Republican Senate hopeful Beth Lindstrom called Monday on Sen. Elizabeth Warren to apologize for denouncing the U.S. criminal-justice system as “racist … front to back.”
“Sen. Warren needs to apologize to every police officer, judge, corrections department employee, probation worker and the many other honest and decent people in our criminal justice system who have been smeared by her alienating and careless rhetoric,” Ms. Lindstrom said in a statement.
She referred to Ms. Warren’s comments Friday at Netroots Nation, an annual left-wing gathering, where the Democratic senator appeared as part of a session at Dillard University in New Orleans.
“Let’s just start with the hard truth about our criminal justice system,” Ms. Warren said. “It’s racist. It is. And when I say our system, I mean all the way. I mean front to back. We’re talking about the front end on what you declare to be illegal; on how you enforce it, on who gets arrested.”
Mood. #NN18 pic.twitter.com/BDtuYYtWXE
— Netroots Nation (@Netroots_Nation) August 3, 2018
Those taking umbrage at the Democratic senator’s blast included the right-leaning Boston Herald editorial board, which asked, “Is there any hard-working American who Elizabeth Warren has not condemned?”
“The United States is a terrible place. At least that appeared to be the theme of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s ominous chat at a historically black college on Friday,” said the Herald op-ed headlined, “Liz Warren keeps playing blame game.”
Ms. Lindstrom, one of three Republicans seeking the party’s nomination in the Sept. 4 primary, accused Ms. Warren of smearing those who work in the justice system to boost her chances for a possible presidential run in 2020.
“Words like this are polarizing and divisive: completely used for personal political gain for 2020, without regard for how they sound to the many good people in Massachusetts and around the country who are punishing criminals, keeping us safe and administering justice,” Ms. Lindstrom said.
GOP US Senate candidate Beth Lindstrom presses Elizabeth Warren to apologize for calling criminal justice system ’racist’. https://t.co/9XRC1Lvzew pic.twitter.com/roc5QZ8r2J
— masslivenews (@masslivenews) August 6, 2018
Others pointed out that until recently, the Justice Department was headed by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who succeeded Eric Holder during the Obama administration. Both are black.
“You think you have a tough job this morning? Imagine being the guy who has to organize ’Cops for Warren 2020’ in a year or so,” said National Review’s Jim Geraghty.
A member of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s cabinet, Ms. Lindstrom is running against state Rep. Geoff Diehl and philanthropist John Kingston in the reliably blue state.
A June 14 Suffolk University poll found Ms. Warren with a comfortable 20-point-plus lead over each of the three Republicans, whose share of support ranged from 30 to 33 percent.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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