Before dealing with Senator Elizabeth Warren’s lies, let me respond to the “whatabouts” – those who would like to deflect the discussion to “what about President Trump?” I am NOT raising the issues of Warren’s creative history as a response to – or defense of — Trump. That is a separate issue and worthy of discussion. It is just that Warren’s veracity is also worthy of exploration as a free-standing issue.
There is an old saying: “Fool me once, your fault. Fool me twice, my fault.” It applies to Warren.
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The early part of her campaign got bogged down by her self-serving assertion that she had Native American DNA. When challenged, she said it was a matter of family lore, but she never used it for any advantage in advancing her careers.
Well first, she acquiesced to pressure to take one of those ancestry DNA tests. She did … and it blew her claim out of the water. There was some evidence of a wee bit of North American ancestry in her DNA, but too small to make a credible claim – and it is more likely some Aztec than Native American.
(My DNA test shows that I am one percent Nigerian. That makes me more African than Warren is American Indian. Regardless, I will not be seeking reparations. But I digress.)
It was later discovered that her dubious claim was, indeed, used to advance her career. In her own handwriting, Warren claimed Native American ancestry in a job application, and she promoted her “ancestry” to qualify as a minority during her days as a University of Pennsylvania professor. The school also promoted her as part of its diversity – as did Harvard University when she joined the faculty there.
Her latest revealed lie has to do with the end of her early teaching career with the Riverdale, New Jersey School System. In the current version, Warren’s teaching career ended because of a pregnancy. As she has REPEATEDLY put it along the campaign trail:
“By the end of the first year, I was visibly pregnant, and the principal did what principals did in those days. Wished me luck and hired someone else for the job.”
She blamed sexism for costing her what she described as her “dream job.” Unfortunately for Warren, her sexist card turned out to be a joker. She was NOT terminated from that position. In fact – according to the official minutes of the Riverdale Board of Education – her contract was APPROVED for the next year. She has been lying along the campaign trail for months.
So why did she not return to her “dream job?”
Warren explained that in a June 8, 2007 video interview at the University of California at Berkley. She said that in her first year in what she referred to as her “calling,” she possessed a “provisional” teaching certificate. She would – at some time – be required to meet the requirements for a regular teaching certificate. In the interview, she said, “And I went back to graduate school and took a couple of courses in education and said, ‘I don’t think this is going to work out for me.'” So much for the “dream job” crap. The minutes of the Riverdale Board of Education two months later indicate that they accepted Warren’s RESIGNATION with regret.
Warren’s lie cannot be attributed to faulty memory or a misinterpretation of the facts. She had to know that she was not fired – but that she had resigned. If her pregnancy had anything to do with her leaving her “calling” and her “dream job,” it is because she and her husband decided that Warren should be a stay-at-home mommy. She said that ‘My husband’s view of it was, ‘Stay home. We have children, we’ll have more children, you’ll love this.’” That is not something she would want to parade in front of radical feminist supporters. Ergo, the lie.
Ironically, by Warren’s account, her husband comes across as more of the sexist chauvinist than the school board – at least by feminist standards.
In many ways, this lie is far more concerning than that DNA prevarication. On one side, she has falsely hyped sexism as a bigger problem than it apparently was. She fuels the sexist feud that permeates our political dialogue. Exaggerating a problem is more likely to exacerbate it than resolve it.
On the other side, she damages the credibility of women on sexist issues. Lying about victimhood has been one major factor against the #MeToo Movement’s contention that women are to be believed. Warren becomes another example that women cannot be believed at face value because … women lie to enhance their claims of victimization. The lying women take away the ability of the honest women to be believed without providing evidence.
Warren has now twice created a false biography to enhance her public and professional appeal – her progressive bona fides. She has now fooled us twice. Shame on us if we believe her in the future.
So, there ‘tis.