Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

[lpetrich]

We've heard of being primaried, and now there's being Crowleyed: being defeated because one has neglected one's district.

The Washington Times on Twitter: "'Crowleyed': Political challenger Michelle Caruso-Cabrera slams Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as being too absent from district [url]https://t.co/SRQ8sL4h6j https://t.co/b8pvlf1stI" / Twitter[/url]

Also a lot of other references to being "Crowleyed", suffering the fate of Joe Crowley at the hands of AOC. Like Michael Capuano becoming Crowleyed by Ayanna Pressley. Also Nancy Pelosi and Eliot Engel possibly also suffering that fate.

Jacob Smith on Twitter: "Just got an ad for my state rep on @DecisionDeskHQ of all places. She hasn't faced a tough challenge in years, but has a primary from a some dude this year and is running a real campaign. Really taking "running scared" to heart. She isn't getting Crowleyed/Cantored!" / Twitter

Not just "Crowleyed". "Cantored", going the way of Eric Cantor in 2014, primaried by economics professor Dave Brat. But he proved to be totally undistinguished, and not the super policy wonk that one might expect from his previous career. He was defeated in 2018.


I think that MCC is a joke of a candidate. I'd be surprised if she has had *any* community involvement. That's why I placed my bet on Fernando Cabrera, and why I'm now doing it on Badrun Khan. Both of them have actual histories of community involvement, and BK is the most AOC-like IMO -- a minority woman with a Bidenite platform. Michelle Caruso-Cabrera | Democratic Candidate for US Congress NY14 still does not state a platform other than running against AOC.  Michelle Caruso-Cabrera has more on her.

MCC wrote in 2010 the book "You Know I'm Right: More Prosperity, Less Government." where she called for "fiscal conservatism, limited government and personal responsibility."

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera on Twitter: "Can you believe I have been in the race a month? We have done so much, but we still have a long way to go. Contribute today to help us win! https://t.co/P6o5VzAux8" / Twitter -- LOL. What has she does in that race?

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera on Twitter: "Queens and Bronx citizens are fed up. And they should be. She’s never here. We pay her close to $200,000 a year. She has free medical care. We don’t. & now AOC calls us racists. We’re not racists. Keeping AOC in office makes us look like fools. #MCCvsAOC https://t.co/h6zzLfZ3Gu" / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

Exclusive: AOC blames Bernie's lackluster performance on voter suppression - YouTube - AOC appears on Fox News, describes how poor people are more vulnerable than rich people, how some people had to wait in long lines to vote in some places, etc.

AOC implies voter suppression cost Bernie Sanders Michigan primary: 'Kids were waiting three hours' to vote | Fox News - yes, on Fox News itself, interviewed by Bret Baier.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s pragmatism will help the left wing of the Democratic party in the long run. - The Washington Post - "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s pragmatism will help the left wing of the Democratic party in the long run"

Author Aida Chavez mentioned AOC reaching out to Elizabeth Warren and her supporters after EW pulled out of the Presidential race. That is actually nothing new to her - she acted all chummy with EW spring last year, and when she decided on BS, she insisted that her decision was not a rejection of EW.

AOC also liked Andrew Yang's run for President.

Despite Fox News’s caricatures of the congresswoman, her politics — which focus on the economic issues affecting everyday, working-class Americans well beyond the confines of her New York district — appeal to voters outside of her base. She doesn’t run on identity politics, and her approach to holding the Trump administration accountable has centered on asking tough questions, not speechifying on cable news shows. During the House Oversight Committee’s hearing with Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen, while Tlaib ignited a dispute with a Republican colleague, Ocasio-Cortez chose to focus her questioning on the president’s finances.

Very nicely businesslike. I like that.

I tried to capture some of that in my story "Contact across the Solar System":

(Congresswoman) Cristina turned to another issue. "The Solar System Community people have stated that Adamski's works are, quote unquote, mixtures of fact and fiction. Did either of you ask them to explain further?"
Brad responded "Yes, I asked what they might have in mind. They mentioned how he believed that the Sun does not shine in visible light."
Laughs. Cristina smirked.
She continued "I think that we all know by now that Adamski is a very unreliable source. Did you ask them if they ever attempted to set him straight?"
"Yes, I asked them, and they didn't think that it was worth the trouble."
"So if I understand correctly, the SSC people let Adamski believe in several misconceptions -- misconceptions that led to him being dismissed as a crackpot. Is that correct?"
"Yes. They said that they wanted to show him a better way of living and not go through the trouble of correcting his misconceptions. They conceded that it caused a lot of trouble for them later on."

