Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led a protest on global warming outside Nancy Pelosi’s office this morning.
Next, we should define the standards of that committee. To be truly effective, it should:
1. Have a mandate to draft a Green New Deal plan by 2020;
2. Not have officials appointed to it that accept fossil fuel industry contributions— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 13, 2018
The “adults” I’m seeing on Twitter are stroking their beards (yes, they’re all men) and telling Ocasio-Cortez to show a little respect.
But what if Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez planned this together?
What if Pelosi has plenty of material for a Green New Deal?
Control of the House only means that Democrats won’t be able to get a lot of legislation passed. What they can do is generate enthusiasm for their program and show that the Republicans have no agenda to benefit ordinary people.
Global warming is the biggest issue for young people I talk to. It’s their world we’re wrecking. The hardest problem in dealing with it is getting people’s attention and convincing them something can be done about it.
Start the action right away. Show young voters that their concerns are important and their votes counted. Let the Republicans think (like the “adults”) that there’s a split between Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez to give them false confidence. Get publicity – conflict will do that.
I don’t see any downsides here. Even if Pelosi was blind-sided by the demonstration, she’s smart enough to make use of an opportunity.
schrodingers_cat
Ocasio-Cortez seems like a bit of a publicity hound. As long as she trains her rhetorical guns on the Rs, I am okay with her.
kindness
Sure hope Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won’t be taking her cues from Bernie much longer. Otherwise this is going to get very old very quickly.
ps – I like Bernie. I just wish his numbers added up.
germy
I agree with Ocasio-Cortez that no officials should be appointed to it that accept fossil fuel industry contributions.
Chyron HR
Wow, thank you, Congressperson Malibu Stacy, we never would have noticed climate change existed if the you hadn’t stood up and said “Like, let’s all protest this crusty old bitch, LOL”.
Chris Johnson
Sure. Works for me. Pelosi is the Committee Goddess and can actually get things done (I look forward to a death by a thousand investigations for the Republican traitors, and yes it would be different from how the Republicans acted because THEY were just making shit up and Pelosi has no reason to make anything up)
It’s like Obama said, ‘make me’.
I’m seeing younger voters guardedly excited over this move by Ocasio, and I like it. They’re excited over the right things. Coming with policy and broad-brush ideas for fixing grave, catastrophic problems that will become their world, is MUCH better than just bitching about the old Dem leadership.
And gee, where could you possibly go to get those broad-brush ideas worked up into policy? I think those protesters are in exactly the right place.
No downsides here, unless you’re a trollski desperate to paint a picture of a fragmenting Left. More like, Left being listened to slightly more than before.
Chris Johnson
Also, if you’re going to get the Green New Deal, you have to get the youngs onboard and have them at least slightly believe that working with you will be of some use. And this is why it’s Pelosi they’re visiting, and not say Paul Ryan’s office. Some people, you stomp on, some people you hammer out agreements with. Looks like the sausage is beginning to get made. (green sausage? ew)
Corner Stone
Just like every picture I see of Trump has his mouth wide open or in a butthole shape, every pic of Ocasio-Cortez I see has her with the crazy eyes. She’s got the eyes of a fanatic.
Ella in New Mexico
Seriously, I agree with Cheryl here. Folks need to CTFD. I saw absolutely NONE of what the conspiracy theorists said was happening, that AOC is “protesting Nancy Pelosi”. Pelosi seems like she was totally happy these kids were there, treated them with respect. In the interview with AOC in the hallway she states she’s not there to protest Pelosi, just support these kids.
How ’bout let’s all at least wait until she actually DOES a thing we’re afraid she’s gonna do before we jump on her shit?
ruemara
Fuck these nitwits. GO CAMP OUTSIDE THE SENATE GOP OFFICES. This grandstanding is the dumbest way possible to start your fucking tenure. I’m officially donating to AOC’s challenger next primary.
Gin & Tonic
@Chyron HR: From what I’ve seen on the Twitters, it quickly turned into a mutual admiration society. While I am still kind of skeptical of Ocasio-Cortez, I at least hope she’s smart enough to know that Pelosi can squash her like a bug. She’d probably rather be on a committee having something to do with environment than one dealing with trash collection from the House cafeteria.
germy
Cheryl Rofer
@Ella in New Mexico:
Thanks, Ella!
I have to say I’m amazed at the AOC-hate I’m seeing in the first few comments. I got a much more positive reaction when I flew these ideas on Twitter. I’m gonna make some cookies. Play nice.
Martin
Pelosi created that select committee in 2007 when she first was elected majority leader. There was no fucking way that committee wasn’t going to be reinstated with 46 Democratic house members from CA.
Either Ocasio is spectacularly dense to not recognize that, which I find to be impossible to believe, or this was a coordinated effort to elevate the issue, elevate Ocasio, and help cement Pelosi as the natural leader of the Dems.
I agree with Chris above. My only concern with the Dems now is that simply due to how leadership positions go based on seniority, that the visibility of younger members of congress is generally hard to establish. I’m okay with this approach if that’s what it is.
lamh36
Seems to me that Nancy Pelosi just showing again that she the expert at how to handle the caucus. Nancy gets what she already wanted and now Ocasio looks kike she did something?. And she sure as hell better be voting Yes for Pelosi as speaker.
