I don’t understand the point of this “article” - is it supposed to be hyperbole, satire, crystal ball reporting?
It is not informative, and definitely not entertaining.
4
I would not be surprised to learn that the New York Judaic-WASPish traditional block of leftist radical Democrats turned its back on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
2
Ocasio-Cortez will be just fine. Most Americans with a thinking brain sees these right-wing attacks for the smears and lies that they are. But Faux (Fox) News, Breitbart and the rest of their grotesque ilk are threatened by strong women of a centrist-liberal bent. Hence their ongoing vendetta against Hillary Clinton, whose qualifications to be president were so clearly above the orange incompetent misogynist elected in her stead.
Keep your head up, AOC. A lot of people are rooting for you.
6
Exhibit A in her dimness was her opposition to Amazon bringing jobs to the congressional district adjacent to hers.
4
Come on commenters, these are jokes. One of Trump’s very many gaping character flaws is that he has no sense of humor and no ability to laugh at himself. Let’s not be like that. Being funny is part of the resistance. Don’t people have their own suggested humorous headlines? Let me try one:
Ocasio-Cortez brandishes open bigotry against racists
In latest speech, AOC fails to rule out socialist witch coup
4
For the unrighteous right, she is the new Hillary Clinton.
2
Ummm,a Maxima is made by Nissan. Other than that, I think some of these could actually come to pass, given the state of right-wing media.
3
I found myself laughing at these ridiculous headlines, and then thought “But crazy people actually BELIEVE this madness.” No longer funny - scary.
5
If Ocasio-Cortez didn't exist, the Bannons, Mercers, and Hannitys of the world would be busy trying to invent her.
5
This article is AWESOME NY Times.
The sad part is if you were to share these stories as a gag and put a big disclaimer in the first sentence saying it was all satire I bet 50% of trump supporters would share it as evidence against her.
7
She and Elizabeth Warren are going to make a great team in the 2020 elections...between them they've got almost every religio/ethnic base covered, especially now that OAC has discovered she's both Latina and Jewish. Hope they get the Democrats' nomination.
1
Most thinking people know she’s an uniformed person. Bling with no beef to back it up . Hopefully Democrats will continue to get excited about someone this leftwing!
1
They're scared to death of her, they're concerned she's going to become a Dem rock star.
They learned from the Clinton experience, hit hard, often, and lie relentlessly.
3
The median wage has remained flat since 1972, over 45 years, while the GNP has gone up 150%. This could not go on without the complicity and condoning by the entire establishment elite on the left and the right.
This is extremely dangerous and not sustainable. This condition made some monster like Trump or worse an inevitability and is the rift in our society that Putin found amazingly easy to exploit.
I hear nothing from thoughtful establishment types and their devotees as to addressing this situation. It is imperative that something be done about it.
AOC, at the very least, is drawing attention to this problem. She’s tying it up to the other imperative problem at this point: climate change, with her Green New Deal, which also helps reduce us on Middle Eastern oil. So very smart all the way around.
AOC has arrived because she has reasonably good communications skills and she has picked up this torch and carried it after all the establishment elites have chosen to ignore the problem altogether.
Until this problem is addressed we will get more and worse monsters like Trump but also will hopefully see emerge more AOCs willing to confront and address this problem in substance not just rhetoric.
Prediction:
Anyone of greater means could have carried the torch AOC is carrying forward now, but somehow they refused to pick it up and do something about it. Unless and until they do, AOC is going to continue to be an important and growing voice in American politics. IMHO.
7
they are already stalking her...
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/creep-shot-firestorm-over-photo-ocasio-cortez-posted-twitter-n936906
NEW: We Asked Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez How She Would Pay for Free Health Care. She Asked Us How We Got Into Her Living Room.
1
How about that right-wing rag, the Washington Post:
Fact Checker Analysis
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s $21 trillion mistake
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/12/04/alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-trillion-mistake/?utm_term=.895c06b201b1
5
She's "the girl from the Bronx" Republicans have never had to deal with ... until now.
Beware GOP!
Go, O-C !!!
“If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.”
~ SUN TZU, The Art of War, Chapter 3
5
This is great! AOC will be around for a long time.
4
Summary: "Socialism" is not the same as "Social Justice" and the Trump-GOP are against both. They are in favor of shady real estate developers, however.
10
The Conservative propaganda machine is going to do with this woman the same things they always do, but when the source of the opinions are considered, who really cares? I'm pretty sure they'll attack anyone and anything not in line with their ignorant, radical ideological positions, all now approved by Vladimir Putin.
Who cares what conservatives say or do. Look how they conduct themselves as a majority in all branches of government. It's like the Three Stooges, but worse.
11
Since this is NOT April 1, and the article DOES appear in the NY Times, even though it is by a humorist, I'd like to know if these are items that Mr. Gilbert has collected from actual publications or are they 100% made up of whole cloth?
If even 1% are collected from right-wing "media", it is indeed shocking.
1
This is absurd. Exactly why democrats are losing their grip on reality.
5
Piece of advice: Trumpists really want to stay well clear of the R-word.
2
The Right Wing lost its grasp of the facts long ago.
3
That the Murdoch/Breitbart-style hard core right wing Big Lie Propaganda machine is going after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez means they are worried about her appeal to voters, It is a badge of honor for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez.
5
Ocasio-Cortez defeated a liberal democratic member of Congress and became a mass media icon. She did it with using the anger of people who resent the establishment dominated by white and affluent people. To be expected. As an individual, she identifies herself as the unliberal, unwhite, and anti-establishment candidate. She’s playing the populist card and I do not think she will do anything but be the left wing angry person that will participate in race to the bottom with the right wing angry person, Trump.
6
She's certainly very nicely groomed and dressed for a dedicated socialist. Champagne socialist? The socialist in $600 shoes?
2
There is no such thing as a Toyota Maxima, it’s a Nissan Maxima.
6
Nissan makes the Maxima; not Toyota.
6
I’m a liberal and I’m not a big fan of her. She does seem pretty unknowledgeable, yet she insists on her positions as being not just right, but also morally superior to even other liberal positions if they aren’t leftist enough. She also spends way too much time on “gotcha” comebacks and Twitter flaming...she reminds me of David Hogg and Michael Avenatti. Spend more time on a positive message (like Beto, Gillum, and Abrams did), less time sparring with these yahoos. Also, accept that you don’t know everything and have a lot to learn from senior members of Congress.
19
@Tom New game, new rules.
@Tom Doesn't everyone believe that their positions are morally superior? If one didn't, why would they hold them?
I'm also curious why you think she is unknowledgeable (which according to my browser is not even a word, which I did not know, but neither did you). She might be smarter than you think!
6
@Tom She’s still a young woman with plenty of time to learn and grow, give her a chance. I remember how I used to talk, I remember my enthusiasm. Now I feel tired and worn out. Bring on the youth.
5
This is all fun, but has anyone thought seriously about what follows Donald Trump? Is he actually a necessary bulwark against eager leftist overreach? For all his public-relations gaffs and Wrong-Way Corrigan political excursions his basic economic direction is correct. After Trump we could get a blast of budget-busting entitlement spending + economy damaging tax increases; even a lot of Democrats might miss him--leftists, be careful what you wish for.
3
Be careful when trying to tell jokes.
It's not a skill cultivated by the right.
10
Right way on the economy? Like betting on coal instead of renewables? Like starting a trade war with China without any allies? Like making US cars less competitive on world markets by relaxing fuel standards?
12
@Jerry Engelbach; Mexico? Do you worry about the wall?
1
She doesn't know enough?
She knows that climate change is a threat to the human race. That puts her ahead of nearly all Republicans, including their Senate and House delegations as well as our minority President. She knows that our current method for financing medical care is a disaster and that we need a system that provides care for all Americans. She knows quite a few very important things, and what she doesn't know, she can learn. The ability to learn is a critical skill that the "older and wiser heads" of the Republican apparatus have demonstrated that they have lost.
And she is not facing indictment for any felonies or even misdemeanors.
She'll do nicely.
136
@writeon1 I know when my car isn't working right, doesn't mean I have a clue how to fix it. I agree with you 100% about the problems we face and the state of the Republican Party, but AOC is not the solution.
8
I suggest you read her stand on the issues on her web site.
9
Strange that this young woman is drawing so much negative comment and she isn't even 30 yet; are right wingers worried she'll be running for President at 35? Hey, maybe that's not such a bad idea.
7
you need to be exposed to her comments on a daily basis. she's frightening
1
I cannot wait for her first encounter with Steve king. It will be priceless. He won’t know what to make of her and she will make mincemeat of him. You go girl!
7
Sounds like the criticism, in reverse, by the MSM of all and I do mean all things Trump.
AOC can complain when Harvard does a study, as they did with the coverage of Trump, where > 90% coverage by the major networks is negative. When her coverage is >90% negative, then she can complain.
2
Philly, seeing that Trump and his ilk have been 100 percent negative for our country, I would say the media coverage is showing restraint.
6
The coverage by the MSM is not negative. It's truthful.
The content is negative because of the behavior of its subject.
4
Philly there is a reason trump gets bad press, he does bad things. Isn't the truth a horrible thing when you're a trump supporter.
6
The more they attack her the more powerful she becomes. Yes, they rally their base, no doubt, but defending her rallies ours.
6
These would be funny if there were not some element of truth to the ends the GOP will go to discredit "the enemy."
3
The latest darling of the limousine liberals is the self-proclaimed socialist from Queens who bemoans the plight of the NY cabbies while her entire staff uses Uber. Liberal commitment to the working class? Take a look at the rust belt, midwestern farmers or the violent streets of Chicago. The working class has been so abandoned FDR's successor that they have turned to Trump as they are no longer relevant to the avant garde of identity politics. The clothes are merely a symbol of the hypocrisy.
10
@Rob
Sadly we can't live by our ideals 100% of the time. I dislike what so-called ride-sharing apps have done to NYC, but when I lived there I felt like I had to use them at times. I'm guessing there aren't many yellow cabs or even green cabs driving around her district. Even if we are working to change the system we live in, we're still part of that system.
Anyway, I think her Green New Deal will do more for the rust belt than a trade war, and climate change is going to hurt farmers if we don't take immediate steps to address it. (Not to mention that they have been hurt by the trade war too.)
7
I've never before heard "avante-garde" used to refer to the rights of minorities, women, and LGBTs.
But that does mean "progressive," after all.
Trump supporters, in moaning about elitisim, have unwittingly thrown their lot in with one of the biggest elitists of them all.
6
Thanks for mentioning Chicago. Since stricter gun laws were enacted since the 1970s, gun deaths are down over 60% even as the overall population of the city has increased. Why do Red States with weak gun restrictions have much higher gun deaths per 100,000 of citizens?
2
Great satire. It seems AOC is following in the footsteps of Nancy Pelosi. Question: why must right wingers always find someone, usually a successful woman, to demonize? Don't they have anything better to do with their time, such as something positive that would benefit the country?
11
I hope AOC is far more of a progressive than establishment Dem Pelosi.
1
I'm a new yorker. this has nothing to do with the fact she's a woman. it has to do with she knows very little and wants to change the country to socialism. how has that worked for Europe?
Thanks for starting my Sunday with a smile. Especially Lady Ivanka. Perfect.
8
Clearly funny article that I enjoyed, but it is true that the media is trying to make something out of her that she is not. She is a promising neophyte politician who is at the beginning end of a long learning curve. Given the time and space she could develop into a truly competent and formidable politician. But she, like almost all freshmen congressmen and women is really not ready for prime time yet. The Democratic Party and the media must give her the necessary time and space to learn and mature. The Republicans are salivating over the chance to set her up as the new face of the Democratic party and pounce on every one of her inevitable gaffes at this stage of her career. Bernie Sanders and the DNC were wrong to try to put her front and center when she is clearly not yet ready for such exposure. Give her the time , space and opportunity to learn as all truly good politicians do. Her future is indeed bright, but it is not yet here.
9
Jack Robinson, you do realize the person in the White House has never held office before, don't you?
Oh she is ready.
Lots of fun & laughs. I can almost see those headlines in the supermarket checkout tabloids. The only thing missing is a reference to Big Foot or the alien of Roswell.
2
Let's get serious for a moment: the assault on her has been and will be relentless, which means she scares the right-wingers and the GOP in general very much. Look at how much power she already has, and she hasn't even been sworn in. :-)
9
More like this pls!
1
She is truly the Trump of the Democratic Party. And just as Trump has educated Republicans embarrassing themselves by supporting him, there are thousands of Democrats bending over backwards to give her legitimacy. It just shows the hypocrisy of our political life. Each side deserves the other.
7
Some of us FDR Democrats want our party back. We want Medicare for All. We want free college education. In other words we want what citizens of every other first world nation have had for decades.
8
Ms Ocasio-Cortex should teach a master class to every democrat in the house and senate how to clap back. Her responses are brilliant and always makes the republican look like the tool they are. Two terms in the house and she can take over for KG in the senate.
