Lawrence O'Donnell talked to Massachusetts Democratic candidate for the Senate and progressive champion Elizabeth Warren about the latest polls from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell/Boston Herald survey released released this week, showing her with a 49 to 42 percent lead over incumbent Senator Scott Brown.
As O'Donnell noted, any time an incumbent goes below 50 percent in the polls even when their opponent is not polling higher than they are, it spells some serious trouble for their reelection prospects.
So naturally with not only Brown polling below that 50 percent, but Warren also polling with a seven point lead, the GOP is freaking out and getting desperate. Which leads us to Karl Rove and his group and his desperate smear of Warren, trying to paint her as somehow being friendly to Wall Street.
Karl Rove’s independent group Crossroads GPS is up with a new advertisement today, smearing Massachusetts senate candidate Elizabeth Warren (D) by insinuating that she was responsible for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the bank bailout that took place at the height of the financial crisis.
The ad blames Warren for “bailing out the same banks that caused the financial meltdown, bailouts that helped pay big bonuses to bank executives while middle class Americans lost out.” It closes by imploring the viewer to “tell Professor Warren we need jobs, not more bailouts and bigger government.” [...]
The accusation that Warren is responsible for TARP, bank bailouts, or huge executive bonuses is beyond absurd. TARP and the bank bailouts were Republican ideas that began under President Bush. As Simon Johnson notes, Warren “has also been a strong supporter of all efforts to rein in Too Big To Fail banks, including by breaking them up.”
In fact, her work creating and heading up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau involved advocating directly on consumers’ behalf, a key check on the power of big banks. She also ran the Congressional Oversight Panel for TARP, where her role was to track the money that was given to the banks. She was extremely critical of both the banks’ and Washington’s inability to accurately account for TARP money. Read on...
As O'Donnell pointed out during his interview with Warren, he doesn't think the voters of Massachusetts are that stupid to fall for Rove's ads. If the polling continues in her favor the way it has, I'd say he's right.
You can donate to Warren's campaign though our Act Blue page here.