Gretchen
She hasn’t even finished orientation and is quoted as telling Pelosi what she “needs” to do. I’ve worked with kids like her. The rest of the staff is usually willing to let them fall on their faces and enjoys it when they embarrass themselves. Sure, Pelosi handled it well because she’s smart and experienced. AOC could learn a lot from her, if she weren’t convince she knows it all already. She doesn’t seem to understand that you need a majority of votes to get something done, and potentially alienating possible allies isn’t the way to do that.
jl
” But what if Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez planned this together? ”
I think likely.
The whole thing went down very smoothly, and Pelosi’s comment were so bright and cheery and on point wrt to the legislative agenda she already initiated, I almost suspect it was rehearsed. Kind of out of FDR’s playbook: get out their back me up by pretending to force me to do what i want and plan to do anyway.
The Congressional GOP pull this kind of Kabuki theatre all the time. I won’t complain if the Dems adopt to do good, rather than evil. If Pelosi or Cortz were put out of joint about anything that went down, I think we would be able to tell. I can’t see anything that signals that. Everyone is too cheery and upbeat about the big sit-in.
Mary G
They are playing good cop/bad cop brilliantly and the biggest benefit is that it takes attention off of Twitler, who will lash out in anger with something stupid.
schrodingers_cat
@ruemara: Amen sister. Did you hear from the IRS? When are you sending your application?
ETA: After all the shit, BS of Vt pulled in 2016 and after , I find the naivete of some of our fellow Ds rather touching.
Adam L Silverman
@Chris Johnson: Pelosi had already announced she was reinstating the Special Committee on Climate Change that she created in 2007 and that Boehner got rid of in 2011. The people protesting, including Ocasio-Cortez either didn’t bother to do the most basic homework on this issue or didn’t care when they did. And in the case of Ocasio-Cortez, pissing off the woman who can make or break your political career isn’t a smart move. She keeps this stupidity up and she’s going to wind up as the most junior member of the ad hoc subcommittee on agricultural waste and her district will be the new home of the nuclear waste facility that was supposed to go to Yucca Mountain.
Being young, eager, enthusiastic, and earnest is great. Being purposefully stupid, poorly informed, and bug fuck nuts is not. This is as pointless and destructive as that idiot Tim Ryan’s crusade to vote Pelosi off the island.
jl
@Mary G: I predict the corporate media will play it as though it MUST be a real issue between them. With maybe a little ‘Dems in disarray’ sauce? Let’s see.
maryQ
@Chyron HR: I prefer Westchester Barbie, myself.
TenguPhule
Soon to be speaker Pelosi is not known for grandstanding stunts.
jl
@Adam L Silverman: You don’t get out the theater much, do you? You don’t appreciate good acting, or what?
Gretchen
@Martin: I don’t find it at all hard to believe that AOC didn’t find out about that before this. She’s got an ego. She came to my district to campaign for the least electable guy because he was a Bernie-bro. She talked a lot about how Kansas would elect a progressive because reasons. She didn’t find out about the district or the other candidates before inserting herself into the race. She knew best what kind of candidate could win in Kansas, which she’d never been to before. Fortunately, nobody listened to her and we elected Sharice Davids.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Er, yes?
zhena gogolia
@ruemara:
I haven’t been impressed with her starting with that first ad she did. Sharice Davids is FAR more impressive.
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: Yours is the “adult” take. And I think it’s wrong.
Mart
We have less than 10 years to change our entire fossil fuel consumption model or the planet as we know it ends. But AOC is a too young, crazy eyed, Bernie fanatic – so the hell with her ideas.
Most of the jackals here have had a very good life, but climate change will continue to ruin the future with increasing frequency. We are living it now – California burning, Carolina and Texas flooding, and Florida flattened. Liberal olds need to get on board with this crisis.
schrodingers_cat
@maryQ: Stila Red Lip in Beso.
Martin
In related news, only 3.6 million ballots in CA left to count. Expecting CA-45 to swing to the D today.
Many of the 1M provisional ballots were due to voters going to the wrong polling place. My understanding is a number of the mail-in votes were delayed for similar reasons. We can drop off our mail-in ballot at any polling place, but they still need to get it routed to the right pile, and sorting 4.6 million of anything is gonna take a while.
jl
@TenguPhule: The reporting and tut-tutting does not represent it to the public as a Pelosi stunt. So, I guess no way it can be, huh?
I don’t know for sure, no one does, but it all went down so smoothly, with such q quick and cheery wrap up with agreement on the very important policy outcome desired by both Congresspeople, I suspect it should not be taken at face value.
maryQ
I find it fascinating that everyone is willing to give the benefit of the doubt to someone who ran around the country with someone who hates the Democratic party, campaigning against actual democrats.
She says ignorant things all the time, to an audience that she does not deserve.
She’s going to be trouble.
tobie
Count me as less than impressed with O-C and her grandstanding antics. This is so typical of her. She claims she’s introducing an issue from the left that the Establishment has ignored, when in fact the Establishment in the form of Nancy Pelosi has been proposing this for years and already set a Green New Deal as a legislative priority right after the election. O-C by the way has been leading the charge to replace Pelosi with Barbara Lee for the last 6 months. Why doesn’t she just admit she’s got something to learn from the seasoned legislator? No, I don’t trust her. Not.one.bit.
zhena gogolia
@Mart:
Your delightful ageism is delightful.
