Friday morning, Sen. Elizabeth Warren rocked the Netroots Nation 2014 crowd with a rousing speech about what it means to be a Democrat,
what we believe in.
"The game is rigged. And the rich and the powerful have lobbyists and lawyers and plenty of friends in Congress. Everybody else, not so much. So the way I see this is we can whine about it, we can whimper about it or we can fight back. I'm fighting back!"
Warren ran through a list of progressive policy positions, asserting that "we believe" in tougher rules for Wall Street; science; net neutrality; raising the minimum wage; a livable wage for fast food workers; making sure students aren't burdened by crushing debt; protecting Social Security, Medicare and pensions; equal pay for equal work; equality; immigration reform and the fact that corporations are not people.
That's good red meat for a Democratic base that needs to be activated for November, the speech she's been giving to mobilize the base around the country. So where was the DNC this week, in Detroit, backing up Warren? Nope. DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz was hanging out with
the Third Way.
Yeah. That would be the Third Way that
attacked Sen. Warren for her economic populism, the Third Way whose board of directors is
completely stacked with CEOs and investment bankers. Maybe Third Way puts out a better breakfast spread than Netroots Nation.
But the DNC has to consider this. When the chips are down this fall, who are they going to be asking to make GOTV calls and go door to door? Who is running their voter registration drives? And just which Democratic senator is out working the crowds in the red states for a Democratic Senate in 2014?
DNC Chair Wasserman Schultz might want to reconsider the kind of crowd she's hanging with.