Over half a year before Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently opined that in any other country, she and Joe Biden would be in different political parties, this came out:
Joe Biden Might as Well Be a Republican - May 08, 2019
At the outset of his Senate career, Biden lost no time appealing to racism and running interference for huge corporate interests. He went on to play a historic role in helping to move the Supreme Court rightward and serving such predatory businesses as credit card companies, big banks and hedge funds.
Biden’s role as vice president included a near-miss at cutting a deal with Republican leaders on Capitol Hill to slash Medicare and Social Security. While his record on labor and trade has been mediocre, Biden has enjoyed tight mutual alliances with moneyed elites.
The Progressive's Guide to Corporate-Democrat Speak
Pete Buttigieg’s recent use of the term “purity test” is a case in point. While the Midwestern mayor used it to describe criticism of big-donor fundraising, it has also been applied to policies such as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fired back a few days later. “For anyone who accuses us for instituting purity tests,” she said, “it’s called having values. It’s called giving a damn.”
The article then has a "Centrist's Dictionary". I'll condense the definitions here:
“Centrist” - someone who pushes a Republican-lite corporate-friendly agenda with a little bit of regulation and some social liberalism.
“Choice” (when applied to a public good) - a forced choice from "an array of semi-functional, overpriced private-sector products."
“Compete” (as in, “prepare workers of the future to compete”) - what workers must do in a Randian sort of economy, having to get a high-priced education so that they can get low-pay, low-benefit jobs.
“Free stuff” - dismissive label for public services.
“Friend of mine” (as in, “John McCain was a friend of mine”) - nostalgia for happier relations between the parties and unwilling to accept the nastiness of today's Republican Party.
“Health care consumers” - people who have to choose from "a bewildering array of inadequate private health options, based on future needs they can’t anticipate, as offered by private corporations that benefit financially by confusing them now and denying them medical care later." They can then be described as not "smart shoppers" when something goes wrong.
“I don’t think anyone has a monopoly on bold ideas” - not having any at all.
“I know how to get things done” - keep on doing what's been done, despite its failures.
“I will not raise taxes one penny on the middle class” - while letting businesses charge more while giving less.
“I’m pragmatic” - I don't think that we can do the sorts of big things that our nation has done in the past.
“Ideology” (as in, “I don’t believe in rigid adherence to any political ideology”) - having principles or core values.
“Jobs of the future” - long hours, low pay, menial-piecework jobs.
“Managed competition” - more like "managed confusion"
“New economy” - more like the Gilded Age all over again.
“Our country needs to balance its budget like a family sitting around the kitchen table” - ignorance of finance.
“Pipe dream” - a bold idea that I don't support.
“Privatization” - crony-capitalism giveaways and looting of public assets
“Public/private partnership” - public resources with private profit, especially in crony-capitalist fashion.
“Purity test” - a way of avoiding supporting something that many people like but one's donors don't.
“Reaching across the aisle” - wimping out to please one's donors.
“Realistic” (as in, “Your proposal (backed by a large majority of voters) isn’t realistic”) - a wimpout.
“Rich kids/Trump’s kids” (as in, “I don’t want to give free college to Donald Trump’s kids”) - trying to exploit soak-the-rich sentiment against public goods.
“Something we can get done” (as in, “The public option is something we can get done”) - hand-wringing wimpiness.
“Universal coverage” - inadequate medical insurance for everyone.
“You can be progressive and practical at the same time” - being neither. Like how the Holy Roman Empire was none of those things. It was a loose confederation that lasted nearly a thousand years.