Gravenstone
@Ella in New Mexico:
Spoilsport.
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer:
I think you’re wrong. Nancy Pelosi is not known for stunts like this. She’s an organizer, not a firebrand.
The protest reeks of poor planning colored by rose colored glasses as people try to put the best public spin on it.
Mart
@zhena gogolia: I am a delighted 60 y.o.
Cheryl Rofer
@TenguPhule: As I said up top, even if Pelosi was blind-sided, she’s smart enough to make use of an opportunity.
Frankensteinbeck
@TenguPhule:
She is known for doing what it takes to get her caucus wholly on board with her and her progressive legislation. if AOC wanted a public scene to ease into being a good Dem, Pelosi would not hesitate for a second. She has made it clear, it’s not about her own pride, it’s about getting shit done.
Cheryl Rofer
Okay, now I really am going to make cookies.
TenguPhule
@jl:
Having watched her work for the last 18 years, the idea that this was coordinated between the two of them doesn’t ring true. Its not her style. And that’s not something a person changes so radically out of the blue like that.
lamh36
Question: Would the result have been any different if she had made an appointment with Speaker Pelosi? I don’ think so.
I’m hoping Pelosi had a nice lil chat with Ocasio when she had her alone about grandstanding within the caucus vs actions.
I’m hoping Pelosi had a nice lil chat with Ocasio when she had her alone about grandstanding within the caucus vs getting shit done. No who else was a really great grandstander, but who didn’t get shit done…Alan Grayson.
And how did all that grandstanding work for Grayson or his constituents in the end?
gvg
well, um. I am not impressed with “protesting” to a democrat. I am scared of the republicans, not the democrats.
I know global warming is an urgent problem, I just don’t see any room to work on it from the federal level while the GOP still has the majority of power and is helping a wannabe dictator. State and local seem to have more promise and even corporations and research outfits.
Tom Levenson
I guess I was one of the (old) men on Twitter who tut tutted — this seems to me like virtue theater, not an actually useful political tactic.
I guess it could be what Cheryl sees, a bit of Kabuki to signal to the youngs that the olds are listening, and, by way of return, to strengthen Pelosi’s hand. It could also be a bit of not terribly significant noise that, if it accomplishes anything, helps the media slip back into their comfort zone: Ds in disarray.
I guess I just hate getting in the way of a series of stories that directly hurts Rs and helps Ds, from Georgia/FL craziness to Trump’s anti-vet cowardice etc.
jl
Good scripts need good logical construction, you need to telegraph likely outcomes, subtly signal plot points, defuse expectations that might create misinterpretations and confuse the desired message I note from the stories I read that Cortez made a point of joining a protest, not leading. Nice touch.
Let me know if anyone sees a report that Cortez lead it, and had to answer to any of the progressive protesters why she did not get more, for example.
A lot of stuffy old killjoys here.
JPL
OT Deputy to John Bolton, Mira Ricardel just escorted out of the White House. bye, bye
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer:
Yes. She’s fast on her feet. She’s a diplomat and an organizer.
And what she doesn’t need is AOC acting like an idiot when the new Congress isn’t even sworn in yet. There is still a non-zero chance that the GOP could retain leadership of the House if a sufficiently stupid group of Democratic House members don’t fall in line and vote responsibly.
TenguPhule
@jl:
Government is best when its boring.
kindness
@maryQ: The Bronx is separated from Westchester by the city of Yonkers. She’s from the Bronx, has never lived in Westchester. As someone who grew up in Tarrytown NY, calling her Westchester Barbie is just stupid.
Mike in DC
1. Minimum wage increase
2. Green jobs infrastructure bill
3. Carbon tax
4. Protect Mueller probe
5. Affordable college and student loan debt relief
6. Election reform
7. Strengthen labor unions
8. Cybersecurity and Russia sanctions
9. Rescind presidential tariff authority
germy
@Mike in DC:
Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid
opiejeanne
@Chyron HR: IIRC, Pelosi already announced that Global Warming will be focused on five days earlier.
Ocasio-Cortez went to Kansas with Bernie right after she won her primary to campaign against Sharice Davids and for Welder.
MomSense
@Chyron HR:
Pelosi is about the only one who has come through on climate change. The house passed a good cap and trade bill in 2009. It died in the Senate.
I highly doubt Ocasio Cortez and Pelosi planned this together. AOC is one of the new Congress critters who doesn’t want Pelosi to be speaker.
I’m not a fan.
germy
@kindness: That was a RW attack. Someone found the tiny little house she grew up in, posted a photo online, and tried to claim she was from an “elite, privileged” background.
I saw the house. It’s almost as tiny as the first house my wife and I lived in when our first child was an infant.
jl
@TenguPhule: We disagree on that. I think Pelosi is very good at thinking up slogans, snarky public disses, announcing dramatic marathon negotiations that could be considered stunts. She resorted to those several times during the Obamacare legislation. I think she knew when to play it straight, and when to do something dramatic and get attention to keep things moving, and distract and confuse legislative crooks sent to wreck it. I think one reason she will go down as an historic figure in that legislation, along with Obama.
