Elizabeth Warren On Occupy Wall Street: I Created 'The Intellectual Foundation For What They Do'

Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren, who is running for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts as a Democrat, revealed that she was a Republican until the 1980s, and she came out in strong support of the Occupy Wall Street protests in an interview with The Daily Beast published Tuesday.

"I was a Republican because I thought that those were the people who best supported markets. I think that is not true anymore," she said. "I was a Republican at a time when I felt like there was a problem that the markets were under a lot more strain. It worried me whether or not the government played too activist a role."

She declined to say whether she voted for Ronald Reagan.

Warren also said that she supported the Occupy Wall Street protests. "I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they do," she added, referring to her academic research on consumer debt.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee criticized her support. "Warren's decision to not only embrace, but take credit for this movement is notable considering the Boston Police Department was recently forced to arrest at least 141 of her Occupy acolytes in Boston the other day after they threatened to tie up traffic downtown and refused to abide by their protest permit limits," wrote an NRSC spokesman to the Boston Globe.

In a Democratic candidates debate earlier this month, Warren did not directly answer a question about the protests, though her answer was limited to 30 seconds.

"Everyone has to follow the law, that has to be the starting place," she said. "But no one understands better what the frustration is right now. The people on Wall Street broke this country. And they did it one lousy mortgage at a time. It happened more than three years ago, and there has still been no basic accountability, and there has been no real effort to fix it. That's why I want to run for the United States Senate, That's what I want to do to change the system," she said.

Warren has raised $3.15 million in her bid to defeat sitting Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), and polls released this month show her running even with him.

 

Comments

[George R Williams]

08:15 PM on 11/17/2011

Not very bright. Never claim ownership of something you do not control. LOL!

[RedDonnaAnn]

09:21 PM on 10/28/2011

Go, Liz, go!

[DrewRLong]

08:52 PM on 10/28/2011

I'm skeptical. I've heard this song and dance before. What's to say that if we put her in office she won't eat at the same table with the monied interests that control every other politician? Nothing.

[GoodNiteGorilla]

09:56 AM on 10/28/2011

Elizabeth Warren On Occupy Wall Street: I Created 'The Intellectual Foundation For What They Do'

Does this mean I don't have to worry about Warren pooping in my front yard?

[Charles W Noble]

12:22 PM on 10/27/2011

I am one who sincerely hopes that Ms. Warren's intentions are pure. Because if her actions match her words, it would be positive. At the same time, she said "She created the intellectual foundation" for this movement? That is disturbing. I think there are many men and women who have done that - in the modern era and through history. I find it particularly tasteless to take credit away from the work of many. She could have said she's part of a group of people who contributed to its intellectual foundation. But instead she went straight up political and made this movement seem like a top down movement rather than a bottom up movement and made them look like they are a bunch of law breaking heathens. She could have spoken much more eloquently, been more generous and realistic with sharing credit while maintain the goodness of the movement.

[Wall Str33t]

01:42 PM on 10/27/2011

They've misquoted her in the headline by omission of a key word and they robbed her of context.

Check out what she says in the article and the context in which it's implied. She's not claiming full credit at all.

[EuGeneTherapy]

03:21 PM on 10/27/2011

Just like what they did with Al Gore when they claimed he said that he "invented the internet".

They love to tear people down by purposely misquoting what they say!!

[Charles W Noble]

05:40 PM on 10/27/2011

OK, i'll check it out. As I've said before. I certainly like the idea of someone holding these behemoth banks accountable and only government can. But we also need to remember that the messenger matters and many movements have been crushed simply by choosing the wrong messenger.

[relevancematters]

10:24 AM on 10/27/2011

"Warren's decision to not only embrace, but take credit for this movement is notable considering the Boston Police Department was recently forced to arrest at least 141 of her Occupy acolytes in Boston the other day after they threatened to tie up traffic downtown and refused to abide by their protest permit limits...."

While I understand the underlying premise here, I can't help but think of the "protests" allowed during the Bush years, when the laws were used to isolate and marginalize not only the protesters by physically constraining their space, but also the message by trying to make the protesters look like loons instead of concerned citizens.

We have a right to protest. If Westboro Baptist Church can by law disrupt and commit sacrilege at the funerals of fallen soldiers all across the country with impunity, I can't see why a major movement like OWS can't step off the curb now and again. I suspect state and local interference for purposes of testing the parameters of conservative political power.

[speakingtruth2power]

09:09 AM on 10/27/2011

I was a Democrat until I relized how easy it was to blame other people for not being rich.

I used to struggle with problems until I found that magic thinking allowed me to rationalize

any fact to fit my agenda of superiority and exclusion. Now I'm happy with my disdain of

the lower classes and can deal with the fear and loathing that I have learned from the GOP.

[JOHN SERINO]

03:23 AM on 10/27/2011

I was a Democrate until I woke up and looked at what
they did to this country, they took away the drive and values
of the young and made them dependent on government for
all their needs.

[Sherry Powell]

01:43 PM on 10/27/2011

Oh Please you are way to Jaded... We have some very productive and inspiring young people in this country. Many are not dependent on government at all........ People from all walks of life find themselves in need of help from time to time. Good hard wroking folks loose their Jobs through no fault of their own. ..granted there are, and always have been, lazy people who want someone to take care of them...AND they do know how to work the system.

[EuGeneTherapy]

03:24 PM on 10/27/2011

And even then, THAT is NOT synonymous with being a Democrat. People that most know how to work the system are financial "wizards". They just make outright theft legal before they steal.