8
Jeez everybody! He's a 'humor writer. Relax, the real onslaught is yet to come. Most of the really snide comments have come from 'moderate' Democrats.
8
This is a column written by a humor writer. Enjoy it! It's [funny] that the future headlines are somewhat predictable.
5
BREAKING: AOC, picks winners and losers, says the devil wears Prada.
Please stop. The NYT continues to amplify the right wing's rantings - it's embarrassing that the paper wants to get into the gutter with them. Enough.
This is a humor piece.
9
This lady has morals, is honest, does not have a criminal record and is not under investigation by the FBI. She would have to take a lie detector test and not a truth one unlike someone else we all know.
1
This is really funny! Kudos and thanks.
5
To be fair, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez tries very hard to keep herself in front of the cameras at all times. At least half of the effort in making her the newest bete-noire of the GOP has been made by Ms. O-C. Declaring herself to be a socialist is just baiting them. She wants to be public enemy #1 of the Republicans perhaps as much as Trump wants to be public enemy #1 of the Democrats. There are more than a few parallels.
7
The media is drawn to her. Just like her constituents, and I am one.
3
I don't think it is "baiting" the opposition to declare one's principles.
Are we so cynical that we are suspicious when a politician rises above empty platitudes?
4
@Jerry Engelbach
Kudos, Jerry - and in two short, pointed sentences no less.
1
Thank you, Mr. Gilbert. This is hilarious.
2
Sadly, smart, successful, gutsy women who goddess-forbid, who are authentically progressive without running around in sackcloth and ashes are hugely offensive to many males and to conservatives. The knee jerk reaction to demean her, to cut her down, to skewer her for imagined hypocrisy, says alot more about her critics than about her. People, why isn't AOC seen as a stellar exemplar of the aspirational American dream? She has been disciplined, focused and has moved in short time from being a waitress to being a member of the US House of Representatives. On her own merits. That is impressive.
I think she is capable of greatness and say go for it Alexandria!
8
MASH! That brought me back.
2
I also have some funny suggestions!
- "Unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs. Unemployment is low because people are working 60, 70, 80 hours a week and can barely feed their family."
- "Just last year we gave the military a $700 billion budget increase, which they didn’t even ask for."
- "$21T in Pentagon accounting errors. Medicare for All costs ~$32T. That means 66% of Medicare for All could have been funded already by the Pentagon."
- "ICE is required to fill 34,000 beds with detainees every single night and that number has only been increasing since 2009."
Ops, they're all real lies (sic) said by herself only in the last six months.
6
Unless it was intended as a slam on the ineptitude of right-wing news organizations, Toyota never made a Maxima in 1994 or otherwise. Maxima is a Nissan brand.
2
Count me as completely sick and tired of stories about Ms Ocasio-Cortez.
Can we for once in a blue moon finally focus on substance?
She is new, is green in both sense sof the word, and will undoubtedly make some stumbles in the new job. But can't we just give her a chance to see what she can accomplish as a member of Congress after she is seated and the session begins? And then start analyzing tea leaves and moaning about impressions, and trying to make jokes about how sick America has become instead of DOING something real about it?
5
You left out her election as the mayor of New York in 2024, and President of the United States in 2032.
4
OMG! She doesn't live up to the Republican's idea of a perfect woman?
I'm sure they'd like her better if she were a blond bimbo advocating for tax cuts for the rich. And even more if she were a man, and old, and rich herself and, of course, white.
3
It isn't her fault, but AOC is already overexposed. No representative who has yet to serve a single day in office should be given this much national attention. The attacks on her are rude and uncalled for, but the way many of her supporters idolize her are unearned and are part of an unsettling trend in this country towards deifying politicians (as seen with Trump and Sanders). AOC does have potential, but until she actually accomplishes something beyond getting elected, it seems presumptuous to credit her as the savior of American politics the way many media sources have.
8
Those of us taken aback by Trump's presidential win were told over and over to give him a chance. The same should be offered to Ocasio-Cortez, and let's hope she has a better record in two years than he has.
5
There are two problems with Ocasio-Cortez. First, in the interviews I've heard, she is woefully unprepared, and can barely get out a somewhat coherent sentence. So on the issue of substance, there's little of it; perhaps she'll grow into the job, but Trump is a prime example of someone who didn't.
Second, and more important, all this media attention makes it seem like she is the face of the Democratic Party. She isn't; she represents her district, and nothing else. But this allows the Republicans to portray us as wild-eyed revolutionaries, making it more difficult for us to win in the heartland. Hillary's stunning defeat should show how ill-advised a strategy it is to neglect the Midwest; or more accurately, the rural and small towns there. Obama was able to get those people to vote for him (twice), so it isn't impossible. But Cortez's style plays well only in already-liberal districts, and has zero appeal in the places we need to win. And that is the ultimate goal; giving Trump and McConnell the boot in 2020. If Cortez keeps this up, she'll just make it easier for the GOP to win again in 2020.
16
Do you mean Americans don’t want Medicare for All? Americans are happy paying high monthly premiums, high copays, high deductibles —and then arguing with an insurance wonk to get them to pay uo?
You think Americans are happy that their children graduate college with high interest debt?
Americans don’t want the benefits that citizens of every other first world nation have enjoyed for decades?
And climate change is just a Chinese hoax?
2
“Working-Class’ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Financial Disclosure Reveals She Has Far More Than Enough Savings to Purchase a 1994 Toyota Maxima”
Actually, that should be Nissan Maxima, which would make the example even greater. Sorry Nissan. The right will make her Che Guevara with a pony tail but the fight is on! May the best woman win.
3
Perhaps it would be best if Ms. Ocasio-Cortez laid low for a bit. There is little for her to accomplish at this point and we really don't need the silly back and forth. Check back in 2 years.
6
Good work.
Liked this one as it so paints the tiresome, and faux campaign narratives so many candidates try to paint.
"If AOC Is So Working Class, Why Hasn’t She Been Interviewed in a Rust Belt Diner About President Trump?"
I have one, "Food snob AOC turns nose up at the rubber chicken served at yet another Rotary club dinner. Overheard she'd prefer stale cake over this. Marie Antoinette?"
I hope AOC grasps the power she is gaining that she is so under the Conservatives skin...rather scales...
5
Keep it up. Humor v. Hypocrisy. Yeah baby.
4
Reading these headlines tells me that I'm not the only one who thinks very low about the intelligence of those people on 'that side'...
These headlines insult your intelligence, red voters... I don't know how you can't see it...
Very low brow, bottom feeding type stuff...
1
Didn't realize that the NYT had bought out the bad-humor
department of the Harvard Lampoon. ;-)
1
I'm hoping Ocasio-Cortez brushes up on the farm bill as a first step to addressing the.....erm…..'deplorable" situation in rural America. NY Times story today here
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/14/opinion/farm-bill-agriculture.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
"The alarming trends call for urgent attention and action — but it’s not what we get from the new bill. As fewer and older farmers produce a less diverse and sustainable array of food, we desperately need to support small and midsize producers and cultivate a more sustainable system of agriculture. Ultimately, Farm Bill reform is not just about saving taxpayer money or fighting cronyism — it is about saving the nation’s farms."
1
@Excellency...would be an odd area of interest for a member of congress from new york city.
1
Too bad she endorsed Ayanna Pressley over Michael Capuano in the Massachusetts 7th Congressional district, an uninformed thoughtless decision. No congressman has been more progressive than Capuano and his positions were often to the left of Pressley's.
I was thrilled when Ocasio-Cortez won. I thought she would have a national career. No more.
1
Unfortunately, the media is complicit in the right-wing hysteria and smear campaigns hurled at every woman on the left. We could go back to Eleanor Roosevelt, but more recently, it's Hillary as first lady, then Pelosi, then Elizabeth Warren and now AOC. For my part, I love everything she stands for, namely, the future. A woman of color who is smart, powerful and driven, with a natural talent for leadership. I wish the media would be more mindful of their own double standards. Paul Ryan has been treated like some kind of intellectual policy wonk when he's a complete fraud and coward. Fraud about the debt/deficit, just look at the numbers under his speakership and coward when it comes to oversight and upholding his oath of office. He simply lacks the courage to stand up to Donald Trump, who is a pathetic and easily vanquished clown. Just do your job and stick to your guns and history will treat you well, but not if you're a coward who enables a POTUS with no respect for the constitution.
4
One of the better satirical op-eds I've read lately. I especially like "she asks how we got into her living room" and "She Has Far More Than Enough Savings to Purchase a 1994 Toyota Maxima."
1
Am I reading headlines from the Onion here? Great job! The Onion is the gold standard for this stuff.
2
Since Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton will likely be out of politics in the next few years, the right needs another strong woman to demonize. It's the number one play in their playbook. AOC will serve in this roll for them for a long time.
1
@Erik Jacobson Hopefully not as she couldn't answer a simple question about simple economics.
8
This is hilarious... and right on the mark.
1
Yep, these are over the top. I don't fault her for alleged hypocrisy that seems the main target of the brain-dead right. But AOC has been fact-challenged several times in big and embarrassing ways, and this is hurting her reputation with many "mainstream liberals" like me.
5
@Koho What will count is how she votes on important bills. And -- what will count is how Republican members of the House vote on important bills. I'm counting on Alexandria to vote for the interests of the 99%.
6
Ms Ocasio-Cortez will continue to be demeaned and defiled by the Repubs just as Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi before her. The attacks will be vile, false, unrelenting--and effective. We saw the force of their 25-year accretion in forming opinions of Hillary Clinton among Democratic voters as well as the Repubs themselves, and most alarmingly, as several analyses have proved, in deeply biasing the coverage published by The New York Times over many months, unconscionable in a paper most of us look to for unbiased coverage. The recent attack on Nancy Pelosi's bid for the speakership (after a stunning midterm victory) when none of the other (male) Democratic House leaders were targeted is the most recent example of the success of the Repubs's strategy, based above all on a deep and abiding mysogeny, rooted in hatred and fear of a powerful woman. In the Repub unisphere, the single most powerful person is Hillary Clinton, whose name they chant like an incantation two years after the election that brought Trump the presidency. Perhaps even they have all along suspected that his win was not legitimate. Why else was it necessary to engage in election-related felonies the number of which is only beginning to emerge? Why else the alliance with the Russians? Why else keep Clinton alive as The Omnipotent Opponent, even threatening to pursue further investigations. Is it to make sure she won't come back and win in a race that they're forced to run fairly?
4
finally, someone who gives the loudmouths on the other side as good as they give and better AND who has actual policy alternatives. Hilary steadfastly refused to ever be impolite to Donald no matter how he mocked her. Her advisors told her to smile benightedly, as if nothing bothered her. Street fighting isn't her nature. Neither is retail politics, she said so herself. AOC is a fighter. It's refreshing. And AOC does it with humor, and logic, and without resorting to "lock her up" style histrionics. We need more like her.
3
It's not who she is, it's what she says, that gets her attention.
I'm a Liberal, despise Trump, but here's the deal on AOC: great at politics, lousy at policy.
I mean, she says she's a Socialist; how high does Socialism's body count have to be before people turn away from "equality of outcome", instead of embracing "equality of opportunity"?
11
@Victor She doesn't say she's a socialist, she says she's a democratic socialist. You understand the difference, right?
7
How are you lousy at policy when you've never sat in Congress?
5
There were a few amusing headlines, but perhaps I'm humor challenged. Can someone not a democratic socialist explain to me not just the Brietbart/Faux News fixation, but the general media's anointing someone with a non-existent resume'?
This young woman has not even been sworn in. She ran in and won a low turnout primary in a one party district A district whose demographics had changed against the white Irish- Catholic ethnic incumbent. Can we learn more about the truly interesting and diverse women who make up the incoming Democratic class for heaven sake?
They are an accomplished group. Some have backgrounds in government, others in business, others in the military, and all have a far greater lifetime of experience to offer our careworn and divided country. With all due respect Ms. AOC needs to get a little humility, learn the ropes of Congress, read some briefing material and stop running for the camera. Sen. Schumer has that last part admirably covered.
8
Pure genius, one of the best op-eds in recent NYT memory.
86
@Todd If you like satire, read The Onion.
2
SO much scrutiny. WAY too much, even by the left. Everyone knows that she hasn't actually, officially, started in Congress yet, right?
3
Absolutely hilarious, thank you.
As most comments here state, the wealthy, the corporations and the ignorant are scared stiff of this wonderful woman.
Most people do not understand the word "socialism" and spread ignorance. Our country, like many wealthy countries has mixed economies which include capitalism and socialism. Look that up and you will understand the concept if you do not now understand it.
We need the best of capitalism and the best of socialism. Regulated capitalism so that it does not run amok as we see now, where corporations have more power than individuals and a huge, horrid wealth gap exists. Capitalism let go on its own gives us what we have today: horrid authoritarianism, a poor health care system, and problems of all sorts with infrastructure, horrid costs for college students and people begging in the streets. High poverty, low hourly wages which haven't increased in decades and a corrupt campaign finance system that causes most of the above negatives.
Progressives need to get behind Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive legislators and keep them coming.