So, we disagree.
opiejeanne
@ruemara: I’m with you about Ocasio-Cortez.
tobie
@Cheryl Rofer: how was this an opportunity? Would the left flank of the party have opposed the climate change subcommittee and the green new deal without O-C’s endorsement? O-C started the day on a good foot by highlighting the tax breaks companies like Amazon get when they set up shop in a municipality. This stunt by contrast was silly and potentially damaging to the Caucus. I don’t believe Nancy was in on the stunt. That’s not how she rolls IMHO, but she is experienced enough to turn a situation around, as she did here. I’m glad it ended well.
Butter Emails!!!
@lamh36:
Yes. The press wouldn’t have provided any real coverage of the event if she had scheduled an appointment. Pelosi reestablishing the Global Warming Committee is about as appetizing to the press as the blackened shoe leather Trump considers a steak is to normal people. Smother it in a bit of “Democrats in disarray” special sauce and all of a sudden they’re gnawing on that steak with the enthusiasm Trump shows for his ketchup slathered monstrosities.
Roger Moore
@JPL:
Now if we can just get the same treatment for her boss and for his boss.
Martin
@Mart: The reason why CA is so blue is that we are. Only ⅓ of our power production last year was from natural gas, no oil, no coal. The rest was hydro, nuclear, and renewables. We don’t consider hydro to be a renewable because we don’t know how long we can rely on having water to power it. We continue to reduce per capita power consumption. We’re nearly on track to hit 10% of new car sales being EV by the end of next month – it’ll be close.
The 2030 goals are to increase renewables to 50% (we’ll lose the 10% nuclear by that time, but we’ll have ~15%-20% hydro to add to that), and to cut vehicle fuel usage in half, and double building efficiency. We’ll have 10 years of new home sales mandated to have sufficient solar to offset the home’s consumption. We’re pushing pretty hard here. We have a number of other states helping along, but it really would be nice to have a comparable national effort on this.
Brachiator
@Chyron HR:
Malibu? Stacy? Methinks you have your head up your arse on this one.
@TenguPhule:
I’m not sure how many of the newly elected Congress critters are far to the left of the other Democrats. I don’t know that they have to fall in line. The party may have to adjust.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@TenguPhule: OTOH, it’s absolutely Pelosi’s style to consider what will work in terms of managing a member so she and the member both get what they want. Give Cortez time. She’s smart enough to learn and it’s possible the caucus will benefit from being prodded a little.
On another topic, where are my indictments?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
First blush it seems bad form, Pelosi isn’t even speaker yet. On the other hand Ocasio-Cortez maybe showing some cunning here; Trump’s Master TRUMPastic plan to TRUMP the House Dems is to seduce all the wymen folk from mean old Pelosis, so Trump may just suddenly go all green on everyone in an attempt to get Ocasio-Cortez on his side. It would be as dumb as anything with this admin.
ruemara
This reminds me of the few times I discussed Occupy Wall Street with co-workers in city government. I don’t know why, but it feels like white people like anger as a tactic. For some reason, it’s seen as a thing that does… something something. The fact that there’s a lot of misinformation behind the protests, people then interpret it as “THE OLD DEMS ARE BEING AN OBSTACLE TO THE NEW FACE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY” which was what I woke up to a lot of on my feed this morning. They’re not helping and they have neither the stamina nor the knowledge to comprehend crafting a policy. They could have tried controlling the message before they squatted in Pelosi’s office to say they were there to show support for [actual policy pushed by Dems], but let’s be frank. Screaming the Dems down isn’t just profitable on the right. The reason why I am sick of them is their propaganda has real world effects to suppress the vote. So you’ll have to miss me with this being good or effective. I see how it goes down for the less wonky & the super woke. It’s not good and we need to keep organized and reduce the appearance of infighting for the next couple of years. I have no faith in these new jack Dems. They’re assholes until they prove otherwise because I have had my fill of vulnerable populations being tossed under the bus by woke white radicalism that focuses on financial gains and then environment and THEN you guys get us to tepidly stand behind you as you struggle to have some level of equal rights. Come back when you are strategic and maybe I’ll get that mountain sized chip off my shoulder towards lefty prog groups who think holding the House means Dems can pass legislation.
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
House has to vote for the speaker. All those rebels better fall in line on that one and vote for Nancy or else there will be hell to pay.
TenguPhule
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I am wondering if Mueller is trying to get Nancy Pelosi as the next President by waiting until she’s sworn in as speaker again.
If he pulls the trigger on Trump and Pence now, its shitholes all the way down.
Gretchen
@Mart: You don’t need to convince us, or Democrats in Congress. You need to get enough Democrats in office to be able to do it. Attacking your own side isn’t the way to do it
geg6
@ruemara:
Yeah, I’m not enamored of her. Wasn’t from the start and she’s not helping herself in my eyes. She comes off, like many of my students do, as being thoroughly convinced that she’s the smartest person in the room, bar none. She doesn’t have the life experience to be that but she has no idea that is true. When she’s my age, she’ll be embarrassed, like I am now, by how stupid she actually comes off looking.
