Liz Warren's Speech Goes Viral, Prompts More Speculation

      As we draw close to the first full week of government shutdown, frustrations run high.  It is painfully obvious that we are no closer to getting a budget passed than we were at this time last week.  Blustering and finger-pointing run rampant amongst our elected officials in Congress on either side of the aisle, with none more enraged than Senator Elizabeth Warren.  On Monday, during the lead-up to the shutdown, as it became more and more obvious that an agreement would not be reached, Warren addressed the Senate with a rousing speech that has since gone viral, making the rounds on social media sites.  Warren made no attempt to mask her contempt for the House Republicans' "hostage taking" tactics (Youtube).  Rather than simply citing the Affordable Care Act as the reason for the radical right refusing to pass a budget, Warren placed it squarely on their insistence that employers be allowed to deny women access to birth control coverage.  This has become quite a contentious issue and it is one of the biggest sticking points on this new set of policies.  Warren railed against Republicans saying that:

"With millions of people out of work, with an economic recovery still to fragile, with students and families being crushed by student loan debt, with millions of seniors denied their chance at one hot meal per day with Meals on Wheels, and millions of little children pushed out of Head Start because of a sequester, with the country hours away from a government shutdown and days away from a potential default on the nations debt, Republicans have decided that the single most important issue facing our nation is to change the law so that employers can deny women access to birth control coverage (Youtube)."

      As she went on, her focus broadened to angrily attack the strategy used by Republicans, saying that "For this right-wing minority, hostage taking is all they have left, a last gasp for those who cannot cope with the realities of our democracy (Boston Magazine)."  She passionately asserted that this was already the law, in every sense of the word. She pointed out that the opponents of Obamacare have lost the fight in Congress, lost the fight in the Supreme Court, and lost the fight for public opinion.  The Affordable Care Act has won, and she frames this government shutdown as a group of sore losers who can't admit they have been beat (Boston Magazine).

      This is not the first time that Warren's fiery populist rhetoric has propelled her to internet fame (New York Times).  Most recently was her address at the AFL-CIO which warned Americans of the pro-corporate slide of the government.  It is her propensity for generating buzz that has once again prompted avid speculation about her potential run for the presidency in 2016 (rumors which she just as avidly denies). 

      Four days later, she was at it again.  This time calling the Republicans an "anarchy gang" which is deliberately sabotaging the government in order to try to get their way. To the Republicans, Warren said with disgust:

"You can do your best to make it look like government doesn't work when you stop it from working. You can do your best to make government look paralyzed when you paralyzed it.  You can do your best to make government look incompetent through your incompetence, and ineffective through your ineffectiveness.  But sooner or later, the government will reopen because this is a democracy and this democracy has already rejected your views (Huffington Post)."

      Warren is confident that the tactics used by the GOP are simply a last ditch effort to deny the inevitable. To try desperately to cling to a position that has been denied by the American people.  Unfortunately, very similar finger pointing comes from the Republicans.  And when it comes to the American people, well a recent poll has showed that they think both parties have been acting like extremists, not just one or the other (Masslive).  It seems probable that come November, politicians from both parties will be suffering at the polls.