We love her and want to bee her smart, creative ideas flourish.
6
I'm a huge fan of AOC as well. I hope that she gets as much public attention as possible. It will help show how irrational and inappropriate leftist progressive policies are for America and she actual speaks the truth about what other leftist politicians believe but won't actually say in public. :)
3
A lot of commenters here are disturbed by her "Socialist" label. So tell me, are you all going to turn down your Social Security and Medicare when you're eligible?
AOC is a breath of fresh air. She is new at this and there will be some stumbles. It's a new job after all. We've all made mistakes.
And c'mon, this was funny stuff!
9
Ah, the Deplorables ! Where would we be without them? Makes my heart sink to think of it. Way way way better off. That's where.
Instead we live in Deplorables-ville, with jails stuffed to the gills. Armed to the teeth. Blood - swimming pools of it - on our hands. Awash in guns and murders. Drugged out, most unequal population in the world. And Christians that routinely vote for all of the above.
2
Is there any greater compliment to your potential power, potential impact in today's political arena than to have your opponent give you such importance by degradation and slur and libelous criticism. They are cowards to attempt this, and like the cowards they are, they are afraid of this spunky courageous New Yorker who speaks truth to power. Keep on trucking Cortez!
6
Given all the headlines demonstrating the utterly immoral, corrupt and treasonous behavior of "Individual-1", who cares what conservatives think Alexandria? She won't end up in PRISON. I just wish all these Individual-1 supporters would get locked up with him.
1
What's really funny: She's not a problem to Republicans. She's a godsend.
6
There is no such verb tense as the future conditional! As for the subjunctive, we're losing it, as shown by people who write and say, "If I was," "if it was," and, perhaps more distressing because it causes meaning to be lost, "they may have" (referring to an unknown outcome) when they mean "they might have" (referring to an alternative outcome that's contrary to the actual known one).
For humor that's truly deft, everyone should read Fowler's Modern English Usage. Moreover, there might be useful information in it about verb tenses.
2
While I enjoy the humor of the piece, what is not funny are the policies that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez supports. I am surprised such a young women supports so many failed policies of the past. One only needs to look today at Venezeula and Cuba as examples of her economic policies. She states she studied economics at Boston University. Evidently, she missed the importance of incentives when establishing economic policy. Read her website: free homes, free healthcare, free education, a guaranteed government job, banking by the US Postal Service. When she says she studied economics - it must have been the economic policies of Karl Marx. And that is not funny because so many lives in the modern era have been destroyed on unachievable promises by government.
8
Every first world nation on earth has provided free health care for all citizens for decades. Many first world nations also provide free college. Do you think setting up GoFundMe accounts and begging is a better way to pay medical bills?
4
Did not expect much from this but quite a few were genuinely funny.
Nice job, at least some humour to be mined from the despicable attacks focused on Ms. Ocasio-Cortez where the main rationale seems to be first that she is a 'she' and second comes from a the north east coastal city, and finally that she does not cower from the attacks or show 'proper' deference to men.
Good luck to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, hopefully she will find her way to effectively representing her electorate despite all the distractions playing out around her.
153
@A: There is another critical (ir)rationality to their despicable attacks. Ms O-C is a very vivacious and attractive woman. This generates incredible envy and jealousy (of a sexual nature) in many of her "critics", and they are completely incapable of dealing with this in any way other than their misogynistic attacks on any aspect of her being.
23
FACT CHECK: No record of AOC passed US citizenship exam after emigrating from Puerto Rico .
3
@Jonathan Spiegel. i hope this was a joke. puerto ricans are u.s. citizens from birth.
2
@Jonathan Spiegel
"Emigrating" from Puerto Rico?
1
She reminds me of Sarah Palin, and I'm not sure that's a good thing.
8
Future Headlines About Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - Electorate Wakes Up And Dumps Her!
4
Hardly. I am in her district. We have her back!
2
Nissan makes the Maxima, not Toyota. Fake News. Viva AOC!! Funny article. One of her more famous campaign pledges was to never strap an Irish setter to the roof of her car if she ever owns a car. I believe her.
2
This seems a preemptive move to try to protect Alexandria by producing this ridiculous piece of fiction. In a short period of times real facts will emerge that will engender amazement that she was ever elected at all.
3
@Tony Francis: Your post here is completely undone by your unintentional use of the word 'engendered' - - which effectively makes your message a misogynistic one and very funny!
4
Oh yeah Americans don’t want Medicare for All. Americans prefer setting up GoFundMe accounts and begging for money to pay medical bills. And Americans just love those high interest student loans that take decades to discharge.
3
If this is the best conservatives can do against her, she's in pretty good shape. It's like calling out the groom at a wedding for wearing a $500 suit he rented for the occasion. No one there seriously believes he spent $500 for a suit he would rarely wear. Only cognitive dissonance like that that made "President Trump" possible could produce this "issue"
for Ocasio-Cortez.
I don't agree with many of her policy positions, but, it is refreshing to see someone who genuinely wants to enact change. A welcome sight.
1
To those commenters defending her high profile in the media, as not of her doing, I would like to point out that on the other hand, she has not gone to great effort in discouraging that focus.
4
These headlines are also a preview of what Trump will say (assuming he gets to run in 2020) if Democrats nominate someone too extreme to oppose him. "Socialist", Democratic or not, still strikes fear into many Americans. Enthusing your own party isn't necessarily a recipe for success in a country-wide election.
Why is it “extreme” to suggest that the richest nation the world has ever known might provide the same benefits to citizens that all other first world nations have provided for decades?
2
There will be headlines from across the political spectrum if someone can get her to make a statement about BDS.
1
What is with the overexposure of this new Congresswoman? Why is she such a focal point by mainstream media? I'll watch and listen, but please stop with the hype!
I voted straight Democrat this last election, but for me, Ocasio-Cortez is too far left for me to support. If the Democrats want to win, it won't be with her socialist positions.
4
I will not vote for any candidate who will not support Medicare for All. Why can’t Americans have what citizens of every other first world nation have enjoyed for decades?
3
Ha!!!
Yeah, this is sort of funny, but can't the NYT do better than this?
She is a smart, witty, and charismatic political leader, and is using her abilities to actually make changes---not simply to become personally powerful via the "inside game." That's why the right wing is working 24/7 to discredit her.
How about stories like:
* Her ideas on how medicare for all might work? Or what a decent immigration policy would be?
* How she won, what she (and her campaign mgr) learned from that, and advice for others?
* Her thoughts on what she is trying to do on social media?
Take her seriously. Millions of people do, for good reason.
6
Hysterical. I love this piece.
And I like her. I really don't want to see her be one more woman in politics for whom the real and disparaging rumors are both believed.
3
Because Trump's supporters are 'incurious' and do little fact-checkeing of what they read and hear, Nancy Pelosi's recently getting in the grill of Donald Trump's was more telling/poignant than ever as he attempted to spin, lie, and exaggerate during their recent back and forth.
And why she's who we want as Speaker and not some un-seasoned wanna-be.
2
Ms Ocasia-Cortez has some very clear similarities to Dan Quayle and Sara Palin, but some big differences too
All Three are young,
All Three are energetic
All Three are Good Looking
All Three came out of relative obscurity
All Three have said some amazingly dumb things.
Only One of these people are Liberal
Only One of these people are Democrats
Only One of these has escaped the cross-hairs of the venomous partisan Media... the same media that flamed Megan Kelly for offensive remarks but gave passes to Joy Reid and Mika Brzezinski
I cant imagine for the life of me why this is!
8
Her goals are as laudable as Mother Theresa's but Mother Theresa had God on her side. Socialism is fine until you run out of other peoples money. Her opposition to Amazon entry to New York displays her lack of vision and deep thinking providing the knee jerk reaction to it's entry because incentives already in place available to other business were given. You are looking for expanded social programs they require funding and funding requires a revenue source. I can understand moral outrage if Casinos were the deal.
4
Every first world nation on earth has provided free health care for all citizens for decades.
2
Nice, fun, Friday fare. Thanks for the chuckle, Mr. Gilbert. As for the too, too serious comments here, please don't feed the humorless liberal snowflake stereotype, y'all. AOC can take care of herself. She certainly has her work cut out for her and deserves every bit of our support.
5
Listening to her it is blatantly obvious to anyone with a pulse that she knows next to nothing about virtually anything. She wants big programs giving people stuff and has a sharp tongue, but has no idea how to pay for any of it other than a 5th grade level understanding that amounts to "Hey, if we pay for a military we must have enough money for my stuff too." No understanding of foreign policy challenges. No understanding of policy nuance as it relates to domestic affairs. No real world experience other than working as a waitress. I think that's where she belongs.
14
She understands that the USA is the richest nation the world has ever known—and the only first world nation that does not provide free health care for all citizens.
4
The larger problem with Cortez indicates a certain lack of knowledge that is expected of a House of Representative
duly elected member. Comparing her to her comments seems fair. Her constituents bear the responsibility for putting her in office.Fools rush in ! I hope she has fun.
5
Yes. We voted for her. The time has come for Medicare for All and free college education. Why can’t Americans have what citizens of every other first world nation have enjoyed for decades? Why does the US need to spend more than the next 10 nations combined on defense?
2
Gosh, you haven't covered 10% of what the conservative side is really saying. Take a look at what some of the far-right folks are putting out and responding to. I understand why you couldn't include them but these are 'milk-toast' headlines in comparison.
2
She’s going to take some fire. Being able to laugh, including at yourself is important. It helps you get through the negativity. Right wingers have a very poor sense of humour - if at all. I’m sure there will be very serious headlines almost like these humerous ones placed in right wing media.
I wish her well.
2
The GOP hard right fear powerful women and needs them as a foil. Let’s home they continue to focus on AOC for they give her the visibility to advance the ideas they so hate.
1
The ironic part is that many of these headlines are accurate.
3
here is my headline;
oac fails basic civics exam, was tutored by trump.
39
@pierre And just who, pray tell, might 'oac' be??
4
These will be grabbed for actual use by conservative media.
1
The NYT is one of the few outlets ignoring her Green New Deal, and #OurTime announcement that we will now begin the litmus test primary challenges against most of her colleagues. Instead the NYT jumped to try to attack her Jewish roots. Hardly exempt from this kind of coverage.
6
When it does come time to seriously report on her, please don't shorten her name. Journalists have lately gotten into the bad habit of creating nick names for persons or groups of persons and that is the first step in dividing them up into us and them. I remember the first time I saw the term "enviro" used by a journalist in a well known news publication and hoped it would die. Shortly after that it was being used by the spokesperson for an oil and gas production advocacy group in a derogatory manner.
Why condemn her before she has even gotten started? The conservatives must feel very threatened. If it were a condition that those in Congress wore rags and had pressed their heads us against the window of a bakery on a frigid night or any other time, at least 99% of them should go home. Leave the woman alone and let her make her mark. Unlikely she could do worse than the Republicans who currently work there have.
81
@Meighley
You don't understand sarcasm, nor the concept of preemptive strike, eh?
5
remember when Trump was elected? all I remember from the Republicans was "give him a chance to do his job."
just another example of rampant Republican hypocrisy. sorry....that's the way I see it.
25
@Meighley
So they don't do sarcasm in Montana? NYers are laughing pretty hard.
3
I would like to tell Ms Cortez to stay off Twitter. She is very clever in her tweets but she does not have to answer every single comment people make. It makes her appear insecure like Trump. She has plenty of work to keep her busy. If she does not ignore what people say about her she is going to have a hard time. Follow the Obamas, who were constantly attacked, and most of the time ignored their ignorant tormentors.
5
Let her speak!
Sorry, but this appears like an effort to lampoon actual legitimate criticism from the NYT and others of actual erroneous statements that AOC has made since her election.
She made a choice to thrust herself fully into the spotlight. If she doesn't want to get attacked, she needs to have someone fact check her statements on serious matters like the Pentagon budget. She also probably should hire a consultant to explain to her which subjects will come back to haunt her in whatever future runs for office she makes.
She comes across as an attention-monger willing to say anything to prove her questionable points. I won't specifically mention which other New Yorker in office right now has the same bad habit, but I don't think she wants to be following in his footsteps.
8
Thank you so much. You have saved me so much time! I hate her now.
1
Another veiled closet Republican NY Times hit piece on a serious force in the Democratic Party. Ha ha ha very funny. I'm sure Hannity and Rupert Murdoch are doubled over laughing while they incorporate this into their fake news efforts to denigrate, trivialize and throw shade on Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. Thank you NYT for doing their work.
2
I love this woman and what she stands for, she should be on the ticket with Bernie in 2020. As far as these absurd “ revelations “ concerning AOC, at least they can’t be blamed on “ Russian Influence “, more like The DNC and still campaigning Hillary Bots. Given our changing demographics and the disgust with all major parties I think the Bernie/ Alexandria ticket is a must to take back the Whitehouse and our Democracy. BTW Bernie proved it can be done with millions of small donors, bypassing the big corporate and influence peddling donors who now run our nation, let’s really drain the swamp!
