredibly rude to his rivals in his professional setting. Hmm, I wonder what the difference is.......
Or it can get you elected President.
We as humans are so distinct, no two alike. Women have always had the structure of sisterhood to view 'themselves' with empathy and understanding, but what occurred last night transcended. A one in a trillion moment . . . yes, we felt what she felt, we were in her shoes, in her voice, in her mind.
Senator Warren, we thank you for persisting. In a national space, what women forge through each day, was displayed crystal clear.
For myself, and I feel countless women would agree, I am finished, we are finished deferring, giving way. This president, administration, senate, has unleashed something in some who feel superior, entitled for their skin color and/or sex. It has also unleashed something righteous and truly formidable in women. I believe the multitude of us are done, I am done. I will be heard, I am equal, I will persist, protest and persevere. We will persist, protest and persevere.
Senator Warren, we thank you for persisting. In a national space, what women forge through each day, was displayed crystal clear.
For myself, and I feel countless women would agree, I am finished, we are finished deferring, giving way. This president, administration, senate, has unleashed something in some who feel superior, entitled for their skin color and/or sex. It has also unleashed something righteous and truly formidable in women. I believe the multitude of us are done, I am done. I will be heard, I am equal, I will persist, protest and persevere. We will persist, protest and persevere.
9
Oh, please, this was not a gender rebuke at all. Watch the video carefully and you will see that Senator Warren was baiting this move. She knew full well that a third party's recollection of things which happened 30 years ago is not germane to Sessions's confirmation - not on the Senate floor. Such criticism is relevant in a committee hearing where the nominee could defend himself.
Warren was looking for publicity to launch her 2020 bid and she got it. This was nothing more than political grandstanding.
Warren was looking for publicity to launch her 2020 bid and she got it. This was nothing more than political grandstanding.
6
You must not have been watching when several male Senators read the exact same letter, that you say was not germane to the proceedings, into the Senate record, without challenge. Your bias is showing.
1
Then why were FOUR male $enators allowed to read the very same letter without sanction?
1
Elizabeth Warren was told to be quiet because she was out of line, not because she is a women, and certainly not because she claimed, falsely, as it turns out, to be of Native American decent because of her "high cheekbones."
It's getting old, how the media - I'm looking at you NYT - continues to look for any angle that could point to sexism, racism, etc, when there is none.
It's getting old, how the media - I'm looking at you NYT - continues to look for any angle that could point to sexism, racism, etc, when there is none.
7
Josh,Josh,Josh.. no she wasn't "out of line". Mitch was.
1
Neither the NYT or anyone else ever has to look for "sexism, racism, etc.". It's thrown in our faces every day.
1
@Josh, after Warren was red carded, FOUR male $enators were allowed to read the very same letter without interruption, rebuke or sanction. Please explain why they avoided the punishment meted out to
Warren?
Warren?
1
While I agree it was misogynistic, I think it was also sheer vindictiveness on his part. I also fear that it's just part of an overall effort by the GOP to stifle dissent: the arcane rule that was cited looks like the thin end of the wedge that McConnell is likely to use whenever he doesn't like what someone is saying.
8
Well, baby, we still have a long way to go. One wonders how Senator McConnell's wife feels about "a woman's place." Yes, some progress has been made since the days when my then late-teen-age mother actively supported the woman's right to vote. But how many men there are whose viewpoint that women are mostly sex objects (Mr. Trump has plenty of experience in that arena), and who find it difficult or impossible to admire women for their abilities. "Hidden Figures" comes along at an important time, as does revisiting Coretta Scott King's strong letter about Jeff Sessions. Built into human nature is a need for many to mock women, to bully and abuse. Of course, women can also exhibit those unfortunate traits as well. Some men, and I am one of them, hope more women will be elected to the House and Senate, hope that four years from now a gifted woman will replace the current master of the White House. But so much great literature, so many fine motion pictures have been created making much ado about the "battle of the sexes," that too much of a good thing may not be such a good thing. Some Greek was it who recommended "Evertying in moderation"?
Doug Giebel
Big Sandy, Montana
Doug Giebel
Big Sandy, Montana
3
Perhaps not a coincidence that McConnell essentially told Elizabeth Warren to shut up and sit down on the same day that Hillary Clinton’s “The Future Is Female” video clip for the MAKERS Conference was released. We will not be silenced.
8
Unfortunately, due to Clinton's chronic hubris and the tone deaf ineptness of her campaign, our female future looks to be the likes of DeVos, Chao, and Haley.
1
This is not a gender issue. It is a decorum issue in the world's greatest deliberative body. The senator needs to learn to follow the rules or gather the votes to change them. Unless Sen. Warren spoke up against the recent protests at Berkeley, she has no standing to make this a free speech issue, either.
8
If this was not a gender issue please explain why men reading the letter from Mrs. Coretta Scott King and making a case against Senator Sessions were not also reprimanded for behavior. The demonstration in Berkeley was protected by the Constitution. That some outside group inflicted damage to property at Berkeley has nothing to do with the demonstrators rights.
3
Conservative, if it is not a gender issue, then why did McConnell allow FOUR male $enators to read the very same letter into the record without interruption or sanction?
3
Sorry Wrong if you look at the history of the senate and house these people have harassed and called many names not nice ones to people who oppose the floors appointments. None have been treated as Senator Elizabeth Warren was on the floor. Plus just look at the present Domination of our Government and the constant lies they produce It almost mirrors the present governments in Russia and North Korea. So please take your decorum and spout it to someone who agrees with your diatribe.
Such biased article. Why did Warren get interrupted? Because she kept on insulting other people. Her arguments are naive, completely lacking of logic.
10
Paul, she was not insulting anybody. She was reading a letter from Coretta Scott King about Sessions' abuse of prosecutorial power as US Attorney in AL, where he lost a high profile case accusing black activists of voter fraud. Those actions as US Attorney contributed to his defeat in 1986 when Reagan nominated him to be a Federal Judge.
Totally germane to the case, his character, and his (in)ability/unwillingness to fairly enforce the law.
And why did McConnell make no attempt to sanction FOUR male $enators who read the same letter into the record?
Please take note, a Republican led prosecution alleging voter fraud LOST at trial with an overwhelmingly white jury.
Totally germane to the case, his character, and his (in)ability/unwillingness to fairly enforce the law.
And why did McConnell make no attempt to sanction FOUR male $enators who read the same letter into the record?
Please take note, a Republican led prosecution alleging voter fraud LOST at trial with an overwhelmingly white jury.
1
Liz speaks for me, my daughter AND my two granddaughters. And we are all nasty women.
12
Thank goodness you only have 3 of them and not 101, Cruella.
2
This wont be published nor will my lat comment. But I will try anyway. After reading this, I went to
Breitbart. They actually gave a short description of all that happened here without telling me that what Warren did was good/bad, whether confirmation was good/bad. Imagine! Letting readers come to their own conclusion!
Breitbart. They actually gave a short description of all that happened here without telling me that what Warren did was good/bad, whether confirmation was good/bad. Imagine! Letting readers come to their own conclusion!
6
Did Breitbart mention that FOUR male $enators, inclding Bernie Sanders, were allowed to read the very same letter into the record without objection or sanction from McConnell?
1
I wish we talked about this type of 'recognition gap' as much as we talk about the pay gap.
2
It's a shame there wasn't a well qualified female candidate for president that women could have voted for in overwhelming numbers so that women would not have to bear the indignities of the Trump administration for four years... oh wait...
8
This is good. Let's start prying open the same stupid cultural fissures that cost us the last presidential election.
9
For heaven's sake! You lost the election because you had a lousy candidate!
The US lags. There are many other countries that have already had women leaders . And many that have more women elected to their parliaments than the US has elected as legislators.
Do their women have to contend with this absurd disrespect from male colleagues?
The men already read King's letter. This whole thing is TRUMPED UP.
Do their women have to contend with this absurd disrespect from male colleagues?
The men already read King's letter. This whole thing is TRUMPED UP.
7
The Senate has rules and Warren was breaking them. Is there something more to it than that?
Or should there be different rules for some people based on their sex, gender, race, national origin, politics, ethnicity, religion etc, in which case, there are no rules, we just all do whatever we want?
