Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the 28-year-old upstart who scored a surprise victory over one of the most powerful figures in the Democratic Party, Rep. Joseph Crowley, the #4 ranked Democrat in the House of Representatives. The vote was not close.
She explains her victory and her message here, on Morning Joe.
I can’t get the link to the article in the New York Times, but it starts like this:
“At the Parkchester apartments in the Bronx, neighbors heard the news from a maintenance worker: The woman down the hall had just won a primary and was probably headed for Congress. At a popular restaurant in Union Square in Manhattan, workers struggled to comprehend that the young politician whose face was all over TV really was the same woman who had tended bar until a few months ago.
“And on the streets of Midtown Manhattan Wednesday morning, the candidate herself was trying to make sense of it all. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stood outside Rockefeller Center after appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” juggling phone calls and live TV interviews and the well-wishes of doormen and office workers on their coffee breaks.
“I’m used to people kind of knowing me in the community,” said Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, 28. But to have a stream of random people walk up and ask to take a selfie with her? “Insane.”
“Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, whose résumé up to now included waitress, children’s-book publisher, community activist, member of the Democratic Socialists of America and former Bernie Sanders campaign organizer, was now something else: an instant political rock star. She stunned the Democratic establishment by beating one of the senior leaders in the House, Joseph Crowley, in a near-landslide in Tuesday’s primary.”
DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) were a significant driving force for Ocasio-Cortez.
Teachers fed up with centrist/corporatist Dems and ineffectual unions should consider working with their local DSA group to elect candidates willing to take a stand on behalf of workers and families.
https://www.dsausa.org/
Do you know that Ocasio-Cortez is willing to take a stand against charters and for unionized public schools?
YES!! She’s saying (& has been doing) all of the good stuff that candidates for office should do; she knows that she is not high-&-mighty, but, as a congresswoman, would act as a public servant, elected to work for her constituents and NOT for corporate interests.
I saw her platform on Twitter. I don’t agree with all of it but I don’t object to any of it being debated in Congress.
We could use some new ideas, and God knows younger people aren’t represented in proportion to their numbers and stake in the system.
What are they afraid of? That people might like it? 🙂
I also agree with many of the points in her platform, and not convinced on some. She is a much needed breath of fresh air from the same old corporatist rhetoric that has helped to hollow out the middle class.
We have so many low information voters here that equate socialism with communism. It is a loaded term for many older Americans. I think the term also worked against Bernie in the primary, but Ocasio-Cortez won in her district where perhaps the voters are unafraid of democratic socialism.
In he4 district, I think her voters were more fearful of unbridled capitalism than democratic socialism
What do either of you disagree with here: https://ocasio2018.com/issues ?
I like what I see, but it is what is missing that gives me pause. Is it odd that there is not one word about public schools in that link?
It’s interesting that when the progressives “throw out the old”, that sometimes also includes the teachers’ union that they see as part of the very corrupt Democratic machine.
Who knows, maybe those progressives are right to see public education as a losing issue and they don’t want to talk about it and fight for it because they believe the idea of the overpaid lazy union teacher whose overgenerous and undeserved pensions are bankrupting our country is a losing issue. They think public schools need reforming and that the country benefits from those good, privately managed “public” charters where 99% pass state tests.
But I sure wish some of those progressives would stand up and fight for public education. If not progressives, then who? I personally will support moderates who stand up for public education over a progressive that doesn’t in the primary (or vice versa), but I would absolutely vote for whoever wins the primary in the general election – even if they are not standing up for public schools.
Many of those who benefit by union protections are low-income minorities. I have no doubt that Alexandria is pro-union. Just as I have no doubt that Gorsuch will wipe out any separation between church and state so our taxes support religious schools.
^^apologies – I know that question wasn’t addressed to me, but I appreciated seeing the link and reading her views. Thank you.
So what were Joe Crowley’s views on public education? What did he do in his decades in office to support public education?
PLEASE everyone stop with these labels “socialism”, “communism”!
There is nothing wrong with either when they are done properly and with true balance . . They are more than welcome in Europe all over, and they balance the landscape of multiple political parties.
Your Eisenhower and Nixon, given the tax rates back then in the United States and the way wealth were redistributed, were unabashedly “socialist” to some extent in their governance. What you have now is a Democratic party that is center right and a GOP that is extremist right and close to anarchy.
Both parties, including many institutions like the NY Times, love to focus on all sort of social democratic human rights (which is critical, of course) mainly and weaken the lens or leave out altogether this notion of political and economic rights and justice.
A famous judge during the FDR administration once said that politics and economics are inextricably interwoven. The current two party system today completely disregards and even fights against that very notion.
America is waking up!
