True Confessions

After the first time I did it, I enjoyed it so much, I did it again.  And again.  And again, and again, and again.  I couldn't help myself, even though on some level I knew I probably shouldn't have enjoyed it so much.  But every time I did it, I enjoyed it every bit as much as I did that first time, so I didn't stop.  In fact, if I did it again, right now, I'm willing to bet I'd enjoy it every bit as much as the first time.

Okay, get your salacious mind out of the gutter.  I'm speaking, of course, about watching Elizabeth Warren get put in her place by Senators Steve Daines and Mitch McConnell.  Warren was blathering on in opposition of the appointment of Sen. Jeff Sessions as Attorney General - no surprise there.

Never mind that everyone has known since Sessions' nomination that he'd be confirmed.  Warren had breath to waste, and she was determined to waste it.

Twenty minutes into Warren's 47-minute diatribe (it would have gone longer had Daines not ordered her to take her seat) by quoting the late Sen. Ted Kennedy when he called Sessions "a disgrace."

Yeah, that Ted Kennedy - you know, Chappaquiddick Teddy?  If getting drunk and driving your car into a tidal pool, then letting your passenger - the woman with whom you were having an extramarital affair - drown, while you, a strong swimmer, swim away to safety, then wait ten hours to report the incident, doesn't make you a disgrace, I'm not sure what does.

Anyway, Sen. Daines, presiding over the Sessions debate, warned Warren that she was in violation of Senate Rule 19, which prohibits a Senator from impugning the character of a colleague on the Senate floor.

Undaunted, Warren pressed on.  At the 47-minute mark, she began quoting a letter penned by Coretta Scott King, MLK's widow, in which Mrs. King had opposed Sessions' appointment to a federal judgeship in 1986 (the same occasion of Kennedy's "disgrace" comment).

Now, had Sen. Warren been permitted to continue, do you suppose she would have also noted that later, at the 2000 dedication of the Rosa Parks Library on the campus of Troy University, Mrs. King acknowledged Sessions and other politicians who had been instrumental in making the library dedicated to the late civil rights leader possible?  In those comments, she said of Sessions and the other politicians, "It's a great honor and privilege to join you in celebrating the grand opening of the Rosa Parks Library and Museum."

I'm going to go way out on a limb here, and venture a guess that Sen. Warren would have managed to overlook those more recent remarks.

But as the Tootsie Pop owl said, "The world may never know," because Sen. McConnell then objected to Sen. Warren't second violation of Rule 19 in less than 18 minutes, which may be a Senate record.

Sen. Warren became indignant, in a petulant way.  She said plaintively - like a Brownie Scout who is incensed that her prospective customer doesn't want to listen to a detailed explanation of why Do-Si-Dos are superior to Thin Mints - "Mr. President [addressing Sen. Daines], I am surprised that the words of Coretta Scott King are not suitable for debate in the United States Senate.  I ask leave of the Senate to continue my remarks."

"I ask leave."  How Victorian.  At least she didn't call Daines "my liege."

McConnell and Daines weren't going to let Warren hide behind Mrs. King's skirt, however.  Daines called for objections to her request, and McConnell provided one.  At that point, Daines instructed Warren to take her seat.

So why do I take such pleasure in watching this scenario unfold over and over again?

Simple: I don't like Elizabeth Warren.  Never have.  From her almost single-handed creation of the CFPB, an unchecked government entity with almost unlimited power to wreak baseless havoc on financial institutions, increasing the cost of credit for all of us, to her stated belief that student loan rates should be equal to what banks pay to borrow from the Fed, she has demonstrated an astonishing lack of understanding of basic economic and financial principles.

Anyone who thinks student loans should be priced at the Fed borrowing rate has no knowledge of simple concepts like collateral, credit ratings, reserves, and being subject to regulation - things that apply to bank borrowings, but not to student borrowers.  And no such person should be allowed anywhere near the nation's banking system.

Yet, there she sits on the Senate Banking Committee.  It's the biggest travesty since Barney Frank chaired the House Financial Services Committee, a role in which he created the housing crisis.  With Warren, the results could be even more dire.  (Barney was also from Massachusetts.  Maybe we should stop allowing legislators from that state to serve on banking committees.)

Some pundits said that the GOP would have been better off letting Warren blather on.  After all, whether Sessions would ultimately be confirmed was never in doubt, and no amount of bloviating by Sen. Warren was going to change that.  These pundits argue that, by silencing her (the Senate later voted to make that official), the GOP handed her significant political capital, almost guaranteeing her nomination as the 2020 Democrat Party candidate for the Presidency.

I agree that it was a crazy move - crazy like a fox.  By helping cement Warren's prospects of becoming the Dem's 2020 nominee, the GOP may have guaranteed that the Democrats put up a candidate with no hope of winning.  See, Elizabeth Warren is slightly left of Bernie Sanders, albeit not as intelligent or ethical but a whole lot more strident.

So take the worst aspects of Hillary Clinton (a strident tone and dishonesty - Warren claimed to be a Native American in order to land a job at Harvard) and Bernie (a far-left, socialist agenda with no comprehension of basic financial principles), and you have Elizabeth Warren.

And that's a pretty low hurdle for Donald Trump to clear.