3
Hilarious parody of the NYT! Here's quotes found in an article on Bernie Sanders long *before* he ran for president, and all the *real* animus came out:
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/magazine/21Sanders.t.html
'“Bernie’s not a bad guy,” is something I heard a lot of. '
'“Bernie alienates his natural allies,” Representative Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat, said at the time. “His holier-than-thou attitude — saying in a very loud voice he is smarter than everyone else and purer than everyone else — really undercuts his effectiveness.”'
' “He is out there wailing on his own,” Moakley said. “He screams and hollers, but he is all alone.”'
'Few would describe Sanders’s personality as “winning”'
'And he has clung to a mantle — socialism — that brings considerable stigma, in large part for its association with authoritarian communist regimes.'
'Sanders contorted his mouth into a goofy grin.'
'His complexion goes orangey-pink when he’s impatient (often when someone else is speaking), purpley-pink when he’s making a point or a softer shade of pink when at rest, “rest” being a relative term.'
'Socialism brings Sanders instant novelty in Washington and, in many circles, instant dismissal as a freak. But Sanders’s outcast status in Washington probably owes as much to his jackhammer style as to any stubborn ideology.'
3
The right wing smear machine is already working to Swift Boat her, as they did John Kerry and Hillary.
She is new with good ideas, very threatening to conservatives.
The amount of smears is always proportional to the fear she provokes.
I think the lady is smart enough to treat nonsense as just that, and big enough to handle legitimate criticism.
2
Ms Ocasio-Cortez, is a young energetic rising star. She reminds me alot of another young energetic rising star. Dan Quayle. They both came from out of the blue perhaps too fast and as a result say a lot of dumb things. Like PotatoE, or how Israel is an Occupying Force in The Middle East.
How the times have changed. Mr Quayle was rightly ridiculed, while Ms Ocasio-Cortez is celebrated as a wronged victim.
7
...Anything to avoid talking anout our incompetent mobster President.
If she were a stock I'd buy her. She's gonna go up.
2
Parody of the “pearl clutching” right wing media is overdue and hilarious. AOC is new and beginners in any field are bound to misstep. We are working towards a “more perfect” union. Not a perfect one.
Thank you, Jason. With all the heartbreaking news surrounding your piece, it is heartening to laugh so hard at this.
The right loves having her around. She is the perfect foil, young, reckless, prone to thoughtless progressive overreach. The real concern is from Democrats that I speak to. Like the Tea Party/Freedom Caucus did incalculable damage to the right, she and her ilk have the prospect of doing the same to the left
3
Alexandria Cortez is more into media grabbing than udeas.
Her knowledge is scanty and rather pathetic when she was asked recently about the Middle East. For someone who says she knows about economics, her "plan"' to give away "free college, free healthcare' with no specifics whatsoever is all being santa Claus in ideology and designer heels.
5
For me its harder to explain why USA-the richest nation the world has ever known—doe
s NOT provide what every other first world nation has provided its citizens for decades.
1
The Maxima is a Nissan model. Not a Toyota. I get the joke though.
2
Funny article, I guess. But she is uninformed and does not deserve to be in this position based on experience or knowledge. It is a strange fluke that she has ended up where she is, and now we are stuck with her.
4
Ask every first term congressperson every question asked of Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and compare answers. Then I'll give you my evaluation of her (and them) as they enter new elective careers.
(Hm. I wonder how first-termer Paul Ryan would have answered the questions. I think he'd have offered some combination of Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, and Give Beleaguered Taxpayers Their Hard-Earned Money Back. And the press would have swooned.)
As Mitch McConnell would undoubtedly say, "A young person, a woman, two hispanic last names and one hispanic first name...what's not to hate?"
She has a lot to learn and seems to want to learn it all. She is beholden only to her voters. Republicans and Fox News will define her as the enemy because she isn't smooching a billionaire's tushy.
Thanks for running, AOC; thanks for serving. Thanks especially for living off your excellent congressional salary while you serve your electorate.
4
AOC worries me as much as DJT, except that DJT commands armies. On the flip side, DJT is out in 2 or 6 years at most, and AOC just entered the "serve for life barring bizarre upset" club called the US House of Representatives.
Are you worried because she thinks Americans should have what citizens of every other first world nation have enjoyed for decades? That worries you?
1
"...chose “Mansion” in Third-Grade Game of M*A*S*H*..." oh, shoot. Will someone born after 1975 explain that to me?
@vandalfan mansion, apartment, shack, house. A third grader’s game
Clearly there is an obvious reason why everyone is fantasizing about her. [She even said so in Spanish]
Incidentally, Ms Rashida Tlaib has made more controversial statements than her. She openly supports a one state solution in the Israeli Palestinian peace process. She is taking a delegation to West bank. Not a single word from the press. Neither from Times nor from Townhall.
I find policy positions of AOC similar to that of Germany which is not a socialist haven. You can say that AOC is trying to make America as new Germany. Incidentally, Germany now needs some 400K immigrants per year to keep Germany competitive. That is what Capitalism needs. [Merkel saw that need way back in 2015].
AOC is more Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands (Merkel’s party) than Democratic Socialist.
Also, ICE is a creature of 9/11. US Border Patrol still exists. Only US customs dept is subsumed in “C” of ICE. Why “conservatives” believe in bureaucratic bloat is beyond me.
2
Don't fret, I think Ocasio-Cortez is more than capable of creating her own headlines and her own controversies.
3
You can judge for yourself. It's not much, but it's not nothing: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/08/10/fact-checking-alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-media-blitz/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.87247469faee
Wait, why do I care about a 29 year-old first-term member of the House of Representatives who hasn't even be sworn into office yet and may end up spending only one term in Congress? In her first interviews after winning the primary (i.e., before she was even elected to the House in the general election) she gave several interviews which, despite the softball questions, revealed her to be less informed about the basic structure of government in the United States than a first-year political science major in college.
Here are some questions I would love Ms. Ocasio-Cortez to have been asked in some of these kid glove interviews:
If you are elected, on what committees would you like to serve?
Can you name five committees in the House of Representatives?
What do committees do in the House of Representatives?
My guess is that she would have fumbled all three of these questions.
4
All this attention paid to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has yet to serve a single day in office, reminds me of the excitement when the Jets football team acquired quarterback Tim Tebow. Twice a Heisman Trophy winner in college, Tebow rode the Jets bench to obscurity. Now he's out of football entirely. All the hype around how he would propel the Jets to a Super Bowl (or at least maybe a winning season) turned out to be a lot of hot air. And he at least had an impressive body of work preceding him.
"Handsome is as handsome does," my mother likes to say. Let's see if there is any substance here to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, before wasting any more ink on the Next Coming.
3
She is refreshing and delightful. I don't doubt that all the media attention she has received has not been in her best interest. But hey, we just like her - she is like a cool breeze on a sultry day. The right has to work very very hard not to like her also!
And they do.
5
At another time this would be hilariously funny but with Trump and the republican party basing its political strategy solely on misstatements, "alternate facts" and outright lies at least some of these 'headlines" will make the news before the 2020 elections.
1
@TheOldPatroon Indeed. Speaking of "misstatements, 'alternate facts' and outright lies," here's a good one for you:
"$21 TRILLION of Pentagon financial transactions ‘could not be traced, documented, or explained.’ $21T in Pentagon accounting errors. Medicare for All costs ~$32T. That means 66% of Medicare for All could have been funded already by the Pentagon. And that’s before our premiums."
-- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Dec. 2, 2018
It's good to be on the side of sense and reason, and who better to carry that flag than Ocasio-Cortez?
2
Her quotes will provide plenty of headlines in the future. She's the Democrat's Sarah Palin.
"Abolish ICE", anyone?
13
She’s a Socialist. The majority of this country is moderate in their views. She has also demonstrated her lack of knowledge on many subjects. She is laughable.
11
If she really stood for the the down trotted she'd be from Puerto Pobre wouldn't she?
3
"AOC, Who Botched Israel Question in Campaign, Opts to Skip Congress Group Visit to Israel Despite Recent Claim of Jewish Ancestry."
Oh yeah. That one's true.
9
She is such a 'Im all over-the-map kinda gal'. Phone baloney, yet cultivating thousands of likewise ignoramuses on world topics on her social media. It's all about "ME-ism" politics.
Selfie-politics.. in designer heels.
1
“ 'Blue-Collar' AOC Breathes Oxygen — The Same Element Inhaled by Hollywood Billionaire Jeffrey Katzenberg"
You meant George Soros, right?
3
And the Times' infatuation with Ocasio-Cortez continues...
9
The Left Wing's Sarah Palin.
10
There is a time and a place for everything, including humor and sarcasm.
It used to be that Opinion of the NYT was the sacrosanct forum of opinion and op-ed journalism and writing.
One could agree with it or not but it was serious. It had serious writers and columnists.
If I want humor I know where to look. The internet has vast opportunities.
This type of thing at best belongs in "Shouts and Murmers" of the New Yorker. Not here.
6
The subhead of this story reads "Loose Ends".
May I be so bold as to suggest "Loose Canon" ?
"Canon" as in fan fiction, not "cannon" as is instrument of war, but perhaps both are equally true and false. You decide.
5
Thank you NYT for reminding us of our need fo laughter! This is wonderful! And all you stick-in-the-mud commentators who find this offensive(?)... Puh-leeezzz!
4
The Times picks a comment that criticizes the column they publish as their top pick? If they had no confidence in the column then why did they publish it to begin with?
Also, there is a right wing headline the left should be afraid of:
A.O.C. Has Never Really Accomplished Anything!
6
"Lady Ivanka"? What comes next: King Donald?
Actually, the headlines will be: "here's the latest stupid thing she has said".
8
Trump came into the presidency with not a clue as to what to do. Many of my friends and associates said "he'll learn, give him a chance". To those same folks who want to tear down AOC, I say, give her a chance. Trump has been in office almost two years, and after all this time, I can say he has (or is spoon fed) his own preconceived ideas, is stubborn, vindictive, supremely egotistical, and functions at a level where HE himself takes precedence over country. His most failing attribute in my opinion is his lack of curiosity, willingness to learn, which prevents some level of understanding issues and debates. He prefers just issuing edicts. AOC is beginning her new adventure in January. I don't care about her lipstick, or if she buys her clothes off the rack. I do care about her interest in representing people and improving their lives. Give her a chance.
5
Pretty much the first thing she did after election was complain about her salary. A salary with considerable perks that is several times the average salary of her constituents. She needs to think first, speak second.
11
Bottom line is that The AOC has right-wing America scared out of its mind. What is it afraid of? Truth of the reality that our current way of existing is not sustainable and that she is not afraid of calling it out for what it is.
You know you have your political opponents on the defensive when their only arguments are ad hominem attacks and not real policy solutions. Well done, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. Well done, indeed.
6
Is it the epitome of irony for 'conservative' media to accuse "liberals" and "socialists" of hypocrisy? After all, hypocrisy is the single most important, foundational principle of Republican politicians (to the extent, limited as it is, they can be said to have principles of any sort at all...) For 'conservatives' to be so alertly watching and loudly trumpeting any sign of hypocrisy in "liberals", while they so willfully and expertly ignore all the native, ongoing, never-ending hypocrisy exhibited by those they worship - that's just ludicrously ironic. Here's a headline from "liberal" media:
"Trump suffers choking attack when truth accidentally slips out. Doctors say he will recover."
1
I wish my representative (Stephen Lynch) was as thoughtful and energetic as AOC.
5
She would be well advised to reduce her public profile, and get some things accomplished as a House representative. So far, she is long on self generated publicity, particularly of the kind that feeds political opponents, and short on substance and accomplishments. I wish her well, but, my bet is that she will be one term and disappear into obscurity
5
@Peter Scanlon
Yes, I agree. Let's see if she can remain in Congress and not end up in Wall Street's pocket. That's the real question.
1
One takeaway I had was when she first criticized Israel, then admitted she wasn't an expert.
I like the admitted-not-an-expert part. It's nice to see someone in public life who admits to some lack of knowledge, but is willing to learn.
I really want to like Ocasio-Cortez, a truly "normal" person who will have access to the levers of power. Hope she stays true to her roots.
3
She is the new bright, young, beautiful star. We always need stars to focus on. She has cultivated this herself, and it's paying off. The media salivates and runs after her, just as with Trump past and present. Can we PLEASE focus on the plain old other elected officials????
2
A hilarious and noble effort. The difficulty is that right wing media is so unattached to reality that it's difficult to satirize. After thousands of stories like the "war on Christmas," and the cruel oppression of having access to health care, how do you find a line between the saleable story and the ridiculous one? As the purveyors of this garbage have no doubt realized, the more unfounded the story, the more emotion the audience will invest in their belief, and the more anger they will direct at the "MSM" for disregarding it.
It's interesting how many comments express the opinion that AOC is getting too much press, should sit down and shut up, and doesn't deserve the attention she is getting. I have to assume these complaints are coming from conservatives, who clearly know a threat when they see one.
4
She Is on My Left, But I love having her around.
