Warren's money rants ring hollow

Sen. Elizabeth Warren brought her “antibig money” message to her home state recently, one that seems to resonate on the stump but rings hollow given Warren's own political history.

“Whatever issue gets you going, whatever it is, if there is a decision to be made in Washington, I guarantee it has been influenced by money,” Warren, D-Mass., told supporters Sunday at a campaign stop in Oklahoma City. “It has been shaped by money, it has had loopholes created by money.”

Warren and fellow Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders love to rail against money's influence in politics, and against people of wealth in general, yet they are both quite wealthy themselves, and in Warren's case formerly had no qualms about accepting money from highdollar sources.

A profile in The New York Times in September recounted Warren attending fund-raisers in Boston, Manhattan and elsewhere to build up her campaign chest for her 2018 Senate re-election bid.

“There would be trips to Hollywood and Silicon Valley, Martha's Vineyard and Philadelphia — all with fund-raisers on the agenda,” the story said. “She collected campaign funds at the private home of at least one California megadonor, and was hosted by another in Florida. She held finance events until two weeks before her allbut-assured re-election last November.”

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who donated to Warren's 2018 Senate campaign, held a fund-raiser for Warren at a posh Philadelphia steakhouse that year, and she attended. But when Rendell did the same for former Vice President Joe Biden earlier this year, Warren's campaign called it “a swanky private fund-raiser for wealthy donors.”

This is because Warren — after using more than $10 million from her Senate campaign to kickstart her presidential bid — had suddenly decided to forgo big-money events in her run for president and to criticize those who don't do the same.

Thus, we wind up with the back-and-forth between Warren and Pete Buttigieg at the most recent Democratic debate. Warren blasted the mayor for attending a fund-raiser in a wine cave in Napa Valley, California that included $900 bottles of wine.

“Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States,” Warren argued. “We can't have people who can put down $5,000 for a check drown out the voices of everyone else.”

Buttigieg countered that Warren's net worth was 100 times his, and that to defeat President Trump next year, Democrats “need the support of everybody who is invested.” He also noted that Warren hadn't been bashful about attending high-dollar fund-raisers while running for Senate.

“Did it corrupt you, senator? Of course not,” he said. “… This is the problem with issuing purity tests you cannot yourself pass.”

It won't keep Warren from insisting on doing so, however. That much is certain.