November 2, 2018

"Making her first appearance outside Massachusetts since her attempt to demonstrate the strength of her presidential campaign with a DNA test release that fell flat..."

"... Warren would not talk about Donald Trump or the campaign she’s still looking at launching.... But she did make a case against the president and his party.... Warren drew a crowd of over 300 on campus at Ohio University....  Her first stop of the day didn’t make much of a mark. At a coffee shop and bar in Columbus, about 50 people showed, barely outnumbering the journalists and campaign staff who’d stood outside in the rain, urging passersby to come in...."

From "Elizabeth Warren Test Drives Her Presidential Campaign/The Massachusetts senator started a two-day campaign swing through Ohio and Wisconsin" by Edward-Isaac Dovere (The Atlantic).

I see she's in Madison, Wisconsin today, Monona Terrace, Exhibition Hall A. "Doors open at 9:30AM." The capacity of Exhibition Hall A is 1,600.

ADDED: I've been thinking about the insanely high standard Donald Trump has set for political rallies. I don't think numbers like 300 on a campus and 50 in a coffee shop used to seem bad at all. I can remember watching C-Span's "Road to the White House," back during the early stages of the 2004 presidential campaign and seeing John Kerry wandering around the streets somewhere (I think) in New Hampshire and just not finding anyone to talk to. He goes into a music store and, for lack of a better option, sits down and plays an acoustic guitar by himself.

66 comments:

Clark said...

Journalists were urging passersby to come in? Strange.

prairie wind said...

"...the journalists and campaign staff who’d stood outside in the rain, urging passersby to come in..."

That's interesting. If you need to report the news, sometimes you need to make the news happen.

Kevin said...

It's not her Indian heritage, that was just self-inflicted silliness. Hillary has shown even a mediocre candidate could get over that, and the election is two years away.

Her core issue is that Americans are not electing a schoolmarm as President.

Ann Althouse said...

"...the journalists and campaign staff who’d stood outside in the rain, urging passersby to come in..."

I guess there's no decent word editing at The Atlantic. I'm guessing whoever wrote that didn't mean "urging passersby to come in" to connect to the journalists, just the campaign staff.

Some people write long sentences with a lot of phrases — packing in the information — and they just don't notice the mechanics of what they are doing. My excerpt in the post charitably cut down this sentence:

"Making her first appearance outside Massachusetts since her attempt to demonstrate the strength of her presidential campaign with a DNA test release that fell flat, Warren would not talk about Donald Trump or the campaign she’s still looking at launching not long after Tuesday, when she’s expected to be easily re-elected to a second term in the Senate."

"still looking at launching not long after Tuesday" — She still doing something at some vague point in the future? Ugh!

Ann Althouse said...

That's such a terrible mess:

"Making her first appearance outside Massachusetts since her attempt to demonstrate the strength of her presidential campaign with a DNA test release that fell flat, Warren would not talk about Donald Trump or the campaign she’s still looking at launching not long after Tuesday, when she’s expected to be easily re-elected to a second term in the Senate."

Notice how many points in time are involved: 1. The appearance in Ohio, 2. The release of the DNA test, 3. Next Tuesday, election day, 4. The as-yet-unknown time of the launch of her campaign. It's really ugly to juggle all that in one sentence. And the words "she’s still looking at launching not long after Tuesday" could mean that what happens "not long after Tuesday" is the launch of the campaign or the continuing to look. I know my reading ground to a halt over that phrase. Crowding more information into a sentence does not save the reader's time.

David Begley said...

Ann:

By all means, don’t walk over to campus and meet our future President. Our future President who used to be a law professor. Maybe the two of you could have a scholarly discussion about birthright citizenship. You are, after all, a famous blogger and 10x smarter than Liz.

Curious George said...

"I've been thinking about the insanely high standard Donald Trump has set for political rallies."

Trump inspires! MAGA! The left just sees the world sucking. Who wants to hear that message from a miserable person.

Oso Negro said...

Trump is offering NEW and COLOSSAL. Elizabeth Warren is offering boring Brand X.

Bob Boyd said...

"Warren would not talk about Donald Trump or the campaign she’s still looking at launching.... But she did make a case against the president and his party...."

tcrosse said...