Or should there be different rules for some people based on their sex, gender, race, national origin, politics, ethnicity, religion etc, in which case, there are no rules, we just all do whatever we want?
7
There clearly are different rules for different genders, as men were permitted to read Mrs. King's letter without interruption or condemnation.
6
Those rules have been broken many times by conservative men and nothing was done. And remember she was not the person who was breaking the rules the person who wrote the letter was the one who broke the rules so to speak. And that same letter was read by a male in the senate before and nothing was done!!!
That prejudice male should never have been appointed to the position he was put in and it should never have been approved but again MONEY RULES.
That prejudice male should never have been appointed to the position he was put in and it should never have been approved but again MONEY RULES.
2
...and the majority of white women voted for the misogynist instead of the far more qualified candidate. Awake now?
Hopefully in four years people will not be suckered in by the next bogus email-gate that the GOP will come up with.
Hopefully in four years people will not be suckered in by the next bogus email-gate that the GOP will come up with.
8
Elizabeth Warren, a powerful woman who has made a name for herself as a Senator, was abruptly stopped from reading a Ietter written against a man by another powerful woman of a different era, Coretta Scott King. If a woman holding a position of power, like Elizabeth Warren does, in one of the most powerful offices in the world, is meted out this kind of treatment by men, it scares me to imagine the condition of an uneducated, financially dependent woman, living in any part of the world? A woman who speaks up and wants her voice to be heard, is not only seen as aggressive but also arrogant and unyielding, traits that are usually not associated with being a lady. Sean Spicer said today that if Coretta Scott King was alive today, she could have supported Jeff Sessions' nomination. Well, I believe if Coretta was with us today, she would be rather outraged and shocked to see that women continue to be silenced.
17
Congratulations to Senator Warren for her consistent intelligence and bravery. Here is one man who will yield the floor to her insight and eloquence any day.
10
Warren is presidential. Something the current occupant of the post is not.
8
To deny a woman Senator's right to read a letter from MLK's widow, on the Senate floor, during black history month, is plain dumb.
To permit male Senators to read the very same letter, without censure or objection, is sexist.
To permit male Senators to read the very same letter, without censure or objection, is sexist.
26
She was told to quit not because she was 1) a woman, 2) she was reading a letter written 30 years ago, but because she was out of line. Mr. Session's character has been examined with an electron microscope and all allegations proven false. You need to stop listening to the Schumer /Warren din. Ms Warren should talk more about her American Indian heritage.
1
Isn't there someone who just ran on the Democrat presidential ticket who could be said to have persisted—and persisted—and is pretty much now starting to remain unacknowledged, quoted but unattributed?
8
Thank you for this, Susan. Sessions would have been confirmed anyway, but this typical male behavior toward Warren will fuel what is already an opposition led by women. And no wonder. All of us have been interrupted, patronized, dis-respected, harassed. All of us responded as we did to the "Access Hollywood'' tapes not because they were shocking but because they were familiar. Yes, there are good men and hopefully they will express themselves. But for now, it is largely women in the streets, many who never considered such o positional behavior. We are there because of the roadblocks and humiliations we faced. We there is memory of our mothers. And we are there to make a better world for our daughters.
19
This starts early. As a child I was constantly told, "For a little girl you talk a lot." I was very small for my age. I guess I was supposed to act like a tiny, sweet cherub and not a feisty person. I always felt some kind of vague shame when adults made that remark. Years later I realized that this was sexism; if I had been a boy adults would have said instead, "You are so bright and articulate."
We must fight back, loud and clear!
We must fight back, loud and clear!
18
Sen. McConnell inadvertently gave Sen. Warren the campaign slogan for her 2018 re-election: "She Persisted." He has foolishly poked a hornet's nest, yet again, whose occupants, not all of them women, will never forget this insult. We have already seen that now is the time for all of us to Persist against the old, white, Republican hegemony.
19
Senator McConnell, you are on the WRONG side of History. You are the Joseph McCarthy of today. And as we said to him, we say to you, "At long last have you no shame, sir?"
13
Elizabeth Warren's honorably wrought objection of Sessions's nomination raises many thoughts about our era's congressional leaders, and about American leadership, itself, in the 21st century.
There is so much I could write here about what makes Senator Warren's verbal defiance so admirable, so correct, and so much Needed; however, in respect to my peers in this space, I will just express this:
So many -- too many -- of our government leaders spend their entire terms in office "leading" like jellyfish: soft on principle, and too afraid that if they take legitimate stands on the issues, their constituents may not vote them in again. Pathetic.
In her outcry against Sessions (and the whole Good Ol' Boy Frat Club Republican Establishment), Senator Warrens spoke to Conscience, and essentially told the spineless to be damned.
Thank you, Senator.
There is so much I could write here about what makes Senator Warren's verbal defiance so admirable, so correct, and so much Needed; however, in respect to my peers in this space, I will just express this:
So many -- too many -- of our government leaders spend their entire terms in office "leading" like jellyfish: soft on principle, and too afraid that if they take legitimate stands on the issues, their constituents may not vote them in again. Pathetic.
In her outcry against Sessions (and the whole Good Ol' Boy Frat Club Republican Establishment), Senator Warrens spoke to Conscience, and essentially told the spineless to be damned.
Thank you, Senator.
171
Speaking of spineless, where were John McCain and Lindsay Graham during the votes for De Vos and Sessions? They have both been publicly critical of this so-called president's misguided actions, but when push-came-to shove they kowtowed to the party line. The rare moments of respect I ever had for the independence and conscience of either of them has been flushed down the toilet.
3
It is becoming increasingly obvious that no Republicans anywhere are prepared to break party ranks - as yet anyway - to serve the country. Despite all rationalizations and redefinitions (alternative truth) or fingerpointing (Obama or someone else did the same thing) many Republicans know that Trump is unique - destructively so, but entrenched in a stance which accepts minority status and contrives to make it dominant through the exploitation of fear and hate, fearful of the impact of becoming a more diverse, democratically based party, simply is unable to to devise workable programs to address the needs of all the people. Unified rancor is the program of the Republican Party. It really is an institution in its death rattle, but will it take the country down first?
10
You must have amnesia. Please review how many times Democrats broke with party lines during Obama's presidency. Give me a break.
1
Women who speak up in meetings with both in government and private business are often considered "pushy broads".
Sexism is indeed alive and well in America, particularly Trump's America. Mitch McConnell's Senate. I'd venture to say that Mitch McConnell has flouted article 19 more times then he has used it to abruptly cut off speakers he just likes.
Mitch McConnell is simply a more refined version of Donald Trump, who still sees women as sexual toys. His comment about women's dress in the workplace is so reminiscent of FOX News and its hiring of female reporters based on beauty and dress.
What it comes to women's rights and professional advancement, Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell because are doing more to undo achievements of the past two decades.
Women are not fools and see this for what it is: the inability of men to share power with women, particularly smart women like Elizabeth Warren who refuse to "know their place."
Sexism is indeed alive and well in America, particularly Trump's America. Mitch McConnell's Senate. I'd venture to say that Mitch McConnell has flouted article 19 more times then he has used it to abruptly cut off speakers he just likes.
Mitch McConnell is simply a more refined version of Donald Trump, who still sees women as sexual toys. His comment about women's dress in the workplace is so reminiscent of FOX News and its hiring of female reporters based on beauty and dress.
What it comes to women's rights and professional advancement, Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell because are doing more to undo achievements of the past two decades.
Women are not fools and see this for what it is: the inability of men to share power with women, particularly smart women like Elizabeth Warren who refuse to "know their place."
30
Whatever one thinks of the rule Senator McConnell invoked to muzzle Elizabeth Warren -- supposedly it fosters civility and collegiality in furthering the Senate's legislative function -- it can surely have no legitimate application to debate concerning a sitting Senator's fitness to be approved as a Cabinet Secretary. To conclude otherwise would be to give the odious Jeff Sessions a pass that no other Trump nominees got.
8
Warren's voice is a voice of anger and demonization. She holds no high ground on Trump.
9
John. Weren't anger and demonization the cornerstones of Trump's victory?
