Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez saw her star rise swiftly and shine brightly after her victory over New York Rep. Joseph Crowley, but with all eyes now focusing on her, she’s beginning to look less and less like a superstar, and more like a thorn in the side of Democrats.
According to The Hill, Ocasio-Cortez is using her new-found fame to attack Democrats from her position on the far-left, which they fear will cause them to divide from within and fall short of retaking the house during the midterm elections. Particularly, Ocasio-Cortez has found it appropriate to attack Crowley, accusing him of trying to get around his defeat by running against her as a third party candidate.
Crowley has openly endorsed Ocasio-Cortez following his defeat and has no intentions of continuing to run, however, his name will remain on the ballot regardless due to New York election rules, and cannot be removed unless he dies, or moves away, as he explained to her after she publicly attempted to paint Crowley as an election saboteur.
.@repjoecrowley stated on live TV that he would absolutely support my candidacy.
Instead, he’s stood me up for all 3 scheduled concession calls.
Now, he’s mounting a 3rd party challenge against me and the Democratic Party- and against the will of @NYWFP.https://t.co/Xvb6Jk8N8q
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 12, 2018
Alexandria, the race is over and Democrats need to come together. I’ve made my support for you clear and the fact that I’m not running. We’ve scheduled phone calls and your team has not followed through. I’d like to connect but I’m not willing to air grievances on Twitter. https://t.co/hxEeWEpI2O
— Joe Crowley (@JoeCrowleyforNY) July 12, 2018
Lots questions about WFP line. Was honored to have their support. I’m not running. For record you can only be removed from the ballot if 1) you move out of NY; 2) die; 3) be convicted of a crime; 4) accept a nomination for another office (in a place I don’t live).
— Joe Crowley (@JoeCrowleyforNY) July 12, 2018
Ocasio-Cortez is either ignorant of New York election laws — likely, given her general ignorance of many things — or she’s attempting to drive the party further to the left by drawing lines. This has Democrats getting defensive.
From The Hill:
She’s carrying on and she ain’t gonna make friends that way,” said Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.). “Joe conceded, wished her well, said he would support her … so she doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about.”
“She’s not asking my advice,” he added, “[but] I would do it differently, rather than make enemies of people.”
Pascrell added that there is “no doubt” that Ocasio-Cortez is making enemies of Democrats.
Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings also weighed in on the situation, advising the 28-year-old “democratic socialist” that getting things done within the Democratic party requires forging relationships with senior party members, and that popularity alone will not get goals achieved:
“Meteors fizz out,” Hastings said. “What she will learn in this institution is that it’s glacial to begin with, and therefore no matter how far you rise, that’s just how far you will ultimately get your comeuppance.”
He added: “You come up here and you’re going to be buddy-buddy with all the folks or you’re going to make them do certain things? Ain’t happening, OK?”
It’s safe to say that a divided Democratic house won’t stand. They don’t have much in the way of leadership at the moment, and those rising to the front seem to be more willing to alienate the American people than make the Democrats seem like a party worth voting for.
Ocasio-Cortez is just what the far-left section of the Democrats ordered, and perhaps there’s a willingness to take over the party, even if it means resorting to hostilities. It would win them an ideological victory within the party, but if the 2016 elections were any indication, it won’t win the American people over. There are Democrats who understand this, but seemingly too few.
The “democratic socialist” is definitely not going to win enough fans in order to make any real lasting change. Ocasio-Cortez continuously displays an overabundance of ignorance, oftentimes parroting talking points she’s heard her hard-left friends regurgitate from far-left blogs and articles they’ve read. This too often makes her come off as monumentally inept.
The latest example is when she referred to Israel as the “occupation of Palestine” during an interview. Upon being pressed on the issue, Ocasio-Cortez gave an awkward, fumbling answer before admitting that she doesn’t know anything about Israel’s situation.
Her ignorance doesn’t stop at Israel and extends to economics, given all the “free” stuff she wants to give away to everyone, and civics given her hot take on SCOTUS pick Brett Kavanaugh and his position on indicting Trump.
Ocasio-Cortez may be riding high at the moment, but what went up definitely seems to be coming down, and it’s Ocasio-Cortez that’s pushing herself into a nose dive.
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