CBS This Morning Gushes Over Elizabeth Warren, Presses Her to Run for President
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is often talked about as the liberal alternative to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016. As such, the hosts of CBS This Morning used their exclusive interview with the Massachusetts Democrat to press her on her presidential ambitions as well as promote her liberal agenda.
Appearing on CBS on Tuesday, April 22, co-host Gayle King lobbied Warren to consider running for president: "You 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 many things. Why would you not even consider this with the passion that you have?"
The segment, which was designed to promote Warren's memoir "A Fighting Chance" began with co-host Norah O'Donnell beaming at how Warren has "made helping the middle class one of her biggest priorities" before hyping how "You have been known as a champion for the middle class. Why have you made that your calling?"
Co-host Charlie Rose went even further, and openly promoted Warren's liberal agenda:
You make two points. One is that clearly we are not investing the things that made America great. Not only in terms of providing the kind of opportunities it did for you But also the income inequality is growing. You look at the top 1% is growing much larger. If you look at the top 10% it's growing. What is it that this country and the Congress that you are a member of do?
Warren responded that:
I think the game is fundamentally rigged. Let's start with the banking system. There's a good place to look at it. Starting back in the 2000s, the largest financial institutions figured out that they could make a bazillion dollars. How? By tricking American families on mortgages Then they packaged those mortgages and they sold them into the economy like boxes full of grenades with the pins pulled out.
As the segment continued, Rose endorsed how Warren not being chosen to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau allowed her to pursue a political future: “So you thank Barack Obama for not appointing you because it enabled you to have a political future."
The interview eventually turned to 2016 with King urging Warren to reconsider running for president followed by Charlie Rose throwing in his own 2016 question: I just want to ask one question because people raise this about you.They say you constantly say you are not running for president.Does that mean you will not run for president in 2016?
The segment concluded with King heaping one last bit of praise on the liberal Massachusetts senator:
We have to say your children must be proud. From your son who said mom you are not funny to a daughter that said you know you're kind of boring. They can no longer say that about you. Senator Warren we thank you for being our first live interview with this book. We were delighted to have you here.
See relevant transcript below.
CBS This Morning
April 22, 20148:33 a.m. Eastern [7min 45 seconds]
NORAH ODONNELL: Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is just over a year into her first term. She's made helping the middle class one of her biggest priorities. Warren believes the system is rigged against families like the one she grew up in. In her memoir it describes how that shaped the person she is today. It's called "A Fighting Chance." Senator Warren, good morning. Good to see you.
ELIZABETH WARREN: Good morning. Good to be here.
ODONNELL: First I want to ask you because you represent the state of Massachusetts. We were all watching Boston yesterday. I was there. You were at the finish line.
WARREN: That's right. That's right. It was a great family celebration. That's what a marathon is. People line those runways, you cheer everybody on. And every single person who runs across the finish line, it's a victory for all of us. So great party. We own that marathon.
GAYLE KING: I heard one of the runners say we want to create new memories and they certainly did that yesterday.
WARREN: They did.
O’DONNELL: Let's talk about your book. You have been known as a champion for the middle class. Why have you made that your calling?
WARREN: Maybe it's because like a lot of families, you know, I grew up on the ragged edge of the middle class. My dad worked hard, had a heart attack when I was 12. It kind of turned our family upside down financially. He ended up as a maintenance man, my mom worked a minimum wage job at Sears. But I made it to the United States Senate. And I made it to the United States Senate in part because America invests, was back then, investing in kids like me. I went to a college, a college, a commuter college that costs $50 a semester. Because America was really making those investments in kids. Today, that's not happening. Today, i's a rigged playing field. And it's not working. Washington is not working for hard working middle class families. So that's why I wrote this book.
KING: But, senator, so many people say but it's their own fault. That they got into this trouble all by themselves. They call it lack of integrity, lack of self-control. But the research you have been working for the middle class for a long time. You found something very different. You said that sometimes good people just get in bad situations. Elaborate on that a little bit.
