During an appearance on Thursday’s CBS This Morning, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren was repeatedly pressed from the left about Hillary Clinton’s presidential prospects within the Democratic Party.
After discussing the guilty verdict for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsnaraev, Norah O’Donnell asked Warren whether or not Hillary Clinton was liberal enough: “In the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton could announce any day now that she is going to seek the presidential nomination for and presidency in 2016. Do you think she's the future of the Democratic Party?"
While Warren attempted to filibuster, Charlie Rose continued to question her from the left and asked “[d]oes she represent the Democratic Party that you believe the Democratic Party ought to be?”
Warren proceeded to give a lengthy answer detailing how the Democratic Party needs to be further to the left to suit her agenda but rather than ask her if such views were far outside the mainstream of American politics O’Donnell fretted that “if someone doesn't challenge Hillary Clinton in a primary, do you think that debate will happen? Do you think there needs to be a vigorous debate within the Democratic Party?”
Later in the interview, Charlie Rose pushed Warren to be more specific about her liberal ideology, specifically on the minimum wage and “income inequality." He eagerly wondered how far left she wanted to move the Democratic Party:
What we're trying to understand is that you represent -- you really have become the voice of a wing of the Democratic Party, and maybe all of the party. What we want to know is where does Elizabeth Warren want to see this party go?
Warren continued to spout her liberal views without receiving any push back from the CBS hosts that she should consider moderating her ideology. Instead, Rose pushed the Massachusetts Democrat to explain what Mrs. Clinton needs to do to satisfy her liberal views:
And where you differ from former Secretary of State Clinton. Why can't you tell us that? Why isn't that interest in the interest of a full debate about the future of the country, the future of the Democratic Party and who the nominee ought to be?...Name me one thing you would like to see -- name me one thing that you would like to see Hillary Clinton do and say and commit to that she has not committed to?
As of late, Senator Warren has been treated to multiple softball interviews aimed at promoting her left-wing values. Last month, NBC’s Savannah Guthrie repeatedly urged the Democrat to run in 2016 and wondered if Mrs. Clinton was liberal enough for the modern Democratic Party.
In 2014 Warren appeared on CBS This Morning and was met with fawning approval from the three co-hosts. During that interview, Gayle King enthused “[y]ou sit today as a United States senator. And people are already thinking, buzz, buzz, buzz, president, president, president. I have heard you say no. I’ve heard you say no. But you have said no to so many things. Why would you not even consider this with the passion that you have?”
See relevant transcript below.
CBS This Morning
April 9, 2015
NORAH O’DONNELL: Let's turn to politics now. In the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton could announce any day now that she is going to seek the presidential nomination for and presidency in 2016. Do you think she's the future of the Democratic Party?
ELIZABETH WARREN: Well, I think we have to see, first of all, if she declares, and what she says she wants to run on. I think that's really the interesting question.
CHARLIE ROSE: You know her. I mean, you know her and you know her positions on most issues. Does she represent the Democratic Party that you believe the Democratic Party ought to be?
WARREN: You know, I don't think the Democratic Party is a static thing. The Democratic Party grows. The Democratic Party is full of energy right now. The Democratic Party is very much about drawing contrasts, frankly, with the Republican Party. I'll give you a very specific example of that. Right now the United States government makes billions of dollars in profits off the backs of kids who are trying to get an education through student loans.
And the Democrats, 100% of us, have lined up to say in the United States Senate, the interest rate on student loans should be reduced. That would save a lot of people hundreds of dollars of year. Some thousands of dollars a year. The Republicans have lined up on the other side and said, no, it is more important to protect tax loopholes for millionaires and billionaires than it is to give our kids a break. So, it's that kind of issue that, I think, really divides us and really gives us a sense of the energy of the new Democratic Party.
O’DONNELL: But if someone doesn't challenge Hillary Clinton in a primary, do you think that debate will happen? Do you think there needs to be a vigorous debate within the Democratic Party?
WARREN: Look, I think there needs to be a vigorous debate in the whole question about running for president. I think everyone who's running for president should be talking about what they plan to do to strengthen and rebuild America's middle class. Let's be clear, this has been my lifetime's work.
And I have watched year by year by year where America's middle class just has to take one punch after another. We've reached a point, this isn't going to work anymore. I talk about this a lot in my book. About what it means to fight back, how I fought back personally, but also the kinds of fights we need to have.
ROSE: You also talk about how the minimum wage meant everything to your mother at a time in which she needed that to survive.
WARREN: And that really is the key point. My dad had had a heart attack. We had lost our family car. We nearly lost the house. My mother got a minimum wage job at a time when a minimum wage job would support a family of three. Kept us above water. Today that won't happen. And that's because the policy is written in Washington—
ROSE: So the minimum wage should be at what? At $15 an hour?
WARREN: Well, the point is, it should certainly be higher than it is.
ROSE: It's hard to get to you be more specific. You talk about the Democratic Party’s a fluid thing and is going here and there and it’s always changing. But we want you to really-
WARREN: I'm sorry, what was nonspecific about let's reduce the interest rate on student loans to 3.89%?
ROSE: You've been saying that in a lot of different –
WARREN: I'm there.
ROSE: I know. You've been saying that in a lot of different places and that's a very specific position.
WARREN: And I have supported our efforts to try to get the minimum wage-
ROSE: And you say, well –
WARREN: I've supported it at $10.10. I would support it at a higher number. And I'm willing to sit down and negotiate with those who are willing to raise the minimum wage.
ROSE: What we're trying to understand is that you represent -- you really have become the voice of a wing of the Democratic Party, and maybe all of the party. What we want to know is where does Elizabeth Warren want to see this party go?
WARREN: Oh golly, how could you not know?
ROSE: In terms of minimum wage. In terms of income inequality. In terms of a whole range of things.
WARREN: I'm ready.
ROSE: You're ready to tell them where you are and where you think the country—
O’DONNELL: You ready to run?
ROSE: And where you differ from former Secretary of State Clinton. Why can't you tell us that? Why isn't that interest in the interest of a full debate about the future of the country, the future of the Democratic Party and who the nominee ought to be?
WARREN: Charlie, I'll tell you where I stand on all of the key issues. It's up to others to say whether they stand there as well or they stand in some different place. I'll tell you where I stand on minimum wage. I'll tell you where I stand on equal pay for equal work. I’ll tell you where I stand on expanding—
ROSE: Name me one thing you would like to see -- name me one thing that you would like to see Hillary Clinton do and say and commit to that she has not committed to?