"She persisted."
Yes she did.
And yes, we will.
Yes she did.
And yes, we will.
34
Just wondering if Mr. McConnell speaks to the current Mrs. McConnell, Elaine Chao with the same disdain?
13
Why no mention of Mitch McConnell's fierce traditionalism and consistent defense of Senate decorum?
This article is missing any semblance of objective analysis.
This article is missing any semblance of objective analysis.
11
Why should "Senate decorum" apply only to a woman reading Mrs. King's letter, and not to the men who read it?
3
Consistent defense of decorum? What about the at least two, perhaps three, white male senators who read this letter on the floor after Senator Warren was pushed aside, with nary a peep from the GOP?
2
Because it's irrelevant.
1
In his arrogance AND stupidity, all Mitch McConnell continues to demonstrate is the Republican Parties continued disdain for women and people of color. He is a political dinosaur that should have been expunged from government years ago, yet, one has to constantly wonder, whom are the people that keep re-electing this individual whom has consistently shown he serves no positive purpose whatsoever in government and especially the Senate. His only concern is keeping his palatial office.
24
White Supremacists Republicans hate all Others. They hate women, smart liberal women, who will take no guff from White Male chauvinists. Last night we saw how horrible these White Supremacists Republicans can be, banning a women from speaking on the floor of the Senate. This is the country of Free Speech? Rubbish. McConnell and his equally racists comrades Ryan, Pence, Bannon, and Trump are men who have no respect for women. They are truly despicable excuses for human beings. Let us hope that they all get what's coming to them in the future. Trump has made enemies of our allies. Next time they are alerted to a potential 9/11 occurring I wonder will they bother to alert this demagogic dictator. I know I wouldn't.
DD
Manhattan
DD
Manhattan
15
PLEASE. She broke Senate rules.
8
This is not a regular hearing vetting an outsider - her colleague is being considered for a cabinet post. The Senator Warren's duty was to vet Sessions' qualifications or lack thereof on behalf of the American people. These so called rules can be judiciously used or can be used as they were by McConnell in a heavy handed way to silence any dissent. It's a good old boy network filled with misogynists. NEVERTHELESS, SHE PERSISTED.
1
So why wasn't Cruz told to shut up? That is the point. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.
Let's do it. Divide into two countries, the red state takers vs. the blue state makers. I'll retire early to Seattle. Let's see how the good old boys do without the blue state welfare. Not well, I'm guessing.
21
Sexism and racism rule the Republican Party. The NYT news article regarding Sen. Sessions confirmation speaks of "extreme partisanship": wrong!
Sen. Warren point was that it is extreme racism that drives these old white men of the Confederacy who have seized OUR government illegally.
It would worth noting one strategy these old Confederate soldiers used to try to prevent the enactment of the Civil Rights Act was to include women in it.
Sen. Warren point was that it is extreme racism that drives these old white men of the Confederacy who have seized OUR government illegally.
It would worth noting one strategy these old Confederate soldiers used to try to prevent the enactment of the Civil Rights Act was to include women in it.
10
Not just one, but two women were silenced by this act. Elizabeth Warren and Coretta Scott King. Do you think they'd have stopped Warren from reading a letter by Mrs. King's husband?
10
When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When you're an identity politics warrior, everything looks like an assault on your chosen identity group.
Warren's rhetoric is abhorrent. It has nothing to do with her gender. She panders to the cameras and her lunatic fringe base. Thank God someone finally shut her up.
Warren's rhetoric is abhorrent. It has nothing to do with her gender. She panders to the cameras and her lunatic fringe base. Thank God someone finally shut her up.
8
Was what she was saying okay when Sanders and Merkley read the letter? Please, you have only proven the well made point in this piece.
2
Her rhetoric is abhorrent? She was reading a letter by Coretta Scott King - doing her job to vet a man for this important cabinet post. Misogyny and racism still run rampant in this country.
Pocahontas rules! She is one woman who makes trump afraid. We need 100 more of her!
8
Equality...deal with it.
7
Where is this place where women are quiet? Asking for a friend.
5
I do wish this isssue wouldn't keep being referred to as a women's issue. There are many (and I hope very, very many) of us men who see this as an issue for all of us. When women are treated as second class we are all demeaned. And outraged. And it should be repudiated by everyone.
227
Yes, Mr. Gottlieb, and Thank YOU for speaking up.
Bruce Gottlieb, you are right about this that it is far from being only a women's issue. Senator Warren was speaking to Sessions's past actions as a state attorney general and how those actions demonstrated his unfitness to hold the position of Attorney General for the US that he now unfortunately holds.
The feminist lens seems irrelevant here and I'm not entirely sure if this is a shameless attempt by the NYT to fill their daily feminist article quota and get clicks, or simply stupidity.
7
Elisabeth Warren is not a familiar face in the UK and was almost unknown to me until I witnessed her forensic examination of Tom Price in the hearings for Secretary of Health. She was so self-evidently brilliant, and exposed his suspect share dealiings so effectively, that I put the link on to my Facebook page for my Facebook friends to admire too. She is living proof that, despite the election of the so-called President, not all hope for America has been lost.
15
Monthly contribution for the Warren/Booker 2020 campaign started today.
"She was WARREN-ed. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted."
Our Elizabeth D'Arc persisted and so will we!!!
"She was WARREN-ed. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted."
Our Elizabeth D'Arc persisted and so will we!!!
6
Next week I will attend my son's IEP meeting at his school.
There will be six to seven women in the room, including his mother. I will be the only male.
They don't listen. They don't even hear. They want to cross T's, dot I's, laugh and tell funny jokes, and get the hell out.
You bet I tell them to be quiet. And they don't like it. As the only male in the room, it is always made clear that my input is not really what they are interested in hearing. But I don't back off. And they REALLY don'y like that.
I love Elizabeth Warren. The woman can take care of herself, without anyone's help.
I suggest you and every other put - upon woman grow a pair and do the same.
There will be six to seven women in the room, including his mother. I will be the only male.
They don't listen. They don't even hear. They want to cross T's, dot I's, laugh and tell funny jokes, and get the hell out.
You bet I tell them to be quiet. And they don't like it. As the only male in the room, it is always made clear that my input is not really what they are interested in hearing. But I don't back off. And they REALLY don'y like that.
I love Elizabeth Warren. The woman can take care of herself, without anyone's help.
I suggest you and every other put - upon woman grow a pair and do the same.
5
I can hear the mind of the Senator from the southern state of Kentucky: "Little girl, just sit down now and be quiet, y'hear?"
I can also hear Senator Warren's response, but it isn't printable, and I highly applaud it.
I can also hear Senator Warren's response, but it isn't printable, and I highly applaud it.
3
Well now ladies, aren't you glad you voted Republican? I hope now you can see for yourselves what high regard you're held in. Although I must admit in Elizabeth's case she does represent a real threat to them in the future because like Obama she's a lot more intelligent than they are.
I believe your way is a bit clearer now. And you outnumber them. By quite a bit. Shouldn't be too hard to get rid of a bunch of them in 2018, and the rest in 2020. With the way they've treated Elizabeth Warren they've given you a head start, both in motive and determination.
I believe your way is a bit clearer now. And you outnumber them. By quite a bit. Shouldn't be too hard to get rid of a bunch of them in 2018, and the rest in 2020. With the way they've treated Elizabeth Warren they've given you a head start, both in motive and determination.
4
The insuperable gap between Americans who value truth and reason and those who believe we are in the middle of some holy war just got wider. There are cheers for the turtle on the right for shutting her up and they would be raising their Budweisers to the health of the con men, but they are boycotting the product because they told an immigration story in a commercial. Most Twilight Zone episodes were 30 minutes long, this one will go on until voters get themselves to the polls in numbers greater than 42%.
2
And then Lindsey Graham proclaimed that is was passed time to shut her up. He would never have said that about Bernie, I get that.
But Democrats, listen up.
Graham in that same interview said that Warren is campaigning for 2020. The Republicans are much better than we idealism-struck progressives at sniffing out the Machiavellian ways to bring down a candidate. Look what they did to war hero John Kerry. And note that they went after Hillary over Benghazi for years before she declared and, oh my gosh, lucky GOP, they stumbled on evidence of her e-mail server and beat that drum until it became her funeral march.