WARREN: One of the things we discovered, I went out with my co-authors and we did a lot of research starting 25 years ago on families who went broke. And what we discovered is that those families mostly look like the rest of middle class America. Went to school, bought homes, got married, had kids. But the difference was they got totally slammed by a serious medical problem. Had a long period out of work or a death in the family or a divorce. Those three reasons alone account for more than 90% of all bankruptcy filings. It was like it was in my family. You could work hard, you can play by the rules and you can still take a terrible smack to the head financially.
CHARLIE ROSE: You make two points. One is that clearly we are not investing the things that made America great. Not only in terms of providing the kind of opportunities it did for you. But also the income inequality is growing. You look at the top 1% is growing much larger. If you look at the top 10% it's growing. What is it that this country and the Congress that you are a member of do?
WARREN: I think the game is fundamentally rigged. Let's start with the banking system. There's a good place to look at it. Starting back in the 2000s, the largest financial institutions figured out that they could make a bazillion dollars. How? By tricking American families on mortgages. Then they packaged those mortgages and they sold them into the economy like boxes full of grenades with the pins pulled out.
ROSE: Did Dodd-Frank take care of that or not?
WARREN: So watch what happened. We bailed them out. We got some financial reforms in place. But look where we are today. Those CEOs of the largest financial institutions still strut around Washington. Those big banks still push back on the regulators and block real change. Today, those large financial institutions are 38% bigger than they were when we bailed them out. And they break the law and nobody goes to jail. That's not a level playing field. That's not a fair system. They get richer, everybody else –
ROSE: Are more regulations or tax reforms the answer?
WARREN: Yes and yes.
ROSE: And the tax reform should be?
WARREN: We should stitch up the loopholes in the tax system. But, that's really the key. It's that right now Washington works for those who can hire an army of lobbyists and an army of lawyers. It doesn't work for regular families. And if we don't make that fundamental change, we are just going to live in a world where the rich keep getting richer, the powerful keep getting more powerful and everybody else falls behind.
ODONNELL: But senator, isn't your own party duplicitous in this?
WARREN: Look, I have made no secret about calling out anyone that I felt there was a problem on. During the bank bailout, I went just as hard after the Democrats and the Republicans in terms of how they were administering the bailout of the financial institution. By the way, I should say that's in the book in detail.
ODONNELL: And just to say you wanted to fix this by being the head of the consumer protection agency and President Barack Obama said no to you.
WARREN: You know, the way I always want to remember this is this little consumer agency. I had an idea for an agency that would help level the playing field. Make sure families didn't get cheated on credit cards and on mortgages. And so I wanted to get this agency and I want to be clear on this, that agency never would have become law if Barack Obama had not been in the White House fighting for it. I was disappointed I didn't get to run it. But look how things worked out.
ROSE: I was going to say. It turned out pretty well.
WARREN: It turned out pretty well.ROSE: So you thank Barack Obama for not appointing you because it enabled you to have a political future.WARREN: But look, it was never about a political future for me. What it was really about is fighting for the things I believe in.
KING: And you still continue to do that. You said in the book, three things you never thought you would be, a blonde, meeting a president and a United States Senator. And even when you were drafted to run, you said I don't really want this job, I'm sick of politics. Your family told you not to do it. But here you 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 many things. Why would you not even consider this with the passion that you have?
WARREN: I'm not running for president. We have to make changes right now. This is not about years from now and putting things off. We have to focus right now on what's happening in the United States Congress.ROSE: I just want to ask one question because people raise this about you. They say you constantly say you are not running for president. Does that mean you will not run for president in 2016?
WARREN: You can ask this a whole lot of different ways, but the key is, I'm not running for president. I'm out here working on the issues we need to work on right now and I gotta say, we need to refinance the student loan debt that's outstanding. We need to raise the minimum wage. We need to secure Social Security. And we need to hold those big financial institutions accountable. And we need not to put that off. We need to work on it right now. Like I talked about in the book – we've got to make sure our kids have a fighting chance.
KING: You've had the final word. We have to say your children must be proud. From your son who said mom you are not funny to a daughter that said you know you're kind of boring. They can no longer say that about you. Senator Warren we thank you for being our first live interview with this book. We were delighted to have you here. The name of the book again is called "A Fighting Chance." It goes on sale today.
— Jeffrey Meyer is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Jeffrey Meyer on Twitter.