[catbyte]

10:38 AM on 10/28/2011

I call BS, JOHN SERINO. Please give me ONE example of your lame, bagger "hypothesis".

[BMcCue7]

06:41 PM on 10/28/2011

It's not even original.

Rush Limbaugh spreads this same "theory" as part of his "if you want to believe it, it must be true" philosophy.

[RationalCaliGirl]

02:07 AM on 10/27/2011

Arianna Huffington used to be a Republican too.

[SportyJim]

01:57 PM on 10/27/2011

OMG, isn't she a 1%?

[royjones2]

06:15 PM on 12/13/2011

Most 1%ers are democrats.

[whyus]

01:24 AM on 10/27/2011

The picture makes her look like a little girl peeping over the fence.

[kinogod]

09:10 PM on 10/26/2011

Like a fine wine she only gets better with time....

[spud3]

07:36 AM on 10/27/2011

The vinegar is almost ready.

[NormalAmerican]

03:11 PM on 10/27/2011

More Boone's Farm then Peju unfortunetly

[pappy50]

08:30 PM on 10/26/2011

Links. We must have links!

[Frog in a pot]

08:01 PM on 10/26/2011

Big banks intentionally hiredEEEDYIOTS to illegally foreclose on homes

The rot in this once-great nation is everywhere:

to rush through thousands of home foreclosures since 2007, financial institutions and their mortgage servicing departments hired hair stylists, Walmart floor workers and people who had worked on assembly lines and installed them in “foreclosure expert” jobs with no formal training, a Florida lawyer says.

In depositions released Tuesday, many of those workers testified that they barely knew what a mortgage was. Some couldn’t define the word “affidavit.” Others didn’t know what a complaint was, or even what was meant by personal property. Most troubling, several said they knew they were lying when they signed the foreclosure affidavits and that they agreed with the defense lawyers' accusations about document fraud.
Ticktin gathered 150 depositions from bank employees who say they signed foreclosure affidavits without reviewing the documents or ever laying eyes on them — earning them the name “robo-signers.”

The deposed employees worked for the mortgage service divisions of banks such as Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase Etc..

Why did mega-banks hire incompetents and fail to train them?

To illegally foreclose on homes they had no right to foreclose on because they and their trading partners had previously failed to properly complete mortgage transactions. A real foreclosure expert would not have allowed many of these fraudulent foreclosures.

www.jameslavin.com/.../big-banks-intentionally-hired-idiots-to-illega...

[speakingtruth2power]

09:15 AM on 10/27/2011

Thanks for your contribution to this thread!

[Frog in a pot]

01:46 PM on 10/27/2011

Thank you back!
Im amazed some people are still {willfully?} unaware of the massive fraud that these banks got away with.

[SportyJim]

02:09 PM on 10/27/2011

It's nice how you lump hair stylists, Walmart workers and assembly line workers together as idiots. Aren't those blue collar workers the people you Progressives are fighting for? Those are the real 99% who need good paying jobs. I guess they aren't intellectual, or elite enough for you? You make a good (well the article does) point about banks hiring untrained workers to do dirty work. I give you a big F U for calling these people idiots. Now apologize to the common working man (and woman) of America or do us a favor and jump of a cliff

[Frog in a pot]

02:34 PM on 10/27/2011

Those "workers" committed FRAUD and are criminals.I know plent of working people who are honest and would never have gotten involved in such a scheme.

I didnt call them that it was the title of the article....which apparently discribes you.

[Frog in a pot]

04:04 PM on 10/27/2011

FYI...YOU are the one with the low opinion of working people.
If you think a worker who is unemployed would be so craven and irresponsible as to fly a plane without any training ,risking his own life and others?
And you wouldnt call that type of person anEEEDIOT???

ThatDuncecap must be too snug.

[Gmasters]

07:59 PM on 10/26/2011

First Amendment:

...the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Trying to limit Where and When protests can be held or force protesters into "Free Speech Zones" violates this Constitutional Right.

[WhereIsTheTruth]

11:54 PM on 10/26/2011

"I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they do." I love Elizabeth Warren, but it almost sounds like she's taking credit for the First Amendment!

[EvolveorPerish]

01:25 AM on 10/27/2011

yea, how does the right to assemble exist if a permit gets refused? The mere requirement of a permit puts restrictions and limits on this "right" . . .

[Frog in a pot]

07:47 PM on 10/26/2011

Republicans think captialism is a license to commit fraud.

Greenspan admits "it's all a scam"

http://youtu.be/RM1wRcr7XeY

bush and Paulson broke the LAW!!

The too big to fail banks should have been put into recievership per the LAW.

[MarketAnarchist101]

10:49 PM on 10/26/2011

That's because it's not capitalism.. it's Crony Capitalism.. aka State Capitalism.

[RIhter]

03:08 PM on 10/27/2011

I thought state sponsored capitalism was fascism. So, if my definition is correct, all those defending the system as it is are actually fascists. Things are starting to make more sense to me now.

[spud3]

07:38 AM on 10/27/2011

Tell Obama your anointed one......then ask what crony capitalism is aka Solyndra etc.

[Frog in a pot]

02:01 PM on 10/27/2011

LOL!!
You dont even know what "cronie capitalism" is!!

Here's a hint...Bush and Cheney profiting from oil companies and WAR!!

So how did Obama personally profit again?...LINK?...LOL!!

Are you just willfully ignorant or is it a lowIQ?....Both?

[EuGeneTherapy]

03:31 PM on 10/27/2011

Solyndra was started during the Bush Administration. What else do you have??? Stop being led by the pied piper or you may find yourself being led off a cliff!!!