Sen. Elizabeth Warren is none too happy with a recent “beard-stroking” piece on her 2020 election chances by Politico’s Natasha Korecki.
The Massachusetts Democrat sent out a fundraising email this week that blasted “tired, beard-stroking opinion pieces masquerading as smart political analysis.” The timing spotlighted Politico story titled, “Warren battles the ghosts of Hillary,” which covered everything from low polling to her lambasted DNA test for Native America ancestry.
“Elizabeth Warren is fundraising off the @Politico article wondering if she’s likable,” The Washington Free Beacon managing editor David Rutz tweeted Wednesday evening. “’We’re used to the tired, beard-stroking opinion pieces masquerading as smart political analysis.’”
Ms. Warren’s email also lamented comparisons to “any woman who’s ever lost an election” and “angsty quotes from ’concerned’ insiders.”
Politico’s piece interviewed “nearly a half-dozen current and former Warren advisers and associates acknowledged the rap on her, even as they dismissed it as little more than D.C. chatter.”
Elizabeth Warren’s campaign just sent out a fundraising email bashing the media’s fixation with “likability” and citing a recent Politico piece.
— Ted Johnson (@tedstew) January 2, 2019
“Any comparison to Clinton will recede, they said, once Warren hits the campaign trail in early states and weaves her own narrative in front of real voters,” Ms. Korecki wrote Monday. “Amplified by an advanced video and digital operation her team has assembled over the past year-and-a-half, in part to help humanize her as a candidate, Warren will quickly remind people of her early years as an anti-Wall Street, pro-consumer crusader, they argue.”
Those efforts to “humanize” the Democrat — who just launched an exploratory committee for a 2020 White House bid — backfired on New Year’s Eve with the release of an Instagram video.
Elizabeth Warren is fundraising off the @Politico article wondering if she’s likable. “We’re used to the tired, beard-stroking opinion pieces masquerading as smart political analysis.”
— David Rutz (@DavidRutz) January 2, 2019
Ms. Warren was mocked on Twitter and YouTube for delivering the line, “Hold on a sec — I’m gonna get me a beer” while slapping her thigh.
Negative feedback prompted her to release a silent video of her waving on Twitter with the message “I hear women candidates are most likable in the quiet car! I’ll be talking again on @maddow @ 9pm ET.”
In the year of the woman, it adds up to one unwelcome mat. But it also presents an unmistakable challenge: How does Warren avoid a Clinton redux — written off as too unlikable before her campaign gets off the ground? https://t.co/uY543GN6qV via @politico
— Natasha Korecki (@natashakorecki) December 31, 2018
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.