Go Americans. You CAN do this!!! You will do this!
Alexandra Ocasio Cortez would have been considered an FDR Democrat or even an Eisenhower Republican, considering that all she wants is a system where there is a big fat middle class with wealth distributed enough to the public commons so that the society can be dignified and not stratified and violent, like Brazil or like some Latin American oligarchy.
What the crap is so wrong with that?
I totally agree with you, NF. As a Scandinavian, you come from a place that correctly understands implications of the term, democratic socialist. Even some Americans with liberal leanings will be put off by the term “socialist.” I voted for Bernie in the primary. The term didn’t bother me. I also voted for Hillary as I am a pragmatist.
I agree with you, RT!
I have been trying to find Ocasia-Cortez’ position on charter schools but I couldn’t find it.
Does anyone know if she is a strong supporter of public schools, or is she one of the “I support good public charters” progressives?
^^Ocasio-Cortez
I don’t know. She is a graduate of Yorktown High School, where her parents moved to get access to a good public school.
It is a sad comment about how little public education is made an issue that a candidate doesn’t even have to make his or her position clear on it.
Considering the amount of money, that is spent on education in the country (at all levels) that has often concerned me, as well.
Charles,
How much money has been spent on your cognitive and mental health care?
NF – not nearly enough.
I’m not sure “Democrats” want to win. If they wanted to win I don’t know why they would launch or support assaults on labor unions, who support them.
Maybe Democratic Socialists want to win so we should all back them, instead of Democrats. Democrats enjoy being in the minority, apparently, and will work as hard as they can to stay there. Far be it from me to stop them in their single-minded pursuit of losing.
Democrats would love a “lazy win,”where they can campaign on supporting the middle class and labor. When they win, they side with Wall St. over Main St. However, this strategy didn’t work this time. Working people have become mistrustful of them with good reason. Voting conservative is much worse and no solution! I hope young progressives will step up in the Democratic party and push the old guard to the side. Maybe the Ocasia-Cortez victory will inspire more young people and minorities to show up, vote and take the lead.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/06/ocasio-cortez-beat-crowley-and-old-school-nyc-politics.html
New York Magazine ran a piece about this and her opponent, Joe Crowley, sounds like a pretty good guy:
“When Crowley entered the restaurant, he conceded immediately, pledging to support Ocasio-Cortez. “We have a great chance to take back the House this fall. And although I may have been sacrificed a little early, I am committed to that cause,” Crowley said while longtime aides nursed large glasses of wine and started to cry.
Crowley, with his band behind him, then launched into a rip-roaring version of “Born to Run,” dedicated to Ocasio-Cortez.”
THAT is how you concede when more voters in the primary vote for a different candidate. You don’t scream that the election was rigged and demonize your opponent. If any Crowley voters start doing that, they should be roundly criticized.
Crowley spent over a decade working for Democrats and was very close to achieving what was likely the job he spent decades dreaming about — becoming speaker of the House. But he lost. And he conceded because he understands that elections are not just about HIM.
Please take a lesson from this, Democrats — whether you are progressive, moderate, or conservative. If your candidate loses in the primary, stop making it about YOU.
And if the Supreme Court didn’t convince you of this, then I don’t know what will.
Yes, if by “pretty good” you mean pretty good at running the machine and wading waist-deep in corruption. http://nlpc.org/2017/05/25/rep-crowley-gets-10m-group-pays-brother/
More here: https://theintercept.com/2018/05/22/joseph-crowley-alexandra-ocasio-cortez-new-york-primary/
dienne77,
You may be correct about Crowley, but consider the “source” you decided was worthy of more respect than Crowley:
http://nlpc.org/2018/01/03/mueller-probe-part-rear-guard-fbi-action/
“As more time passes, the more Mueller’s credibility is reduced,” Peter Flaherty, president of the National Legal and Policy Center, a government watchdog group, told The Daily Signal. “The legal case to fire or relieve Mueller is strong. ”
Here is another post from that accurate news source you place all your faith in:
http://nlpc.org/2018/06/27/supreme-courts-janus-ruling-thwarts-union-monopoly-power/
Wow, celebrating the thwarting of “union monopoly” and the great Janus Supreme Court decision. Presumably I know it is true because it comes from such a trustworthy news source. I just linked to it just like you did. Now you can be happy that none of those terrible justices that Hillary would have appointed were there to prevent this decision. Your news source tells you it was good. Congratulations on your “win”.
I think instead of doing what you do and getting my news from the same news source that tells us the Mueller investigation is corrupt and the Janus decision is terrific, I will judge Crowley on what he said.
And he gave genuine words of support to Ocasio-Cortez instead of trying to thwart her from winning.