Johnnybuck
What’s a little grandstanding among Friends?
JPL
@Roger Moore: White House just issued a denial.
@TenguPhule: I want my indictments.
TenguPhule
@geg6:
We hope. Sometimes self-reflection doesn’t make it even then.
TenguPhule
@JPL:
Don’t we all. But from a strategic level, we only get one legitimate legal shot at this. Miss and the only thing left is to burn it all down and welcome our new Canadian overlords.
tobie
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Cunning? I’m already hoping AOC has a serious primary challenger in 2020, whom I can support. She’s already in nails-on-a-blackboard territory and her term hasn’t even started yet.
TenguPhule
@ruemara: Come sit by me.
Johnnybuck
@Butter Emails!!!: She plays chess, the peanut gallery plays checkers.
burnspbesq
@Mart:
If you have any actual evidence that Pelosi doesn’t get it, I’m sure you’ll be happy to share it with all the jackals.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Something to consider in all this, of the old guard Dems the best are your Pelosis and Jerry Browns; boring technocrats who get the job done . The problem is efficient and smooth is boring, and we live and in age of sensationalism so it’s clear we need bomb throwers to counter Trump.
eemom
All this debate over a single event involving two congresspersons on the same side in promotion of an issue everyone agrees is a priority.
This place is gonna Chernobyl come 2019.
Humdog
It has been very nice reading that Democrats are being booked on Sunday shows and are having news articles written about what they want to accomplish. Dems have been in the media wilderness. In the age of constant Shitstain train wreck, it is even harder to pry eyes away from that carnage to even seven show there is another party with different ideas. Old ways of promoting .dem actions have never worked well and don’t work at all now.
But the media loves to write stories about women fighting each other and of Dems disagreeing. Maybe that is a way to be seen and heard during this unfortunate era. They also seem to like covering whatever OC tries to do. Why bash this theater? Why not use it for our ends? Nancy has thick skin, she won’t be offended by this stunt. Comments here way too thick with fuddy daddy disapproval that “this is not how we do things.”
TenguPhule
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I don’t object to the need for artillery. I just object to their spotters calling it down on friendly forces.
geg6
@Mart:
Yeah, we don’t give a damn about climate change and have not done anything over our lifetimes to try to do something about it. We just don’t care about our kids and grandkids at all.
*rolls eyes*
Whatever.
TenguPhule
@Humdog:
Because it feeds a discredited narrative that’s corrosive to working together and getting actual shit done on our side.
We need grease, not grit in the wheels.
Cheryl Rofer
@tobie:
Butter Emails!!! gave the answer: Publicity. The media are suckers for the “Dems in disarray” meme. And the public needs to be educated that global warming issues are important. Plus it gets attention away from The Orange One and onto a positive message.
Jay
@gvg:
Protesting “to” ReThugs is a waste of time.
They don’t “do” legislation.
The don’t “do” progress.
They don’t care that they are wrong about everything.
Protesting ReThugs is just theatre, it doesn’t do anything to effect change in a ReThug.
Protesting outside Peloci’s office, was a smart move.
It put the fact that the Democratic Party actually has policies, programs and agenda’s on the Front Page and on Social Media,
Something the Media prefers not to cover.
glory b
@ruemara: What ruemara said.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@tobie: If you see Climate Change as something that has to be done now, or we all die, then your going to have to weasel the other side into going along with it. None of it will happen without the R’s consent and Trump is both stupid, isolated and vindictive enough to fall for a stunt like this. Seriously, if the House Dems could BS Trump into a climate change plan Trump’s willess followers will just go along and force the Republicans.
TenguPhule
@Jay:
So all those women marches should have been directed at the Democratic minority, is what you’re saying?
Woodrow/Asim
All I have to say, is that as much as I support bringing Pelosi back in — it’s also true that doing things the way we always have, is kind of how we ended up in this asinine craphole of a situation, to begin with.
With honest respect to Adam and many others, I think we need to start allowing for more ways for Representatives to stand up than the old, standard processes. I mean, we all cheered when John Lewis led the gun sit-in, right? We loved it when various representatives have protested and stood up and came out to rallies, right?
Having Representatives do a bit of grandstanding for Democrats to stand up, is far less harmful than how the Tea Party did the same to the GOP. And this story of thing is a lot less frustrating, to my sense of the political landscape, than how folks like Grayson and Weiner would actually no-joke grandstand — and then failed us, utterly and completely.
Ocasio-Cortez may turn out to be too much of a purity pony. But she may also be a source to re-energize _and_ healthy criticize some of the GroupThink in the “Big Tent Party”, without shredding that tent.
Let’s see how this plays out, before trashing the play.
Jay
@Butter Emails!!!:
Double yup!
Mart
@burnspbesq: I am not saying Pelosi does not get it, but way too many voting olds do not get it. Federal legislation will not happen for at least two years. States are supposed to be where the action is. Last week Washington state could not pass a carbon tax, and moving to a higher % of renewable power failed most everywhere proposed. California is an outlier, but it has been burning to death for years now.
VeniceRiley
@Martin:
Please please please. It’s my district.
geg6
I haven’t seen any evidence of this. This is another instance where she’s parachuting into a situation where she has no idea what is going on and thinking she’s the only smart person in the room. Much like she did in Kansas with her best bud, the King Grifter of Vermont.
gvg
@Woodrow/Asim: No, doing it the old way was NOT how we got in this mess.
