Ever heard the saying “those who collect money in wine vaults shouldn’t throw stones at those who collect money in wine caves?”

No? Well, that’s not surprising, because I just made it up. But it fits Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts perfectly, so remember … you heard it from me first. Maybe I’ll go down in history for coining it.

My new saying is an update of the old European proverb: “Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” I had to give the vintage proverb this new twist to describe Warren’s whining about wine caves at last week’s Democratic presidential candidates’ debate.

WARREN, WHO SLAMMED MAYOR PETE FOR ‘WINE CAVE,’ ONCE HOSTED DONORS AT EATERY WITH A WINE VAULT

The self-righteous senator – acting like a crusader for Prohibition some 100 years ago – uncorked her temper at fellow presidential contender Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., when they argued over the sensitive topic of fundraising.

Warren held herself up as a paragon of virtue who declines big money contributions from rich people. In contrast, she tried to make Buttigieg looked like he has sold out to become a puppet of rich donors because he held a fancy-schmancy fundraiser at a wine cave (I know, I never heard of a wine cave before either) in California.

Well … guess what. The Washington Post (a paper I contributed to for over a decade) published a front-page story Thursday that documented in great detail how Warren raised millions of dollars from rich people so she could get elected to the Senate.

And one of the Warren senatorial fundraisers was in a wine vault in a San Francisco restaurant where the most expensive bottle of wine goes for $3,800, the Post reported. Yes, $3,800.

I don’t know the difference between a wine cave and a wine vault (forgive me!) but I know the average Joe or Jane doesn’t either, and doesn’t plop down thousands of dollars for a drink – even before giving thousands to a candidate for elected office.

But now Warren is on the wagon and no longer holding ritzy fundraisers for the rich in her presidential campaign. So she is hypocritically condemning Buttigieg for doing exactly what she did as recently as last year.

Poor Mayor Pete apparently didn’t know about Warren’s history of hitting up wine-sipping rich people for big bucks at the time she attacked him on the debate stage. He tried to explain why he needed to attract big donors to raise funds to run for president, pointing out that he was the only candidate on stage who is not a millionaire or billionaire.

But Warren wouldn’t stop harping on the wine cave. Or, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said of her in another context in 2017, “still she persisted.”

Bank robber Willie Sutton, who stole an estimated $2 million in the 1920s and 1930s before he was sent to prison, once was asked why he robbed banks and supposedly said: “Because that’s where the money is.”

That’s why most politicians seek out campaign contributions from people who have money to give.

And one of the most corrupt politicians in U.S. history, the late Louisiana Gov. and Sen. Huey Long, Governor – aka “The Kingfish” – eloquently said the distinction between a campaign donation “and a bribe is almost a hairline’s difference.”

Warren did what she told us no politician should do. She held private gatherings with rich people (gasp!) to raise money to attain a position of power in our country’s political landscape.

It gets worse.

Many, including Warren, criticize former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg for entering the race for the Democratic presidential nomination late and for being a billionaire trying to “buy” the White House.

But, come on. Isn’t everyone buying the White House these days?

Here are the hard facts: a candidate earns the nomination for president by winning convention delegates. There are 3,836 of them on the Democratic side.

Do you know how many Democratic delegates are selected in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada? Exactly 100, and there are still more than a dozen candidates competing for them in voting that begins in February.

“It’s about political oxygen,” a political strategist told me. “In politics, money is oxygen and presidential campaigns die of suffocation. If a candidate doesn’t do well in any one of those states, their oxygen gets shut off. And, within days, their campaign is dead.”

This is what happened to Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and the other White House hopefuls who pulled out of the nomination race. They ran out of political oxygen. Most of the campaigns suffocate somewhere along the road between the first four states holding caucuses or primaries.

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Bloomberg, unlike all of the other candidates (including President Trump) practically has a giant political oxygen tank strapped on his back. With a fortune estimated at well over $50 billion, he isn’t asking anyone for money – he has more than enough to fund his race at a record level all by himself.

All of the Democratic candidates are running for president because they insist Trump is dangerously unqualified and doing a terrible job. And I’m with them. But I’m not addressing my beef with Trump here. I’m addressing Warren’s hypocrisy.

All of the Democratic contenders, especially Warren, need to take a deep breath – and perhaps drink a glass of wine from a cave, vault or just the local liquor store – and then get off of their high horses.

There, I said it! No human can realistically become president without raising lots and lots of money in any way they can without breaking the law.

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Back to Warren. She needs to stop the whining, stop the angry accusations, and start anew by endorsing Mike Bloomberg – the only candidate who will never ask anyone to contribute even a penny, passing Warren’s absurd purity test with flying colors.

If how you raise money is more important than the issues you raise or the qualifications you bring to the presidency, then Bloomberg belongs in the White House.

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