"Cristina" is the Latin American spelling of that name.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Exclusive: AOC blames Bernie's lackluster performance on voter suppression - YouTube - AOC appears on Fox News, describes how poor people are more vulnerable than rich people, how some people had to wait in long lines to vote in some places, etc.

AOC implies voter suppression cost Bernie Sanders Michigan primary: 'Kids were waiting three hours' to vote | Fox News - yes, on Fox News itself, interviewed by Bret Baier.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s pragmatism will help the left wing of the Democratic party in the long run. - The Washington Post - "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s pragmatism will help the left wing of the Democratic party in the long run"

Author Aida Chavez mentioned AOC reaching out to Elizabeth Warren and her supporters after EW pulled out of the Presidential race. That is actually nothing new to her - she acted all chummy with EW spring last year, and when she decided on BS, she insisted that her decision was not a rejection of EW.

AOC also liked Andrew Yang's run for President.

Despite Fox News’s caricatures of the congresswoman, her politics — which focus on the economic issues affecting everyday, working-class Americans well beyond the confines of her New York district — appeal to voters outside of her base. She doesn’t run on identity politics, and her approach to holding the Trump administration accountable has centered on asking tough questions, not speechifying on cable news shows. During the House Oversight Committee’s hearing with Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen, while Tlaib ignited a dispute with a Republican colleague, Ocasio-Cortez chose to focus her questioning on the president’s finances.

Very nicely businesslike. I like that.

I tried to capture some of that in my story "Contact across the Solar System":

(Congresswoman) Cristina turned to another issue. "The Solar System Community people have stated that Adamski's works are, quote unquote, mixtures of fact and fiction. Did either of you ask them to explain further?"
Brad responded "Yes, I asked what they might have in mind. They mentioned how he believed that the Sun does not shine in visible light."
Laughs. Cristina smirked.
She continued "I think that we all know by now that Adamski is a very unreliable source. Did you ask them if they ever attempted to set him straight?"
"Yes, I asked them, and they didn't think that it was worth the trouble."
"So if I understand correctly, the SSC people let Adamski believe in several misconceptions -- misconceptions that led to him being dismissed as a crackpot. Is that correct?"
"Yes. They said that they wanted to show him a better way of living and not go through the trouble of correcting his misconceptions. They conceded that it caused a lot of trouble for them later on."

"Cristina" is the Latin American spelling of that name.

AOC is an absolute Fox News gold mine. I'll be more impressed when she starts helping democrats to be beat republicans.

 

[lpetrich]

AOC is an absolute Fox News gold mine. I'll be more impressed when she starts helping democrats to be beat republicans.

How is that supposed to be the case?

 

[Harry Bosch]

AOC is an absolute Fox News gold mine. I'll be more impressed when she starts helping democrats to be beat republicans.

How is that supposed to be the case?

She is featured on the Fox News website every single day. Sometimes more than one story. Every single day. She says things that are mildly provocative on the left, that is blown out of proportion on the right. And she hammers the democrats who don't fit her mold. And she rarely attacks the right lately. She's a fox news bonanza...

 

[lpetrich]

Is it really AOC's fault that the right wing has made her one of their villains?

 

[Harry Bosch]

Is it really AOC's fault that the right wing has made her one of their villains?

Oh no, you're completely wrong here. The right wing loves AOC. She's splits the left. She rallies them to the ballot box.

 

[lpetrich]

New Sanctuary Coalition on Twitter: "**URGENT-All Hands on Deck** American Airlines flight AA1011 is currently transporting 6 minors from Dallas to LGA Airport in NYC for ICE. We are in the midst of a global pandemic & they've put children in danger by transporting them on an airplane.
#abolishICE MORE->" / Twitter

New Sanctuary Coalition on Twitter: "We're going to show up to let ICE know that we know, & to support the children. We won't let ICE kidnap these kids in darkness. Bring signs, chant loudly in both English & Spanish to let the children “we are with you”. Ask “where are you taking the children?" #COVIDー19 " / Twitter

This led to
New Sanctuary Coalition on Twitter: ".@AOC questioning the ICE agent who took the minors on the plane during a global pandemic. They should be safe with their loved ones, not taken across the country. #abolishICE #FreeThemAll #youcantdeportamovement [url]https://t.co/0Ez0ldbNhs https://t.co/nIJgk1lNp6" / Twitter[/url]

New Sanctuary Coalition on Twitter: "NSC learned ICE was transporting 6 minors from Dallas to NY during #COVIDー19 We went to the airport to witness their arrival, welcome them, & let them know they aren’t alone. We’re grateful @AOC responded right away as well! We’ll be fighting to get them freed from ICE custody. https://t.co/Mv2ay3kbyC" / Twitter
With AOC describing what happened and saying that she got something on that ICE agent's superiors.