I expect higher standards from the right wing media.
AOC placed the banana on layaway. She did not purchase it. Six easy payments.
Very funny!
AOC makes me think how amazing Bernie Sanders is. After all these years, still Feeling the Bern! We can hope AOC turns out more endless- flame Bernie than footnote Sarah.
4
If you’ve spent any time in AOC’s district as I have, you’ll know that her views represent solutions to her constituents’ struggles quite well.
All the pearl clutching about socialism is laughable considering AOC’s views line up perfectly with Denmark’s system of government: a country that is not only the perennial favorite on the happiness index, but a country whose own people rate their government more favorably than any other population in the world ranks theirs.
Oh the horror of happiness, satisfaction, and security in life she is trying to bring to us.
4
Haha. As others have noted, the disproportionate Republican/conservative criticism of “AOC” seems a response to the equally disproportionate fawning over her by Democrats/liberals.
None of the attention is really deserved. AOC is a very young and very inexperienced, soon to be first year junior legislator. She has unfortunately displayed a lack of knowledge on Israel, the economy, and budget issues. One can agree or disagree with her, but she has a lot to learn. Presumably, she will learn on the job.
In part the conservative reaction is a result of many young people—too young to remember first hand the evils and failures of socialism—embracing socialism as a theory of economic organization. To paraphrase the old saw: “if you are not a socialist at 25, you have no heart, but if you are still a socialist at 45, you have no head”.
Sadly, I also suspect that the disproportionate attention from both sides is a result of AOC being very photogenic. If she were plain or homely looking, would people care as much? Would she even have been elected? Somehow this seems wrong.
5
I absolutely love her.
3
This is really funny, until you realize how close to the truth it actually is.
3
It is amazing how much power the Right winged media and GOP are giving to a freshman congress member who isn't sworn in yet. No wonder they can't control Donald.
1
They are AFRAID of AOC! And they SHOULD BE. She and other newly elected progressives are speaking plainly.
"She's saying what I've been thinking"-type speak ( ring any bells???...but this time from regular working folk who pay taxes and understand that the middle class is being made to pay for all the excesses and privileges being piled onto the "poor, poor rich" and corporations).
1
Right-wing headlines? Given the derogatory slant and/or outright blackout that the NY Times extended to Bernie Sanders, that's rich. The Times has never embraced the progressive movement. They love their neo-liberals, who will go so far but no farther. It makes the Times feel safe.
Therefore, I don't find this column funny. What was the name of that new progressive columnist you hired recently, I forget? Not much has been heard from her.
2
Thanks for making my morning coffee break funnier today! Yet, it's however sad when you think that this is exactly what right-wing headlines sound like - what's worse though, is that a lot of people fall for this type of stuff.
1
It is time for the media to throttle back on all of the publicity and hype and allow the public to see what kind of legislator and representative Ms. Ocasio-Cortez becomes.
My understanding is that much of the work of a successful congressperson is done quietly behind the scenes, in committees working with colleagues, rather than in front of a microphone or television camera.
Once Congresswoman Occasio-Cortez demonstrates a record of accomplishment in her elected role, then she will have earned the attention and accompanying status that will come her way.
5
The funny -- but scary/sad -- of this is how close these come to what I see regularly on the news feed on my phone.
1
I absolutely love that this powerful woman scares so many centrists and right leaning people. Hopefully, other progressives will be there to back her up and give this intelligent woman support. She's going to need it in the cutthroat world of DC politics, power and money.
5
AOC is expected to speak in terms of policies. The details are works in progress. Policies are conceptual; first let's ask: is it good for us and do we need it. Then we can debate how to buy is. My thought is there is a treasure trove of money taken from us by the last tax act. We can take it back.
1
Some of the ideas she represents are laudable, such as making sure everyone gets a chance to vote, which indeed scares a lot of people wishing to protect their narrow views. But we suffer enough loss in productivity as it is that we cannot afford, as people, to have a work day taken from us. Voting needs to be fast, efficient and secure not a day to go stand in line.
While we need some new ideas, it doesn't stand that all her ideas are gems, and of course not only her ideas need to be given wide coverage and discussion, remember sort of like brainstorming sessions that groups did years ago.
How about the editors of various media continue to cover many new and emerging personalities in politics, and let those ideas gain national discussion.
And we can include Ms. Ocasio-Cortez's along with others, but for the time being, ramp down the extensive, and sometimes seemingly in-your-face promotion of all her comments. And I'm a moderate, not conservative.
1
Every time the socialist alternative rises up in America the first response is to ignore it.
The next response is to ridicule it.
Following that, the powers that be demonize it.
And then they come with the police.
Think it can't happen here? It already did. In 1917 when American socialists led the opposition to America entering WWI the governments response was to pass the Espionage Act.
This and similar laws made it illegal to oppose the war. What about the First Amendment? In those days it didn't apply to federal restrictions on speech.
Over 10,000 Americans were prosecuted during that period made infamous by the Palmer Raids.
I'm all for humor, but let's not forget what comes after the ridicule.
2
@drspock Right? Thank goodness the Republicans are going after those vestiges of socialism like Social [!] Security and Medicare! To say nothing of the ACA, unemployment insurance and Medicaid. And it looks like they're going after those stupid laws trying to protect "social" benefits like clean air and water, as well as unadulterated food. The private sector can obviously do better!
2
Republican's obsession with Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is reminiscent of their obsession with Hilary Clinton.
Republicans recognized long before she became a candidate in the 2016 presidential election that Mrs. Clinton was very intelligent, well educated, possessing great experience and dedicated to policies to serve We The People. Therefore, they had to take her down - which got seriously underway back in 2012. (Their prior attacks in the 1990's were more sporadic, less organized, less obsessive.)
Now comes Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. Republicans recognize the possibility of a political superstar but more important, someone again dedicated to policies to serve We The People. Therefore, they must bring her down...and that has been underway since her upset win in the Democratic primary.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is getting the attention of Republican character assassins which any Democrat gets who presumes to do something for the public good.
Think of it this way, Republicans mean harm to We The People, so they must destroy anyone who may work on behalf of the people. Calling her a socialist is just the beginning of their campaign to make her hated. Just wait until they hold hearings in the Senate to investigate her alleged culpability for American deaths (somewhere, anywhere) due (in their twisted minds) to her support of Medicare for all.
The good news is Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, having seen their playbook before, seems to be more than a match for the Republican character assassins.
7
AOC won her seat by beating a mainstream Democrat in the primary, a longtime office holder who had essentially become a full time D.C. resident and had lost touch with his constituents. Beating her GOP rival in the general election was practically a given, considering the political makeup of the district. She caught a wave at exactly the right moment and now she’s a member of Congress.
Despite the general hysteria, she’s not a harbinger of change any more that the election of some extreme right wing type from West Podunk signifies an incipient alt right tidal wave. They will bring their far left and right views to Washington and after some loud posturing, they will need to make a decision. Do I tone down the rhetoric and get things done or do I amp it up and be just another voice contributing to the discord?
3
While I was greatly relieved that the dems were able to reclaim the house in last month’s mid-terms, there was one democratic candidate I was really hoping would lose: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Because she seems to endorse views as far out and extremist on the left wing as any of the equally absurd extreme views of the right, it seems obvious to me that her views would be about as sustainable as theirs. With the influence that she continues to gather, I am increasingly worried that she will eventually become an existential threat to the party and ultimately to the country.
Given your sitting president, I should think Americans would be, by now, ravenous for some sanity. But sustainable sanity will never be found on the wings. I’d recommend reaching for the fuselage.
8
@Charles Sager Are you afraid Americans might end up with the same right to health care that you enjoy?
2
@rena Actually, not at all. I surely hope that on this part of her agenda, if she can moderate it a bit, she will meet with success.
Canadians don't have limitless access to free health care. For example, one of the prices we pay is having to wait up to 18 months for certain diagnostics like an MRI. Lucky us. Limitless healthcare like Ms Ocasio-Cortez seems to be promoting would be entirely unsustainable.
2
I cannot help thinking that her heart and conscience are in the right place. She wants to increase coverage of medicare. Set aside a day for voting. Reduce the cost of education for working people. How to implement these goals open to discussion. If she misses information such as using the military budget accounting error for medicare, that is a mistake in understanding complex accounting information It is not the ethics violation we see among many House members. The right-wing is hypocritically silent on the unending ethics violation perpetrated by the white house -- recent gas emissions; business conflict of interests; Russian collusion -- while cherry picking facts or lying about this young, first-term congresswoman. Her dress, for example, is, where I grew up, a sign of respect for her constituents and the congress she is entering. And recently working as a waitress does not sound like she is in the same league as the multi-millionaire congress men and women who populated the House of Representatives from both parties. As far as the label, "Democratic Socialist," her agenda is not close to being the radical agenda the right claims. The attacks against her reflect more on the authors than they do Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez.
312
@MidwesternReader
Stalin's heart and conscience may have also been in the right place - at least in the beginning.
8
@Robert Respectful response. I am very familiar with Soviet history under Stalin. Stalin's heart never was in the right place. As a principled Liberal, I fear elements of left reactionaries because of their willingness to practice a morality that stops at the frontier of their ideology. Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is a universe away from a seminal Stalin. If you look at the details of her, "Democratic Socialism," you will hardly find her proposing to take over the means of production. As far as creating gulags of re-education camps, you can certainly find some on the Left who would send both of us there under Article 58 -- heretic and enemy of the state. If those people gained power, I would be frightened indeed. Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez hardly seems one of them.
49
@Robert Social Democrats have little to do with Marxist Socialists. Indeed, the CPSU-controlled Communist parties in Europe ferociously opposed and, when in power, persecuted Social Democrats during the Stalin era. After WWII the USSR made a concerted effort to appropriate the 'Socialist Party' label in the West to infiltrate and neutralize Social Democrats (much as Putin is doing with Western Conservatism nowadays; although it can be argued that Stalin wasn't close as successful). Ending with all major Social Democratic parties in Western Europe sequentially condemning Marxism officially, and rejecting the Marxist factions and currents that infiltrated them after Stalin's efforts (I think the last one to officially do so was the Spanish Socialist Party, in 1979).
On the other hand, in spite of her self-labelling, I am afraid Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is not a Social Democrat. Her or Mr. Sanders' policy proposals (universal healthcare, education, etc) are as mainstream among European Social Democrats as they are among European Conservatives. While the mixed public-private models they propose are much closer to European Conservatives than Socialists. They are just as much Social Democrats as President Eisenhower may have been. The problem is that American Conservatism has moved so much to the right that they consider Socialist anything to their left; and I think that the misguided adoption of the 'Socialist' label by a sector of American liberals just serves to support that fallacy.
39
I'm a big fan of AOC and of what she represents - a multicultural America, an emerging leftist politics, and a laser focus on the needs of the working class. And I love that she is charismatic, and far from a shrinking violet. A ray of hope in our present political hellscape.
What I find ironic is that, were conservatives not obsessed with turning her into their next bogeyman, she would probably have a much lower profile. But hey - she's brown, and a woman. Present-day conservatives just can't resist such a combination.
I look forward AOC having a long political career. And though it's (still) a privilege to serve in the House, I imagine she'll reach even greater heights in due time.
356
@Vin
Why multicultural? Why not modern American?
11
@Vin
America has always been a multicultural society. It doesn't seem that way to some people because we lump all white Americans whose ancestors did not speak Spanish into the catchall non-Hispanic white category. Actually, we also have German Americans, Irish Americans, Italian Americans, French Americans, Swedish Americans, Dutch Americans, Norwegian Americans, Green Americans, Jewish Americans, Scottish Americans Scotch-Irish Americans, English Americans, Russian Americans, Finnish Americans, Ukrainian Americans, etc.
16
@Vin AOC is the Sarah Palin of the left. So it's Republicans turn to mock a new-comer who is attractive but clueless.
21
The right wing attacks against "AOC" are indeed quite silly. But I'd like to point out that their obsessive focus on her is the direct result of all the absolutely disproportionate attention the "normal" media (including this Paper of Record) have given her. I'm not a rabid right winger, I'm a blue state Democrat myself - but I do believe that all praise she has received as some kind of a rising liberal star was not entirely deserved, and wasn't even a particularly good service to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez herself. Her inexperience and seeming lack of knowledge on certain issues are perfectly forgivable in a junior politician. But then it seems like she has received more press coverage than all the other junior incoming Democratic congressmen combined. Let's face it, her only clear achievement is a victory over a long time Democratic party operative, who had by all account grown complacent (and was at times quite tone-deaf). She may be more progressive, and she may indeed be a future liberal star... What's important to me however is that she has indeed taken her seat from another Democrat. Which means she was NOT among those who have actually flipped the house. And as such should not expect or be given an preferential treatment, or assumed to carry any extra weight in negotiations with Ms. Pelosi... Boring as it is - the house was flipped by those centrist democrats in rich white suburbs. We'll lose them again if the Dems. keep disproportionately catering to their far left fringes.
