In addition to her unsubstantiated distinction as Harvard’s first woman of color, it turns out that Elizabeth Warren may have also participated in a landmark event for women’s liberation. I’m of course referring to her status as the first nursing mother to take the New Jersey bar exam.
Unfortunately, Warren’s place in history as a feminist icon is in limbo because, once again, her claims can’t be substantiated. The Boston Herald reports:
“I was the first nursing mother to take a bar exam in the state of New Jersey,” Warren told an audience at the Chicago Humanities Festival in 2011, in a video posted on the CHF website. When asked how Warren knows that, her campaign said: “Elizabeth was making a point about the very serious challenges she faced as a working mom — from taking an all-day bar exam when she was still breast-feeding, to finding work as a lawyer that would accommodate a mom with two small children.”
Winnie Comfort of the New Jersey Judiciary, which administers that state’s bar exam, said there’s no way to verify Warren’s claim. Comfort said women have been taking the New Jersey bar exam since 1895, but she’s not aware their nursing habits were ever tracked.
Politicians are politicians because they self-promote and puff up their accomplishments shamelessly. Al Gore’s infamous claim that he created the Internet is one extreme example, and the same goes for most of the assertions that come out of Joe Biden’s mouth. The problem is when they cross the line into downright lies, like Richard Blumenthal’s false claim that he served in Vietnam. Was Warren’s assertion a lie, an exaggeration, or was she simply mistaken? We don’t know, and the issue is so minor and obscure that it’s probably not even worth investigating.
If the Cherokee controversy didn’t hurt Warren in the polls, it’s possible the nursing mother story won’t have an impact either. In fact, the nursing mother story probably wouldn’t even be an issue if not for the ancestry claims. On its face, Warren’s comments seem to be silly but harmless self-congratulation, and that’s how a lot of voters will probably see it. But it does speak to a pattern of exaggerating and stretching biographical details. It’s not just the substance of Warren’s claims that’s troubling, but the habit.
It's not just that: it's more evidence of the liberal cult of identity. She HAD to be breaking a barrier. If she were just another woman taking the exam, what would that do to her self-esteem.
However, her plagiarism (and copyright infringement) of other people's work is not only serious but provable. As a purported Indian, she contributed several recipes to a book titled "Pow Wow Chow." Turns out she copied the recipes word-for-word from previously published ones.
Fauxcahontas's claim that she was the first nursing mother to take the NJ law exam is most likely based on "family lore".
OMG. Is that her on the cover of Time?
I feel sorry for the poor woman. These dopey claims and copied recipes display a character flaw that is sad, and demeaning to her. nWould you trade places with her? Not if you have normal self respect. nI have to wonder why she is running. Does she not enjoy her high salary and soft duties at Harvard? Is she a failure as a teacher? Or did others there try to get rid of her by promoting her running for office? nDoes anybody know?
This may sound insensitive, but if she didn't want to get pregnant, she had ways to avoid that. n nSo she was nursing while taking the bar exam — she didn't have to be. Women have long planned their pregnancies around everything else in their lives, and instead of being pregnant in her third year of law school and nursing during the bar exam, she could have gotten pregnant 6 months later and merely been pregnant while taking the bar exam. n nShe isn't bright enough to plan her pregnancies around the rest of her career and we should trust her with the US Senate?
She could set a new record and make a big splash by announcing she was the first woman to take a bar exam while pooping! nPerhaps she meant taking the kind of bar exam in that awful Coors ad. Someone should tell her that drinking at a bar while nursing isn't really very nice. nSome even frown on nursing in a place where a regular bar exam is taking place. Or did she mean she was examining a bar of soap while nursing. Nobody can object to that. nPlease reject this comment!
My problem with this and with the claim of American Indian ancestry. As Alana Goodman wrote, "On its face, Warren’s comments seem to be silly but harmless self-congratulation, …" n nMy problem is with the foolish and ignorant voters who will shrug their shoulders, cynically mumble something about how all politicians exaggerate, and vote for this dunderhead. Because, as Goodman continued noted, that "silly but harmless self-congratulation is "… how a lot of voters will probably see it."
However, if Warren did take the bar exam while nursing, that is an accomplishment of some kind. As the saying goes, women have to be twice as good and work twice as hard to get the same recognition.