'She Persisted' turns into rallying cry for liberals

WASHINGTON (AP) — The words of the Senate Republican leader directed at Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren have turned into a rallying cry for liberals.

"ShePersisted" was trending on Twitter after the Senate GOP majority silenced Warren late Tuesday night for criticizing colleague Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., by reading a 1986 letter from Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King Jr.

Prior to using an arcane Senate rule to rebuke Warren, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said: "Senator Warren was giving a lengthy speech. She had appeared to violate the rule. She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted."

Those final words popped up on Twitter with photos of trailblazing women such as Rosa Parks, who refused to surrender her bus seat to a white rider, abolitionist Harriet Tubman, suffragette Susan B. Anthony and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

Photos of female athletes and images from the Jan. 21 march, when hundreds of thousands of women converged on various cities, also appeared on Twitter with the hashtag.

Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton referenced McConnell's comment about Warren persisting, adding in a tweet, "So must we all."