193
@Leonid Andreev
She is a great communicator, and has developed language that is dazzlingly effective in communicating her ideas-
Democratic politicians who can utilize language in this manner are always catapulted to the front ranks, JFK, RFK, Obama, etc, and it should be no surprise that she has energized a significant portion of the party-
whether she can grind into being an effective legislator is a different question, but her ability to fashion slogans, concepts, and memes coupled with her warm personality and demographic trends means that she is going to be a factor, and is a potential future mayor of NYC, governor of NY, and perhaps, president-
25
@Leonid Andreev You have expressed my feelings about this woman. She is definitely a self promoter but the salvation of the Democratic Party - I don’t think so. She won a solid blue seat in a solid blue state. She could NEVER have won in a red midwest state. Claire McCaskill voted against Kavanaugh and lost her senate seat to a no nothing Republican neophyte. And I too am a Democrat solidly liberal who believes this woman has gotten way too much press for accomplishing nothing.
47
@Anthony Walton
IOW, she's basically a younger, prettier, leftist Trump.
Just what we need.
6
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is about to become one of the 535 most important legislators in this country.
What she knows, and her opinions based on what she knows, are germane to her job performance.
The fact that she opined on the Israeli-Palestinian situation while clearly not knowing much about it *is* disturbing.
Similarly, her misunderstanding of how the unemployment rate is calculated did not prevent her from publicly attacking the current administration's job performance vis-à-vis job creation.
It is not a terrible thing for a member of Congress not to know something.
But it is somewhat unnerving if that member make decisions before becoming educated on those matters, or makes public claims that tend to reduce her credibility.
The jokes given in this article are meant to demean Ms. Ocasio-Cortez's critics, but it is only fair to say that she ought to spend more time learning and less time criticizing at this early juncture.
I, for one, am rooting for her, but she is getting off to an awkward start.
Once upon a time, there were members of Congress who were real experts in their fields (Sam Nunn, Dan Rostenkowski, John Tower) and upon whom other members of Congress relied for expertise.
I am hoping that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez can grow into that kind of role. But she is not there yet.
167
@G
I agree with her politics, but her speaking on subjects that she knows nothing about is very similar to Trump.
60
@G
"But it is somewhat unnerving if that member make decisions before becoming educated on those matters, or makes public claims that tend to reduce her credibility."
Wait, don't we have a President who does those very things every day?
89
@Pat
Oh, ok, so let's just have an entire legislature who does those things every day, since you've set your bar so low.
Look, i like AOC, i'm glad she got elected, i hope she fights good and hard for what she says she stands for. But there comes a time to shut up, stop the grandstanding, and realize you have more to learn before you shoot off your trap. Surely there are many issues she needs to get up to speed up before she's sworn it? I have to say she's starting to get on my last nerve.
36
Nothing new here, typical Republican tactics of mocking or demonizing opponents, very much in line with Trumpism (remember "Little Marco" ). It has nothing to do with humor, but much with hate.
1
Nissan makes Maximas
1
She's got my vote, and I live in CA! I know she's the real deal because republicans have lost their minds trying to attack her - and she hasn't even started her new job yet. She represents an existential threat to anyone who watches Fox 'news' - she thinks healthcare is a right (because it is), a real minimum wage of $15 an hour, paid parental leave, etc, all of which makes her a 'socialist' - the dirtiest word in the republican dictionary. Which is ironic since most of this republican administration is in bed with actual communists (Russians, in other words). And, best of all, she wins every single twitter war when one of the trumpkins attacks her.
2
@markymark And she knows all about the three chambers of government.
1
Is this the best the right wing can do !
1
Can’t the silly so-called humor wait until she’s sworn in? Pointless at anytime though. Maybe the author should apply to write tweets for tariff man.
Pretty funny. But I have a feeling the headlines concerning her will have to do with many more important things. I think Mr. Gilbert feels the same way. Will the Times and other papers give her the time of day? I mean after she gets her hands a little dirty in Washington? Give her time. I'm optimistic.
I have nothing against AOC, she earned her seat in Congress and although there are issues she was unprepared to discuss she'll catch up.
The disdain for her is driven by the resuscitation of "socialism" as a valid, progressive, means of running any nation-let alone ours. The amnesia which permeates the left appears willful. We have problems, we always have, we rejected socialism because it failed and continues to fail wherever it's tried, whatever it's called.
Disdain of socialists is also due to fear, because socialists never leave power willingly. Read about Nicaragua and Venezuela if you've forgotten this.
Obama opened relations with Cuba in exchange for nothing. Not a single dissident was released, not a single right granted the Cuban people, and no property was returned to those from whom it was stolen. Then he went to Argentina and made a speech in which he said there are two systems and neither is good nor bad. Apparently he forgot the left murdered 100 million people in the 20th century. To me, that qualifies as bad.
According to the Wall Street Journal, "democratic socialists" defined as unapologetic progressives ran in 9 purple races in the 2018 midterms and lost all 9. This includes the left's darlings in Florida, Georgia, and Texas. On the surface, it would seem beneficial to the right for AOCs to win seats.
But love of country and democracy is a bigger calling. This is why she is mocked. We don't want a victimhood-driven socialist nation.
4
Yup...conservatives are both drawn to and horrified by AOC...like how most of us respond to a delicious pastrami sandwich from Katz’s Deli! She forces even conservatives to open their eyes to issues everyone should consider important...but they’re not happy with what she gets them to see...
She is the youngest ever to attain her position. She is smart. She is beautiful. She is white from brown heritage. And yes she is progressive. This is the wave of our future. Deal with it, old white men. Old white women. Your great, great grandchildren will be a shade of brown. Deal with it and surrender to it. Or get out of the way.
4
@William Alan Shirley Why is it always about race? And, no, she is not white.
1
@Olivia The prejudice directed towards her is, in part, that she is a Latina. A light-skinned Latina.
3
Alexandria OC has shown she can hold her own in the social media "wars." I wish her well. Maybe the only thing she needs to watch out for is not to speak before she masters her a subject. But she is a quick study, she will learn from her mistakes unlike the sclerotic extremist bloggers who just hate her because of who she is.
What's funny is that the satirical headlines here are right about at the same level of hysteria and triviality as the real headlines coming out of the Trump-hating media with their non-stop sniping against the president.
1
OK, call me a curmudgeon, but I find this article fairly objectionable. The author, under guise of assigning his rather unpleasant (to put it mildly) jibes to unidentified "right-wing" authors and their media outlets has managed to publish a fair amount of nastiness about this freshman representative.
How does this help the already fractured national discourse? If it is meant to be funny, it's not. Is it meant to point out that she doesn't know everything he thinks, and some of the other commentators think she should know? How much did you all know at her age? And have you run for office? She's smart and she cares and she will learn. At least she is willing to put herself out there and enter the fray. More power to her.
When ideologues try to do humor, this is what you get.
Leave Alexandria Goldberg-Ocasio-Cortez alone.
1
You can count on the fact that she is going to become a replacement for Pelosi as the Democrat's bogey-woman, and when Rush and Fox zeroe in on her it will roll in like a tidal wave. If she was articulate and as well versed in her positions as other self proclaimed Social Democrats, although that is not where I lean, I would be willing to listen to her. Bernie Sanders and some of his supporters do make some very good points that deserve detailed examination, even if your a conservative and your first inclination is not to agree with them. Unfortunately her grasp of basic current events and recent world history is so poor that when she answers journalist's questions she sounds like Trump, coming from a different direction. Unless the Democratic leadership wants someone who sucks the attention for other more important people and issues out of the room, they should tell her to be quiet and fade into the background for as long a period of time as it takes to not embarrass them.
3
This is hilarious! Can't have a smart, beautiful, articulate woman expressing herself out there among all those ugly, dull, stupid, fat men. It just makes them look bad and that isn't fair!!
5
@RCJCHC Smart? Seriously? This adjective does not apply to her.
3
Sad, but true, the conservatives must groom another woman politician as the next evil witch. Hillary Clinton is out of the picture and their grooming of her as an evil witch of many years duration paid off big time for them in 2016. Unfortunately the man who won those sweepstakes turned out to be a warlock, a backfire which has them all disturbed. Nancy Pelosi is too tough for them and grooming her as a witch has not paid off as they thought it would, in fact that has kind of backfired also as she just ate the warlock for breakfast. So, they are now looking around for candidates, female candidates for the next big smear job. The female candidate though must meet a certain criteria. She has to be a popular and smart vote getter. Today that candidate is Ocasio-Cortez and waiting in the wings is another super candidate. Kamala Harris. They must have a witch, just cannot live without one. It is very convenient to have all the evil in the world gathered in one woman.
1
Exclusive "Cortez kicks Trump so hard in never regions after sexist remark that he ends up looking like a greedy squrrell in Autumn and is expected to be in hospital for 6 months, whole world celebrates and Cortez is given Nobel prize, Melania sues for divorce and is given whole of Trumps estate, sixteen dollars 26 cents, world celebrates, Trump receives diagnoses of rabid arthritis in thumbs doctors say he may never tweet again, world celebrates, after severe hangover world celebrates a bit more".
Hilarious stuff. The less amusing side of this foolish person is her advocating for the empty-headed policies--free stuff for everyone--that have brought famine to Venezuela, one of the resources-richest nations on Earth.
The Democrats are fast becoming a socialist, Third World, anti-White party, and Ms Cortez is exactly the leader they deserve.
3
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is EXACTLY what the american people need....her and Robert Mueller.
1
We are not amused.
2
Set teeth to gnash, upper lip to curl, fist to clench, gut to wrench.
1
So not funny. Why oh why does the media do such a ham-fisted job covering women in the public arena? It's really dispiriting.
1
...which reminds me of the old joke about Obama. Once in Hawaii on vacation, the joke goes, a riptide came in an swept Malia out to sea. Obama actually walked on water, racing out on the breakers and rescuing his daughter. The next day on Fox News, the lead story was "Obama Can't Swim!"
1
Apparently the NY Times realizes how vvulnumberal this person makes herself (at the present and future) due to an unfortunate habit of vocalizing opinions on subjects of which she is somewhat misinformed ,if informed at all (not uncommon in Washington today). Note: this is different that simply making things up. I'm uncertain which is really worse or more dangerous. You decide on that.
Yet, perhaps, one day in the future, she might just learn to get her own foot out of her mouth by herself. Or perhaps, wonder of wonders. she might even work to become informed before she becomes opinionated and vocal (not to mention voting on issues of importance, but i said i would not mention it. It's too frightening to contemplate). One can only hope.
@Mark Shyres
"...which is really worse or more dangerous...It's too frightening to contemplate)."
Wow! Mark, you really make the case for the terrifying and dire threat of aoc to our country! Thanks!!!
These headlines could be right out of the NYT as well. The Times kept the article about AOC being photographed wearing an expensive (borrowed) outfit up on its website for weeks.
1
A real future headline: AOC charged with campaign finance violations.
2
Comedy and satire is hard, time to rewrite.
A word to Alexandria...Stop talking and READ, READ, READ,
READ. You are acting like Sarah Palin, talking when you
should be listening and learning.
8
I would be very happy if she were to illicit these types of responses from the right. Someone has to get the country over the S word. People love their socialist programs, yet they can be made to hate socialism. This fact has to be laugh at or it would be very sad. Maybe at a later date Mr. Gilbert can come back and do a piece where he compares the silly headlines he published here with real headlines from right wing media and our task would be to guess which is which. I'll bet it won't be easy.
Bumper stickers of the future:
Good slaves hate socialism.
Serfs against Socialism.
Get your hands on my healthcare.
People seem to love their masters.
@Chris Future bumper stickers: Americans for Democracy
Down with Socialism
Americans - Yes!
1
Great stuff! AO-C Envy never gets old. How adorable that Fox News is so bent on finding any evidence of Radical Chic rather than look in its own backyard for obvious examples of hypocrisy. FNC should probably at some point also research why zero attractive democratic socialists are responsible for an all-time-high national debt.
1
I want to hear what AOC has to say. I also hope she has the capacity to listen.
Is Medicare-for-All something more than a slogan to her? Does she know how Medicare works and why it is a poor model for a universal health care system as it currently exists?
She's attractive, bright, and could have a brilliant career ahead of her. But experience matters and one gets that by listening, absorbing, and learning. Without that, I fear she could be a shooting star.
2
Undoubtedly she will be ripped apart savagely by the right wing media, by fake news outlets, and by conspiracy theorists.
There is nothing that terrifies right wingers more than a young, eloquent, intelligent and extremely strong-willed woman with "brown" skin sitting in Congress after winning a 78% landslide in her district.
If she keeps up the good work she'll have my support for many years to come. Go get them, AOC!
@Andy She is not eloquent or intelligent. Her lack of knowledge is frightening.
2
One does not have to be a "right winger" to appreciate Ms. Cortez's lack of intellect and qualifications to perform the duties of the position for which she was elected. One has to wonder about the intellect of those who voted for her; did they really think she is the right person to deal with the weighty issues the job entails?
3
@Wolfran Exactly.
@Wolfran
As versus Trump voters?