And I’ll leave it to you to fight the good fight for the ‘honest and trustworthy” people you believe at the NLPC. I have no more words for you.
“‘ I have no more words for you.”
Promise?
BTW, it is interesting that you care more about the source than the truth of Crowley’s history.
It depends whether you promise to stop linking to the right wing “news” sites that tell me that we should be celebrating the Janus decision and telling me how illegal the Mueller investigation is.
I guess if you get your news from there, you would certain feel good knowing that as long as Hillary Clinton wasn’t choosing the next Supreme Court justices, we could all rest easy. After all, that’s what the story at nlpc.org tells me.
Of course you have nothing to say about The Intercept article.
dienne77,
Did you even READ what Crowley said when he was defeated by Ocasio-Cortez? He talked about how important it was to support her. He HONORED her. He didn’t use the corrupt machine you are so certain exists to thwart the desires of the voters.
Why in the world are you attacking him now? This is how democracy works. You don’t bash the winning primary candidate so that Trump wins and appoints Supreme Court justices whose decisions are dangerous to democracy.
I know you disagree. Let’s leave it at that and you can continue to fight the good fight against the evil Democrats and make that your focus instead of Trump and the corrupt Republican party.
In an interview on CNN, Alexandria herself said that Joe C. did great work in his district. She complemented him for his work.
I wish Alexandria good luck, I’d vote for her.
So he said something nice when he got his backside handed to him and that makes him a swell guy. Makes up for all the years of supporting Wall Street at the expense of ordinary Americans (like Ocasio-Cortez’s own family). Sure, I guess so. As long as he’s gone. Many more to get rid of, so time to get to work.
I haven’t read who, what, or why he supported various initiatives over his tenure, but the fact that he still had the grace to congratulate her (and offer his support) is laudable particularly in this climate. Perhaps at least he recognizes the need for those running for office under the Democratic party banner to come together and work together to move the party forward. Bernie did. She deserves to take a victory lap, but then she needs to figure out how she can foster the broadest coalition she can. Bernie stood strong on his principals, but he supported initiatives that moved in the direction of his ideals. Let’s hope she can do the same.
Of course she had to say something nice about Crowley in that interview. Otherwise she’s siding with Trump and people like you would destroy her for that. Rock, hard place.
dienne77,
Now are you going to start ranting that Ocasio-Cortez is a liar and corrupt herself because she praised Crowley for doing good work in her district?
I’m glad Ocasio-Cortez won. I’m also glad that the man you keep smearing and hating on actually is trying to help her win the general election instead of sabotaging her campaign. Despite your attacks on Crowley, he understands that the only goal should be to defeat the Republicans. Not to repeat the right wing talking points and propaganda about how corrupt the Democratic Party and how they hate all white working class people.
She WON. In the Democratic Party running against one of the most powerful Democrats who controlled the machine. But since the machine is not the corrupt machine you like to think, she won. And instead of trying to make sure this progressive lost because of course, evil Democrats would rather lose than have a progressive, this corrupt and evil Crowley actually did exactly what he should have done. He is supporting her.
Maybe you can stop hating on the Democrats so much now. Or at least, try hating on the Trump Republicans a little more.
OMG, NYCPSP, you are unhinged. I hope you didn’t hurt yourself on that leap. You are the one here defending the corrupt Crowley and questioning the progressive Ocasio-Cortez, but somehow that translates in your twisted mind as I’m accusing her of lying. Ay ay ay.
Now, I know, I know, “unhinged” is an “attack” in your world, but really, I’m just concerned for your mental health
Why are you attacking me now?
FYI — I am happy that Ocasio-Cortez won. I have said absolutely nothing negative about her. I did ask whether she had a stance on public education since obviously I read this blog BECAUSE I support public education. I have no idea where Crowley stands either and I never said he was a better candidate.
I DID comment that Crowley demonstrated the kind of reaction to losing that I wish all Democrats (moderates and progressives) who lose the primary exhibit. I pointed out that if he or his supporters start trashing Ocasio-Cortez and saying she is so awful that it’s fine if a Trump-supporting Republican wins, that I will condemn them. And I pointed out that Crowley’s gracious support of Ocasio-Cortez was despite the fact he had lost the chance at something he had spent the last few decades working for. If he was really as corrupt as your non-stop innuendo and attacks on him imply, he would do what you do and start trashing his winning opponent as someone who should be opposed at all costs, even if that means a right wing Trump supporting racist xenophobe wins.