Note that Jeff Merkeley of Oregon and the firebrand Bernie Sanders were allowed to go on reading that CSK letter that got the harridan/harpy/shrew banned.
Please, my fellow feminists and women's libbers, stop seeing this solely as a sexist assault, although of course it was sexist, too. It's a vicious prong in the ever vigilant GOP war against anyone they suspect, intuit, or hope might run as a Dem in 2020. The Republicans are aces at thinking strategically. They aren't sitting around thinking about how they can help the American people get ahead, they are plotting in the back room how to spear and destroy anyone who is not an adherent of the Angry White Majority Male Party.
Elizabeth Warren is in their sights. Don't for a second let any slight, innuendo, or outright assault against her go unanswered for the next however many years.
But Democrats, listen up.
Graham in that same interview said that Warren is campaigning for 2020. The Republicans are much better than we idealism-struck progressives at sniffing out the Machiavellian ways to bring down a candidate. Look what they did to war hero John Kerry. And note that they went after Hillary over Benghazi for years before she declared and, oh my gosh, lucky GOP, they stumbled on evidence of her e-mail server and beat that drum until it became her funeral march.
Note that Jeff Merkeley of Oregon and the firebrand Bernie Sanders were allowed to go on reading that CSK letter that got the harridan/harpy/shrew banned.
Please, my fellow feminists and women's libbers, stop seeing this solely as a sexist assault, although of course it was sexist, too. It's a vicious prong in the ever vigilant GOP war against anyone they suspect, intuit, or hope might run as a Dem in 2020. The Republicans are aces at thinking strategically. They aren't sitting around thinking about how they can help the American people get ahead, they are plotting in the back room how to spear and destroy anyone who is not an adherent of the Angry White Majority Male Party.
Elizabeth Warren is in their sights. Don't for a second let any slight, innuendo, or outright assault against her go unanswered for the next however many years.
17
While it would be nice to see a woman in the presidency, it is extremely unlikely for the next 20-24 years, as women in America are not respected in either the business or political hierarchies. This was repeatedly demonstrated in the primaries through the overt objectification of women by male republican candidates, and in particular by DJT to the moderators and other candidates (Carly F.).
Fundamentally the vote for Trump from the republicans was not because they respected him or expected that he was rational, but because the men and women of the right trust an untrustworthy, ill prepared, and uncouth MAN more than they would ever trust a well prepared, trustworthy WOMAN.
One may argue that HC was not trustworthy, primarily due to years for unwarranted fear mongering and perverse false witness by those on the right, but any other woman running for President would have faced similar attacks.
The underlying biases in American society force ranks White Male before Colored Male, before Female. The right was stung from 8 years of what they considered an inferior representative (regardless of said representatives experience, qualifications, and character, which was outstanding), and as a result, unless the candidate on the left was male there was not going to be a different outcome.
This will only change if there are stronger Female representatives on the Right, and who in no way has any of the attributes of Ms. Palin.
Fundamentally the vote for Trump from the republicans was not because they respected him or expected that he was rational, but because the men and women of the right trust an untrustworthy, ill prepared, and uncouth MAN more than they would ever trust a well prepared, trustworthy WOMAN.
One may argue that HC was not trustworthy, primarily due to years for unwarranted fear mongering and perverse false witness by those on the right, but any other woman running for President would have faced similar attacks.
The underlying biases in American society force ranks White Male before Colored Male, before Female. The right was stung from 8 years of what they considered an inferior representative (regardless of said representatives experience, qualifications, and character, which was outstanding), and as a result, unless the candidate on the left was male there was not going to be a different outcome.
This will only change if there are stronger Female representatives on the Right, and who in no way has any of the attributes of Ms. Palin.
3
Infinitely amusing. There is no one that the Republicans would rather run against than Warren in any next election. If Clinton went down in flames then Warren would go down like the 1937 Hindenburg.
A very narrow slice of east and west coast liberals adore her - I get it - but the rest of the country thinks she is obnoxious socialist poison.
A very narrow slice of east and west coast liberals adore her - I get it - but the rest of the country thinks she is obnoxious socialist poison.
6
Boy, can I relate! Last year, my 94-year father was not very steady on his feet. I asked to go along with my father and brother to the orthopedist to see if he could recommend any exercises that might make him stronger and was told to be quiet, My father fell and broke his hip just two days after seeing the doctor.
I live next door to my father and check on him frequently to make sure he was doing okay. I walked in on him one afternoon and caught him setting the kitchen of fire because he put aluminum foil into the microwave. I called my four brothers and sisters to let them know what had happened but nobody called back. I was viewed as a meddlesome daughter.
So I know how you feel Ms,Warren. I honestly don't know why most men will not listen to their female counterparts, Or worse, ignore them. I am so very sorry that this happened.
I live next door to my father and check on him frequently to make sure he was doing okay. I walked in on him one afternoon and caught him setting the kitchen of fire because he put aluminum foil into the microwave. I called my four brothers and sisters to let them know what had happened but nobody called back. I was viewed as a meddlesome daughter.
So I know how you feel Ms,Warren. I honestly don't know why most men will not listen to their female counterparts, Or worse, ignore them. I am so very sorry that this happened.
5
Mitch McConnel may be the least intelligent person to ever hold that role. What was he thinking?
With his ugly behavior, he handed Elizabeth Warren the presidential mantle for 2020. He gave a face and a name to the anger felt by every woman at that march. He painted a picture complete with arrows pointed right to Elizabeth Warren and essentially said "Hey, women everywhere, HERE YOU GO. Here is your hero."
WHAT A DOOFUS.
With his ugly behavior, he handed Elizabeth Warren the presidential mantle for 2020. He gave a face and a name to the anger felt by every woman at that march. He painted a picture complete with arrows pointed right to Elizabeth Warren and essentially said "Hey, women everywhere, HERE YOU GO. Here is your hero."
WHAT A DOOFUS.
10
People who are grandstanding for sound bites can expect to be told to be quiet more than those who are attempting honest debate and discourse. And applies not only to the Senate, but life in general.
6
Keep it up, McGollum, please. He's normally a very strategic guy, but it's hard to imagine the perceived payoff here, since Jefferson Beauregard Secessions was going to be approved anyway. Makes me think this was personal.
6
Dare we ask if next Republicans ask some folks to please be seated in the back of the bus? And separate drinking fountains and bathrooms?
This crop of Republicans continues to open the doors even wider from a disgusting past of our Nation, and worse, welcome it!
This crop of Republicans continues to open the doors even wider from a disgusting past of our Nation, and worse, welcome it!
6
Once again, rules are unfair if they apply equally to women and men. Only men should be subject to rules. Men should be silent while women break rules. Got it.
3
You realize, don't you, that male senators were permitted to read from Coretta Scott King's letter?
You realize, don't you, that my Senator's reading from CSK's letter was embedded in a vitriolic diatribe against a fellow senator, which the others' remarks were not?
BTW, the notion that people don't change over the course of 30+ years is also ludicrous.
BTW, the notion that people don't change over the course of 30+ years is also ludicrous.
“Women Can Relate.” And the point is what?
Perhaps you have forgotten that 53% of white women voted for a demagogue who didn’t just disregard the norms of civility, for example, by bragging about the size of his penis, he also stated that women enjoyed being groped.
Obviously, it was an appealing enough message to the majority of white women as they chose this demagogue over a brilliant white woman.
The "talking heads" in the media are already predicting Warren's victory in in 2020 based on a white man’s disrespect toward her on the Senate Floor.
Very recent history clearly show that there is absolutely no proof that the majority of white women will support Warren or any other woman in 2020 if she, or some other woman chooses to run.
Perhaps you have forgotten that 53% of white women voted for a demagogue who didn’t just disregard the norms of civility, for example, by bragging about the size of his penis, he also stated that women enjoyed being groped.
Obviously, it was an appealing enough message to the majority of white women as they chose this demagogue over a brilliant white woman.
The "talking heads" in the media are already predicting Warren's victory in in 2020 based on a white man’s disrespect toward her on the Senate Floor.
