GMO: No One Is Perfect-- Not Even Elizabeth Warren

What about the corporate AgriBusiness predators?

America is embarrassingly overdue to have a woman president. Golda Meir, Indira Gandi and Margaret Thatcher headed their countries' governments in very dicey times. And aside from them, women have been heads of government in Germany, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Argentina, Portugal, Bolivia, Norway, Iceland, the Philippines, France, Chile, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Poland, Turkey, Canada, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and over a dozen other countries... including both Burundi and Rwanda. But electing a woman just because she's a woman is not what I have in mind. Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin, for example, are women.

Unless you're new to this blog, you're probably aware of our immense esteem for Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. She's certainly my idea of what a great first woman president would be. I'm sure Hillary Clinton will be a better choice than whatever stinking pile of garbage the Republicans puke up in 2016, but-- as happy I will be that we finally have a woman president-- Hillary isn't high on my list of great leaders. At best... she's ok sometimes. Of course, not even Elizabeth Warren is perfect, but, for one reason or another, she's a far better leader than Clinton and a far more dedicated progressive. That said, Friday Senator Warren made a bad mistake. She joined 27 Democrats from across the political spectrum-- from good ones like Tammy Baldwin, Tom Harkin and Sherrod Brown to the careful careerists like Kirsten Gillibrand, Bob Casey, Debbie Stabenow, and Jeanne Shaheen all the way to the worst worthless trash in the Democratic caucus like Joe Donnelly, Mark Pryor and Max Baucus-- to vote down an amendment by Bernie Sanders to permit States to require that any food, beverage, or other edible product offered for sale have a label on indicating that the food, beverage, or other edible product contains a genetically engineered ingredient." Yep, only 26 Democrats plus Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski supported a bill to deal with GMO foods.

I wish Warren voted the right way. Do I still want her to be president? Absolutely. Everyone's entitled to a mistake. These are the Democrats who voted for Sanders' amendment, which was defeated 27-71:

• Mark Begich (D-AK)
• Michael Bennet (D-CO)
• Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
• Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
• Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
• Ben Cardin (D-MD)
• Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
• Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
• Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
• Angus King (I-ME)
• Pat Leahy (D-VT)
• Joe Manchin (D-WV)
• Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
• Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
• Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
• Chris Murphy (D-CT)
• Patty Murray (D-WA)
• Jack Reed (D-RI)
• Harry Reid (D-NV)
• Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
• Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
• Brian Schatz (D-HI)
• Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
• John Tester (D-MT)
• Tom Udall (D-NM)
• Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
• Ron Wyden (D-OR)

What a weird day when Joe Manchin votes the progressive position and Elizabeth Warren votes with the Republicans! By the way, Connecticut's Senate just passed a GMO-labeling bill 35-1. 64 other countries have GMO-labeling laws and some countries ban GMO products sold as food completely. "The concept we're talking about today is a fairly commonsense and non-radical idea," said Sanders just before the vote. "All over the world, in the European Union, in many other countries around the world, dozens and dozens of countries, people are able to look at the food that they are buying and determine through labeling whether or not that product contains genetically modified organisms."

UPDATE: Elizabeth Warren Supports GMO-Labeling

Her Press Secretary, Lacey Rose gave me this statement after the vote yesterday: "The Senator supports labeling and supports the rights of states to set labeling standards based on health and safety. She supports the purpose of the Sanders amendment but voted no because the proposal would have eliminated the ability of the FDA to force states to comply with a more pro-consumer standard in the future."

OK; there you go.