In 2016 you won something that was more important to you than stopping Trump. Hillary Clinton lost. How about you stop with your nasty innuendoes about the entire Democratic Party now? If the victory of Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t convince you that any progressive can beat any powerful Democratic IF they actually have enough people voting for them, then nothing will. And just accept that democracy doesn’t mean you trash the primary opponent as evil and corrupt and no better than a right wing racist Republican if the candidate you wanted to win didn’t convince enough people to vote for him. Unless you believe it. And if you do, that speaks volumes about YOU. Not the candidate.
I missed the punchline: What does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tell us “how Democrats can win?”
cx, tell us about “how Democrats can win”?
By speaking to the issues, not to Wall Street. By bringing people to the pills who don’t see a difference between Dems and GOP
She didn’t have to mention Trump because her constituents already know he is their enemy
Yes, that section of Queens is definitely not Trump country.
Rather than calling for unity in the party, Pelosi has chosen to be devisive and downplay the Ocasio-Cortez win. http://thehill.com/homenews/house/394398-pelosi-says-ocasio-cortez-win-shouldnt-be-viewed-as-something-larger
“divisive”?? You actually read the perfectly innocuous statement that Pelosi said that call that “divisive”?
“Divisive” is the nonstop racist and xenophobic things that Trump and the Republicans say almost every single day.
Truly, if you are going to attack Pelosi for this, you are just helping the Democrats lose because I guarantee you that not a single one of them is perfect.
It’s an opinion, not an attack.
“divisive” is a word used to criticize politicians. I think it is quite a stretch to make Pelosi’s fairly innocuous words into something “divisive”. It seems she was just trying to answer the question honesty. “Divisive” would be if Pelosi characterized Ocasio-Cortez as a “divisive” candidate.
The district is 50% Hispanic, 18% White
Crowley lives in Washington and visits his district when he can …
12% of registered Democrats voted
Crowley did not show up for the on;y face-to-face debate
Let’s not draw unwarranted conclusions … Crowley took his opponent for granted, was looking down the line for the battle to replace/depose Pelosi …. “All Politics is Local,” he forgot the # 1 rule ….
It worked for her. Crowley ran unopposed in most of his last elections.
Crowley has always been a fraud. He refused to address redistribution of wealth and only wanted to focus his recent speeches (despite pressing questions from audience members) on groups of people. You can’t have one without the other. No more!
“Crowley has always been a fraud.”
Sources? Citations? Facts?
Well, I’m sure Norwegian Filmmaker is a Queens resident and a Crowley constituent and has had his ear to the ground for years on this issue.
What script did you use? Thanks for being part of this movement.
Alexandria gave us a path forward. Hopefully we don’t put our heads in the sand!
Sent from my iPad
>
Yeah, I’m curious to see the script that her door-to-door canvassers used. We might learn from that.
Will this finally make the progressive wing stop shouting about how Democratic primaries are “rigged”?
Field a good progressive candidate and you can defeat mainstream Democrats. Field one who ignores African-American voters in the South, and you will not win. It isn’t about rigging. It is about fielding the candidate who gets the most votes. Democracy.
And if your candidate loses, take a lesson from Crowley and get out and vote for the winning one.
NYC public school parent
Absolutely meaningless as much as I am happy about the win. The sobering note should be that she received 15000 out of 25000 votes in a district with 210000 registered Democratic voters 12%. The presidential primary had a turnout of 32 %.
So as usual stick to discussing Public Schools.
There is no reflection here of the fairness of the primary process in NY State. As has been said by others she took advantage of a candidate who had run unopposed for years. In a primary that few were paying attention too and a district of changing demographics. Sanders would not have won had it worked properly. But NY still needs to fix its unfair primary process.
Could you please explain?
I thought that Ocasio-Cortez won because she got more people to get out and vote for her.
How does the system not work? I’d probably support some changes that make sense. But trying to figure out why a system in which the winner is the person who gets the most votes is problematic?
Democratic Socialists of America is awesome. They’re staunchly against the privatization of education with neoliberal Ed Reform. Though, their big fight right now is single payer healthcare. As an added bonus for social justice and representation, they also require a number of women and people of color on their board. I’m a member and you should be too. https://www.dsausa.org/
Yes x 1,000,000!!!!
This is good news, but I’m still girding myself for full fascist takeover, the elimination of checks-and-balances, the restriction of the press and the persecution of liberals. Nevertheless I’m not in total despair: even if this happens, I will work however I can to morally reconstruct this country. This is the work we teachers especially must dedicate ourselves to: figuring out what went wrong with our schools, and how we can create a new curriculum that will cure us of the barbarism now surging, just as Germany did after WWII. Because the root of our problems lies in the minds of our citizens, and we are the stewards of those minds. Our efforts hitherto are now being exposed as flimsy, unserious, half-baked, wishful, dim-witted. If they don’t do a thorough soul-searching right now and identify their errors, the majority of education school professors should now resign in disgrace, because they are culpable.