New Sanctuary Coalition on Twitter: "We’ve seen the children, @AOC is with us. Will update when we can. @ICEgov this is child abuse. You kidnap children & put them on a plane during a global pandemic. #abolishICE #COVIDー19 https://t.co/0Ez0ldbNhs" / Twitter

New Sanctuary Coalition on Twitter: "The children saw the supporters and know they are not alone. We will continue to fight to #FreeThemAll @AOC let’s them know. https://t.co/SV1iqFnQoy" / Twitter

New Sanctuary Coalition on Twitter: "Nevertheless, them seeing a Rapid Response team and a congresswoman questioning the agent must have been quite a sight for them. @AOC was extremely supportive and powerful presence, along with so many allies. (See tags) #FreeThemAll https://t.co/G1ivLwgJrE" / Twitter
With a picture of that team with AOC among them.

New Sanctuary Coalition on Twitter: "Kick ass #RapidResponse team that showed up at LaGuardia Airport on ridiculously short notice for the kids @ICEgov cruelly put on a cross country plane during a global pandemic. The children saw them, so did ICE! We are following up. #AbolishICE [url]https://t.co/B3GnOCPzIs https://t.co/MhC1Tw4WOR" / Twitter[/url]

 

[Horatio Parker]

Sure, lets go demonstrate at an airport. What could go wrong?

 

[lpetrich]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Last night on a tip-off call I headed to LaGuardia airport & intercepted @ICEgov transporting several children to NYC, an outbreak hub, via commercial air.
If the Pentagon has halted all domestic travel for military, why is ICE transporting unaccompanied children in a pandemic?" / Twitter

The Bronx Defenders on Twitter: ".#BREAKING Our clients in ICE detention aren't receiving basic disinfectants, hand sanitizer, or even toilet paper
This is a public health emergency that ICE has proven unequipped to handle. We're demanding the immediate release of ppl currently detained by ICE in NYC-area jails https://t.co/cvlxy6A1b8" / Twitter

roxane gay on Twitter: "I will never understand how anyone can be against single payer healthcare but especially now to have that stance is... unacceptable." / Twitter


GOP candidate Catalina Lauf says mainstream media 'can't fathom' a 'young Latina' Trump supporter | Fox News -- she praised business leaders as heroic entrepreneurs. I wouldn't be surprised if she is a Randroid.

 

[lpetrich]

AOC shows her concern for the people of her district:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Did you know you can organize your building, block or neighborhood for #COVID to help others & keep people safe?
It’s called Mutual Aid.
Join me + legendary organizer Mariame Kaba TOMORROW as we walk through the steps of supporting others safely.
RSVP: https://t.co/3IOWKkvaox" / Twitter
Linking to
Supporting Our Neighbors While Staying Safe | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress
It's a conference call, a way of reaching out to other people while avoiding physical proximity.


In IL-14, Catalina Lauf, a self-styled anti-AOC, was running as a Republican. She placed third:

Jim Oberweis 25.6%, Sue Rezin 22.8%, Catalina Lauf 20.1%, Ted Gradel 13.3%, James Marter 11.0%

JO and SR are both Republican State Senators in IL.


1010 WINS on Twitter: "1010 WINS INTERVIEW: @AOC talks about New Yorkers' biggest #coronavirus concerns, says, "we need to take very bold action right now to protect mom and pops, everyday people" [url]https://t.co/Q87dwInXqh https://t.co/90GJPXPIch" / Twitter[/url]
noting
AOC tells 1010 WINS we need to take care of small businesses | 1010 WINS
Headlined: NYC transit should definitely get a bailout, the airlines not so much.

When asked about what New Yorkers' biggest concerns were during the coronavirus outbreak, she said: "Of course on the one hand we have the public health concern, but the second is an economic concern. We really need to take very bold action right now to make sure that we protect our moms and pops, our local restaurants, small businesses and also everyday people: freelancers, hourly workers whose incomes are getting cut back dramatically and in an unprecedented fashion and I believe we need to take a lot of action to pass those folks through."