Very recent history clearly show that there is absolutely no proof that the majority of white women will support Warren or any other woman in 2020 if she, or some other woman chooses to run.
6
Uh, actually that's 53% of white women. Women overall preferred Clinton 54% to 42% for Trump.
I do love how silencing Senator Warren has backfired on the GOP patriarchy. If McConnell & company had not done this, we may not have been aware of the content of Coretta Scott King's letter. In addition, this event has stoked our righteous anger and invigorated our opposition to the Trump invasion. So, thank you Senator McConnell!
10
This of course had nothing to do with gender. Warren violated the Senate rules, was warned about it and then continued to flaunt them. But the leftists let no opportunity pass without attempting to use it to enhance their agenda. And where is the indignation from American Indians? I understand Warren is a direct ancestor of some (very) lost native tribe.
5
Is this really about gender? For me it seems to be a matter of protocol. The author seems to follow an agenda and have noregards for facts. It is impressive this gets into the front page.
4
“She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”??? Purr-haps Sen. McConnell's condescending remarks will prompt the emergence of the Purr-Sisters, with their little pink caps, perky ears and pesky attitudes. Women of the world, unite!
5
Crying "sexism" any time a woman politician gets in a dust-up with a male politician demeans the woman in question. Elizabeth Warren blasts people all the time. She can take much milder forms of criticism.
Of course, liberals are obsessed with screaming "sexism" and "racism" with the erroneous belief it helps their cause. It only further demonstrates how deeply intolerant and silly they are.
Of course, liberals are obsessed with screaming "sexism" and "racism" with the erroneous belief it helps their cause. It only further demonstrates how deeply intolerant and silly they are.
17
Then how do you make sense of two male peers being allowed to read Scott's letter?
When you say liberals are "deeply intolerant" who in your mind is being victimized? Mitch McConnell? White males? How much more tolerance do white males need? The great majority of our government representatives and leaders are white males. Your statement is akin to Steve Bannon telling the media to shut up. If anything liberals need to be more intolerant, even viciously and militantly intolerant of sexism and racism in any form. The callousness of your statement only further demonstrates how deeply loyal you are to injustice.
When you say liberals are "deeply intolerant" who in your mind is being victimized? Mitch McConnell? White males? How much more tolerance do white males need? The great majority of our government representatives and leaders are white males. Your statement is akin to Steve Bannon telling the media to shut up. If anything liberals need to be more intolerant, even viciously and militantly intolerant of sexism and racism in any form. The callousness of your statement only further demonstrates how deeply loyal you are to injustice.
2
Uh Mike, what happened here isn't that Warren was blasted and can take it since she dishes it out too! What happened here is that she was silenced. Something she has never had the power to do. How is it possible to misconstrue this event quite as much as you have?
1
Allowing men to read the same letter on the floor, but not her? Such a double-standard is the definition of sexism. This "War on Women" by the congressional leadership (and the president) should appall anyone, liberal and conservative alike.
1
I can only assume Mitch is the kind of guy that's told Senator Warren she'd be prettier if she'd smile more. Like, at least once or twice.
2
Liz Warren is a bit uppity. She really needs to learn her place. She's just loud and demanding, and that voice just grates on you. Could someone tell her to put on some lipstick and smile a little more? Sincerely, Inherent Bias That We All Face Every Stupid Day
3
This episode really impacted me today. I find men rarely are "horrified when it is pointed out", and instead they deny and deflect, blame the strong woman and alienate her. Some even lead others to alienate her. Elizabeth Warren should take this moment to call for approval of the ERA, the UNCEDAW, and a careful ethics review of the disparate treatment of women in Congress.
3
Yeah no. How bout VOTE Rather than relate. I heard all about how women could relate to Trumps historic woman hating actions and rhetoric. What did it mean? NOTHING. Don't relate -- VOTE next time. We r here bc a paltry sad and ridiculous % of women showed up to vote what we were all told was their heart mind and soul. I'll believe there is a cohesive women's movement When I see action and voting. Relating is a joke unless it's backed up with a vote. And this last election everything I believed from every source said women would slaughter Trump and instead he sent gender equality back 50 years. BTW what will Elizabeth "pocohantas" Warren get out of this? Nothing. Maybe more branding that doesn't offend women enough to say "enough".
1
Senator Warren was polite, persistent, and determined. She asked for clarification and was told she was told she could proceed until Senator McConnell interrupted. You could almost read his mind ("How dare she...") Maybe it's his new relationship with our so-called president that convinced him that being rude and patronizing is a good look? Well, McConnell got to make the rules last night and no doubt Sessions will be confirmed tonight, but this is a long game and Senator Warren seems to have both the intellect and the tenacity to fight it -- with a lot of women right there with her.
3
Any article about Warren in the Boston Globe elicits a storm of repub hate comments. I take them as proof she is making an impact. If she weren't, they wouldn't bother attacking her.
6
Persist. Resist. Dress as you wish, President Warren.
4
Well.....Get the DNC cleaned up so that when Senator Warren runs for the office of President, there is no question as to our choice.
2
I watched Elizabeth when she was fighting for the CFPB (Consumer Finance Protection Bureau). She was being absolutely grilled in the hearings and she really stood her ground. A lesser person would have wilted under the pressure the repubs put up. But the CFPB was created and has done what it set out to do. Just look at the Wells Fargo mess recently.
But she made the repubs so mad that they wouldn't let her be the director of the Bureau. Richard Cordray was named but that's ok. He's doing a great job. Now, of course, they want to get rid of it.
I'm so glad Elizabeth is a Senator. I'm on her side all the way. Men can try to silence women. It usually doesn't work out too well for them, though.
But she made the repubs so mad that they wouldn't let her be the director of the Bureau. Richard Cordray was named but that's ok. He's doing a great job. Now, of course, they want to get rid of it.
I'm so glad Elizabeth is a Senator. I'm on her side all the way. Men can try to silence women. It usually doesn't work out too well for them, though.
8
Let's remember Mitch McConnell tried to silence two women: Coretta Scott King and Elizabeth Warren. He failed miserably.
3
My spirits fell when I realised what had just gone on, how familiar it felt. How wrong to silence a woman, a colleague, a Senator with every right to stand and speak King's words. Shameful. May he rue the day he did this.
2
I think all of us women have had similar experiences. I can't forget the words I heard back in November when my coed sporting event turned unsportsmanlike. "Shut your pie hole, woman," I was told my a man on the opposing team after I spoke up to defend myself. That happened just days after Clinton's defeat, which made it sting more. I felt so deflated I skipped the next few games.
6
So let's carry on, women of America! I'm going to support science in the March for Science on April 22 in Washington, DC. Let our female voices be heard!!
3
Unfortunately if you follow #shepersisted on twitter you'll see many disparaging comments against Senator Warren. Many with in-your-face Native American racism. A quick visual tally shows through that they are predominately from white males (sadly some women too).
1
This has been the story of my life too.
I so want a tee shirt emblazoned with
"Nevertheless, She Persisted."
I so want a tee shirt emblazoned with
"Nevertheless, She Persisted."
1
Looks like Sessions was aggressively investigating voter fraud and that was crimping the style of Southern Democrats. The Coretta King letter she read is full of opinions, not facts, and could be considered slanderous. Warren now can speechify in the Senate hallways until Sessions is confirmed.
2
Trump supporters see a she-devil. And Trump got what he wanted with his 'nasty woman' comment. But Elizabeth Warren has a conscience and has a soul; she will get the better of them.
10
It's like reliving my whole career. Not listened to...learning how to get listened to...learning how to work the system. Back to square one. This is unacceptable. We MUST continue to make our voices heard Outrageous.
2
I don't agree that McConnell attempting to silence Warren is a woman subjugation issue - the reporter just wanted a spin for an article, consolidating it with the women's dress code, Trump violence against women etc. That kind of article focus takes away from the fact that Warren spoke truth to power as a United States Senator yesterday, and even when she was silenced, she turned the volume up so that the rest of the country heard what Mr. Sessions had done. Warren was unbowed and uncowed, as a Senator and a leader. A more relevant article would have focused on research into Sessions' actions and lack of suitability for any position representing our diverse country. That would have shown that the New York Times listened to what Warren had to say.