I watched two interviews with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one on CNN another on CNBC. She had an unconventional TV ad. She is articulate and does not seem to be afraid of the label Democratic Socialist.
Nancy Pelosi seemed to be shaken by her victory, not congratulating her but reportedly saying: “It is only one district.”
Rachael Maddow had an agenda worked out in no time on what Senate Democrats needed to do about the vacancy on the Supreme Court. The main idea: not to be doormats. Keep together on key votes and get support on women’s health from the two women Republicans who might join in raising hell about the threat of ditching Roe versus Wade and criminalizing abortion. (On the campaign trail in a video interview, Trump said he thought women should face some sort of punishment for seeking an abortion–no extenuating circumstances).
Alexandria said last night on MSNBC that Nancy Pelosi called to congratulate her and said she was very pleased to see more women joining the House.
Hooray. And I thought that Crowley’s comments when he lost to her were spot on.
Laura Chapman, I’m not sure what it meant that Pelosi “reportedly” said something.
Pelosi’s actual statement: “The fact that in a very progressive district in New York, it went more progressive — and (incumbent Rep.) Joe Crowley is a progressive — but to the left of Joe Crowley is about that district,” Pelosi said. “It is not to be viewed as something that stands for everything else.”
dienne77,
Thank you for the quote. Pelosi seems perfectly reasonable. I guess if you hate the Democrats more than you hate Trump, you can certainly find something evil and corrupt in that quote. But I can’t.
If you agree with Pelosi that it’s about “that district”, you and she are going to have a few surprises coming in August, and you’re still going to be left wondering what happened in November. But go ahead, keep pretending that there’s massive support behind centrist Dems and that that’s what the country wants. I’m sure there’s still a few Democratic seats left to lose.
dienne77,
What are you trying to say?
This is a DEMOCRACY. That’s why Ocasio-Cortez won. More people voted for her.
Why are you trying so hard to repeat the right wing talking points about how evil and corrupt every Democrat is? What is your problem here? One of the most powerful Democrats in the House could not prevent his loss when the voters liked his opponent’s ideas more than his.
And yet you still seem to be insisting that there is something corrupt about the Democratic Party that makes “anyone but the Democrats, even if it is Trump or one of his right wing enablers” a legitimate belief.
Either there is massive support by white racist xenophobes for the ideas of the Trump Republican Party, or there is massive support for the Democrats who oppose Trump. Whether they are progressives, moderates or conservatives – it will be up to primary voters to decide.
You seem to be threatening that progressive voters will do as you did in 2016 and say “I’d rather have Trump and the right wing enablers in power than any Democrat who isn’t the candidate I preferred.”
All I can say is that I hope they have learned their lesson. But if they have not, there is certainly precedent. Fascism can’t take hold without willing idiots who decide the fascist is better than the moderate who just isn’t perfect.
dienne77 is a perfect example of the ancient adage that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
dienne77 is clearly an enemy of the Democratic Party. I do not remember her ever attacking the GOP or Trump because her biased, illogical fury seems to always be laser-focused on the Democrats.
Does that make her Trump’s ally?
Does that maker her a GOP ally?
I think so.
^^Just to be clear:
Primary candidates who are “democratic socialists” can win if they get more votes. Even if they run against one of the most powerful incumbent Democrats in the country.
But if more voters prefer the moderate candidate in the primary, it is truly disturbing to decide that means that some progressives would help the fascists win by not supporting that candidate in the general election. And I’d say exactly the same if moderate or conservative Democrats decided to bash a progressive who won the primary.
Lloyd,
Thank you. I can’t believe that she can turn a clear victory by a progressive newcomer over a very powerful democrat in a primary into bashing the Democrats. I mean, shouldn’t this prove that there isn’t some corrupt process to keep progressives from winning? Shouldn’t this prove that if a candidate’s ideas are good, primary voters will vote for them and they will win?
At my vet center support group this evening, it was mentioned by our VA counselor that she spent about $100k to her opponents $12 million. This is a David vs. Goliath story.
For some time now I’ve thought that dienne77 has some serious anger issues that are swallowing her whole. I think she needs a support group to help calm her down. That much anger is going to eat her brain.
Ocasio’s win is a repudiation of the Democrats. It’s a sign that people are sick to death of corrupt establishment machine Democrats like Crowley. People want progressive voices. That’s what scares the bejeebers out of the Democratic establishment which is why they regularly and uniformly unite against progressive challengers in the primaries.
BTW, Lloyd and NYCPSP, Saturday there will be nation-wide protests against Trump’s immigration policies. I plan to be at the one in Chicago. I assume you both are going to protests near you (or perhaps going to Washington)? Or do you just prefer to rant online about Trump’s personality rather than getting up off your butts and doing something about his policies?
