Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s victory over Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY), the head of the House Democratic Caucus, propelled her into the national spotlight. She seems to think she’s the new face of the party, which has led her to attack those within the Democrat Party.
House Democrats have grown tired of her schtick and want her to cool it before the already fragile party is completely torn apart.
The Democrats want to take over the House more than anything. They view Ocasio-Cortez’s attacks on fellow Democrats as threats to that possibility. From The Hill:
The members are not mincing words, warning that Ocasio-Cortez is making enemies of soon-to-be colleagues even before she arrives on Capitol Hill, as she’s expected to do after November’s midterms.“She’s carrying on and she ain’t gonna make friends that way,” said Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.). “Joe conceded, wished her well, said he would support her … so she doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about.”“She’s not asking my advice,” he added, “[but] I would do it differently, rather than make enemies of people.”Asked if Ocasio-Cortez is, indeed, making enemies of fellow Democrats, Pascrell didn’t hesitate.“Yes,” he said. “No doubt about it.”
She should take it down a notch or two because while it’s impressive to oust an incumbent, only 13% of the registered Democrats voted in the primary. The 14th district has 214,750 active registered voters and only 27,744 of them voted.
There is no doubt Ocasio-Cortez will win the seat to represent New York’s 14th District in Congress since it’s a safe Democrat seat. This means she should listen to those who live in DC:
Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) offered a similar message, saying success in the 435-member House comes slowly — and hinges largely on the ability of lawmakers to forge constructive relationships with other members. Alienating more senior lawmakers within your own party, he warned, will only stifle the ability of Ocasio-Cortez to get anything done — even despite her newfound celebrity.“Meteors fizz out,” Hastings said. “What she will learn in this institution is that it’s glacial to begin with, and therefore no matter how far you rise, that’s just how far you will ultimately get your comeuppance.”He added: “You come up here and you’re going to be buddy-buddy with all the folks or you’re going to make them do certain things? Ain’t happening, OK?”
Then Ocasio-Cortez launched an attack on Twitter against Crowley and accused him of launching a third-party bid against her even though he has nothing to do with it.
See, New York’s election laws means that Crowley will probably be on the ballot since he won the Working Families Party line in the primary. Crowley has denied he will launch a campaign for November.
This did not sit well with Democrats:
“Once an election is over and you win, why are you still angry?” said Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.). “I think it’s a lack of maturity on her part, and a lack of political acumen, for her to be that petty.“We as Democrats better figure out who the real enemy is. And it’s not each other.”Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), a former chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, was more gentle, though he still lamented the tone of the post-primary debate, attributing it to inexperience on the part of Ocasio-Cortez.“When it comes to courtesy and decency, and especially the way — the class way — in which Joe Crowley has conducted himself and every overture that he’s made, I think she would be wise to rethink some of the things that she’s saying,” he said.
It gets better. Former Senator Joe Lieberman’s op-ed in The Wall Street Journal encourages people to vote for Crowley in November. Lieberman didn’t mince his words and began the article by stating that Ocasio-Cortez’s victory in the primary “seems likely to hurt Congress, America and the Democratic Party.” He continued:
Fortunately, Joe Crowley and the voters in his district can prevent this damage. On Election Day, his name will be on the ballot as the endorsed candidate of the Working Families Party. But for Mr. Crowley to have a chance at getting re-elected, he will have to decide if he wants to remain an active candidate. I hope he does.Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America, whose platform, like hers, is more Socialist than Democratic. Her dreams of new federal spending would bankrupt the country or require very large tax increases, including on the working class. Her approach foresees government ownership of many private companies, which would decimate the economy and put millions out of work.Ms. Ocasio-Cortez didn’t speak much about foreign policy during the primary, but when she did, it was from the DSA policy book—meaning support for socialist governments, even if they are dictatorial and corrupt (Venezuela), opposition to American leadership in the world, even to alleviate humanitarian disasters (Syria), and reflexive criticism of one of America’s great democratic allies (Israel).
Other Democrats don’t appreciate Ocasio-Cortez backing challengers to Democrat incumbents. She said she decided to endorse those “who uplifted & Acknowledged my own campaign before anyone else would.”
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) admits he’s backed challengers to incumbents, but warned Ocasio-Cortez “that such endorsements could make life tougher” for her in Congress:
“The rules [she’s adopted] might not apply in terms of the protocols and the niceties of incumbents here in the House,” Grijalva said. “But once you’re in the middle of the work and you have an agenda to promote, you might need their help.”
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