Once, during the 1972 primaries, Ed Muskie, The Man from Maine, wandered into the Rathskeller all by himself to press the flesh. He was not received warmly.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

At a coffee shop and bar in Columbus, about 50 people showed, barely outnumbering the journalists and campaign staff

Just more evidence to show how viciously racist this country is to Women of Color. Poor Lizzie has to work twice as hard to get half as far.

rhhardin said...

The rule is to pack it all in the lede. Grammar is taken advantage of to add stuff as clauses and modifiers.

It's a recognized style in grammar texts.

tcrosse said...

Warren needs to lose the granny glasses and get some Dame Ednas.

Tommy Duncan said...

This is a doubleplusgood example of why Democrat audiences usually arrive on buses with an extra $50 in their pockets and professionally printed signs in their hands.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

She's boring. Though I find Liz less offensive that angry CA whack-job Kamala, or give everyone free money Spartacus.

Eleanor said...

I've been in a "small venue" with Elizabeth Warren. The kind where you can tap her on the arm and try to get a coherent answer to a simple question. Ann, you should go over to campus to see her. Be prepared for some head scratching. It will fun watching her campaign when she doesn't the Boston Globe for backup. I'd love to know what you think when you get to hear her first hand.

Trumpit said...

Warren is head and shoulders above Schlump in every way, and doesn't have the stigma attached to Hillary Clinton. I wish she did have more Indian blood as that would be a feather in her plumed headdress. She could then claim to be the both the first woman and the first Native American president. Half the population is quite deplorable, and/or moronic, so Schlump, a notorious liar*, is only another con away from being re-erected president.

* https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/01/opinion/republican-party-lies.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

We don't pay you the big bucks to sit in your not-warm house and watch from afar! Get your ass over there and do some reporting!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The 2020 election will be fun in terms of watching the hack-D press slobber over all the democrats.

Henry said...

I'll probably vote for Warren in Massachusetts. The alternative is a party-switching former advertising executive.

The independent candidate, Shiva Ayyadurai, is probably the most Trumpish candidate, both on immigration policy and general belligerence.

Tommy Duncan said...

I started to type a remark about Tammy Baldwin and Liz Warren, but decided to allow others to explore that coupling of progressives.

AllenS said...

Here's a nice little video of The Fake Indian finding out that an ethics complaint has been filed against her.

LINK TEXT

The Crack Emcee said...

She should put a dot on her forehead now and tell everyone they got the wrong kind of Indian.

I'm never running for office.

Original Mike said...

”I see she's in Madison, Wisconsin today, Monona Terrace, Exhibition Hall A. "Doors open at 9:30AM." The capacity of Exhibition Hall A is 1,600.”

Sorry, Liz. I’ve got garden waste to clean up.

Bob Boyd said...

Why would anyone miss a chance to see Warren? She's so charming, witty and just...fun.

CWJ said...

Henry, In that case I'd probably ask who's done, or most likely to do, more for my state, and vote accordingly. It is the job description after all. Twelve years in the senate, and I still can't point to anything specific McCaskill's done for Missouri. She was perhaps the first woman to break ranks and side with Obama in 2008. That should have been worth at least one giant barrel of pork.

Bob Boyd said...

Her voice is like fingernails scraping on a buffalo hide.

iowan2 said...

Looky at that, Trumpit is switching to a President Trump supporter!
nice sarcasm, keep up the good fight.

tim in vermont said...

I saw Jesse Jackson speak to a "crowd" of 15 once in an empty storefront at the Mall of New Hampshire, I think it was. He's a good speaker. I passed Dick Gephardt on the sidewalk, puffed up like a just laid rooster right after winning Iowa. My friend said he had heard Gephardt speak from the tailgate of a pickup truck. "The Loser" as Rush used to call Dukakis restricted himself to invited crowds. I only ever saw him pass in a motorcade of limos.

New Hampshire is fun.

BarrySanders20 said...

She’s one strange bird. She gave a bizarre interview the day after a trump was elected. Severe, Church-lady like with very clipped responses. I suppose she was still traumatized. I’ve tried to find it since but had no luck.

tim in vermont said...