I will be at the protest in Greenport on Long Island. If anyone who reads this attends, say hello. I’m demonstrating for a group of wonderful undocumented workers who are crucial for the local economy. If the law allowed it, I would sponsor them.
dienne77,
Are we really supposed to compare the number of demonstrations we have attended since Trump was elected and declare that whichever one of us attended more, wins?
This victory proved that in that one district, voters wanted the progressive candidate. Hooray! I’m glad. And victories in other districts may mean that voters prefer a more moderate Democrat. Not hooray. But that is democracy. Winning takes work. Not whining that the system is against you and that’s why your candidate lost and that means that the Democrats are no better than Trump.
I like Ocasio-Cortez but I am 100% positive that she will take a position I disagree with somewhere along the line, just as every politician does at some point. It might even be about charter schools. So what? That is democracy. If she turns out to be pro-charter and she ran against someone who was not next time, I’d support her opponent. But if she won the primary, I’d support her because we need Democrats in power to stop Trump.
Instead of turning every victory by a progressive into a rant about how corrupt the Democratic Party is, why not recognize that the victory by the progressive shows that what matters is the voters. It doesn’t matter what the party wants — it comes down to votes. Just like it did when Obama and Kerry and Gore and Dukakis and Clinton won. No big conspiracies. Votes. Ocasio-Cortez won because she got more votes. And in other places the progressive lost because he got fewer votes. That isn’t a conspiracy, it is democracy. So is deciding whether you will oppose a fascist Republican and his enablers or not.
I saw her interviewed midday yesterday on MSNBC. The interviewer repeatedly asked her if she would support incumbent, establishment Democrats in Congress because “that’s the way it works”. She said her victory in the primaries was about issues, not political parties. I love it. It’s time to stand up for economic justice instead of following along in the footsteps of failure. I believe she, and many others like her will do just that.
Regarding her stance on privatization and testing, socialism and privatization are opposed to one another, but I am sure the charter loving billionaires’ lobbyists are at her doorstep as we speak. We need to be there too. She’s a bright star.
“I watched two interviews with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one on CNN another on CNBC. She had an unconventional TV ad.” – https://www.fastcodesign.com/90177598/how-the-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-campaign-got-its-powerful-design
I watched the MSNBC interview and, WOW!, I like this young person. I was impressed to the point of moist eyes.
I want her to win. I want the Democratic Party to learn from her. And when she’s eligible age-wise, 35, I hope she is in a position to run for the White House.
She has seven years to get ready — seven years to change the Democratic Party and sweep out the old, out of touch, leadership.
Yes! She puts tears in the eyes, doesn’t she! She’s a real person. She’s one of us. I could watch the video of her surprise at winning a million times.
In 2008 when her mother was faced with losing her house thanks to Wall Street-GOP ruthless greed, she went to work, I think she had two jobs, to help her mother keep her home. She had to be 18 then. I admire that a lot.
The rounded world is fair to see,
Nine times folded in mystery:
Though baffled seers cannot impart
The secret of its laboring heart,
Throb thine with Nature’s throbbing breast,
And all is clear from east to west,
Spirit that lurks each form within
Beckons to spirit of its kin;
Self-kindled every atom glows,
And hints the future which it owes.
–Emerson (1844)
I hope more talented young people join Ocasio-Lopez to make the Democratic party stronger and more ethical.
The Kochtopus can’t hold down the majority forever. That’s why I love teaching, and young people in general. They give me hope. “Hey, hey, high, high, rock and roll will never die.”
Other democratic nations have Christian Socialist political parties that win popular elections. The U.S. Democratic Party is going to have to do a great deal of public education that socialism isn’t communism and that socialism not only is compatible with democracy and Christianity, but that — based on the Preamble of our Constitution and the New Testament (such as Acts 2:44-45 and Matthew 25:34-46) — socialism is foundational to and a fulfillment of both our Constitution and Christianity.
I do not think, she needs to do any of that. She just needs to sound practical, down to earth, and she needs to talk about actual issues, leaving ideology to philosophers, scientists, preachers, writers. I hope she stays like this: talk clearly, without using big words about foggy ideas. I hope she’ll never says “The American People deserve/want/expect ….” or “The intention of the Founding Fathers was …”.
Communism is the same as Christianity bar dialectic materialism. And no, Stalinism was not Communism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_Code_of_the_Builder_of_Communism
How can Democrats win? By changing their tune on lots of topics? O-C championed expanding Medicare for everyone, tuition-free college, criminal justice reform and ending private prisons. She also supports immigration reform — specifically abolishing ICE. She supports a $15 federal minimum wage, and is pro-Palestinian.
