The public feud, which began last weekend, between Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (CA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) continues to escalate.
Now Ocasio-Cortez told The Washington Post that Pelosi has consistently shown disrespect for “singling out” these “newly elected women of color.”
Pelosi slammed Ocasio-Cortez along with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) for not voting for the border bill. She slammed them for airing objections on Twitter:
“All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world. But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”
Ocasio-Cortez used Twitter to lash out at Pelosi: “That public ‘whatever’ is called public sentiment. And wielding the power to shift it is how we actually achieve meaningful change in this country.”
Pelosi then led a closed-door meeting with Democrats to encourage them to take disagreements privately with each other. One source said Pelosi demanded the members to talk to her about any complaints instead of using Twitter.
In response, the four women spoke to The Washington Post:
“When these comments first started, I kind of thought that she was keeping the progressive flank at more of an arm’s distance in order to protect more moderate members, which I understood,” Ocasio-Cortez told The Washington Post. “But the persistent singling out . . . it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful . . . the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color.”—“Thank God my mother gave me broad shoulders and a strong back. I can handle it. I’m not worried about me,” said Pressley, who called Pelosi’s comments “demoralizing.” “I am worried about the signal that it sends to people I speak to and for, who sent me here with a mandate, and how it affects them.”
The relationship between Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez began well after the November 2018 election, but quickly soured after the New York representative did not accept Pelosi’s request to join the committee on climate change:
Just days after, during a private Progressive Caucus meeting, Pelosi singled out Ocasio-Cortez in front of her colleagues, calling her out for rejecting the select committee offer. Ocasio-Cortez had publicly criticized leadership for refusing to give the committee the power to directly draft legislation.Since then, Pelosi has made several dismissive remarks about Ocasio-Cortez, calling her Green New Deal “the Green Dream or whatever,” and suggesting that a “glass of water” running as a Democrat could win in districts as liberal as hers.
Ocasio-Cortez whined that after the third or fourth attack on her she decided not to pick a fight with Pelosi. She accepted the role as “the punching bag” while refusing requests from others to meet with Pelosi. She admitted to WaPo the two women do not have a relationship.
I do not think Pelosi is a racist. It is just a coincidence that the four women are women of color.
Pelosi is a veteran in DC, which means she knows how the system works. When the party shows unity, it lessens the opposition’s ability to take on the party.
Pelosi also knows that the majority of Americans do not lean as far-left as the four women involved in the spat. Since they receive so much attention, she wants to pull them back, so Americans do not think the Democratic Party has embraced their crazy socialist ideas as a whole.
Unfortunately for Pelosi, it puts her in a Catch-22. While she is not using Twitter to criticize the women, she has used the media to air her grievances against them. To me, it is not different, which makes her a hypocrite. If she does not fire back in the public atmosphere, it will allow the four women, especially AOC, to receive all the attention while giving off the image that Pelosi is not doing anything to keep the party united.
While unity is essential, people tend to forget that these representatives have a job to vote and work towards legislation for the people within their districts. Yes, both parties can accomplish more with unity, but each district is unique. I am not saying the women have followed what their constituents want, but it is not a bad thing to disagree.
The Democratic Party is a mess. I’m here for the ride and will bring the popcorn.
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