Warren, unlike Hillary, wouldn't make a decent dominatrix. Which we have learned is what Democrats secretly want.

Paul Zrimsek said...

Severe, Church-lady like with very clipped responses.

"How." "Ugh." "Heap bad medicine."

Ann Althouse said...

"By all means, don’t walk over to campus and meet our future President. Our future President who used to be a law professor. Maybe the two of you could have a scholarly discussion about birthright citizenship. You are, after all, a famous blogger and 10x smarter than Liz."

You're right that the walking distance is short. But I don't think anyone is having a scholarly discussion about birthright citizenship these days. And no one seeking office wants to talk to me. If they think they do, it must be that they have no chance of winning.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

“Her core issue is that Americans are not electing a schoolmarm as President.”

She’s Bob Dole without the integrity. Why is there this assumption that the American electorate are looking for the uptight and serious, as though that holds some promise of competence? If you believed the media you’d think we’re all just waiting for the return of Dwight Eisenhower. The record suggests otherwise.

Ralph L said...

Kerry was terrible at retail politics in 2003-4, so I wouldn't use him for a comparison. Remember Teresa asking about the Wendy's menu and complaining about the chili.

Expat(ish) said...

@Cracker_Emcee-Rampant: "She’s Bob Dole without the integrity."

Ouch.

I think she has a much mean as he did though.

-XC

Wince said...

Blogger Ann Althouse said...
"...the journalists and campaign staff who’d stood outside in the rain, urging passersby to come in... Notice how many points in time are involved: 1. The appearance in Ohio, 2. The release of the DNA test, 3. Next Tuesday, election day, 4. The as-yet-unknown time of the launch of her campaign."

The time contortions tossing the word salad probably reflect the writer's attempt to hew to the instructions given by the Warren campaign not to highlight the Warren campaign for president until after Tuesday's election.

stevew said...

Pretty much feels like her run for potus is over before it’s started, but many people thought the Sox were done after the loss to the Yankees

TrespassersW said...

Rush observed that "Politics is show business for ugly people." I would amend that to: Politics is show business for ugly, boring people.

Ugly, boring people who think they're beautiful and interesting.

FIDO said...

So Warren and her supporters will rattle around like a couple of beans in a calabash in a venue that large.

stevew said...

Ohio University isn’t in Columbus, the one there is The Ohio State University. Or so I’m told.

Oso Negro said...

I suggest dressing Meade up as Iron-Eyes Cody and offering to exchange crab cake recipes.

CWJ said...

"I've been thinking about the insanely high standard Donald Trump has set for political rallies."

Althouse, those used to be par for the course when we were young. But once screens, be they tv's, tablets, or phones, fully replaced them, all you needed was enough people to fill the frame. Also because screens are a cool, short, medium, you also lost the excitement of a candidate giving the crowd a "stemwinder." Trump just discovered that a very old style of campaigning fit his persona and is still effective.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

As mainstream media go down, copy editors disappear. I, like Ann, will miss them. The stuff about numbers at an event is hilarious. As Jon Stewart says, Trump baits the media and they fall for it. Who is now the winner of the phony debate about how big the crowd was at Trump's Inauguration? His enemies pretty consistently have crowds which, by Trump standards, are much too small. Also due respect to people over 70, but is there really going to be a crowded field of people this age running for President in 2020? The boomers just won't let go?

The French election of 2002 required two rounds: in the first round Chirac (b. November 1932, turning 70 in a few months) was first at about 20%, Le Pen (b. June 1928, about to turn 74) (father of Marine) was second, Jospin (b. July 1937, about to turn 65) was third. In the second round, with only two candidates, Chirac won a landslide with over 82%. Many parties united to defeat nationalist Le Pen. Jospin as the youngest of the three had the audacity or audace to play the age card.

Bay Area Guy said...

She shoulda gave her speech at Miami University in Ohio - the RedHawks!

rhhardin said...

Go over and tell an indian joke.

Two indians were walking along a stream and spotted a woman on the other bank

"Do you think she'd come across for two bucks?" one asked the other.

rhhardin said...

Ask where she stands on seal clubbing.

Bob Boyd said...

Turns out you can't judge how big a man's crowd will be by the size of his hands.

rhhardin said...