 

[lpetrich]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "One bright spot: despite powerful attempts in DC to protect an anti-LGBT+, anti-choice Dem in a safe blue seat, powerful progressive @Marie4Congress won the #IL03 primary!
Congratulations, Marie. You & every organizer worked so hard to make this happen.
Thank you #IL03 voters! https://t.co/xbwSiFAim1" / Twitter

AOC retweeted andrew kaczynski on Twitter: "What a damning indictment of Fox News from the Post video team here. https://t.co/r8Fz8vo5KV" / Twitter - Fox News doing a 180-degree turnaround about the coronavirus. Like Communists slavishly following their party's official position, whatever it happens to be this day.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "In the short term, we need emergency measures to get people through.
Long term we shld consider using current interest rates&make sweeping investments that create millions of jobs decarbonizing our economy, from infra to edu.
The GND was written as a stimulus for people+planet. https://t.co/Bsd2J8BZAm" / Twitter
noting
Rolling Stone Politics on Twitter: ".@AOC talks to @tessastuart about her vision for a post-fossil-fuel future and an economy that works for working people https://t.co/6tHLEllhUv" / Twitter
noting
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on How to Build a Green New Deal - Rolling Stone - a nice interview

Also
Tessa Stuart on Twitter: "Good news for the federal government as it mulls plans for a big economic stimulus: @AOC has already sketched out a massive jobs program to fight climate change. A year later, she talks about what it would take to implement a Green New Deal https://t.co/Uc8p5eIqgB" / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

About that Rolling Stone interview, it started by describing how AOC helped popularize the idea of a Green New Deal, a massive mobilization to develop renewable energy and avoid climate troubles. One month after the new Congress was sworn in, she and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) introduce her Green New Deal resolution: H.Res.109 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal. | Congress.gov | Library of Congress - the full text of it is at its "Text" link. It now has 99 cosponsors, 67 of them original.

Mitch McConnell introduced it in the Senate as S.J.Res.8 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): A joint resolution recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal. | Congress.gov | Library of Congress to be voted on without any hearings on it. It was defeated 57-0, with most Democrats refusing to vote on it as a protest. Some time later, it was reintroduced as S.Res.59 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): A resolution recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal. | Congress.gov | Library of Congress by Sen. Ed Markey. It now has 14 cosponsors, 11 of them original.

"This winter, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce released a plan committing to a 100 percent clean-energy economy by 2050 — three times longer than the Green New Deal’s 10-year timeline, but a quantum leap from the toothless regulations that typified past policy conversations."

I've seen a satire called "Green New Deal Island" with a Gilligan's Island scene with AOC as Gilligan and Bernie Sanders as the Skipper. It is captioned "No Food, No Lights, No Motor Cars, No a Single Luxury. Like Living in Dark Ages, as Primitive As Can Be."

 

[lpetrich]

AOC was asked "A lot of people have an “Oh, shit” moment with climate change — something that wakes them up to the scale and severity of the crisis. What was your moment?"

She then described going to Standing Rock and running into a pipeline-building company with militarized guards.

Then how a grandfather died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017. That storm knocked out electric power over all of Puerto Rico and made it difficult to travel. That made it difficult to care for that elderly relative, and he likely died as a result. He was thus one of some 3000 other Puerto Ricans who died as a result of that storm.

As to why the Green New Deal seems rather vague, AOC said that it was to express overall principles, and also to firmly state that protecting the environment and creating jobs don't have to be opposed to each other.

The first is a drawdown of carbon emissions on a 10-year timeline. The second is the creation of jobs — having this be industrial policy to create millions of jobs and provide an economic stimulus for working people, not for Wall Street. And the third was to center front-line communities, to make sure that this policy was not just prosperous and scientifically sound but that it was just.

As to "farting cows" and supporting people "unwilling to work" and ending air travel, that was in a leaked draft document.

I focus a lot on having strong internal systems and discipline on our team, and that was a lapse on something that was critically important. So I’d be lying by saying it wasn’t intensely frustrating. But all the arguments that they ended up with were arguments we knew they were going to run with no matter what. Tired arguments — “Preserving our planet is going to kill our economy” — because the GOP is Chicken Little. Their job is to say the world is ending if we allow any sort of progressive idea to succeed.

