Elizabeth Warren To The GOP: 'Put Up Or Shut Up' About Aid For Middle Class - HuffPo

[WillyT]

Elizabeth Warren To The GOP: 'Put Up Or Shut Up' About Aid For Middle Class
The Huffington Post | By Samantha Lachman
Posted: 02/26/2015 1:22 pm EST Updated: 02/26/2015 1:59 pm EST

<snip>

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who has made it her mission to highlight and ameliorate the challenges middle-class Americans face, recently seized on the new Republican rhetoric being used to acknowledge wage stagnation and inequality.

Her comments about the Republican Party's obligation to help the middle class, given its support for the policies that helped them fall behind in the first place, came Tuesday during a forum to introduce the "Middle Class Prosperity Project," which she launched with Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.).

The clip of Warren's remarks has already been viewed on Facebook more than 1 million times in the past two days, making it one of her most successful viral videos to date. In it she says:

Recently Republicans seem to have discovered the struggles of America's middle class. Out of nowhere, they're suddenly talking about this problem. Well that's great, but talk is cheap and when it comes to action, these Republicans seem to have amnesia about what they've actually done to hard-working Americans. Republican trickle-down policies created tax breaks and loopholes for the wealthy while leaving working families to pick up the pieces. I'll believe Republicans care about what's happening to America's middle class when they stop blocking legislation that would require billionaires to pay taxes at least at the same rate that teachers and firefighters do. Republican trickle-down economics blocked increases in the minimum wage that would have lifted 14 million people out of poverty.

I'll believe that Republicans care about what's happening to America's working families when they stop blocking minimum wage increases and agree that no one, no one in this country should work full time and still live in poverty. Republican trickle-down economics squeezed billions of dollars of profits out of people who had to borrow money to go to college. I'll believe Republicans care about what's happening to America's future when they agree to refinance student loans.

I could go on, but the point is the same: Talk is cheap. It's time for action -- action that will strengthen America's middle-class families and build a strong future, action that will produce good jobs now and in the future. It is time to put up or shut up. I have a message for my Republican colleagues: You control Congress. Stop talking about helping the middle class, and start doing it.

<snip>

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/26/elizabeth-warren-middle-class_n_6760862.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

[NYC_SKP]

1. Is she like the hardest working elected in DC or WHAT? I'm ready for Warren!

Think of the money to be saved on advisers, pollsters, hair & makeup staff and those people who use photoshop really well!

[WillyT]

2. She Really Needs To Run... I Don't Think We Can Take...

Another 4 To 8 Years Of Supply-Side Demonomics

[daleanime]

3. One of the few I would activity support.....

[libdem4life]

4. The word "focused" keeps me hopeful for her Senate/Supreme Court potential future.

Presidents don't get to focus much or create economic policy. No one has been as effective or vocal for the Middle Class as Ms. Warren. She risks becoming a political/policy side note should she enter a Primary or General Election and not win.

I think it would be easier to keep intense Progressive pressure on Ms.Clinton ... now and for as long as she remains in the public eye as candidate or elected official... regain the Legislative majority, and produce legislation for signature or veto. Warren and now Cummings force or give her some cover for that "left shift"and the promise of pressure for re-election in 2020 from the Democrats.

(Seems necessary to state in any "Hillary" post...I am neutral on Clinton, just for the record. But if Homer Simpson-D should happen to win the Primary, I'll vote D.)

[maddiemom]

9. Agree w/you 100%!

[calimary]

22. Ooh, now that is a delicious thought! Elizabeth Warren eventually heads to the Supreme Court!

It'd be GREAT to have her ensconced there somewhere down the line.

[libdem4life]

23. It so fits her nature. I must admit, someone else mentioned that here and it immediately

rang true. I love the idea of her as President, but I don't think that's the best use of her skills. But SCOTUS, absolutely. Four women! That will keep the Republicans up nights. Both strong, articulate and capable women positioned strongly in places of power.

[Enthusiast]

8. We can't wait another four or eight years.

Besides, the nation might never recover from another eight years of supply-side corporatist ideology.

[madokie]

19. No doubt she and Bernie Sanders are the two hardest working people in DC for us 'little people'

[freebrew]

5. The RW is in hysterics over her...

the wife's FB page is full of anti-Warren comments. One guy in particular is a hoot.

Keeps calling her a lib liar. Says she's rich, so she must be a hypocrite.
Typical RW nonsense, attack the messenger because they can't argue the facts.

edited for typo...

[Enthusiast]

7. That's the sockpuppet army.

They fear her. They fear her because they know her words ring true with the American people.

[frylock]

13. the RW Third Way is none too pleased with her either

[Enthusiast]

6. K&R! This post deserves hundreds of recommendations!

Elizabeth Warren sounds like a candidate for president of the United States.

She has my vote. She would make these ignorant lying Republicans look like fools.

[maddiemom]

10. Warren's talents and powers would be wasted on the presidency.

We need Liz just where she is, except maybe on the Supreme Court.

[Enthusiast]

11. We will just have to disagree on that one.

[maddiemom]

15. Just keep an open mind.

It's more than obvious that the Republicans are bent on obstruction of any Democratic POTUS beyond all else. Even if Warren were elected, do you think a woman would have any more respect from the Repugs (same for Hillary) than a mixed-racial president? The sabotage started with Carter and Clinton. The younger and younger voters are starting to wise up (even if conservative). These hidebound old conservative codgers, ironically many from what was the "Woodstock generation," result from a lot of young Republicans back then. (See "Animal House," even just a bit before my own college time). I'm just starting to worry that I won't be around long enough to see the current Republican party die out like the dinosaurs they are.

[Enthusiast]

16. I won't do it. I refuse to keep an open mind. I'm of the Woodstock Generation.

[maddiemom]

18. HA! Were you a "young Republican" at the time?

[Enthusiast]

20. I was kidding. Sarcasm.

I'm a lifelong Democrat, a more leftist Democrat than my parents before me. My posts are preserved here on DU demonstrating my avid support for then candidate Obama leading up to the 2008 election.

But after observing the Obama administration in action I now recognize the urgent need for a candidate that will put the interests of regular American citizens above that of the CEOs and stockholders of multinational corporations.

Millions of Americans not constrained by normal political allegiances are also starting to recognize this urgent need. The very first priority should be keeping corporatists as far away from the white house as we possibly can.

[maddiemom]

21. Can't disagree.

[libdem4life]

24. Aha, you're the one that brought up EW for SCOTUS.

[rurallib]

12. Keep it coming

Seems like daily anymore that Warren points out the problems and the hypocrisies.

[LuckyLib]

14. "It is time to put up or shut up." This needs to be said again and again.

Every day is another announcement of Republican idiocy and intransigence. The party has gone off the rails and the American people suffer for it.

[WillyT]

17. Kick !!!