What are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Flaws?

If your power is not at stake, you might have empathy based on your life experiences.

and when is power not at stake? i assume we're defining our terms differently, especially because i never define my terms

power is always at stake, whether you think it's there or not. people who do not know it's there are just fine, i want to be like them, and they do not belong near politics. AOC's particular power comes from her empathy for others - or at least the perception of it - based on her life experiences. she is a genuine person (or was - once you cross the line into the house of representatives it's like that one scene in field of dream where moonlight graham decides to cross the line one more time to save the little girl from choking, even though he knows what it means for his corporeality) and the rare person who also understands how political power works.

i meant, at the end, that she's the rare person who is both seemingly "genuine" and thinks of humans on empathetic levels divorced from "political power", while also understanding how political power very much affects all of us and puts all of our lives at stake

i will take my tweet about how AOC fucked up on something last week off the air, please, i love this show, thank you

I think my point was: an article stated that she, unlike others, has a theory of power. But as a leftist in the US, she has rather little power, and her enemies have more. Is her theory doing her, and the causes she represents, any good?

she has more power than just about any leftist in the united states. it's not getting her anywhere right now, but AOC not being able to figure out how to get power is not the problem

AOC being called a Leftist is laughable

Lots of jokes

she has more power than just about any leftist in the united states.

I'd say she's a Leftist, tabes. A leftist seeks to ameliorate social problems through more equitable policies that rebalance power toward the powerless. I think what you're looking for is a radical, someone who insists that solving social ills requires striking at the root cause of those problems.

this thread is not going to go well.

i have stopped drinking and i'm going to go draw now

(stopped a couple weeks ago, i mean. i'm invested in it enough that i don't want people to think i meant "stopped drinking [this morning]", and it sucks that that reading is entirely plausible with me)

This thread hasn’t been going well since it started, fwiw.

I feel partially responsible for the derailment because I posted an immediate reaction to a preceding comment without reading enough of the previous posts to get a sense of the discussion.

[...] she seems adept at forming a posse of like-minded legislators. she's good at sharing her political fame and recognition and using it to boost others.

From what I've read about her, the quote above seems apt. I also think Aimless was right about her approach to power. I guess I was trying to add that in her interaction with establishment Democrats, her motivations regarding power may have to do with the sense of having in the past been disenfranchised within her own supposed base. I don't know enough about her legislative record to say whether or not her social media positions have been in line with her voting record and whether she has ever been put to the test on voting for something that might cause her to lose votes or power within the House.

I think she's trying to empower the left within her party by appealing to voters who might not be aware of or attuned to political issues and by getting voters to apply pressure to their representatives and, as others have commented, by strengthening the self-identification and camaraderie of progressives.

I read the Politico review and most of the New Yorker article but started skimming toward the end.

From Politico, I wonder if this is true:

Yes, it is true that AOC and others on the Democratic left want to spend more money — in some cases a lot more — to empower activist government than more conservative Democrats. But programmatic differences of this sort almost never have existential implications for a party or the broader society.

In the New Yorker article, AOC criticizes Obama's deliberative approach to executive power; Biden has also mentioned endless meetings. I wonder if this criticism rings true in terms of long-term societal benefit as well as short-term effect. (Survive as long as what you believe is right and reasonable rings true?)

I think she has good intentions and well-grounded and considered perspectives and with time might engage in outreach with voters and colleagues differently without giving up her fundamental beliefs and values when she realizes what could be a distraction or doesn't ring true. This is why I admire Sonia Sotomayor

How far do your sympathies extend and can you understand limitations in your peers? I forwarded a NYT article on Biden's trade policy in the Pacific to my dad and I think there was mention that Biden have been reacting to progressives who might oppose free trade on account of labor standards. This may be wrong, but I wonder if globally the same labor standards can be applied if one's standard of living is lower in the first place. Also for environmental standards and what is available for mitigation.

the true cost of globalization and free trade may be unknown, and it may be better overall (for environmental, economic, or humanistic reasons, or survival as a species = all previous combined) to retain locality, but could one maintain tolerance and curiosity and interest without dependence or other motives?

may have been reacting (sorry for typo in post above)

The ethical and pragmatic questions around redistricting in New York are interesting. It seems worthy of philosophy and some part of psychology that explores ethical questions.

I will explain this to you slowly: exercising our right to protest is not obstruction of Congress nor an attempt to overturn democracy.

If one were a heinous enough person to do that, they’d likely seek a pardon for it too.

But only one of us here has done that. And it ain’t me pic.twitter.com/o4889FBFyF

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 24, 2022

Feel like she and Omar are the only Democrats on Twitter who don't just post SOMEONE SHOULD DO SOMETHING over and over. Bernie is as bad as Biden and Harris.

interview with ny rep maloney:

There is a debate in New York right now about the New York Democratic Party, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and some on the left are arguing its leadership is part of the problem here. Is that a conversation you are a part of?

The last time I ran into A.O.C., we were beating her endorsed candidate two to one in a primary, and I didn’t see her one minute of these midterms helping our House majority. So, I’m not sure what kind of advice she has, but I’m sure she’ll be generous with it.

