Elizabeth Warren’s campaign is not directly attacking Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) for a joke he made this morning on a local talk show, in which he responded “Thank God” to her recent jibe that she “kept my clothes on” when she paid for college – a reference to his nude photo spread in Cosmopolitan in the early 1980s. However, other Democrats and Warren supporters are responding in her place.
When TPM contacted Warren’s campaign, they declined to comment.
The Massachusetts Democrats, however, were quick to pounce with a statement given to reporters, from said state party executive director Clare Kelly.
“Sen. Brown’s comments are the kind of thing you would expect to hear in a frat house, not a race for U.S. Senate. We keep waiting for Scott Brown to take his campaign out of the gutter, but unfortunately it seems like the junior senator has determined that mudslinging and dirty tricks are the only way he can distract Massachusetts voters from his record of voting in lockstep with Tea Party Republicans,” said Kelly. “Scott Brown’s comments send a terrible message that even accomplished women who are held in the highest esteem can be laughingly dismissed based on their looks.”
Warren, of course, is not the official Democratic nominee yet. However, the state Dems have previously gone to bat for other candidates in the contested Dem primary, such as when Brown adviser Eric Fehrnstrom was revealed as the anonymous writer of a satirical Twitter account about Dem candidate and City Year founder Alan Khazei.
In addition, the group EMILY’s List, which supports pro-choice Democratic women, and has endorsed Warren, tells TPM that their base is getting energized over Brown’s joke.
“We’ve had over 500 on-line responses to this story in just the first 3 hours since we started communicating to our members. They are really fired up over this one, and you can understand why,” spokesperson Jess McIntosh told TPM.
“Scott Brown’s comments are insensitive, offensive, and show the only thing Scott Brown cares about is Scott Brown. Women are already excited to help put Elizabeth Warren in office and today just solidified their resolve.”