As to what it might take to have a genuine climate debate with Republicans, she suspects both Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell out of office. "But I do think that because they have put so many eggs in this Trump basket, even they are concerned with how deeply leveraged they are with their commitment to the president."

Then as to how Republicans vote, "Republicans will pretend that they are unique individuals committed to certain values, but ultimately it’s a performance because they all vote exactly the same." But she suspects that they are becoming "scared". At the beginning of last year, they were still "Climate change is a hoax, the science is not clear," and at the beginning of this year, "We all care about the climate. It’s important to draw down carbon emissions. Let’s focus on a business-based approach." She suspects that some big Midwestern floods have changed their minds. Heatwaves in Europe and fires in California and Australia may also have helped.

 

[lpetrich]

Although AOC would think it good for a Democrat to be in the White House, "There is an extraordinarily pro-corporate wing of the party that will block a lot of meaningful change." Like a public option being added to Obamacare.

As to Bernie Sanders vs. Joe Biden, she think that BS understands the GND very well, and also that the Republicans have been operating in very bad faith. JB doesn't seem to - he's too much like Barack Obama there.

I’ve met with coal workers, and we have committed to bailing out their pensions. Because while all of these coal companies use their workers to get bailout after bailout, once they get that money, they never give it to their workers. It doesn’t go to those families with black lung. It doesn’t go to fully funding coal miners’ pensions. And we’re here to have that fight. Because we’re not interested in turning oil barons into solar barons. We’re here to make sure that workers are centered in our economy.

As to setting up a third party,

If you want a true third party — a strong Green Party, independent party, et cetera — you need to actually build the party. The presidency doesn’t do that. You need to make sure that you grow those caucuses. That’s, frankly, what a lot of Democratic Socialists of America members are doing across the country. They’re not trying to mount a third-party presidency. They’re capturing city councils and state assemblies and getting things done from the ground up. That happens to be my take.

She didn't mention it, but an alternative to an explicit third party is what she and many of her fellow progressives have been doing -- move into the Democratic Party and building a progressive faction of it, something like a left-wing version of the Tea Party

"I worry about families that don’t have the ability to run away. I worry about the interconnectivity of our systems, the compounding effects of climate change." - like a big hurricane smashing up a lot of Internet infrastructure and airports and the like. "I mean, my family has lived through a mass-casualty event: Thousands of people died in Puerto Rico, and that was on one small island."

"I live in and represent a city that is going to experience huge changes in its geography in my lifetime. Just the shape of New York City on a map is going to change dramatically, and that is going to necessitate a lot of people moving around." While Mitch McConnell is not likely to see much of that, and neither will Donald Trump. Their grandchildren will, however.

How do you fight that feeling of futility? How do you keep from getting nihilistic?

I think I get a lot of that from my family. I don’t think it’s optimism. I’m not here to say, “Oh, we’re going to come in and save the day.” But seeing how my family has adapted to a post-Maria world — I think what’s happening in Puerto Rico is what a lot of people will experience in 10 years. In one way or another. It’s a possibility. But the way I’ve seen them adapt and move forward has been helpful to me. It’s not fun by any means, but I do think there’s an aspect where one way or another, communities will endure.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Although AOC would think it good for a Democrat to be in the White House, "There is an extraordinarily pro-corporate wing of the party that will block a lot of meaningful change." Like a public option being added to Obamacare.

As to Bernie Sanders vs. Joe Biden, she think that BS understands the GND very well, and also that the Republicans have been operating in very bad faith. JB doesn't seem to - he's too much like Barack Obama there.


As to setting up a third party,

She didn't mention it, but an alternative to an explicit third party is what she and many of her fellow progressives have been doing -- move into the Democratic Party and building a progressive faction of it, something like a left-wing version of the Tea Party

"I worry about families that don’t have the ability to run away. I worry about the interconnectivity of our systems, the compounding effects of climate change." - like a big hurricane smashing up a lot of Internet infrastructure and airports and the like. "I mean, my family has lived through a mass-casualty event: Thousands of people died in Puerto Rico, and that was on one small island."

"I live in and represent a city that is going to experience huge changes in its geography in my lifetime. Just the shape of New York City on a map is going to change dramatically, and that is going to necessitate a lot of people moving around." While Mitch McConnell is not likely to see much of that, and neither will Donald Trump. Their grandchildren will, however.