I appreciate her strategy on social media.
She pretends to be fatuous and ill-informed.
She is playing the long game when many decades from now she will unveil her penetrating intellect and all-encompassing world-view
Smart... very smart.
1
I'm sick of her already. Let me know when she actually achieves something in congress. And I hope she does.
AOC makes the corrupt and entitled American political establishment (both Republicans and Democrats) uncomfortable and that is a good thing.
2
It won't be the right that cancels Ocasio-Cortez's ticket to politics, it will be the left.
All she has to do, is keep talking, and the resulting embarassment will eventually overcome any goodwill remining in the backrooms of power.
Her statements reveal a manifest ignorance of political theory, economics, and international relations. If she wants to survive she needs to shut up and get down to the business of representing her constituents.
Calling yourself a Democratic Socialist may sound good to the Twitter generation because they can't think their way out of an open door.
To anyone else, it is a clear oxymoron, because the fundamental underlying principle of socialism is that the people are not fit to govern themselves so the state is sovereign and the people are subjugated to it, while the fundamental principle of democracy is that the people are fit to govern themselves and they are sovereign over the state.
Ocasio-Cortez still has a public presence only because the news media has given her a complete pass on every dumb thing she has said.
2
She is hip and tech savvy and she believes in the importance of the same rapid response that was responsible for Bill Clinton's win in 1992 and Kirsten Sinema's win (AZ Senate) in 2018.
Let. No. Charge> Go. Unanswered.
Liberals have gotten lazy (and election results through 2016 reflected that) as they thought they were too cool to vote, to dignified to get their hands dirty with retail politics, and figured some one else would always have their back.
Cortes doesn't take shade from the likes of Kelly Ann Conway or Sara Palin or various fringe right wing venues that today's legacy media are mainstreaming with their continued coverage of them.
No, this is not acting juvenile.
No, this is not wasting time.
No, this is not becoming just like them.
Rapid response, that is, preventing your opponent from framing you according to their narrative, is almost exclusively the domain of conservatives to day as liberals seek their holy grail of comity and bipartisanship because, after all, SOMEONE has to save Republicans from themselves.
2
Reading these headlines was the most fun I’ve had all day. But I’m hoping that in four years AOC will run for Chuck Schumer’s seat. Let’s face it, the guy is useless. In his recent meeting with Trump re funding for the border wall, instead of telling Trump to go stuff it, he kept nodding his head like an obsequious bobblehead doll.
2
I am a huge fan of the New York Times, and of our new crop of democratic congress members. That said, this seems a bit beneath the dignity of the paper.
3
I'm a Hillary liberal but she could sure teach Hillary a thing or two. I wish she would.
1
I am a liberal through and through but I do not understand the mythological lionizing of this young woman. She is more full of herself than she is of ideals that will be truly helpful, meaningful and actionable. The nonsense about being directed as an intern as she walks the Capitol halls is bogus. Trust us, AOC, we all know who you are. How could we not? Every move you make, every utterance, is captured, tweeted, photographed, videod, ad nauseum - and mostly by AOC. We need constructive change, innovative ideas, yes, and youth, but substance, gravity, experience and expertise cannot be underestimated. Hate Pelosi all you want but AOC’s female colleagues are policy wonks, voracious readers, shrewd navigators in the cesspool of Washington. This child (that’s exactly what she is) needs to listen first, then think carefully about the people she is most trying to help, do copious homework, and communicate that she has well-informed perspectives and solutions. Instead, she is all about the glorification, promotion and platform-building of AOC.
5
AOC will be a lightning rod who keeps the right-wing heat off of the other Democrats.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez needs to sit at the knee of Nancy Pelosi and learn and above all, work. Turn down interviews and simply do the work.
6
I, for one, think Ms. Ocasio-Cortez gives credit to herself and her constituency and, by association, she gives credit to the rest of the voting public who would enthusiastically support her revolution of peace and dignity for those of us who have with hand and heart and soul been uplifted along with other independently minded women who give their beautiful and proud smiles to the rest of us.
Let's pray that the 90 million registered voters who refused to sully their right to vote by throwing it away on the yellow trail of foot dragging that is the Trump family legacy and has been for the better part of what was the Twentieth Century, will be encouraged and energized for the remainder of our lives on Battleground Earth.
1
May the gods help her. She is not even a socialist. What she claims to want is basically FDR circa 1930s. Our politics is so unlike everything else available in this country. We have more choices for what to pour on our salads and where to shop for child-labor-made footwear, online and in-store. But no way can we expand our political and philosophical views about how to be governed and controlled. As the president likes to thumb, SAD!
6
This is what Right Wingers do to people they are legitimately scared of and an outspoken Democratic woman from what should be a fairly secure seat in the Media center of our nation could rise to be quite a powerful force in Congress.
The pattern is quite common any time a rising star makes their entrance- the Republican media machine and echo chamber goes into overdrive. They dig around looking for an angle to vilify and neuter anyone who might present a potential challenger to their agenda. Ask Senator Warren or John Kerry or Al Gore.
4
No doubt with the divisions in our country and the lack of leadership from the Oval office we need to laugh.
I just don't find any of this funny, however, and hope you find more constructive ways to either inform us or make us laugh; this does neither.
8
@Peggy Jo
agreed. mos def this satire should be left to The Onion:
https://politics.theonion.com/embarrassed-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-can-only-afford-am-1830493551
1
Trump seemed to be happy when she rocked the Democratic establishment. Everyone seems to agree that she worked very hard to earn this. Let’s see if Pelosi can mentor rather than lead these new public voices.
6
“The emperor has no clothes,” cries the child, and the emperor’s flunkies point out that the child picks her nose from time to time. Of course, that doesn’t put clothes on the emperor.
AOC is still a kid, by my lights, and like any kid, she says dumb things from time to time and Instagrams to boot.
I am not a kid, and I only stopped saying dumb things a couple of years ago, so really, I feel her pain.
But how is it that young AOC has managed to grab the thought leadership spotlight in the House before she’s even sworn in? Why is it that perfectly reasonable policies like living wages and universal health care have to be championed by a kid?
There are, after all, “liberals” in the House who have decades and decades and decades and decades and decades of experience. Yet they are being overshadowed by a newcomer whose grasp of policy is not (yet) expert level.
Personally l love AOC’s passion for economic justice. And I think she has the potential to grow into a fantastic leader- she is already a pretty impressive one.
She’s not afraid to speak out and that, in our sad, late capitalist decline, makes her a target of half the Democrats and all the Republicans.
But maybe some of the old folks in the House can help out from time to time and push economic policies supported by most Americans instead of their donors. The Senate has Warren and Sanders. Besides AOC, who hasn’t even warmed a chair there yet, who does the House have?
35
@Objectively Subjective, ..."But maybe some of the old folks in the House can help out from time to time and push economic policies supported by most Americans instead of their donors"...
No @Objectively Subjective, there is no Santa Claus.
He who has the cash will continue to control DC.
I'm rooting for progressive change and what is good for the 99%.
5
I love your answer, and particularly about the OLD FOLKS IN THE HOUSE, and we need term limits.@Objectively Subjective
@Objectively Subjective: she is 29. That is not a kid, not anywhere I ever was.
When I was 29....I was married, a college graduate, had a career, owned my own home and had two small children.
Ocasio-Cortez has done none of those things -- still lives at home -- never got a real full time job in six years out of college -- and only won her seat in Congress (in a hard left hispanic district) by a pure fluke (the incumbent never showed up to campaign).
4
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets some of her facts wrong, which is not unlike most of the rest of Congress. That's not very interesting. What's interesting is how she gets treated for these missteps as compared to her peers. Though it is interesting, it's not surprising.
It's natural for Americans to shut down a confident person of color. It is that very nature that built America. Profit through subjugation.
I look forward to a different operating model and I believe Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is one person, among many, who are properly impassioned to change the American way.
29
I look forward to seeing what Congressperson AOC brings to the debate. I’m hopeful. God knows we need her.
45
Of course, humor writers have the right to write nonsensical ill-jokes as much as they want; just remember though that there are folks susceptible to prejudice and stupid actions based on what they think is the unvarnished truth. In this day and age of Trump's bullying, where he sanctions abuse as a matter of course, words may become 'weapons of mass destruction'. Therefore, let's cool things down a bit, and do not assume that Alexandria's style is arrogant or elitist. To me, she seems a genuine representative, flaws and all, and deserves all the respect even if a Joker may fail to appreciate.
4
@manfred marcus One could have described Sarah Palin in the same way. Why do you feel it is appropriate to point out the ignorance and cluelessness of a woman of conservative orientation and not point out the ignorance and cluelessness of a woman of liberal orientation?
1
She's starting to grow on me. Her first interviews after her primary win were just awful but she's gotten better recently. She's clearly learning as she goes. Having a 28 year old woman with no establishment ties in Congress is going to be good. And interesting.
31
Clever enough but don't forget that actual attacks will be really vicious, and they will work with the right wing base. That's why democrats need to nominate someone who is very hard to formulate effective smear tactics against. Hate me for this, but that suggests a white male. Or is the point of the 2020 election to make a point rather than win?
7
OK, very funny. Unfortunately, due to AOC's tendency to spout hard-left slogans and dogmatic opinions (with no other goal than to gather cheers from her supporters), the only thing her future right-wing media opponents will need to do in order to attack her credibility and judgment is to quote her verbatim.
29
@DLS I'm not familiar with her spouting hard-left slogans, can you give me some idea of what you mean.
1
@DLS
How is the kool aid ?
Believe what you want to believe; if AOC is 'hard left' from your perspective, that says a lot more about ... YOU
then about her.
2
Imagine being terrified of a 20-something first time congresswoman but that's apparently the Republican party today or at least the far right wing of the party. She has real goals and a plan, while these swamp denizens are stuck in demonize mode.
They should be afraid. AOC, along with Parkland students and many others, are our future - young and vibrant, intelligent and strong. Their dark matter opponents are, politely put, dinosaurs walking into a media shower.
71
@Kathy
AOC is a charismatic and telegenic woman whose primary and then general election win has a Cinderella quality. She is young and has a lot to learn but if she takes her job seriously, I have no doubt that she'll master her duties and credibly serve her constituents. She's a great American success story.
2
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez will provide a brand new type of target for Republicans -- she is going to snipe back, a bit unusual for a Democrat. I think I'll just sit back and enjoy watching her rip some Republican heads off, its refreshing to see for a change.
66
@dlb
The elephant does not fear a flea.
There is no need to predict gaffe headlines for her (even in jest) as she can be reliably expected to generate her own just fine.
16
This article really was unnecessary. No reason to make up hypothetical headlines to provide satire to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez's rather shallow pool of knowledge. Simply troll her twitter feed for self-inflicted gems (Pay for Medicare for all by using the $21T in Pentagon waste! ($21T wasted on total budget of $10T...)). Her social media is littered with stuff like this.
Anyhoo, it is my hope that with some time in office, she actually learns something. "Democratic Socialist" policies are rooted in feel-good, emotional let's-make-everyone-good kind of stuff without regard to such annoyances as how to pay for such policies. Let's hope she realizes that someone, somewhere will need to pay for stuff (free college tuition! free healthcare! high-paying jobs for all!).
Once this happens, maybe we can start taking her seriously. Until that time, though, she is just leftist political comic relief in contrast to Trump's right-wing political comic relief.
30
@Hillary - Actually, the question us not how we will pay for an improved Medicare for All, but how we will spend the huge amount of money we will save. Here are the facts:
Canada has a program like Medicare for All, and its bottom line health care statistics are better than ours in spite of a worse climate. We paid $9506.20 per person for health care in 2016. In Canada, they paid $4643.70. If our system we as efficient as Canada's, we would save over $1.5 TRILLION each and every year. This is money that can be used for better purposes.
If one uses the bottom line statistics, we see that both Canada and the UK (real socialized medicine) do better than we do:
Life expectancy at birth (OECD): Canada- 81.9, UK - 81.1, US - 78.8
Infant Mortality (OECD)(Deaths per 1,000): Canada - 4.7, UK - 3.8, US - 6.0
Maternal Mortality (WHO): Canada - 7, UK - 9, US - 14
But don't let facts interfere with your myths.
137
@Hillary
We pay for them the same way we pay for wars and tax cuts -- borrowing. Or we could undo the tax cuts, or better yet move to a more cheatproof tax system. People like to brag of their huge incomes; taking much of it back in taxes lets them still brag, and if they didnt have the money to spend, they would find adjusting much easier than people who cant afford food or shelter.
10
Hillary & sdavidc9 - BTW, you do understand that thru the FED, the federal government can create as much money as it needs out of thin air, don't you? It will run out of dollars the day after the NFL runs out of points.
A reader named Max from Boston summed up the situation in one sentence:
"So much of our economic issues could be solved if people understood that the US cannot run out of money, and how hard it is to cause hyper-inflation from government spending alone.""
6
the unfortunate thing about sarcastic humor is that the right wing masses cannot tell the difference between satire and reality. They will read these jokes and immediately start sharing them as truth. Sadly, humor cannot be obvious or stupid enough to not fool the trump base.
