Heap Big Prevaricator

Elizabeth Warren self-identifies as an Cherokee Indian at one of the most prestigious law schools on the planet and yet she denies knowing about Harvard reporting her as a quota-filling minority. It strains credulity to imagine that you might rise to that level without knowing what others, especially your employer, is saying and writing about you. True, Google hasn't been around forever, but this seems at least slightly implausible. Doesn't she represent the best and brightest? If so, how could she have missed this? At the very least it demonstrates a lack of professionalism and manners for Harvard to be touting her minority bona fides without seeking her permission first.

The Boston Globe reports:

US Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren has said she was unaware that Harvard Law School had been promoting her purported Native American heritage until she read about it in a newspaper several weeks ago.

How would this idea have sneaked into the heads of those bean counters at Harvard unless she had checked a box somewhere indicating her status. Have you ever had this happen or have you ever heard of this happening - that somebody's ethnicity or race had been misidentified - and that for six years? And that person was unaware? That she denies self-identifying as a Cherokee to gain favor at Harvard? After submitting recipes that were purportedly handed down  from her Cherokee ancestors to a cookbook of Native American cuisine called Pow Wow Chow? And who had justifying her self-identity because her ancestors had "high cheek bones"? Who was sufficiently unaware as to not have known that Harvard Law School identified her as their "first woman of color"?

Do the people of Massachusetts really want a person in a position of power who was that unaware?

And secondarily, why is a liberal Democrat running from this affirmative action discussion? Warren's spokesman said:

There is nothing new in this report.  Elizabeth has been clear that she is proud of her Native American heritage and everyone who hired Elizabeth has been clear that she was hired because she was a great teacher, not because of that heritage.

Why have affirmative action policies in place if not to create openings for people such as Elizabeth Warren to walk through? Isn't the intent of affirmative action to overcome the systemic and cultural bigotries that would preclude a thoughtful, intelligent person from entering an area that would normally be closed? Isn't this a finger in the eye of all who oppose quotas? Why isn't this held up as a success of affirmative action or used as a campaign gem to laud the benefits of policies Warren undoubtedly supports? Shouldn't this self-identified minority be hailing her successful bigotry defenistration? Why the embarrassment and disassociation by Warren? Was she cheating and that is why she would like some distance here?

Doesn't her claim that she was only evaluated on merit and not on her racial identity debunk the entire premise of affirmative action policies?

Given that the left is busy banning the use of Indian imagery as mascots, maybe there is some secret cabal afoot to scrub American Indian lore from the conciousness of America - or at least that is how it would be reported if the right was doing something similar.

Victor Davis Hanson, The Power of Cool

Identity is key here. In general, to win exemption from the left-wing critique of America, the affluent must construct cool identities as far distant as possible from the white Christian heterosexual male, who is most culpable for creating our present affluence from ill-gotten gains. The multimillionaire Elizabeth Warren and her husband make nearly $1 million a year. They live in a home beyond the reach of 99 percent of America. And she may well have plagiarized and been dishonest about her own heritage. No matter -- Warren washed away both her privilege and her sins by reinventing herself as a “Cherokee” who fights Wall Street oppressors.

Mark Steyn, Breaking! The House of Windsor is One of the Five Tribes

Two of the possibly plagiarized recipes, said in the Pow Wow Chow cookbook to have been passed down through generations of Oklahoma Native American members of the Cherokee tribe, are described in a New York Times News Service story as originating at Le Pavilion, a fabulously expensive French restaurant in Manhattan. The dishes were said to be particular favorites of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Cole Porter.

Maggie Haberman, Fordham piece called Warren Harvard Law's 'first woman of color'

The mention was in the middle of a lengthy and heavily-annotated Fordham piece on diversity and affirmative action and women. The title of the piece, by Laura Padilla, was "Intersectionality and positionality: Situating women of color in the affirmative action dialogue."

Asked to comment, Warren spokesman Alethea  Harney said, "There is nothing new in this report.  Elizabeth has been clear that she is proud of her Native American heritage and everyone who hired Elizabeth has been clear that she was hired because she was a great teacher, not because of that heritage.