Her platform is anything but center-right, which the Democrats seem to think is still too center. Crowley’s center-right and has represented this area for a long time.
How about public education? I find it odd that there isn’t any talk about that.
Public education might even be a winning issue for Democrats in some places, as it was in Virginia.
You still haven’t answered me about Crowley’s position on public education. What did he do for public education in all the years he was in Congress? If you’re so concerned about Ocasio-Cortez’s position, why aren’t you concerned about his actual voting record?
The question is why aren’t YOU concerned about public education?
I don’t think Crowley is any better on public education than Bernie or Elizabeth Warren is. I don’t see any articles suggesting that he was a DFER politician of the month but maybe he was. I didn’t pay attention to this race closely enough and it appears public education was never an issue. And that is depressing to me that voters care so little about it.
Why is my simply asking if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said anything about public education or charter schools so disturbing to you? She may very well be a big foe of charters and strong supporter of public schools. I would have liked to see both candidates have to go on record with their positions.
I’m not feeling the solidarity here, guys . . . .
Mostly predictable discussion above. The only divide that apparently few if any see is that Democratic Socialists of America is a replacement—an impotent one at that—not an effective avenue of reform. I like Osario because she realizes that to achieve things the DSA claims to support, one has to reform the Democratic Party. And the way to reform it is to do what you can to try to reform it. (I apologize for use of the word “reform” especially since DFER contaminates its meaning.)
I have written before about why we are two party system, how a “majority rules” system differs from a parliamentary system, and how American parties are theoretically designed to sort out core opinions whereas in a parliamentary system that process can take place at the governing level. Third parties are mirages under the rules of the American federal and constitutional systems.
Another problem is that DSA has no symbols or track record to which American people can relate. The closest in our history is Bernie Sanders (that is, if Eugene V. Debs is too old an allusion) and he is a de facto Democrat; even he knows he has to run as a Democrat to get things done, not under the banner of the DSA. So, like libertarianism when you are in college, DSA sounds like a good idea until you see how one has to work in the real world. The closest symbol to emulate is Willy Brandt, and he is too obtuse an example to inspire contemporary enthusiasm. Interestingly, Brandt supported the DSA, but never saw it as a viable American alternative.
I think we have a problem of semantics with which I am sure many will disagree. That’s OK, I get it. I think DSA adherents make a grave mistake when they characterize themselves as democratic socialists. I think that means they’re socialists first, democrats second. At least that’s what I think. I prefer social democrats who are democrats first. Most Americans don’t know the difference between a Democratic Socialist, a social democrat, a socialist and a communist. In fact, in their minds socialism=communism. Whether that’s right or wrong, that’s how it is. It reminds me of a great passage in John Kennedy Toole’s “A Confederacy of Dunces”:
“’What you think about somebody wants peace, Claude?’
‘That sounds like a communiss to me.’
Mrs. Reilly’s worst fears were realized.”
Ignorance takes time to overcome, political movements take hard work. I prefer to be a social democrat who works where he can within the Democratic Party at the local level. If I lived in another country, I’d have other choices. Don’t waste my time with: “If we only had a third party.” Best wishes to Ms. Osario. Keep it up and inspire others into action.
Apologize, don’t know why I wrote Osario rather than Ocasia. Dyslexic dementia.
Ocasio, but who cares, just call the the chica.
Immediately after Ocasia-Cortez won, RWNJs blasted her and flooded the Web with claims that Hitler came from the same party, when Hitler was a dictator and his party was far from being Democratic Socialists. The nordic countries that suffered from Nazi occupations, such as Norway, chose Democratic Socialism because they know better.
Funny strategy, considering all the neoNazis in the GOP. If they thought that was really true, they would be pleased, but they know better, too. It seems the RWNJs are aiming that propaganda at their base of poorly educated dullards and any Sanders crossovers who they’re afraid to lose.
What is RWNJ?
right wing nut job
RWNJs = Right Wing Nut Jobs
They can use all the negative propaganda they had gathered on Bernie that they didn’t have to use because he wasn’t opposing them.
When asked what political party he belonged to, Will Rogers replied: “I don’t belong to any organized political party — I’m a Democrat.”
Still true today, judging from the above comments. The problem with progressives is that each group of progressives have their own special crusade and aren’t able to compromise with other progressives to join together to defeat a common foe because joining together means that each progressive group would have to subordinate their crusade to a common crusade, and they are emotionally incapable of doing that. Meanwhile, the conservative mind has no qualms at all about marching lock-step together with other conservatives…so, conservative win, again and again…and again and again. Conservatives now control the state governments of 33 states, in addition to controlling both houses of Congress and the White House…and progressive groups still can’t subordinate their pet crusades to a common crusade.