Hail to the Chief.

RK said...

I guess there's no decent word editing at The Atlantic.

If a journalism major graduated from college with the ability to give a great blowjob, it would at least be something.

rcocean said...

Sometimes "Bad writing" is deliberate. Notice how the DNA test fiasco gets lost in that run-on sentence?

Bob Boyd said...

@RK
It may be the one area in which the male graduates are surpassing the females.

rcocean said...

For a Native american Warren's surprisingly dishonest and stupid.

Liz speaks with forked tongue.

Wince said...

I can remember watching C-Span's "Road to the White House," back during the early stages of the 2004 presidential campaign and seeing John Kerry wandering around the streets somewhere (I think) in New Hampshire and just not finding anyone to talk to.

“Can I get me a hunting license here?”

Mr. Kerry and his handlers wanted to come away with sanitized pictures they think will play well with focus groups. After two hours of hunting, photographers with long photo lenses noticed that Mr. Kerry’s hand was bloodied. By the time he reached the reporters, he had tucked that hand into his sleeve. Unlike the other hunters, all of them carrying their geese, Mr. Kerry was careful not to be photographed holding the bird he shot. He’s triangulating — trying to do whatever he can to to persuade hunters he’s their buddy, without completely alienating animal-rights backers on the political left who might be inclined to support him.

Qwinn said...

I'm glad someone else (Bob Boyd) caught what broke my brain... "Warren would not talk about Donald Trump... but she did make a case against the President.."

WTF is that? That is utterly incoherent.

gerry said...

I've been thinking about the insanely high standard Donald Trump has set for political rallies.

I think you are being emphatic, right? DJT sensed the despair and frustration of a huge number of Americans who were persecuted by elitist political sentiments that benefited no one but those elitists and he spoke to them. He let them know that their values and beliefs were NOT sinister or evil or deplorable, but that it was OK to want to have a nice life free of self-doubt and persecution, and to be proud of personal hard work and self-worth. And the people responded to him, to that message. They knew that the destructive philosophy of the elitists was false and could (and can) be defeated, and they want what DJT's leadership will deliver and is delivering.

Trump hasn't set an insanely high standard for political rallies. He's merely saying what is true about American greatness potential. He is not denigrating what provides the greatest hope and actual benefit to Americans, which contradicts what Progressive/Democrat policy produces: despair, economic failure, and denial of God-given rights. Trump turnout is not insane except to those who hate others who refuse to be enslaved by Progressive ideology.

hawkeyedjb said...

"The 2020 election will be fun in terms of watching the hack-D press slobber over all the democrats."

That movie's been playing way too long to be considered "fun" anymore.

Bob Boyd said...

@ Qwinn

I took it to mean, when the press ask her about Trump, she said nothing, but made the universal "up yours" sign with extended middle finger.

tcrosse said...

"Warren would not talk about Donald Trump... but she did make a case against the President.."

Old You-Know-Who, That Man in the White House.

Kevin said...

"Warren would not talk about Donald Trump... but she did make a case against the President.."

The love that dare not smoke signal its name.

Howard said...

Savage called her Liarwatha yesterday. He was pretty pretty pleased with himself.

FIDO said...

Is that empathy I smell?

Why not take some of that cruel neutrality and apply it to a woman for once.

Trump is moving the masses and Warren can barely move her bowels.

This is significant to the cruelly neutral.

Jim at said...

I actually caught a clip of her on the news last night. Accidentally.
It's the first time I've ever heard her speak.

Who knew there was someone out there with a voice more grating than Hillary Clinton?

Yancey Ward said...

She isn't a candidate yet, so a small crowd isn't necessarily a warning to her candidacy. However, I don't think the woman has a prayer of ever being President- the country isn't going to elect a white person from Massachusetts. The Democrats tried that with Michael Dukakis and John Kerry, and both lost to Bushes, the second of which was the weakest incumbent President to win reelection in the history of the Republic in my opinion. I don't think the Democrats will make the mistake of giving her the nomination.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

well knock me over with a feather

David Blaska said...

I was invited to the Elizabeth Warren / Tammy Baldwin event but was afraid I'd go all Al Franken on them.