On Monday House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 79, took yet another shot at socialist congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 29, over the young congresswoman’s increasingly radical agenda.
Speaking during an on-stage interview at the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Democrat Party’s veritable matriarch reminded the audience that politics “is about winning,” and to win the party must temper its positions to appeal to America’s mostly moderate population.
“What we’re saying is to have a message that appeals to people in a way that does not menace them — that really does address their concerns,” she said. “When we win and we have the White House and we have that, then we can expand our exuberances to some other things.”
Her point appeared to be that Democrats need to focus their agenda on sensible ideas and solutions for the time being instead of pushing radical plans like AOC’s “Green New Deal.” Why? Because most districts aren’t as far-left as either hers or that of the socialist congresswoman.
“When we won this election, it wasn’t in districts like mine or Alexandria’s,” Pelosi explained, referring to the 2018 midterms. “She’s a wonderful member of Congress, as I think all of our colleagues will attest, but those are districts that are solidly Democratic.”
To drive home the point, she picked up a glass of water and stated, “This glass of water would win with a ‘D’ next to its name in those districts. … Not to diminish the personality and the exuberance of the rest of Alexandria and the members, but …”
The House speaker’s direct but gentle jab at Ocasio-Cortez marked the third time in less than seven days that she’d chided her younger peer and dismissed her alleged influence on the party.
In a “60 Minutes” interview over the weekend, she pushed back against concerns by host Lesley Stahl that AOC’s radical wing of the party is slowly but surely taking over.
“So you are contending with a group in Congress: Over here on the left flank are these self-described socialists, on the right, these moderates,” Stahl said. “And you yourself said that you’re the only one who can unify everybody. And the question is, can you?”
“By and large, whatever orientation they came to Congress with, they know that we have to hold the center,” Pelosi replied. “That we have to go down the mainstream.”
“You have these wings — AOC, and her group on one side …, ” the host pressed later in the interview.
“That’s like five people,” the House speaker snapped back.
Now flash back to April 8. During an interview at the time with USA Today, the House speaker took her first shot at Ocasio-Cortez. Unlike the two shots that would follow afterward, however, this one was designed to be stealthy, in that Pelosi didn’t mention AOC by name.
“While there are people who have a large number of Twitter followers, what’s important is that we have large numbers of votes on the floor of the House,” she said when asked about the difficulties of pushing a moderate agenda while dealing with the background noise of radicals.
The underlying theme that seemed to be present in all three attacks was that Ocasio-Cortez is a relative nobody who, despite her social media following and incessant media spotlight, allegedly isn’t driving the Democrat Party’s agenda, and for good reason: Because politics is about winning.
Of course, this doesn’t mean AOC isn’t entitled to a little play time at the kid’s table.
“It doesn’t mean we curb those enthusiasms. Reach for the moon. Put out there what you want, go for it, talk about it,” Pelosi said at her London School of Economics and Political interview.
“But when we have to go into the districts that we have to win, we have to cull that with which we have most in common with these people,” she added.
The point was that while it’s OK for AOC to have her fun and her Twitter followers and her radical little ideas, the party’s overall focus can’t be on her and her childish agenda.
“This is about winning. This is about winning because so much is at stake,” Pelosi concluded.
Though Pelosi was clearly loathe to admit it Monday, the fact remains that Ocasio-Cortez and her freshmen peers, including anti-Semitic Muslim Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib continue to have an effect on the American people’s perception of the Democrat Party.
As of Tuesday, for instance, one of the top stories regarding congressional Democrats was still the dismissive way in which Omar had recently spoken about the Sept. 11 attacks.
The other top story was AOC’s decision to quit Facebook …
Observe:
CNN
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@CNN
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of the most prolific and powerful politicians on social media, with millions of followers who hang on her every post and tweet. She's said goodbye to Facebook, though. https://cnn.it/2UFMJlm pic.twitter.com/u5v6bdS2cG
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7:00 PM - Apr 15, 2019
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New York Daily News
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@NYDailyNews
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez revealed she had completely stopped using her Facebook account and is scaling back on social media use in general, arguing online platforms can cause “isolation, depression, anxiety, addiction, escapism.”https://trib.al/eqbqBDU
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12:39 PM - Apr 15, 2019
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FORTUNE
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@FortuneMagazine
.@AOC is done with Facebook http://bit.ly/2KK5Iqq
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3:30 AM - Apr 16, 2019
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ABC News
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@ABC
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says there are health risks associated with Facebook—and that's why she's decided to stop using her account. https://abcn.ws/2UANZq1 pic.twitter.com/mMJi18YuPi
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8:12 PM - Apr 15, 2019
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235 people are talking about this
Daily Mail US
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@DailyMail
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announces she is quitting Facebook because it is a ‘public health risk’ https://trib.al/i1plBsP
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1:58 AM - Apr 16, 2019
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The Hill
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@thehill
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez explains why she quit Facebook http://hill.cm/azkRVlj pic.twitter.com/L4DTKQB6jQ
USA TODAY
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@USATODAY
Many young Americans have stopped using Facebook in the numbers they used to, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Yahoo News
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@YahooNews
Rep. @AOC, who personally gave up Facebook, says "social media poses a public health risk to everybody."
“I've started to kind of impose little rules on myself..."
Once again the world’s attention seems to be focused on AOC, and again it seems there’s not much Pelosi can do about it.
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