Remember the words painted on the stern of Pogo’s little boat? “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”
I agree with many of your points, but I do object to more sweeping statements like “the problem with progressives…”
I have a problem with SOME progressives but I believe the majority of progressives understand the need to unite and defeat Republicans and prevent Trump doing even more damage than he already has. I think Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a progressive like that.
There are a few progressives who make similarly sweeping statements about “the Democrats” being co-opted sell-outs whose main goal is to prevent progressives from ever taking power — and to obey their Wall Street masters and keep the white working class down while they pander to “special interests” — everyone who isn’t white and Christian. I hope those self-annointed progressives are marginalized because they are being used by the far right to help enable their fascist agenda. The far right has even less concern for the working class that these self-appointed progressives claim concern with, but somehow all their hatred and anger is directed at Democrats! The one party that is actually trying to figure out how to help them and not just appeal to the most deplorable instincts of them.
Dienne77,
Have you served in the military and fought in a foreign country? If so, did you come back with a bad case of PTSD?
If you did and do, then let me know and then maybe we can talk about why I don’t do well with crowds or crowded places.
The 4th of July fireworks are not welcome by many combat vets with PTSD. I have one friend who served in the Marines and then special forces and he has a service dog trained to intervene when one of his triggers activates to disarm his PTSD. The dog is there to protect some fool that might trigger him. He once took out four adult bullies in less than three seconds when they told him they were going to follow him home and show his wife what it’s like to be with a real man. My friend let them throw the first punch.
He said, “How do you want to do this — one at a time or all four at once?” The whole thing was caught on a super market’s security cameras and there were a couple of dozen witnesses to back up that the leader of the four threw the first punch that never made contact.
I don’t do protests. I don’t do parties. I don’t go to crowded venues. If I go out to see a film and the theater is half full (I ask before buying a ticket), I turn around and go back home. If I go out to eat and the restaurant is packed, I turn around and go back home.
Most if not all of the combat vets in my PTSD support group at the vet center do not do protests or go to big, crowded events either.
Crowds can be a trigger. They are for me.
Gallup Poll reports the following responses to the question, “In politics, as of today, do you consider yourself a Republican, a Democrat or an independent? (on June 13, 2018):
Republicans=27% Independents=43% Democrats=29%
That’s a lot of people identifying as Independents. I believe it’s the swing voters who often determine election outcomes. Independents do tend to lean more towards one party, but they might be the ones most likely to swing a different way.
I think this means there’s hope for electing genuine Progressives. That is:
IF Democrats get a clue that Democrat leaning Independents are really tired of DINOs who represent the interests of corporations over workers,
IF they accept the fact that there are many more workers/voters than corporate bigwigs, and
IF they realize that disgruntled Democrats are getting out there to vote now, as it seems was the case in the Ocasio-Cortez / Crowley primary.
The decision yesterday to eliminate superdelegates, at least for the first vote at conventions, also seems like a good sign that the Democrats are realizing the need for them to make important changes
You can see the Party Affiliation trends here:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx
yes; and I believe that candidates willing to stand up and call out publicly for truly progressive ideals such as public service and union protections, single-payer healthcare, rent control and cutting way back on drug related incarceration would get voters even from current Trump ‘supporters.’ A certain percent of those who voted for Trump did so because they confusingly thought that he stood for these things.
She is exactly whom and what we need.
Don’t contribute DINOs. The party must clean out from within.
Unfortunately the democratic party starting with Corey Booker and ending with Ms. Harris from California the newest darling of the democratic party. The party are full of people who care about no one but themselves. As a New Yorker who was involved in this campaign it means getting our hands dirtynocking on doors knowing the issues and the elite democrats have no intention of talking, working and giving hope to the American public it is all about themselves and how many TV shows can they get on. This was a Bernie Sanders grass roots win, we learned from him and we had a great candidate who Cared.
.Which is why we need to vote only for people who care about us not Orpah’s friends as Corey Booker is and he is no President Obama nor Hillary’s endorsement’s. We need people who are not going to become in love with themselves and there are alot of democrats who want the lights for their hot air and nothing more. Those days are done.
Democracy hangs in the balance and no one who is against democracy should be voted into any office.
Do you support Cynthia Nixon over a Democrat who is far worse than Corey Booker or Kamala Harris?
I’m talking about Andrew Cuomo. Has Ocasio-Cortez come out swinging against Cuomo?
Now that she is the darling of the media, if she informed people about how terrible Cuomo is, it might get some attention.
Wouldn’t it be great if she could lead the “get Cuomo out of office” charge?