But let’s be clear, she had almost nothing to do with what turned out to be an historic defense of our majority. Didn’t pay a dollar of dues. Didn’t do anything for our frontline candidates except give them money when they didn’t want it from her.

There are other voices who should be heard, especially when suburban voters have clearly rejected the ideas that she’s most associated with, from defunding the police on down. She’s an important voice in our politics. But when it comes to passing our agenda through the Congress, or standing our ground on the political battlefield, she was nowhere to be found.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/nyregion/sean-patrick-maloney.html

up yours dickhead

to be fair, amidst all the celebration about how we didn't lose the house as bad as expected, we did lose it. probably. in large part due to ny. in this era when holding the majority is more important than anything, even dickheads can be helpful. if they win.

Didn’t do anything for our frontline candidates except give them money when they didn’t want it from her.

Damn, terrible

to be fair, amidst all the celebration about how we didn't lose the house as bad as expected, we did lose it. probably. in large part due to ny.

Weren't there seven brand-new seats created just this year in NY? Hardly something one can lay at AOC's feet. Anyway, she has a job and he doesn't, at least not until next week when he'll pop up as a lobbyist and CNN commentator.

maybe should include her response as well

Let’s make something crystal clear:
- SPM courted me for donations to swing races & it was the 1st thing I did this term. Over a quarter million for Dems this cycle, DCCC facilitated some & now he denies it.
- If he isn’t aware of my visit to CA & efforts we put in, that’s on him https://t.co/eACfScbB3T

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 11, 2022

"Didn’t pay a dollar of dues"

How many dollars of dues was Rep. AOC supposed to pay this person or organization?

AOC hasn't paid her DNC dues since she was elected iirc

which *nods agreeably*

so do people still agree with this guy on defunding the police

I recall several posters calling it a stupid and and divisive demand

whatever. something flipped those four suburban ny seats. would behoove people to figure out what.

why are people in the suburbs afraid of crime? is there a lot of crime there?

why are people in the suburbs afraid of crime? is there a lot of crime there?

Hardly. But if you live on Long Island or Staten Island, the odds are about 70/30 that your neighbor is either a cop or a fireman (assuming you're neither of those things yourself). And nobody's more susceptible to crime-wave propaganda than cops. They pretty much embody the "ultra-macho man who's terrified to go into the city" stereotype.

well i will say they've taken to jacking up people's cars in their driveways and stealing their catalitic converters. if they're the old kind that are hard to replace.

but, you know, some crime statistics went up during the pandemic and the ny post takes every opportunity to remind people of it on their front page.

Right. In the rest of that interview he blames "the News Corporation fear machine". It's not clear to me what any Dem, let alone AOC, can do about that though, because even if they tripled the police budget in every district, nakedly partisan media aren't going to give them any credit for it.

Good read: https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/your-guide-to-crime-and-the-midterms

let me get this straight:

1) AOC and her ideas don’t play in the suburbs
2) maloney thinks AOC should have been… more visible in these places

🤔

seems like laying low and contributing cash is exactly what she should have been doing ??

the suburbs are extremely worried about rising crime...in the city. People in the city are...less worried.

How fucking childish for these losers like Maloney and Pelosi to shun and dump on the biggest stars of their caucus and then blame them for anything that goes wrong no matter what they do

Fuck SPM, he pushed my former rep Mondaire Jones out of the newly formed district which caused a chain reaction of stupid things this cycle. It might have been somebody else if not him, but he's of course trying to shift blame. And the dumbass lost for all this, too

The conservatives made a lot of hay this year when bail reform finally got passed, blaming all the Democrats for increased crime (and of course, ignoring all the possible factors in the past couple of years, like gee, maybe the pandemic). Non-stop TV ads all year long attacking every Democrat. That article Alfred posted explains this far more eloquently

the suburbs are extremely worried about rising crime...in the city. People in the city are...less worried.

― dan selzer, Friday, November 11, 2022 10:42 AM (one minute ago)

yeah honestly my takeaway from Maloney is that NY suburbanites are uniquely gullible or brainwashed compared to their counterparts elsewhere in the US, which I know is an all-time classic "bad take" but I'm not sure what else to think. Or at any rate I'm at a loss to imagine (good) policy options for getting people to realize they're paranoid / being played

That Balko piece was excellent, Alfred, thanks. The NY vs. OK point is particularly compelling

crime as a national election issue is so dumb anyway, i can see in local mayoral/city council elections but wtf is one person in the house of representatives going to do about crime in some suburb of cleveland

As time goes on I become increasingly pro-crime

Suburban Minneapolis was frit about urban crime; exurban Minneapolis even more so.

There was some great article a few years back about how the people who lived closest to the city without actually living in or experiencing the city, are the ones who are the most scared of the city. Like they hear the stories and feel like the fear is close by. While those of us in the city go about our business.

crime as a national election issue is so dumb anyway

same thing goes for gas prices/inflation. lots of conservative campaign issues were just straight up appeals to ignorance and fear unconnected to any kind of platform or policies