Question about Elizabeth Warren. Help, please?

[Indpndnt]

I am thrilled that Elizabeth Warren has beaten that prejudiced fool, Brown. All day today, I've been reading FB comments from repubs and fundies I know (plus posts by their repub friends) from all over the country, enjoying their whines and rants. But one thing stood out. Out of all the races yesterday, the Mass. race is the one that has nearly all of them all saying, "Elizabeth Warren?! Really, Massachusetts?!" This is coming from all over. What struck me most is that it is coming from very different people who have never met and have very little in common.

Why is that race so important to them? I don't want to ask them. At all. Is it because it was Ted Kennedy's seat and they're glad they had Brown in it? Is Warren that threatening to them? (Please say, "Yes!" ) Or is there something I'm missing. They lost senate races much closer to their homes, yet the one in Mass. is the one they all keep commenting on. Any ideas?

[aletier_v]

1. I feel the same. I donated to Warren's campaign, I didn't even read her positions

I know her from the banking bailout hearings and she struck a chord of trustworthiness with me.

I'm quite happy she won, I did not think she would.

I hope she can do something positive.

[Indpndnt]

4. I think she'll be great! It's extra sweet because Brown's vicious campaign against her failed.

I'm just wondering why repubs I know in Texas, Calif., NJ, NY, and other places are so upset that she won. It's not just idle curiosity, either. I'd love to find out and then keep bringing it up in conversations with them on FB!

[aletier_v]

8. They almost certainly know her, like I do, from the banking hearings

I suppose they weren't happy with her positions.

[Indpndnt]

10. I'd be surprised if they were that clued in, but I think you're on to something.

Most are addicted to Faux, Breitbart, and the like. If they have any idea about the banking hearings, it was through a very warped prism held by those with an equally warped agenda.

Thanks! I am getting a clearer picture of why her election has set them off like this. It just took me so off-guard!

[Zorra]

2. A) She's a real, honest to goodness Democrat. The real thing.

Republicans hate real Democrats like Elizabeth and Dennis Kucinich with every fiber of their being

B) She's female, and republicans generally don't respect women.

C) Elizabeth is honest, something else that scares republicans.

D) She is knowledgeable about government and corporate interference with government, and she will be eternally drafting legislation to force corporations and private special interests to bow and kneel before will of the people.

Those are 4 reasons, there are more.

[Indpndnt]

7. It's funny that they would hate her for protecting people when they're all about "freedom."

And "small gummint." But I can see how they would hate a Democrat for being the one to take on the govt. and business. They consider both to be their personal property.

Thanks!

[Zorra]

14. In reality, they're not about freedom at all.

They are all about selfishness, ignorance, and greed.

They would not know freedom if it bit them in the ass, and if it did bite them in the ass, they'd be afraid of it forever, because they are too stupid and weak to really be free.

Sad, pathetic creatures, living life in dark, confused unhappiness.

[ananda]

18. Yes, a real liberal Democrat who carries authority with her!

..

[klook]

3. She conceived the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

to protect Americans from predatory business practices. Conservatives think this weakens their bootstraps. They hate nothing more than government protecting citizens from business. AND they believed Brown's BS about her being the undeserving recipient of Affirmative Action favorable treatment.

Either one of these makes them seethe with white-hot hatred. Both together are "nucular."

[Indpndnt]

9. And since some of them love cheating and ripping people off, they hate her for it.

While the others just believe what they're told. Yeah, that pretty much describes all those in question on FB. What kills me are the fundies who are soooooooooo 'Christian,' yet say the most un-Christian, hateful things. You're absolutely right, they are "seething with white-hot hatred." I will never get over that. Especially since I knew these folks 30-40 years ago and not one of them was like this!

I just don't get it. But I'm beginning to think that's a good thing. I'm not sure I want to understand that kind of mindset.

Thanks! I did not know about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Very cool!

[klook]

17. CFPB is doing good work

http://www.consumerfinance.gov/
-- under the leadership of the recess-appointed Richard Cordray.

[Honeycombe8]

5. I think it was a particular feather in their cap, since it had been Teddy Kennedy's seat for decades

To unseat a Dem in that seat was a real coup.

[Indpndnt]

11. I did wonder about that. They hated Ted with a passion and rejoiced over taking his seat.

But knowing these people the way I do, I thought for certain it would be Tammy Baldwin's victory that would set them off, not Elizabeth Warren. I am so, so glad she recaptured that seat! I don't see her losing it for a long time, if ever.

Thanks!

[hoosierlib]

6. She is demonized because...

She represents everything that the right-wing males hate about liberal women, she's smart and doesn't back down. She wants to reign in Wall Street and crack down on corporate greed. They hate her for that and have been on the attack since she oversaw TARP.

I'm from Indiana and also donated to her campaign. So happy to have her joining the Senate! Thanks for supporting her!

[Indpndnt]

12. I'm from Texas and I can tell you her election has seriously ticked off a lot of repub folks here.

Plus FB friends I have in other states. Everything I'm reading here is helping me understand why. I think you're spot-on with your observation of RW males hating smart, tough, liberal women. On top of that, they think business and Wall Street are THEIR territory and they're very threatened by her and her work, especially since she's a success. Babies.

Thanks! I'm with you, I am so happy to see soon-to-be-Senator Warren elected.

[aletier_v]

13. LIke I said, they know her from the banking hearings. :)

I can't remember the details, just my general impression.

I wanted some fucking accountability out of the bankers,
and I wanted a lot of them fired, and I remember thinking
she sounded to be in a similar frame of mind.

[behindthe8ballnchain]

15. from my view over-looking Beacon Hill

Well, would be if all those other buildings weren't in the way -

As honeycombe8 just pointed out -

Conservative-Nation placed great hopes on this race as they were so over the top with glee that they had taken "Teddy Kennedy's Seat". Sure I heard liberals call it Teddy's seat - but I actually heard that more from conservatives. And taking that seat, in all all places Massachusetts ! This supposudly represented a tipping point, a rejection of the socialist Obama regime, in Massachusetts even !

Of course Brown only won as Coakley just ain't that popular in Dem circles much less with Mass. conservatives (they do exist). Her spot in the Patrick Administration and Beacon Hill was exploited, both being wildly unpopular with the Howie Carr/Boston Herald reading/Michael Graham-VB following victims of the Mass Conserv-o-bubble (it exists). That resonated enough to get Brown in. And of course Coakley didn't exactly rally any support since her campaign had the charisma of a used kleenex on the floor of a taxi.

Yet some how conservatives thousands of miles from here took Brown's victory as a rejection of Obama and his health care legislation. They're funny that way with their tenuous grasp of reality. And last night that bubble went ---- pop.

[Indpndnt]

16. That does seem to capture the resentful spirit of the comments I read on FB.

They practically spit them out. And, yes, they all have a very tenuous grasp of reality. Some are young people in college (a few with student loans coming out of their ears) and they may be more deluded than their parents. They also seem to have more 'facts' at their command than their parents, but those 'facts' are twisted shadows of reality fed to them by Faux and the conservative forums they frequent. Those 'facts' do make them quite cocky, though. And I can confirm that they did trumpet every repub election as a rejection of Obama and Obamacare, you are absolutely right.

I would purge my FB Friends list, but there is a part of me that finds these glimpses into their nonsensical ideas to be both illuminating and, at times, downright hilarious. And I am enjoying the heck out of their reactions to yesterday's elections.

Thanks!

[morningfog]

19. It received national coverage. The race was fed to the sheep and they ate it.