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So, let's review what we know about the whole "Elizabeth Warren used to be a Republican" trope. A thread.
it's necessary first that we look at the timeline of her adult life.
Warren's 21st birthday was in June of 1970, before the passage of the 26th Amendment. So we have... 1/
it's necessary first that we look at the timeline of her adult life.
Warren's 21st birthday was in June of 1970, before the passage of the 26th Amendment. So we have... 1/
A maximum of 49 years to discuss. At the time she and her then Husband lived in TX, which does not and did not require registration by party and there's no existing records that have been found documenting that she was registered at all during this period. 2/
At some point in the early 70's the couple moved to NJ where she lived until they divorced in 1978 when they divorced and she moved back to Houston. Again, their are no known voter registration records from her time in NJ indicating that she was registered or with what party. 3/
She has stated, per a Politico article, that she voted for Gerald Ford for President in 1976, and for Dems in every presidential cycle thereafter. This would have been while she was in NJ. Back in TX, she's said, she voted for Carter in 1980.
Warren moved to PA in 1987 4/
Warren moved to PA in 1987 4/
where she acknowledges she registered Republican because (she has said) "I was impressed with Arlen Specter." This is a revealing comment since it essentially places her Republicanism, to the extent it existed, in the "Rockefeller Republican" wing rather than the Reaganites. 5/
At this point she was 38 years old. It is also at around this time in her career that she began the bankruptcy research that would eventually serve as the foundation for her current political views. In 1995 she left PA to become a professor at Harvard and this was... 6/
the end of her "Registered Republican" phase - at 46. So to this point in time, we know for a fact or from her own testimony that of her 25 years of adult voting age life that she was a Registered Republican for about 8 years of that, and she's acknowledged voting for 7/
2 separate "Rockefeller" Republicans and several Democrats. Her Party standing from '96 on has not been challenged. So out of 49 years of voting age life, we KNOW that almost half (23 years) she was a registered Democrat, and for about 1/6 she was a registered Republican 8/
Otherwise we know nothing objectively about a party affiliation. Now anyone is free to greet the period from 1970 to 1987 with cynicism if they like, to assume and presume that she had a secret poster of Phyllis Sclafley tacked on the wall inside her garage - BUT... 9/
if you are going to employ that claim against her now, you're going to need to bring the receipts. If you are going to say "She was ridin' with Reagan!" then document your claim, otherwise you're just bullshitting - in a very Republican way, I mgiht add. 10/
Also, feel free to slam the idea of supporting Specter. I don't care about legit criticism, but you're out of bounds when you assume things you can't prove about a person in the '70's and 80's in order to give yourself a fig leaf for not supporting that person now. 11/12
Moreover, you don't NEED to justify your support by trying to sell me on the offense you assume happened in 1980. Support who you like, I'm not trying to talk you out of it. But if you are going after the one you don't support, for whatever reason, bring the receipts, or sit down
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