4
Maybe those Senators should be reminded that the discussion about Sessions' qualifications was about him becoming Atorney General of the United States, not anything about his role as a Senator, subject to their self-protective rule about speaking only well of each other.
Sessions has a very bad past reading civil rights and his current role as some sort of intellectual underpinning for some of the other things that are coming out of the White House and the mouth of Bannon. That needed to be emphasized more, in addition to the things from the mid-eighties. A scary man and he will be confirmed by the chicken-hearted self-seving Republicans.
Sessions has a very bad past reading civil rights and his current role as some sort of intellectual underpinning for some of the other things that are coming out of the White House and the mouth of Bannon. That needed to be emphasized more, in addition to the things from the mid-eighties. A scary man and he will be confirmed by the chicken-hearted self-seving Republicans.
3
The only way I'm able to keep up the fight is to acknowledge in my own mind that I am seeing the early days of another 100 year old fight for the next big step towards Women's Equality. Yes, I sadly believe it will take that long. I want Senator Warren to continue to persist, but I do not want her to run for President. The 2020 campaign will start in less than 3 years and this electorate is no more ready to vote in a woman than it was in 2016. You can tell by all the men that still absolutely can't stand to listen to a powerful woman. So give me a screaming feminist progressive MAN as president to change laws and get the ERA passed. The first female president is generations (note, plural) away, but we'll persist and we will get there.
6
But many, many of us men did vote for a woman for President in 2016. Please remember Hilary Clinton easily won the popular vote.
1
I'm confused about something: my dictionaries define "insult" as something "scornfully abusive" or disrespectful. So what, exactly, did Senator Warren say -- in her own words or in Mrs. King's -- that was "insulting"? To make truthful observations about someone's documented past is insulting? oh dear.
Its only the women in Congress who won't put up or cover up for this steaming pile of Republican hubris. The two Republican women voting against Betsy Vos showed more courage and good judgement than the males in their caucus.
Well the men, Republicans and Democrats alike, will own this catastrophe in the end unless they stop ducking and covering and move to get this poor excuse for a President out of the Whitehouse ASAP. The women can show them how to clean up the mess.
Well the men, Republicans and Democrats alike, will own this catastrophe in the end unless they stop ducking and covering and move to get this poor excuse for a President out of the Whitehouse ASAP. The women can show them how to clean up the mess.
1
Wonderful response to the silencing of the generous and articulate Elizabeth Warren, who has become one of my favorite politicians. Go Elizabeth! And as Hillary Clinton urged us today on Twitter, we must all speak up, especially when jerks like McConnell try to silence us!
1
Of course, I can relate. All the more reason to keep speaking, and keep persisting. Shame on you Sen. McConnell and the GOP senators who supported the censure of a letter from a civil rights icon. Plus, how many times have women been told? "Youse was warned. Youse was given an explanation. Nevertheless, youse persisted.” Yeah, in bad English too.
2
Absolutely disgusting misuse of the Senate rule -- silencing both Senator Warren and Mrs. King -- the latter AGAIN, as the late Senator Strom Thurmond, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. never entered Mrs. King's letter into the Congressional Record as would have been expected. Do you see a pattern here? Women try to take part in the civic life of our nation and Southern Republican men abuse rules to silence them. Can anyone seriously claim this is fair?
However, it appears the Senate Republicans have conceded the point that using the power of public office "to intimidate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens" is such serious "conduct unbecoming a Senator" that it invokes Senate Rule 19. They -- and others -- should search their consciences about the GOP voter suppression campaigns, admitted to proudly by at least one GOP official. Now THAT is "conduct unbecoming a Senator." When do the impeachments begin?
However, it appears the Senate Republicans have conceded the point that using the power of public office "to intimidate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens" is such serious "conduct unbecoming a Senator" that it invokes Senate Rule 19. They -- and others -- should search their consciences about the GOP voter suppression campaigns, admitted to proudly by at least one GOP official. Now THAT is "conduct unbecoming a Senator." When do the impeachments begin?
4
Mitch McConnell would do better to tell Donald J. Trump to shut up!
4
Elizabeth Warren is my hero, my role model. Sycophant Mitch McConnell was terrifically transparent in his treatment of Senator Warren, have the loud woman be silent. Sorry Mitch we will not be silenced.
2
Are you referring to the same women who could related to Trump's chauvinism, then voted for him anyway? Those women? I'm not yet convinced any lessons are being learned among the willfully blind.
1
The issue is whether Warren is subject to the rules of the Senate just as much as her male colleagues are or whether are going to practice a form of affirmative action for women in politics. Chira draws on the feminist ideology to claim that women are silenced. So, to offset this imagined male aggression against women, women deserve and need special treatment.
This is a naked defense of a double standard -- with the rules dumbed down for women. It has become deeply engrained in our culture. Sen. Warren herself has skillfully manipulated the system. For much of her career she presented her self as a "twofer" -- both a woman and a minority (the latter based on her now discredited claim to have Cherokee ancestors).
But Chira's use of the stereotype of fragile women who need special protections in a hostile male-dominated environment is not only demeaning and false, but is a throwback an era when progressives like Louis Brandeis
and Josephine Goldmark argued on the basis of women's supposed frailties for restricting the number of hours women were allowed to work. Such "chains of protection" of course held back women's professional and occupational advancement. Chira's political exploitation of the stereotype of female weakness won't help women succeed in today's workplace any more than it did one hundred years ago.
Young women are more likely to be inspired by successful women who played by the rules than by women who demanded that the rules be rewritten for them.
This is a naked defense of a double standard -- with the rules dumbed down for women. It has become deeply engrained in our culture. Sen. Warren herself has skillfully manipulated the system. For much of her career she presented her self as a "twofer" -- both a woman and a minority (the latter based on her now discredited claim to have Cherokee ancestors).
But Chira's use of the stereotype of fragile women who need special protections in a hostile male-dominated environment is not only demeaning and false, but is a throwback an era when progressives like Louis Brandeis
and Josephine Goldmark argued on the basis of women's supposed frailties for restricting the number of hours women were allowed to work. Such "chains of protection" of course held back women's professional and occupational advancement. Chira's political exploitation of the stereotype of female weakness won't help women succeed in today's workplace any more than it did one hundred years ago.
Young women are more likely to be inspired by successful women who played by the rules than by women who demanded that the rules be rewritten for them.
16
Ian, I believe Senator Tom Udall read the letter to the Senate after Senator Warren was struck down for reading the same letter. Who is it that got special treatment?
3
The simple fact is Ian that there are plenty of examples, as shown on the evening news last night, that double standard the opposite from what you said as men have broken the rule and have not been called on it. The system was dumbed down. For the men, it is now selectively enforced for Warren.
2
1. Once in her career Warren ticked off a box on a form stating that she had Cherokee ancestors. Can you cite other instances to support your claim that she's done this "throughout her career"?
2. Neither Chira nor Warren are using "the stereotype of fragile women." Read the article: several male senators finished reading King's letter into the record and were not subjected to a Rule 19 silencing. Warren herself, however, finished reading the letter out in the hall, posting it to her Facebook account. That's not fragility. Rather, it's the kind of persistence that got us the rights we are fighting to protect today.
With apologies to Dylan Thomas, we are not going back gentle into that dark night when women had no rights. We are raging, raging against the dying of the light under this administration's misogyny.
2. Neither Chira nor Warren are using "the stereotype of fragile women." Read the article: several male senators finished reading King's letter into the record and were not subjected to a Rule 19 silencing. Warren herself, however, finished reading the letter out in the hall, posting it to her Facebook account. That's not fragility. Rather, it's the kind of persistence that got us the rights we are fighting to protect today.
With apologies to Dylan Thomas, we are not going back gentle into that dark night when women had no rights. We are raging, raging against the dying of the light under this administration's misogyny.
4
Is this truly a women's issue, or is it just politics as usual (or at least usual in 2017)?
Would things have played out differently if Senator Warren were a man?
I don't know the answer, but it's a reasonable question to ask.
Would things have played out differently if Senator Warren were a man?
