Elizabeth Warren Declines To Sign Occupy Harvard Petition

Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren has expressed support for Occupy Wall Street verbally. Signing her name to a sheet of paper may be a step too far, however.

A Thursday Boston Herald report says that Warren declined to place her John Hancock on a petition supporting Occupy Harvard. The Harvard Law professor declined to comment to the newspaper, but her campaign spokesman Kyle Sullivan said she "understands" the movement's mission.

"Elizabeth hasn't signed the petition, but she's been standing up to Wall Street and the big banks for years and that's what she'll do in the Senate," Sullivan said in a statement to the Herald. "People are frustrated and protesting for change. Elizabeth understands that."

Back in late October, Warren appeared to take credit for the protests, saying in an interview with The Daily Beast that she "created much of the intellectual foundation for what they do." She later clarified her words to a local reporter, noting: "There's not a question of is there enough credit to go around. ... So I am glad that that conversation is going forward and that it's going forward in an organic way."

Warren's decision not to sign the Occupy Harvard petition comes at a time when favor for the protests seems to be fading. A new Public Policy Polling survey finds that only 33 percent of Americans are supportive of the movement's goals, while 45 percent oppose the initiatives. The study also found that support from independents is waning, with 42 percent against the protests.

Coupled with those sagging statistics, a right-wing group fronted by Republican strategist Karl Rove went on the offensive last week, targeting Warren's support for Occupy Wall Street.

"14 million Americans out of work," the Crossroads GPS ad buy says. "But instead of focusing on jobs, Elizabeth Warren sides with extreme-left protests at Occupy Wall Street. Protesters attack police, do drugs, and trash public parks.

Despite those barbs, Warren's campaign is geared toward helping the 99 percent. She released her first ad on Monday, noting that "for years, I worked to expose how Wall Street and the big banks are crushing middle class families. It just isn't right."

WATCH the ad (via Warren's YouTube channel):

 

 

Comments

[DUSAA-1775]

06:34 AM on 11/21/2011

Support occupy Harvard?? OMG are you kidding?? Support the children of America's elite??

What a joke !

[Reikoku Jaken]

11:52 AM on 11/20/2011

Oh, side note. Karl Rove should be hung off the tallest tree in the country for using the "jobs" rhetoric against OWS considering that the corruption these kids are protesting is precisely the reason for there being a shortage of jobs.

We took a healthy economy which had a manufacturing sector to speak of and sent it all to China. In the words of Smith our combined life standard improved, but at the cost to Americans.

Good job Wall Street. In another 3-4 years we will witness "the Fear."

[Reikoku Jaken]

11:45 AM on 11/20/2011

She has a spokesman

So much for her integrity.

Ciao.

[khandoor1]

12:47 AM on 11/20/2011

How predictable... Kinda like her idle Teddy boy. "We need to build wind farms all across this nation, just not in my back yard..."

[Reikoku Jaken]

11:45 AM on 11/20/2011

While investing in the companies which build the wind farms of course.

[Roll451]

01:41 PM on 11/19/2011

I see no problem with her not signing the petition. While I am generally sympathetic to the overall thrust of the protests, various individuals in the movement will say things that I think are totally wrong (like end the Fed - that's Ron Paul territory). There is no reason for her to tie herself to an amorphous group that does not always have a clear idea where it is heading. It is far more important to clearly state her own beliefs as to where the country needs to go.

[blackranger]

06:18 PM on 11/18/2011

We see that the republican party has catered to the tea party and we can also see the result. Warren is right to keep her independence, though she verbally expressed for support for views she has proposed herself for a long time. I just don't see a problem and I think I would have a problem if she aligned herself with any movement, she is going to be elected to serve all her constituents and hopefully she will do that without special interests of any kind.

[realpragmatist]

05:09 PM on 11/18/2011

As a Harvard law professor and a future high profile Senator (potentially), she has moral, ethical, and above all legal obligations in signing the petition.
I hope I speak for lots of her supporters (for the right reasons) when I say that I trust her judgement in this.

[lbrty 2112]

08:26 PM on 11/18/2011

real, perhaps you can cite case law with regard to Warren's 'legal obligation' to sign the petition. Is it like your legal obligation to pay taxes on income?

The truth is, she won't because she already stepped in it when she claim the 'intellectual foundation' for the movement. She can't run far and fast enough away from these kooks if she wants to remain 'politically viable'. Face it, everyone who offered a modicum of support is putting distance between themselves and OWS.

[Catothemuchyounger]

10:09 PM on 11/18/2011

"She can't run far and fast enough away from these kooks if she wants to remain 'political­ly viable'. Face it, everyone who offered a modicum of support is putting distance between themselves and OWS."

Not quite. She is going to try to have it both ways.

[leeskyblue]

09:51 AM on 11/19/2011

He said the exact opposite.