Racists panicking was how we got in this mess. They are nuts. I don’t think there is anything we could have done to prevent it other than not gradually increasing fair practices towards all citizens. We were always going to have this dangerous tricky transition point to survive.
Don’t blame the victims. It’s the GOP’s fault that they are racists and multiple other kinds of bigots. They could have chosen differently.
ruemara
@Humdog: Because the bulk of how it’s playing off to the public is “Get rid of Pelosi, she’s an obstacle” & “See, the Democrats are already up to their old tricks of saying they care but they’re not doing anything” (yes people think the congress got seated immediately and now the House Dems are blocking real change from these vibrant young go getters). People are fucking ignorant. This isn’t helping. It’s not a case of “don’t do things that way”, it’s simply true that this is not how the government works and if you don’t know the procedure, keep your grandstanding to the minimum and learn something before you talk.
schrodingers_cat
@ruemara: I agree with you, that this Ocasio-Cortez stunt is not going to help Ds.
geg6
@Cheryl Rofer:
And you actually think this will encourage the media to cover climate change proposals instead of the Dems in disarray and everyone hates Nancy Pelosi stories?
You are too naive for words.
Jay
@TenguPhule:
The Women’s Marches had no effect on The Insane Clown POSus, other than to piss him off.
The Women’s Marches had a huge effect on the participants, the Midterms, the Democratic Party new blood.
Sometimes the purpose of a protest is different than the subject of the protest.
In the late 80’s and early 90’s a lot of “intersectional” support and teamwork was built by environmentalists attending social cuts protests, social justice supporters attending environmental protests, etc.
tobie
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: point taken. And I agree that whatever effects of climate change we’re experiencing now is nothing compared to the cataclysmic effects we’ll see when the tipping point is reached. Especially but by no means exclusively in the global south. But how hasv today’s action managed to convince any Republican to join the effort to address climate change? And how has this bit of theatrics cajoled the media into taking the issue seriously? I’m sort of glad that I hadn’t heard anything about this episode till I got to BJ. The cable networks have been running nonstop with spots on how the new Democrats in the House will not vote for Pelosi as Speaker. That’s the story the love and that’s what they’re running with.
Mezz
Ok, o/t but if anyone would like an afternoon goose, Nadler’s letter to Wray at FBI and Whitaker “at” Justice is pretty delish.
Mezz
Sorry, the link didn’t post – pasting here:
https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/democrats.judiciary.house.gov/files/documents/11.13%20Letter%20to%20Whitaker%20Wray%20re%20Backlog.pdf
Cheryl Rofer
@geg6: They covered this climate change proposal. One thing at a time.
piratedan
not sure why this is a big deal unless you’re looking to buy into GOP framing on stuff…. I would be exceedingly wary about that because in general, the GOP would just as soon see the Dems fighting amongst themselves to continue to promote that narrative.
it says there in the top of AOC’s tweet to say Thank You @ Nancy Pelosi….
tbf, I have no problems if AOC needs to be convinced of Pelosi’s bonafides, I have no worries that Pelosi will provide them….
is it an issue that needs attention… check
is it one of particular concern to us all…. check
is AOC passionate about it…. check
is it something that the Dems would be doing anyway…. check
I have no issue with AOC getting out there and making herself heard about an issue, enjoy the passion and I understand where her focus is (and just because her primary concern isn’t DJT, doesn’t mean that her concerns also aren’t our concerns)
so… what’s the kerfuffle… sure AOC is from the Wilmerite brigade but until she proves otherwise, she is STILL a Democrat and I expect her to want and desire the same things we generally want and desire, all that may be different is the pecking order in which those passions sit.
TenguPhule
If there was ever any doubt Mike Pence is the stupidest man in America, this should dispel any remaining questions.
Woodrow/Asim
@gvg: Hey — yeah, I’m African-American, and pretty up on history — hell, I even briefly worked for one of those racists (I was an HS Office Page for Thurmond. LONG STORY.)
By “old way” I mean the c-work, comity, The idea that the way to fight this crap is to lean on “reaching across the aisle” and the frameworks of decorum and rules that are supposed to keep laws from going off the rails.
What there was of that (and it was something more of a wish than reality) starting going away when Thurmond and the GOP made their Devil’s Bargain and has only gotten worse, since. Democrats still believe in it — and in truth, we need to, because it’s that or actual no-joke anarchy.
But there’s a middle ground. We have to play to the modern process, while also keeping an ethical core. And to me, this situation is perfect for showing how flexible the house leadership — the Democratic Leadership — will be to voters.
Maybe, yeah, media will misrepresent it. But the mainstream isn’t the target.
The people who keep voting Green are the target. the fools who keep saying both Parties are captured by corporate interest, are the target (just as they were with Beto’s non-PAC run).
We are unlikely to get the Trump folks back. That means we need to work hard to not only keep the folks who voted the mid-terms from a Progressive/throw the bums out POV, but grow their ranks.