I don't know the answer, but it's a reasonable question to ask.
I have no problem with the substance of Warren's concerns. However, over the past two years Warren chose to be quiet at times her voice was very much needed, and could have helped avoid the very concerns she'd like to freely discuss today. Because of that, its difficult for me to balance a concern over her having been told to be "quiet", when at times she so freely, and disappointingly, chose an unnecessary silence all on her very own.
5
Two things:
1) This rule that Warren supposedly violated has it's purposes, but Warren wasn't talking about Senator Sessions. She was talking about Sessions the nominee for AG. How on earth can you vet a nominee for any office if only positive things are allowed to be said about him?
2) If Warren was silenced for her remarks why was that slimy hypocrite Orrin Hatch allowed to then malign her on the Senate floor. He actually was impugning the integrity and motives of the actions of a fellow Senator.
1) This rule that Warren supposedly violated has it's purposes, but Warren wasn't talking about Senator Sessions. She was talking about Sessions the nominee for AG. How on earth can you vet a nominee for any office if only positive things are allowed to be said about him?
2) If Warren was silenced for her remarks why was that slimy hypocrite Orrin Hatch allowed to then malign her on the Senate floor. He actually was impugning the integrity and motives of the actions of a fellow Senator.
2
Twenty years later and i still have the same reputation, heard about it just last week, for talking too much on my small town city council. Only woman on it at the last iteration. I did talk too much. I couldn't stop, though every night I would tell myself to stop. It was impossible to be both right and silent. Oh well. I am beginning to get over it at last.
3
I'm a former Kentuckian. I've met Senator McConnell. I've met one of his daughters. Someone who raised such a lovely girl should know better than to cut off a woman who is simply speaking. If the Senate cannot handle debate on issues or people, they belong in another job.
1
At the women's sister march in Lexington, Kentucky, writer George Ella Lyon read a poem about women's voices and how they are always singing "the wrong song" that ended with these lines:
"We told her to shut up.
We showed her the gag.
She keeps singing."
Thank you to Elizabeth Warren for persisting. We are persisting, too.
"We told her to shut up.
We showed her the gag.
She keeps singing."
Thank you to Elizabeth Warren for persisting. We are persisting, too.
2
She didn't listen. Read the letter on Facebook and got over 5 million hits. Thanks, Mitch.
Well, I hope she persists right into the White House in four years, and takes Bernie with her as her VP.
It would make sense. We have gone from the worst President in American history, George W. Bush, to the best, President Obama, to...well, Trump will either be the new worst or the first in a unique category, most unsuited to work in any government job, ever, in any way, including driving a bus for the Air Force.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
It would make sense. We have gone from the worst President in American history, George W. Bush, to the best, President Obama, to...well, Trump will either be the new worst or the first in a unique category, most unsuited to work in any government job, ever, in any way, including driving a bus for the Air Force.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
1
Make no mistake: Mitch McConnell's censoring of that uppity woman, Elizabeth Warren, was meant to humiliate her. Fortunately, like most women, she has had to cultivate a very thick skin. She can run rings around McConnell. Indeed, she immediately read Coretta Scott King's letter on Facebook Live which has been viewed, so far, over 6 million times. The time for shutting women up is over - these old white men are in trouble.
8
Micro and macro aggressions accumulate. They cannot be shrugged off indefinitely. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. We persist, and we shall overcome.
1
Sanders and Merkley -- what ovaries they have!
She was out of order and corrected appropriately.
Knock this nonsense off about man v women, silenced oppressed women etc..
Knock this nonsense off about man v women, silenced oppressed women etc..
2
By any chance did Mr. Sanders and Mr. Merkley violate Senate Rule XIX? If not, doesn't this suggest the actions taken against Ms. Warren had to do with whether she was complying with the Senate Rules, rather than anything to do with the content of what she intended to read or her gender status?
In a room full of powerful men, the passionate words of Coretta Scott King brought forth again by Elizabeth Warren - both strong, determined women - persisted. In spite of McConnell, sounding more and more Confederate by the day. And we know what happened there in the end. They LOST! Elizabeth Warren WON. She says we will struggle and fall back at times (sadly Sessions will be confirmed), but will never be silenced. Instead women will amplify their voices and be heard. BRAVA!! "Speaking up remains an arduous and necessary task." So be it. So do it!
2
Does the substantial number of women who voted for Trump relate to this?
This isn't about women ---it's about a man - a man who shouldn't be the AG! And McConnell, should have been target No. 1 for the Democrats when he made his "obstruct" comment.
1
I cringed as soon as i read what that man said to Ms. Warren. I thought what a humiliating and condescending comment and an embarrassment to all men and senators. His comment was a painful reminder of how sexist us men still are.
2
Ms. Chira has clearly been there, seen that. She correctly observes that most women have experienced this type of put down because equality is still not available for women and people of color in our country and our world. The white patriarchy will erode over time despite their efforts to hang onto it by moving the country backwards (MAGA). In the meantime we will continue the fight and our solidarity will be strengthened each time incidents like this bring the pain we endure to the fore.
1
Remember: You are the one who turned this into a gender issue. I don't personally care for Mr. McConnell, never did, but you claim he was "condescending" in his explaination, when there is no evidence of that, just as there is no evidence she was "silenced," as you put it, because she is a woman. Now, you know very well that Mrs. Warren was not "silenced" at all. This is simply about some arcane rule governing the senate, and you know very well it is.
Oh, you say, McConnel tried to "silence" the voice of Coretta Scott King! You know very well that is not the case, and there is no way he could "silence" her voice even if he wanted to - and you also know there is no way he would even want to do that. I don't like the guy, but he's not an idiot. All this is, is your effort to also turn this into a racial issue, just as Mrs. Warren tried to do with her little scheme: to have Mrs. King defame Mr. Sessions by reading her letter. Everybody knows this, and now you are trying to sell your lying argument to a bunch of other women - all Wellesley grads, I'm sure - who "just know" what it is like to be "silenced" by a man, even though you know very well that rarely happens in this country.
And as for Mrs. Warren. She is the perfect example of a "progressive" - a Republican not long ago who thinks she's a Democrat because she loves Native Americans - and even thinks she is one!
Oh, you say, McConnel tried to "silence" the voice of Coretta Scott King! You know very well that is not the case, and there is no way he could "silence" her voice even if he wanted to - and you also know there is no way he would even want to do that. I don't like the guy, but he's not an idiot. All this is, is your effort to also turn this into a racial issue, just as Mrs. Warren tried to do with her little scheme: to have Mrs. King defame Mr. Sessions by reading her letter. Everybody knows this, and now you are trying to sell your lying argument to a bunch of other women - all Wellesley grads, I'm sure - who "just know" what it is like to be "silenced" by a man, even though you know very well that rarely happens in this country.
And as for Mrs. Warren. She is the perfect example of a "progressive" - a Republican not long ago who thinks she's a Democrat because she loves Native Americans - and even thinks she is one!
2
Your snipe at Wellesley grads and ignorance about male behavior in meetings where a woman tries to say something show your true colors.
Well, Anna, I've conducted meeting where female colleagues were present, and I've been in meeting conducted by female colleagues, and even VP's - and I never once saw any woman "silenced" by me or any other man - although I did once see a woman told to be quite by her female VP because she was being disruptive. Men don't "silence" women in this country. You may think that happened here in the old days - but that's because you never knew my mom - or her mom - or her mom. Oh, and I'm sure all those Wellesley grads had mom's who were wall flowers, eh? Hel their tongue in the presence of men? Yup, those privileged women from wealthy families just keep their mouths shut all the time, eh?
Yet another shortsighted power play by Mitch McConnell and his gang of ruffians. By silencing Senator Warren, you have elevated the voices of millions and seared into the collective consciousness yet another shameful act by Republican lawmakers. Good luck in 2018.
2
Do women in the Senate have to follow the rules of parliamentary procedure just like the men or do they get a pass because they're women and calling them on their procedural violations equals the cardinal sin of telling them to sit down and be quiet? So tired of women who stridently demand equal treatment except when they find it convenient to play the woman card.
