Last night?s broadcast of ABC World News featured a segment in which Diane Sawyer interviewed all twenty female U.S. Senators in the newly sworn in 113th Congress.
The segment touched on an array of issues, from contraception, to abortion, to who they thought would be the first female President of the United States.
Though the interview was a bit heavy on ?men-bashing,? I thought it was a very interesting segment. Much of the interview centered around the 113th Congress being a body of ?firsts.?
Sawyer opens the segment reflecting on the historical significance of this particular Congress.
Across the capitol, a milestone in history. One after the other, women were sworn in as Senators. For the first time ever twenty U.S. Senators in all, and they were lawyers, ranchers, a former Governor. They were also mothers? They are living breathing history.
Later, Sawyer specifically identifies individual trailblazers among the group of twenty.
These new female arrivals signal a modern era. The first female Senator from Nebraska, Deb Fischer. The first Asian-American woman elected to the Senate, Mazie Hirono. And the first openly gay Senator, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin?
Credit should be given where credit is due. And this is a truly remarkable group of women, many of which are pioneers for their race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.
However, one thing was conspicuously absent from the recitation of the ?firsts? achieved by this group of female Senators.
Sawyer failed to list Elizabeth Warren as the first Native American female U.S. Senator. Throughout her campaign for the Senate, Warren was dogged by her unrelenting claims of Native American heritage despite the fact that she never produced any real evidence to prove it, and consistently ignored those who questioned it. (Jump to 3:28 to see where Sawyer begins the list)
I inquired with ABC as to why Warren was left out. As of yet, they have not addressed my question. My assumption is that ABC presumably required a certain level of documentation to corroborate claims of heritage before broadcasting their validity on World News.
As has been documented here on numerous occasions, the proof offered by Warren is not sufficient to satisfy any real inquiries into her heritage.
Here?s one example of Warren?s ?proof.?
Explanations like that may have cut it at?Harvard Law School?or the University of Pennsylvania, but it is apparently not enough for World News with Diane Sawyer.
Update: An e-mail from a reader alerted me that a?new?law maker with Native American heritage was, in fact, sworn in to the 113th Congress. Via The Oklahoman:
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, said [Markwayne] Mullin?s election doubled the number of American Indians in Congress. Cole is a Chickasaw. Mullin is a member of the Cherokee Nation.
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker presented Mullin with a tribal blanket at Thursday?s reception, and Cherokee Council member Jack Bauer read a resolution honoring Mullin?s election to Congress.
Congratulations to Congressman Mullin and his family.
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