Lord knows what you sign if you don't read carefully.

[leeskyblue]

09:49 AM on 11/19/2011

You are correct,
except those obligations to think before we join anything, are incumbent upon all of us.

[mas1956]

04:15 PM on 11/18/2011

This that socialist who is running in Massachusetts, right?

[realpragmatist]

05:16 PM on 11/18/2011

You are being nice. I expect the attack ads to call her a communist and an anarchist once she rises in the polls. I expect senator Scott Brown (who I also like) as a charming and charismatic incumbent of this important state and the Massachusetts Republican party will be brutal and effective with their attack ads.
I hope in the end, the good and intelligent people of Massachusetts make the right informed decision whomever it is going to be.
From what information I have, I think Prof. Elizabeth Warren is the most exciting candidate coming since Hillary in the 2008 presidential election. I am not counting the President as he has already won.

[leeskyblue]

10:17 AM on 11/19/2011

As a Massachusetts resident I am on Scott's mail list. I am astonished at the vulgar trollish fund raising efforts I am receiving evidently with his blessing. -- "Help me stop the Democrats' far-left agenda" -- that kind of stuff.
Scott won not only because Coakley was a terrible candidate, but because he appeared to be a sober individual not given to mindless bromide-driven diatribes.
He appears to be "run" by people with a more national agenda who don't care whether they win Massachusetts.
In fairness to reality, some of the fund-raising stuff I get from Democratic candidates nationally isn't much better. I guess they do it because they think it works.
I wonder, are we all, collectively, so stupid?
Prof. Warren comes with good credentials. We'll have to hope she can do as good as her history promises. She is, sadly, an increasingly rare item.

[rhytonen]

02:06 AM on 11/25/2011

Scott Brown is THE Senator of Wall Street. Look at his campaign contributors.
MA voters are not the only ones with extreme remorse from 2010, by any means. The MA exit polls on Brown's election showed most of his voters thought he was a democrat. They will not be fooled again by intentionally misleading ads. MA is watching WI, MI, IN, NJ, OH, VA, NC. FL etc CLOSELY, and making the correlations. Voter remorse from 2010 has become voter RAGE - at the lies they were sold during that campaign.

And the cat is out of the bag about ALEC. The END of the Fascist/Corporatist March in the states is under way and will not be stopped - EVER AGAIN.

[jb go niners]

01:45 PM on 11/19/2011

Playing the dumb card? It fits you well.

[Just a passerby]

10:05 PM on 11/19/2011

He's not playing.

[layman]

04:07 PM on 11/18/2011

When the movement is just floating with not much of more specific mission goals, or actions or leadership, the public's attention span will wane, and follower might also lose focus. Need some regrouping and refocusing.

[winstonian23]

03:49 PM on 11/18/2011

The proof is in the puddin'.

[Ron Scala]

03:41 PM on 11/18/2011

Karl Rove crawling out of his cesspool to criticize Elizabeth Warren tells me a lot about her quality, why? Look who he supported in the past and who he criticized, he’s proud to be the product of Lee Atwater better known as the (BOOGIE MAN) they’re experts at trashing opponent’s with falsehoods and innuendoes, and they’re proud of it!!

[ProjectoccupyU]

03:31 PM on 11/18/2011

for or against the movement who doesn't like to chuckle every now and again.

made by recent working college grads for everyone to laugh

www.projec­toccupyu.c­om
1% serious 99% hilarious
follow us @procjecto­ccupy

[luminafitness]

04:23 PM on 11/18/2011

Yeah. Maybe leave the snark to Seth and the other pros who have the finesse pull it off with looking and sounding like 7th-grade bullies.

[xeronius]

04:32 PM on 11/18/2011

Apparently our definition of hilarious differs.

[lasjazzman]

03:26 PM on 11/18/2011

Another day, another moronic, misleading headline designed to get us to click -- Bravo.

[CivilDebate10]

02:45 PM on 11/18/2011

Saint Elizabeth put her finger in the wind and even though she claims to be the "intellectual foundation" of the OWS movement, she decided that her $350,000 salary from Harvard is nice to have and that maybe its not the most politically wise thing to jump into bed completely with people who hold moments of silence "in solidarity" with WH shooters and people that take dumps on police cars.

[luminafitness]

04:25 PM on 11/18/2011

You're gonna need a new angle to go with if your gonna try to discredit Warren. That was weak.

[CivilDebate10]

02:43 PM on 11/18/2011

Saint Elizabeth makes over $350,000 per year from Harvard..... just say'in.

[hhoc612710]

03:09 PM on 11/18/2011

How do you know CivilDebate10?

[CivilDebate10]

04:02 PM on 11/18/2011

Since when is it not civil to say how much money Saint Elizabeth makes?

[luminafitness]

04:26 PM on 11/18/2011

That sounds high, but it's probably close. So what?