22
I see that the author is deploying irony in his efforts to amuse. That has become dangerous in our current era of micro-aggressions and #MeToo, where literalism is the sole surviving mode of understanding. Indeed, a few of the commenters already seem to have taken the allegations as sincere.
One has to be careful. Such writing these days creates a risk of setting off a shaming campaign. At the very least.
3
The big question is whether AOC herself can laugh at this. I hope so. That'll show she's started learning already.
4
The best one was "If we work our butts off to make sure that we take back all three chambers of Congress — Uh, rather, all three chambers of government: the presidency, the Senate, and the House".
Good news for 4th grade kids who missed that class, they still have a chance to make it to congress.
I want to see the next primary when she will be the one-term incumbent, fighting tooth and nail against younger and more progressive opponents, and blaming them for their lack of D.C. experience and their unrealistic ideas.
9
She deserves scrutiny, as do all elected officials! Her braggadocio brought this upon her.
15
very amusing and insightful. with all respect,
some of our fellow commentators need to
lighten up a bit,because humor is how we
deflate pomposity and counter the right
wing attack machine. again,well done.
12
I don't understand the fuss about her being unknowledgeable. I am certain she does know that Africa is not a country or that her knowledge of Russia stems from her being able to see the country from her state. I.e., she is not a candidate for vice president. She will be a congresswoman and I also certain that she is more knowledgeable than some of the congressmen out there.
90
@Mark Ryan
" I also certain that she is more knowledgeable than some of the congressmen out there."
You are most probably correct, but one might wish for a somewhat higher bar.
19
@Mark Ryan Because her degree was in economics and international relations and in her comments she hasnt displayed a rudimentary understanding of either. Maybe shes far smarter and acting dumb. Maybe shes just not good in the heat of a moment to come up with information. But its pretty striking when she seems to have no idea about the topics she has a degree in.
Furthermore, those very topics are the basis of her platform. How can she not know anything about her own platform?
20
@Mark Shyres She passes that bar. For instance: how much did you know about the initiation of Representatives? Did you know that the Harvard School of Business sponsors a seminar for incomers that basically consists of business lobbyists preaching about the wonders of tax breaks for the rich and dissing such things as Medicare for All as silly? She is not only informed herself, but fearlessly informs us - not something Reps like to do. I am in awe of that woman.
16
I get that the article is intended to be funny, but it works because right-wing attacks are often just this ludicrous. HRC's pizza parlor story and BHO as secret Muslim come to mind, and countless lower-profile examples.
But AOC is exactly what the Democratic Party needs today: someone well versed in social media and in defending against such garbage. She recently skewered the GOP, who tried to develop a meme about how she doesn't know what she is doing, by pointing to a recent gaffe by white supremacist and GOP Congressman Steve King who thought that Google made iPhones.
48
Actually, some of this reminds me of the New York Times coverage of Bernie Sanders.
258
@Edward
Why, because they are both Jewish? Oy.
@Edward actually it reminds me of their coverage of Lade Ga-Ga.
2
@Edward - Like, Yeah. I mean, like being a Socialist sounds really, really Cool!
1
The right-wing logic is something like: "You're not allowed to advocate for anyone who is poorer than yourself. Otherwise you're somehow a hypocrite". Talk about not understanding!
12
AO-C and Beto versus Hillary and Bernie in the Democrat biathlon. Joe Biden could be the designated pinch hitter for Team Then. And, Ariana Grande for Team Now.
1. Which team can walk by more restrooms.
2. Each member must speak for 3 minutes. The combined score of the team, with the most number of complete sentences, wins.
I hope SNL is taking notes.
1
The Conservatives could write about Ocasio-Cortez mismatched ideas. She wants the federal government to guarantee everyone a job (that pays at least $15 an hour and provides basic benefits like child care), wants Medicare for All (that includes vision, dental, and mental health care), free public college tuition, cancellation of Puerto Rico’s debt as well as a Marshall Plan for the island at the same time that she wants ICE to be abolished and illegal migrants given a path to citizenship.
She does not seem to realize that illegal immigrants have pushed down the wages of our lowest paid workers, that illegal immigrants free use of our health care system has pushed up its cost for everyone else, that states cannot provide as much financial aid to universities as in earlier days because they have to pay for the education, health care, etc. of illegal immigrants, most of whom pay little in taxes, or that our acceptance of illegal immigrants would encourage more people to come here illegally.
No country could possibly afford to offer its citizens the programs Ocasio-Cortez wants and allow illegal immigration.
32
@ann Of course not now that the GOP has reduced taxes on corporations and the wealthiest in the nation.
33
@ann I simply don't buy that argument that, but for illegal immigrants, pay would be better. That is simply not true. Corporations doing business in this country have been pressing for pay concessions, elimination of retirement packages, reduction in medical benefits and the like since the 80's. They see labor simply as a commodity. And they have built plants that need less of that commodity to manufacture any item you can name.
Illegal immigrants by and large take the least desirable jobs with the worst pay. That is not affecting autoworkers.
As far as health care is concerned, we are all going to pay for it. In fact, our current system has a Cadillac price tag and delivers Chevrolet results. So, we are really talking about redoing how we finance it. The same goes for education. The goal in each case is to reduce the burden on the lower earners and increase it on the top earners. Which is why the Republican Party hates it. They don't want their rich buddies paying more taxes.
As for guaranteed jobs, I would think it preferable to simply handing out money. As corporations eliminate their need for workers, people have to do something.
45
@Ambroisine
The Western European countries have very high personal taxes to provide some of the programs Ocasio-Cortez wants. Many of their citizens have grown irate over the influx of poorly educated migrants who are heavy users of government programs, yet contribute little in taxes.
Canadians restrict most of their immigration slots for those who can contribute a needed skill to the Canadian economy, who are fluent in English and /or French, and who would assimilate easily. Canada has had very little illegal immigration until the last couple of years when migrants started illegally crossing into Canada and requesting asylum. The general Canadian public has become upset over this to the point where the Prime Minister knows he has to deport those who are refused asylum as quickly as possible. Canadians want immigrants who can pay high taxes to help support their government programs, not poorly educated migrants who cross their border illegally.
Not only does the U.S. award most of its green cards based on kinship alone (regardless of the applicant’s education, skills and work experience, English fluency, or ability to assimilate), we have, according to professors at Yale’s School of Management, up to 29 million migrants who are living here illegally.
If we want our government to offer more programs, we need to restrict most of our green cards to immigrants who can help pay for them.
18
She will be the next meme queen.
How is it she can afford 2 last names?
When my kids ask me what my middle name is, I tell them we were so poor, my parents could only afford an initial. If I win the lottery, I'm getting a middle name AND a second last name.
9
This isn't funny. In fact, it smacks of the real criticisms Republicans have leveled against her.
How is this humor?
11
@Sean
Satire only works if it bears a resemblance to its object, put pushes into the realm of the absurd. Admittedly, this is not easy to do with the American right wing, which dwells in the realm of the absurd.
8
@Sean
Irony and sarcasm (sarcasm being one form of irony, or it is the other way around?) are considered forms of humor. Of course, not all humor is humorous. Or is it?
1
@Sean
Well, as the saying goes, if you have to ask...
It actually is (mostly) pretty funny stuff.
The fact that it may "smack of the real criticisms..." is precisely how it's funny. Derision is a potent tool against the paranoiac propagandists of todays right-wingers.
How is that not obv?
3
This is a classic amalgamation of the ridiculous chatter about this strong woman who is being torn apart by both the right and many on the left. It's been sad to see. She may be misinformed sometimes but she's young, new and has to be allowed to find her way. It's really uncool the way she's being torn down by what is essentially cyber-bullying. I hope can (a) get some pretty good security detail (a strong woman in congress, who isn't afraid to stand up to the bully in chief? unacceptable!) and (b) ignore all this insanity and just focus on governing, and learning.
20
It seems to me, we need be very careful with media today.
Yes, we ourselves might change in understandings and/or activities, but the world is what it is.
That is, in spite or because of the recent elections, media overall is still based as it is - some good ,much with money bad and/or false.
It is that we will be attacked in the most creative/devious ways, that our new representatives will be attacked in the most creative ways possible especially in the next two years.
I ask of myself and others that we be more conscious of what mental impressions we get.
We need, it seems to me, to reach further, to remember more, to, for instance, not only think but feel what someone like Congress Woman Ms. Ocasio-Cortez will be going through.
We now need to help her in not only not compromising herself, but realize it we who she is relying on to understand.
Compromises will by necessity be there, one might need to loose some battles to win the war.
This is a time of 'peaceful war' since war has so much been defined by the ruling money.
Together, for the benefit of the majority working together with the minorities as one team we need to do our homework as well.
The above are just words, our actions will be as important and more so any representative can do on her own.
Please let us have the strength of character to focus on the work of legislation and its intent. The details are as important as the big picture.The big picture is saving our democracy without non vital distractions.
2
@Stanley
"It seems to me, we need be very careful with media today."
Agreed. I still like my morning newspaper ironed.
1
Unless she tries for higher office she will be in congress for 40 years. Read up on her. She is smart but she is going to make mistakes. Nevertheless she learning and will continue to learn. She will be formidable in the future.
68
@davey385
She very formidable right now, which is why alt-right republicans are petrified.
9
Ask her last opponent. She's already formidable.
9
@davey385
I give her one term to flame out.
If the main goal is to be anti-Trump, that requirement has been met. But she needs to have more knowledge about things she talks about, otherwise as another poster has indicated, she is no better than Mr. Trump. She is either uninformed or misinformed but possibly the president creates fiction out of thin air and passes it off as fact without considering the facts or whether it is true or accurate. Maybe she needs to do a little research or fact-finding or the good people who put her there may have buyer's remorse before 2020 when she is up for re-election.
13
@Andy Panda
If she were smart she would not engage with them. She's essentially a nobody at this point yet the media is treating her like she's the second coming of the Beatles.
Maybe she will be. But she could also end up being the like the Dave Clark Five. A footnote in history.
5
@Andy Panda
Perhaps the word you are looking for here is "clueless"?
@William
You could have stopped with "If she were smart.." (Oh, yes, there is a difference between have a good education and being smart. )
I'm all for humor but I feel uncomfortable laughing about this. In its attempt to slam the conservative media and its remarks about Ocasio-Cortez, it trivializes her. It's like a pile-on and it seems really misplaced.
171
@Alice S
She trivializes herself.
19
Actually it's pretty funny.
Not sure how calling the Fox News types out on their lame attempts at character assassination reflects on AOC, or trivializes her. Quite the opposite, I would think..
77
@Alice S
If you watch the long, substantive interview with her from "Firing Line," it's clear that her problem isn't just a few gaffes blown out of proportion by "Right Wing Media." The way to respond to Trump isn't to become equally beholden to empty celebrity.
17
Watching Ms. Ocasio-Cortez be a thorn in the side of republicans will be the political highlight of the next two years for me, and perhaps many years beyond that.
236
@James Mazzarella
The comments from republicans knocking her aren't surprising at all. A smart woman of color represents an existential threat to them. I am surprised at the venom from some on the left, however. Perhaps she's a threat to the DNC corporate-lite culture that got us trump. She's not going to spend 50 years in a seniority-based club that got us our current white bread 'leadership.' She's the future.
13
@markymark
I'm one opposed to the bought and paid for corporate DNC culture. If you're going to have any sort of chance to get some of these progressive policies passed, you're going to have to have your facts and numbers down cold, and understand your issue thoroughly. Bernie Sanders had proposals to fund his policies (which were of course open to debate), and Elizabeth Warren has plently of research to go on and back herself up. And look at all the stick they have to take. So AOC spouting on the fly is not especially helpful, it ends up being hurtful even. She has a lot of work to do.
3
@James Mazzarella
Watching her being a thorn in the side of Democratic establishment will be even more fun!
2
Really funny. However, there's no such thing as a Toyota Maxima. Nissan makes the Maxima.
29
@Patricia
Thanks - that was bugging me too.
6
@Stu Fact checking is not conservative media's strong suit.
7
@Patricia Typical right-wing mistake, right? :-)
3
The headlines are all too clever for the right-wing blogosphere. We will see nothing more sophisticated than “she hates America” in two-syllable words.
43
@Revoltingallday
Yes, because having any sort of socialist sympathies automatically means that one hates America.
Because . . .well . . .that means you're a commie . . .or an effete European whose countries we give all our money to protect . . .or you want to raise my taxes and give the money to those ingrates who tend to be darker than I am . . .
3
@Revoltingallday She doesn't even have a Real American-sounding name!
2
@Revoltingallday et al - looks like the comments here weren’t “moderated for civility” after all...
I heavily monitor articles, thinking and comments from both “left” and “right” sources, and I used to think that insulting and dehumanizing remarks were more a trait of right-leaning commenters. Though I wonder what the comments would look like here if they were completely unfiltered over a long period of time. Maybe not so different. Check out WaPo comments for a taste of that...