Warren on Defensive Over Claims to Indian Roots

She's playing into Scott Brown's hands: Washington Post blog
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 3, 2012 3:41 PM CDT
Warren on Defensive Over Claims to Indian Roots
Elizabeth Warren is on the defensive about her claims to Native American ancestry.   (Getty Images)

Elizabeth Warren is still playing defense over a flap about her claims to Native American ancestry. The problem for her is that "she isn't playing defense very well," writes Rachel Weiner at the Washington Post. Ever since reports surfaced last week that Warren identified herself as a minority in her academic career, citing Native American ancestry, the Scott Brown camp has been gleefully keeping the story alive in their Massachusetts Senate race and suggesting that she misrepresented her roots. Warren lays claims to a great-great-great-grandmother who was Cherokee.

Yesterday, Warren sought to defuse things, saying she listed herself as a minority only “because I thought I might be invited to meetings where I might meet more people who had grown up like I had grown up," reports CNN. Then she gave what the Post describes as a "long, rambling response" that mentioned an aunt who often spoke of the family's "high cheekbones" as a sign of their Indian heritage. In other words, instead of a succinct response, she "turned what might have been a one-day story into a drawn-out affair," writes Weiner. It's a reminder that despite her high profile, Warren is still a political novice. Luckily for her, it's only May. (More Elizabeth Warren stories.)

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