24
Funny, but the rules seem ONLY to have applied when they wanted to silence a woman. The colleague-insulting conduct of male senators such as Cruz and Cotton got a pass. CNN showed a tweet from Bernie Sanders (my notice of this was fleeting and I haven't confirmed) in which he said he had read from the same letter in the Senate without Rule KKK being invoked.
I'm more inclined to think that Warren was silenced by McConnell for speaking out on the subject of racism—he didn't like having an uppity black man in the White House and did everything he could to obstruct his presidency, so he isn't going to let an uppity white woman read the words of an uppity black woman either.
I'm more inclined to think that Warren was silenced by McConnell for speaking out on the subject of racism—he didn't like having an uppity black man in the White House and did everything he could to obstruct his presidency, so he isn't going to let an uppity white woman read the words of an uppity black woman either.
8
Can you please describe exactly when and how senator Warren "played the woman card"? So tired of women who scold other women for breaking the mold.
4
If this is so, then please explain why Mrs. Kings letter was allowed to be read into the record multiple times by men later in the proceedings. Your argument may be initially correct, but fails ultimately.
5
My reaction at the time was simply that McConnell was simply using a procedural tool to get his way. Something he has been very effective at.
After reading this editorial I think the author has hit the nail on the head. It's also made me think about how I treat women who are my equals or in positions of power in my daily business. The war of the sexes isn't just discriminatory, it's costing us productivity. We need to hear more voices and increase the idea pool if we are going to solve the enormous problems that face us.
After reading this editorial I think the author has hit the nail on the head. It's also made me think about how I treat women who are my equals or in positions of power in my daily business. The war of the sexes isn't just discriminatory, it's costing us productivity. We need to hear more voices and increase the idea pool if we are going to solve the enormous problems that face us.
5
Let's read this letter again and again and again. Read it in the Congress and throughout the land, over and over, every day. Read it wherever Republicans congregate.
2
Senator Udall Also read Corretta Scott Kings letter on the floor. He red the whole letter. No response from McConnel. I guess reading letters on the Senate floor is only considered disrespectful if you don't have a penis. McConnel obviously has a problem with "uppity" women.
3
Best response is to win the next election.
1
Mitch McConnell should be ashamed of himself. Demonstrating his fear of Elizabeth Warren, he silenced her for reading a letter by Coretta Scott King that was already in the official Senate records. Then, he didn't stop four male Democratic Senators from reading the same letter into the record. He's demonstrated that he is both a coward and a misogynist. He and his Republican cronies may be able to silence a brave and intelligent woman Senator for a short time, but in the end all they accomplished is making sure that America and the world have heard what Mrs. King wrote about the first Sessions nomination. McConnell couldn't make President Obama a one-term president and he can't keep women and people of color from speaking out. I thank Senators Udall, Merkley, Brown, and Sanders for making sure that the letter about Jeff Sessions is in the Senate records again, and for showing the world that the objection last night was strictly personal.
3
Yes, I have been there. The picture by my post doesn't lie. I'm a male, so how did it happen?
My experience was sitting at a table at a meeting, the only man in the midst of a half-dozen women, the group of us tasked with the decision of whether to hire another woman, a nurse, to work at our hospice. We had interviewed her, and now, with copies of her resume before us, it was time to decide.
I had my concerns, a major one in my opinion, dealing with her non-traditional path to a degree in nursing. Every time I tried to introduce my reservations into the conversation, I was interrupted, talked over, to my mind, ignored. Twenty minutes in I just went silent. These women were my coworkers, my friends. My work relationship with some of them was approaching a decade. I felt --I was-- shut out of the process. I refused to pound my fist on the table and demand to be heard. I guess, in short, I approached the situation from woman's perspective, perhaps from having spent the bulk of my working career in nursing.
The woman was hired; her performance in a position with a great deal of autonomy that required high levels of both judgment, compassion and the ability to make quick assessments, decisions and then to act on them was not what the agency expected, required of its nurses. Her absenteeism was a problem. Her tenure was brief.
I know exactly how it feels. Senator Warren was abused, and the entire Republican side of the Senate owes her and apology.
My experience was sitting at a table at a meeting, the only man in the midst of a half-dozen women, the group of us tasked with the decision of whether to hire another woman, a nurse, to work at our hospice. We had interviewed her, and now, with copies of her resume before us, it was time to decide.
I had my concerns, a major one in my opinion, dealing with her non-traditional path to a degree in nursing. Every time I tried to introduce my reservations into the conversation, I was interrupted, talked over, to my mind, ignored. Twenty minutes in I just went silent. These women were my coworkers, my friends. My work relationship with some of them was approaching a decade. I felt --I was-- shut out of the process. I refused to pound my fist on the table and demand to be heard. I guess, in short, I approached the situation from woman's perspective, perhaps from having spent the bulk of my working career in nursing.
The woman was hired; her performance in a position with a great deal of autonomy that required high levels of both judgment, compassion and the ability to make quick assessments, decisions and then to act on them was not what the agency expected, required of its nurses. Her absenteeism was a problem. Her tenure was brief.
I know exactly how it feels. Senator Warren was abused, and the entire Republican side of the Senate owes her and apology.
2
McConnell gross insolent behavior is clearly a mark of misogyny; how can his wife stand him? And the other republican women in the room, have they lost their marbles, by allowing this savage brute to get away with 'murder', and not even say 'peep'? Civility has been absent for a while, an insult to our political framework, a closure of minds in finding compromise and get things done...other that approving the most unrepresentative, incompetent elements to government. And Sessions is one of the prime subjects for our disapproval.
2
She was told to be quiet, to stifle it as it were. This was not because she was a woman but because she broke Senate rules. The rules apply to both the men and women. The gender card is pure nonsense because when people see Warren they see an annoying left wing radical POLITICIAN...NOT A WOMAN.
1
Then why were several male senators allowed to read the whole letter?
1
Protecting. consumers and voting rights is radical? Wow, who knew?
Earlier another reader offered good ol' Mitch this bit of information: "Hell hath no fury like a woman warned." Good luck, Mitch -- methinks (and hopes) you're going to need it.
2
Every day it becomes clearer and clearer that we need to put a woman in the White House.
2
I was watching when McConnell shut Elizabeth Warren down last night; it was very rudely done as well as being a ridiculous misuse of a rather arcane rule.
I also think of how Comey of the FBI felt he was justified in giving Hillary Clinton a public scold over the private email server last summer, even as the FBI decided that there was no reason to pursue the case further. (Until right before the election...) It was as if he felt justified in doing to a woman what he wouldn't ever do to another man.
I also think of how Comey of the FBI felt he was justified in giving Hillary Clinton a public scold over the private email server last summer, even as the FBI decided that there was no reason to pursue the case further. (Until right before the election...) It was as if he felt justified in doing to a woman what he wouldn't ever do to another man.
8
It is quite clear that the Congress is scared of all woman that have the balls to step up to the plate and hit a home run. The turtle is a yes man at best and he will never be the great American that Ms. Warren is. She will win in the end and I say thank God for that. She only did what the people want and that is to stop a racist from becoming the AG of our country. Sessions will most likely be instated but the fight is what will change the outset of the way the country moves forward.
2
As a potential Democratic candidate for the presidency, Warren will be demonized; this is standard Republican strategy. They will put a demon-mask over her face that will be what their supporters see when they look at Warren, so that the supporters will not listen to or hear anything she says. The mask will be constructed with elements of woman, Harvard professor, bleeding heart, socialist, political correctness, affirmative action,and so on, and doing something that deserved being shut down by Republicans will be a part of the mask. Being shut down will help add extremist and supporter of the Black agenda to her demon-mask.
Bill Clinton stayed in office, but he was tried. Kerry was swiftboated. We all know what happened to Hillary. It is happening for Warren.
The prevalence and use of demon-masks (and hero-masks such as the one worn by St. Ronnie) is growing more and more intense as our president masks reality with ever greater vigor. .
Bill Clinton stayed in office, but he was tried. Kerry was swiftboated. We all know what happened to Hillary. It is happening for Warren.
The prevalence and use of demon-masks (and hero-masks such as the one worn by St. Ronnie) is growing more and more intense as our president masks reality with ever greater vigor. .
3