IF Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez, either deliberately or by ego-driven accident, drove a narrative for those ears that boosts their interest in supporting the Party, well, nice to see someone can actually make Mark Penn’s microtargeting crap actually work. :)
Cheryl Rofer
@tobie:
As Jay pointed out, the audience includes the public, who will ultimately convince Republicans or vote them out.
As I pointed out, one step at a time. No one action will accomplish what you are asking.
chopper
@Martin:
maybe ocasio-cortez knows that the select committee existed and is likely to start again anyway, and is trying to take credit when it does. “look what i got pelosi to do!”
zhena gogolia
@Mezz:
Wonderful, thanks.
Jay
@tobie:
“But how hasv today’s action managed to convince any Republican to join the effort to address climate change? ”
That wasn’t the purpose of the protest, and you are never going to see ReThug’s “act” on Climate Change.
While you might see ReThug’s “act” on Impeachment, that’s only because it will be an “us or him” Sophies Choice for them.
Until the ReThug Party is either destroyed and replaced, Democrats are going to have to do all the heavy lifting of good governance alone.
If the ReThug Party survives, it’s not going to be “reclaimed” by the Never Trumps, it’s going to descend into full bore Nazi.
tobie
@piratedan: I am yet to be convinced of AOC’s bona fides on this point. Climate change is a relatively new issue for her. I don’t recall it being on her checklist of goals candidates had to support to earn her endorsement. It’s great she now feels it’s the single greatest threat facing the world. I hope shell take some time to study the issue so she can speak with authority about the bench marks we should be setting in the next few years.
tam1MI
Ocasio-Cortez is going to end up being our side’s Ted Cruz.
tobie
@Cheryl Rofer: I don’t think we’re going to agree in her goals today or her powers of persuasion. That’s fine. All I can say is that if this issue is really her passion, she’d be wise to team up with Al Gore. His knowledge of climate change and her legislative position would make a wonderful combo.
piratedan
@tobie: same here tobie, and tbf, I am wary of her to a certain degree based on her political associations in the past, but just like in 2008, when Obama came in and Pelosi worked extensively with him and Reid to try and unfuck the country after W, Pelosi appeared to have a great handle on what she could manage to wrangle, even if the splinter group du juor that time were the now decimated Blue Dogs.
Now, as I mentioned before, it could very well mean that AOC has to talk with Pelosi to determine who she is because lets face it, on one hand we have the media caricature of her and we have the 2008-2010 track record of what got done the last time that the Dems held all three legislative chambers. Now while I fully believe that Wilmer doesn’t believe that his own shit doesn’t stink, AOC is young enough and perhaps savvy enough to have to be shown how things really work and how things really are… and once the new Congress is sworn in, we’ll see if she’s a squeaky wheel that needs to be greased, or ready to take point on a lot of lefty positions and draw fire or if she’s simply a spanner tosser.
I’m willing to wait and see how actions unfold… and take everything said about her and Pelosi with a huge amount of skepticism because the Media adores the Dems in dissaray theme nearly as much as a horse race… my gawd, they even go into policy nuance when Dems actually start making policy again.
Roger Moore
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I think we could do with some boring. Yes, politics junkies love the drama, but plenty of ordinary voters would love it if politics went back to being something they could ignore most of the time. There was a reason “No Drama” was considered a positive characteristic for Obama, and I think a candidate who could plausibly promise we were going back to low drama politics would attract a lot of middle of the road voters who are already tired of Trump’s all drama, all the time agenda.
Jay
@tobie:
“she’d be wise to team up with Al Gore.”
Nope. Al Gore is toxic. He’s been wingnutted half to death, even in the MSM.
If any Democrat want’s to tap into his knowledge and advice, they should only do so via highly secured covert communications.
artem1s
Hey if AOC can get on board with being used as a firebrand to start the conversation – I’m all for it. I loved the early days of the Obama administration when he would send Biden out to proclaim ‘this is a big fucking deal’. Biden would take all the heat for being out of control and O would step in as the adult and keep the conversation going. I think the Dems do this a lot better than anyone gives them credit for. Pelosi, Cummings and Lewis especially have played some great keep away with the GOP. Auntie Maxine is becoming a player too. As long as AOC doesn’t go full metal Wilmer on the Dems and Pelosi, I think she should get right in the mix. Just don’t use divisiveness for it’s own sake to keep your base riled up and pissed off all the time. You have to be willing to work with your colleagues or you are never going to sponsor any legislation that matters. No one wants to line up sponsors for bills that will never get passed. They only have so much capital and they aren’t going to spend it on someone who a self aggrandizing, self centered putz.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jay: …and he’s fat.
ruemara
@Mart: Let me carefully express to you how much you can fornicate yourself with a giant rusty pitchfork. Olds? I’m sitting here in my office with my eyes burning from smoke particulate. I can’t exercise much because the smoke is inside every building. I don’t have a thought about retirement or even possibly owning a living space IN MY LIFETIME, so that good life? That’s just been 40+ years of survival, Scout. We’re cramped in with each other because of COL, things are going to get worse because of climate change and you swan in to say we don’t care and that’s why we think AOC et al are vapid? Guess what, sunshine? We’ve been dealing with climate change longer than you think and have put in the work. If you think coming to yell at old people is going to get legislative and structural change to move faster, you are huffing more fumes than I am right now.
