We’re nearing the end of April and the pace of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s gaffes is showing no signs of slowing down.
While there wasn’t exactly a shortage of gaffes to choose from – here are the top five from April:
Code Switching
Near the beginning of the month (April 5th), AOC pretended to have a black accent when speaking to a majority black audience (which she defended as “code-switching,” claiming that she switches her voice around Hispanic crowds too as if that makes it better). She then added that she simply “acts and talks” like she’s from the Bronx, even though she grew up in Yorktown Heights (an affluent suburb that is 90% white). I suppose “code switching” must be a synonym for “pandering.”
The same day she blocked Daily Wire reported Ryan Saavedra on Twitter for criticizing her “code switching” defense, which potentially violates a Court ruling from U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald last year which ruled that public officials’ Twitter accounts are a public forum, and thus they cannot block people. The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit from people blocked by President Trump on twitter – but is being appealed.
Attacking Veterans to Defend Ilhan Omar
A week later AOC attempted to provide damage control to Ilhan Omar after she (some woman doing something) made offensive comments neglecting the role of Islamic extremism in 9/11. Omar also made comments seeming to indicate she believed Muslims to be the true victims of 9/11, because 9/11 incited anti-Muslim bigotry (random aside: those comments are similar to a Norm MacDonald joke – except he’s actually just joking). After Omar was criticized by Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Cortez attempted to shame Crenshaw for not co-sponsoring the 9/11 Victim’s Compensation Fund bill, which she apparently thinks is the same thing as a lack of eventual support (it is not).
Cortez then deflected to the 50 people killed by right-wing extremists in 2018 or the equivalent of 1.7% of 9/11’s immediate death toll (excluding all later deaths caused from toxins at ground zero).
You refuse to cosponsor the 9/11 Victim’s Compensation Fund, yet have the audacity to drum resentment towards Ilhan w/completely out-of-context quotes.
In 2018, right-wing extremists were behind almost ALL US domestic terrorist killings. Why don’t you go do something about that? https://t.co/rkb92IxkKX
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 11, 2019
But more to the point – Crenshaw hadn’t yet signed on his support to the bill, because unlike Nancy Pelosi, he likes to read bills to see what is in them first. “Generally speaking, I support the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, but the reality is that it’s not out of committee yet. I certainly support the fund, but we need to see what the final bill is like. I hope they don’t put poison pills in it so that we are forced to vote against it” he told the Associated Press.
And even if Crenshaw had explicitly opposed the bill, are we to pretend he hasn’t paid his dues by fighting in the War on Terror? Or as one person put it, “while Crenshaw was injured by a car bomb, Cortez was mixing one.”
This Israeli a Stupid Comment
During an interview with Yahoo! News, Cortez said that America should stop giving economic aid to Israel (about $3 billion annually). Both Cortez and the editor in chief of Yahoo! News were unaware that Israel receives military, not economic, aid from the U.S.
Even better. The Editor in Chief of *Yahoo News* doesn't know we don't give Israel economic aid. pic.twitter.com/xTdAfOsOzr
— The Meturgeman (@DraftRyan2016) April 15, 2019
Speaking of foreign aid more broadly far more is given to Israel’s enemies by the U.S. than Israel receives to protect themselves. That’s certainly an inconsistent policy worth examining, but it doesn’t imply that Israel is the country that should stop receiving aid.
It’s a bit odd that America gives foreign aid to dozens of countries (many of which want to destroy Israel), but AOC and her ilk only have a problem with one. Why do you suppose that is?
All Old White Guys Are Now Republicans Or Something
In a now-deleted tweet (a rarity for AOC), she accused Rep. John Yarmuth of being a (presumably creepy) old man for posing next to a cardboard cut out of her. The picture was shared by the Republican Party of Kentucky twitter account, which AOC was responding to.
Amusingly, AOC apparently misread the Kentucky GOP’s tweet, because they were criticizing Yarmuth for posing next to the cutout of AOC, which they were criticized as an endorsement of her socialist ideas.
Why? Because the man photographed isn’t a Republican – Yarmuth is the Democrat who chairs the Budget Committee and is a member of the House Progressive Caucus, of which AOC herself is a member. I guess us white guys all look alike to her.
Misdemeanors Are Now Felonies
There’s a debate going on among the Democrat presidential candidates about whether or not felons should be able to vote. As crazy as such a proposal seems, the Democrats supporting the idea are in fact acting in the best interest of their party. According to a 2014 survey of convicts from professors at the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University, if felons were allowed to vote in Presidential elections, 73% would vote Democrat. The study also found in states where felons can register to vote after leaving jail as of 2014 (New York, New Mexico, and North Carolina), only roughly 10 percent registered Republican, compared to 54.6%-61.5% who registered as Democrats.
So it’s obvious why Democrats would want felons to vote, and AOC is aiding the cause by parroting the absurd but somehow widely believed talking point that our prisons are packed with non-violent pot smokers (a bit redundant of a term, I suppose).
To avoid looking completely + utterly out of touch w/ the reality our prison system:
Instead of asking, “Should the Boston Bomber have the right to vote?”
Try, “Should a nonviolent person stopped w/ a dime bag LOSE the right to vote?”
Bc that question reflects WAY more people.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 25, 2019
Yes – she really thinks there is an epidemic of people being locked away in prison for being caught with $10 worth of marijuana.
The problem with that argument is that being caught smoking pot or in possession of it (up to a limit) would be a misdemeanor, and have no effect on anyone’s ability to vote.
And to respond to a similar variant of AOC’s argument that I’m sure she believes; people don’t seem to realize that when pundits speak of “non-violent drug offenders” in prison, that’s often a politically correct way of saying “drug traffickers who happened to not kill anybody.”
What will next month have in store from AOC? Stay tuned!
