Another 2020 Democratic contender dropped out of the race on Thursday and MSNBC was there to mourn the loss of Elizabeth Warren. Reporter Ali Vitali, who followed the liberal candidate around on the campaign trail, hyped the “unabashedly feminist” perspective of Warren and lamented that only “two septuagenarian white men [are] now left for Democratic voters to choose from.”
Shortly after news broke, Vitali cheered, “But I just want to take a step back as the person who has covered her campaign for this network for over a year at this point, this campaign was unabashedly feminist every single day that we were out here on the campaign trail.”
She jeered, “Elizabeth Warren was the last woman to be in this race. We obviously know now that we have two septuagenarian white men now left for Democratic voters to choose from.” Vitali worried:
I remember being able to talk with her about how women are often plagued with these double-edged swords, be aggressive but don’t be too aggressive. We watched her have to do both of those things on debate stage, in how she drew contrasts with her rivals.
Who could she be talking about here? Perhaps her former colleague, Chris Matthews? Matthews, who recently departed the network, came under fire from feminist groups for a tough interview with Warren on MSNBC.
Earlier, Vitali fixated on diversity politics: “I think it’s also striking that we started this race with the most diverse field of Democrats ever and now with Elizabeth Warren dropping out... voters will likely only have a choice between white men who are older than 75 on the Democratic side of the ticket, three if you factor in one of those guys going up against President Trump come November.”
Vitali is clearly fond of the candidate she has covered. During the live coverage of New Hampshire on February 11, she praised her experience with the “generally warm” Elizabeth Warren:
I find her to be generally warm. She answers a lot of the questions that you ask her and truly — like she's not messing around when she says she loves to talk about policy. If you ask her a policy question, be prepared fo her to go into the policy weeds on it. It's not fake. She actually really likes this stuff. When she gets up on stage and she's like, “Nerds,” that's real.
MSNBC Live
3/5/2020
10:44
ALI VITALI: I think it’s also striking that we started this race with the most diverse field of Democrats ever and now with Elizabeth Warren dropping out, yes, I know that Tulsi Gabbard is still in the race, but with Elizabeth Warren dropping out, voters will likely only have a choice between white men who are older than 75 on the Democratic side of the ticket, three if you factor in one of those guys going up against President Trump come November.
11:01
CRAIG MELVIN: Let's bring in NBC's Ali Vitali. She’s been following the campaign very closely. What more can tell us about senator Warren's decision? Has she told staffers yet as well?
ALI VITALI: Craig, she's probably on a call with staffers right now. We know that was set to start at 11. But a source familiar with her thinking told me a just few minutes ago that Senator Warren is suspending her campaign. So she’s in the process of letting her staff know that. The big question is, we don't know if she's going to endorse and if she’s going to endorse, who that person will be. I know there’s a lot of pressure right now to choose between a Biden or a Sanders. But for Elizabeth Warren the key here and the underpinning to all of these deliberations really is true, she just wants to leverage herself to get the power to enact her agenda. We know that the leading force of this campaign was all of her policy plans that she leaned into. But I just want to take a step back as the person who has covered her campaign for this network for over a year at this point, this campaign was unabashedly feminist every single day that we were out here on the campaign trail.
Elizabeth Warren was the last woman to be in this race. We obviously know now that we have two septuagenarian white men now left for Democratic voters to choose from. But for women who were out here following her campaign, it was not the leading force for her argument why she should be president. But she was out here, not hiding the fact, as she would say, that she was the woman who she said was going to be able to beat Donald Trump. The way that she messaged herself as an efficient arbiter of the plans and policy agenda that she wanted enact, she used examples of women throughout history who have been able to get things done. That was her central argument and I remember being able to talk with her about how women are often plagued with these double-edged swords, be aggressive but don’t be too aggressive. We watched her have to do both of those things on debate stage, in how she drew contrasts with her rivals. She wanted to be pitch herself as a candidate who could be a bridge between the so-called moderate and progressive lanes, sort of offering herself as a third option. Now we know that's no longer an option that voters are going to get to have. I do also think the other lasting mark that she has on this race is something that we saw yesterday. Michael Bloomberg dropped out. He spent so many millions of dollars to run for president and really the blunt force that stopped his rise in the polls was his being on the debate stage and the barrage of attacks he faced from Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Someone said to me in the Sanders campaign in reporting a story that we did a few weeks ago, that Bernie Sanders really benefitted from those attacks that Elizabeth Warren waged on that debate stage, not just because it meant that Sanders didn't have to be the only lone front-runner on that stage on the receiving end of attacks. So, we're going to hear from senator Elizabeth Warren in a little bit behind me.
