Warren blasts Brown for "nasty insinuations" about history

Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Scott Brown, who are running in Massachusetts' closely watched U.S. Senate race.

/ CBS/Getty Images

(CBS News) Amid calls by Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown for rival Elizabeth Warren to "come clean" about whether or not she listed her Native American status on forms when applying for jobs in the 1990s, the challenger's campaign on Monday blasted the incumbent for what it cast as "nasty insinuations" about her qualifications as a teacher and a leader, and suggested he was playing on gender issues in an attempt to undermine her campaign.

"If Scott Brown has questions about Elizabeth Warren's well-known qualifications -- from her high marks as a teacher to her nationally recognized work on bankruptcy and the pressures on middle class families - he ought to ask them directly instead of hiding behind the nasty insinuation of his campaign and trying to score political points," said Mindy Myers, campaign manager for the Harvard law professor and Democratic candidate for Senate who is seeking to oust the freshman Republican.

"Once again, the qualifications and ability of a woman are being called into question by Scott Brown who did the same thing with the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan," Myers said in the prepared statement released Monday. "It's outrageous."

On Friday, the Brown campaign called on Warren to apologize for "participating in Harvard's diversity sham" by allowing the school to "claim she was a Native American in their attempts to demonstrate diversity on their campus faculty."

"For years, Harvard has claimed special minority status for Professor Elizabeth Warren as a member of a Native American tribe and their first minority hire," said Jim Barnett, Brown's campaign manager, on Friday. "That Warren allowed Harvard to hold her up as an example of their commitment to diversity in the hiring of historically disadvantaged communities is an insult to all Americans who have suffered real discrimination and mistreatment, and Warren should apologize for participating in this hypocritical sham."

Warren does have Native American lineage, her campaign told the Boston Globe. The campaign also says Warren was unaware Harvard had been promoting her as a minority professor.

According to the Globe Warren had been identified as Native American in the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) deskbook for nine years before getting a job at Harvard Law School. The Globe reports that the listings would have been based on professors self-reporting their minority status, but it does not specify in what way. The AALS was not immediately able to clarify to CBS News the process with which a professor would identify his or her minority status.

Warren began teaching at Harvard in 1995, and has been voted "best professor" twice by the graduating class.

In a statement, Charles Fried, who has been a professor at Harvard Law School for 51 years and who according to the Warren campaign was pivotal in her appointment at Harvard, disputed the notion that Warren was hired due to her minority status.

"Elizabeth was appointed because she is a terrific teacher and a productive scholar," Fried said in a statement Monday. "We were right. Her anonymous student teaching evaluations have consistently been at the very top. She is very tough and the students love her."

The battle between Brown and Warren has already become one of the most-watched campaigns of the 2012 cycle, and is expected to grow increasingly heated in the coming months. Warren, a longtime consumer advocate who helped head up the Obama administration's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), has gained national status in recent months due to her staunchly liberal politics. Both she and Brown have raised millions of dollars so far toward the Senate race.

[TJphoto]

Elizabeth, it's just the republican playbook. The more they see you as a threat, the more they will use it, and you are a threat to the GOP. In the words of the late Tim Russert, "Now Go Get-Em"

[myth1958]

Lucy Madison peeks into the exhilarating campaign between Brown and Warren - perhaps the best challenge being mounted this season against an incumbent Republican. Brown's boys are shoveling flies into the wind, however, as they grasp for anything to throw at her which will stick. Warren has the chops to stand to-to-toe with better men than Brown, however, and shrugs off the latest mudslinging with ease. In this climate of GOP assaults on women's rights - akin to the dirty campaigns of the 1950's when women started edging into the political field in numbers - Brown miscalculates his opponent yet again. C'mon, Massachusetts: we couldn't get her confirmed for the consumer protection agency she largely created at the federal level due to Republican/big business intransigence, but you'll get her services exclusively if you manage to vote her in. She's sharp, on your side like a pit bull and best of all - she's not Scott Brown. Gain some traction for your issues in the United States Senate. It will be a boon to your state, and a big help to mine and the other 48. Do it.

[Grandpa_Tarkin]

Brown is playing dirty. He must be hurting.

[lesserof2evil]

Agree. I used to think he was a stand-up guy despite his short coming of being a republican.

[tempest112]

I disapproved of the ethnic questionnaire. It is no ones business what race, national origin, sex, religion or anything else except what my qualification for the job are. There are real issues to be discussed and solutions to be found. Senator Brown should resign from the Senate as he knows that the Law defends Ms. Warrens disclosures on the questionnaire. He has no right ethically or legally to raise this issue. For all the fuss she might have done what I do, which is refuse to answer. The true issue is which is most qualified for the Senate.

[TechAddiction456]

Uhh...she LIED about her background in order to get ahead...That's fraud. You have zero credibility after that. Political career = over.

[Grandpa_Tarkin]

@TechAddictin456: No, she didn't. As the article says she does have cherokee ancestry. And she didn't use that, her university did.

[TechAddiction456]

Uh...Why is Warren getting snippy instead of just pointing to her Native American grand parent(s) and putting this issue to bed?!

[rob1755]

Ms. Warren = Ethnic Fraud.

http://www.mapember.com/#/writing/features/ethnic-fraud

[rob1755]

Ms. Warren = Ethnic Fraud.

http://www.mapember.com/#/writing/features/ethnic-fraud

[HanoverMan]

Those evil republicans! Good thing there are no rich democrats to confuse the issue. Obama didn't become rich - Soros isn't rich - Scott Brown is a right wing lunatic. If I say these things enough times I may begin to believe it.

[Fox_Rush_Zombie]

Things must be looking bleak for Scott Brown, I sense desperation.

[Zann-Zel]

If I can't vote for Hillary in 2016......
I want to vote for Elizabeth Warren - 2016 : )