How do you fight that feeling of futility? How do you keep from getting nihilistic?

I think I get a lot of that from my family. I don’t think it’s optimism. I’m not here to say, “Oh, we’re going to come in and save the day.” But seeing how my family has adapted to a post-Maria world — I think what’s happening in Puerto Rico is what a lot of people will experience in 10 years. In one way or another. It’s a possibility. But the way I’ve seen them adapt and move forward has been helpful to me. It’s not fun by any means, but I do think there’s an aspect where one way or another, communities will endure.

If Fox news were smart, they'd give AOC 3 hours of prime time a night!

 

[lpetrich]

If Fox news were smart, they'd give AOC 3 hours of prime time a night!

Like snickering about how out-of-place she looks because she is a young woman who lets herself look like a young woman?

Jennifer Steinhauer has written "The Firsts: The Inside Story of the Women Reshaping Congress" about the Congresswomen of 2018. AOC shows up in it. Some tidbits from it:

(Katie) Hill worked over a pharmaceutical executive, juxtaposing his $30 million signing bonus against the high cost of the HIV drugs he was selling, while Ocasio-Cortez looked on, grinning.

...
Early on, House leaders warned members not to write their own tweets, which seemed quaint at best and anathema to some of the younger members who had spent their entire campaigns reaching out to voters on social media. AOC even gave some of her befuddled colleagues an official Twitter tutorial.

About her trip to Standing Rock, AOC says “I felt so galvanized spiritually and morally by that experience. I felt ready to dedicate my whole self to work on social change.”

The organization which recruited her for Congress, Brand New Congress, was created by some 2016 Bernie Sanders campaigners, like Saikat Chakrabarti and Alexandra Rojas.

“The original idea was to recruit four hundred people to run for Congress, all running together in a giant national campaign and with a single plan for economic rejuvenation and justice,” Chakrabarti told me. “We were looking for people who really led, whether that was in the workplace or in their community, and who had had chances to sell out but didn’t do it.”

...
BNC solicits recommendations from the public. “We’re looking for leaders who put people and policies before party loyalty—every time,” its website says. Ocasio-Cortez’s younger brother, Gabriel, sent in her name. “He let me know when he did it,” AOC confirmed. “But I didn’t think much about it. I thought, ‘I am a waitress.’ ”

The PAC received about eleven thousand nominations and dispatched a team of volunteers to research different districts in search of local community leaders: maybe a county teacher of the year who had bucked the system, or a water-plant worker who had blown the whistle on contamination. Team members would then call them up and ask if they would run. Of the fifteen candidates they recruited this way, AOC—the only one who would win—was of instant and special interest, said Rojas. “She was this superclear, incredibly talented communicator on issues we really cared about.”

AOC on her run, “It was a leap of faith. I felt ready for this. It felt like, ‘Why not?’ ” She refused the likes of EMILY's List, which “she wrote off as an old-white-lady organization.”

A month before the primary election poll taken by AOC's campaigners showed her behind 35% - but it was a poll of likely voters. AOC's campaigning had gotten a lot of additional voters, enough to make her win by 13%.

 

[lpetrich]

Some of AOC's colleagues are not very impressed by her, while some others find her to have a better work attitude than what one might guess from her social-media presence.

Over breakfast last winter in Naperville, Lauren Underwood—who, let’s remember, had bested a half dozen primary challengers and smoked a Republican in the Chicago suburbs—dug into a pancake half the size of our table at her favorite diner and talked about how many of the freshmen had done something decidedly harder than Ocasio-Cortez in her decidedly quirky New York primary contest: they won tough primaries and then went on to clobber sitting Republicans. “Most of us got way more votes in our primaries than Alex,” Underwood told me. “We are not afraid of her.”

It is technically true that Ocasio-Cortez’s power as a new member of Congress was equal only to her own vote, and she generally would prove unable to bring many colleagues along. She was, at the end of the day, no legislative force. She and her staff would soon alienate all but a handful of other offices. But playing politics was a different matter, and on that field she showed unbelievable savvy. She understood instinctively what language to use to get a message across, and whom to use it with. She was friendly and accessible to reporters, even as her staff was distant. She was disinclined to work with her New York colleagues on prosaic matters like local transit annoyances, but knew how to appeal to a mass audience on the global issues of the day.

With millions of followers on social media and an electrified base of voters unmatched by anyone else’s in the House, she had more potential to influence those running for president than any colleague she was trying to woo to support an amendment. She was an object of fascination to the political media and to the often-smaller news outlets to which her staff doled out most interviews. And her fans continued to be dazzled by her TV appearances, even as some of her fellow freshmen and senior members of the party steamed that she was hardly the spokeswoman for all House Democrats. Where was their invitation to the Stephen Colbert show? Privately, scores of members and their staff said AOC was sharp, informed, and far more humble than her antipathetic tweets might suggest, usually keeping quiet in the weekly meetings with the entire Democratic team. But with an outsized audience and many more media demands than most new lawmakers have, she was also prone, early on, to factual stumbles, which earned her dings on nonpartisan fact-checking sites.

 

[lpetrich]

“The diversity of the caucus goes a long way in creating potential new leaders,” said Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as we walked together one day between votes, while she nibbled at what often seems to be her late lunch, a cranberry muffin. “I do think geography and culture and background play a big role. People from my community understand me more than other people from other areas who happen to be women.”

She cited the example of Elijah Cummings, at the time chair of the House Oversight Committee, on which she and other new women sat, who was constantly giving them chances to schedule hearings on topics close to their hearts. “I think that as much as people don’t want to admit it,” she said, “leaders with a vested interest in the next generation generation of leaders tend to gravitate toward younger versions of themselves.”

A month or so later, I caught up with AOC again. (Same pastry, different day.) Did she believe she was making an impact herself? I asked her.

“I feel like there is some real woo-woo here,” she said, referring to the traditions and rituals of Congress. “I do feel I answered a calling in the larger sense by running, but I don’t know if I have fulfilled what I set out to do.”

This was a remarkable statement from a woman whose power and influence already far exceeded her age and experience; it was at once self-aware and prematurely self-deprecating.

Enacting a full-scale progressive agenda? She is rather far from that. But she has succeeded in smaller goals, and I think that she is right that Elijah Cummings saw a bit of him in her. Maybe Maxine Waters also. I've seen some of AOC's detractors argue that she may eventually become much like MW.

When I finally caught up to her on the stairs, she turned around—perhaps wary of my stalker-like presence—and she finally stopped and smiled politely. Her eyes widened as I asked her what her favorite moment had been so far. “I was in a room with John Lewis and Maxine Waters today,” she said, slightly out of breath. “It dawned on me then. They’re real. They are human, and I am in the same room with them. It adds a dimensionality I could have never imagined.” Then she turned on her high heel and was gone.

Getting to meet this people in the flesh.

 

[lpetrich]

‘Never say never’: Ex-congressman defeated by AOC open to rematch - Joe Crowley.

“Look, right now, I’m enjoying myself working with [former Speaker John] Boehner. And I’ll never say never to anything in life,” Crowley said. “You know, I’m still fairly young. I’m 57. I have a good life ahead of me.”

Crowley has been working with Boehner to address failing joint pension programs that put the retirement of thousands of workers at risk. He said he finds his private sector work "very fulfilling, especially working with big John.”

He tried to avoid commenting on his successor.

“I have done a good job, I think, of refraining from making comment about her,” Crowley said. “I will say I have a lot of respect for Whoopi Goldberg and certainly for Nancy Pelosi and for the elders in our party. I think that we could all learn from our elders, and that’s something that’s an old adage, but it’s as meaningful today as it has always been.”

AOC and Maxine Waters took a stand against mansplaining in Congress this week — not a minute too soon | The Independent
MW:

During a hearing on Tuesday, Mnuchin announced that he had another “important” meeting, to which he was already going to be late. After some back and forth, where Waters made it very clear that he was free to leave, Mnuchin began to instruct her on how to end the meeting.

“Please dismiss everybody,” he said. “I believe you are supposed to take the gravel [sic] and bang it.” He then pretended to bang a gavel.

“Please do not instruct me as to how I am to conduct this committee,” Waters firmly replied.

then

When former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) tried to give newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) some advice about making it in Congress, his tips weren’t exactly well received – or asked for in the first place.

“She's the youngest person now there. I gave her just a few little tips on just being a good member of Congress, new. I don't think she really listened to a thing I said," Ryan said.

Author Melissa Blake appreciated how both wonen refused to listen to such obnoxious men.

Melissa Blake on Twitter: "Paul Ryan is every mansplainer and AOC is every woman who refuses to listen to that nonsense. Can I get an amen?!? " / Twitter