PJ
@eemom: All this concern-trolling about a first term Congresswoman who is, heaven forbid, vocal about the changes this country needs to make and who is, as far as I can tell, on the same-side of these issues as Pelosi.
MisterForkbeard
Still going through this thread, but while I think it’s possible AOC and Pelosi planned this out… I don’t think it particularly fits. The ‘adult’ view is more likely. AOC has a history of grandstanding actions at the expense of the larger party, and if they’d coordinated this together I think AOC wouldn’t have chosen to highlight a goal of… something Pelosi had already done.
Still possible, and I think AOC has her heart in the right place. But I’m worried she’ll be a young, attractive Bernie: Someone whose principal method of getting airtime is to criticize her allies. To her credit, she did a good job of working with Pelosi and showing respect here but I do think it was a dumb move.
Emma
@Mart: Liberal olds have been fighting this battle for decades. Maybe you progressive youngs should look back and notice?
Jay
@Roger Moore:
No Drama’s never coming back, or didn’t you see the antic’s of the ReThug campaigns during the Midterms, or the recounts, or anything else the past two weeks.
The Rethug Party has gone Full Metal Trump and the Media’s become addicted to clickbait cut with fentanol.
If the Democratic Party doesn’t gin up a little drama, they are going to disappear from sight just like they did from the Talking Heads Shows.
Chris Johnson
@piratedan:
That is literally a Russian op. And has been going on for QUITE a few years. And ain’t stopping anytime soon.
At this point I’m extremely suspicious of anyone who’s flying off the handle against Ocasio OR Pelosi. We all have our place in a resurgent party where experience allies with the passion of the young to rapidly and EFFECTIVELY undo the damage years of treason and enemy action has done.
Check your friends and your media sources. Try to stay level headed. There are shitloads of helpful trollskis all over the place as that’s been proven to be insanely effective, and they are not pushing ‘a narrative’. They are pushing ALL the possible narratives that lead to infighting and despair. I’m fed up with it.
Yutsano
@ruemara: …
Anyone else need a cigarette?
maryQ
@kindness: I thought she lived in Yorktown Heights. If not, then it’s my mistake, and I will think of another nickname to express my disdain for her.
Jay
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Is he?
The ugly reality about the State of the Union is if any Democrat taps into Al Gore’s knowlege and expertise about Climate Change,
the story is going to be “Al Gore!!!!!!!!!!!!!” clickbait.
The ReThugs, wingnuttia, Faux, Alex Jones and the MSM have all colluded to make certain Democrat’s “toxic” not only in ‘Murika, but inside some ranks of the Democratic Party.
Just look at all the handwringing on display here.
And yet, for the first time in 662 days, Democratic Party policies, made the news.
Emma
Am I the only middle aged woman here who’s getting a whiff of the “sit back and just follow instructions from us REAL LIBERALS” perfume here? Because I am done being polite. Fair warning.
maryQ
@lamh36: Also, Anthony Weiner.
Emma
And we allow it because we’re cowards. Something to say about Repubs. They stand by their garbage, especially when they know they’re garbage. No abject apologizing or disappearing people Democrats dislike.
Sorry. the link went pfft. This is about Al Gore.
Frankensteinbeck
@TenguPhule:
Pence says what he was told to say. He does not improvise. He recites his talking point, no matter how obvious it is that talking point isn’t true, with no sign of whether or not he knows it’s true or even what’s coming out of his mouth. He’s like a robot in that fashion.
Jay
@Emma:
It’s not because Democrats are cowards.
ReThugs have institutional advantages.
They have a vast and broad array of Media arms willing to lie and gin up fear, anger and hatred, and a sevile cowering MSM willing to chase after Still Dead Briebart’s balls in the hopes of licking them.
They have a base steeped in racism, bigotry, tribalism, fear, anger and resentment that they have nurtured for decades with dogwhistles and code to the point that now they can say the quiet parts out loud.
They have so instilled tribalism with the aid of the God Botherers and Foetus Fondlers that no ReThug cares if a ReThug is a violent, serial gang rapist, they just care that he’s a ReThug.
And all this has spilled out into The State of The Union over the past 30 years and is see as “normal”.
Emma
@Jay: So we cower away and instead of being martyrs we become collaborators. Ugh.
different-church-lady
@Mart:
Welp, nice knowing you.
tobie
@Emma: I don’t know why we’re running away from Gore. He’s got real gravitas on this issue. I’ve heard him address the so-called YOUNGOs on climate change at the COP and they were absolutely riveted by him. Sometimes deep knowledge and genuine concern about something lead to their own kind of charisma.
different-church-lady
I’m confused: is Nancy Pelosi standing in the way of doing something about climate change?
Bruno
I would accept a deal to give Donald Trump absolute power for the rest of his life with the one stipulation that he must abide by a strict and militant greenhouse reduction program with the threat of nuclear annihilation for all countries that do not do the same. I think Pelosi should offer him this and together they should imprison all judges who might stand in the way. That is how important it is to act now.
Jay
@Emma:
No, you use your knowledge of the ReThug’s institutional advantages to govern your tactics and strategies.
Instead of the infighting seen here today, you don’t “hot take” the AOC/Pelosi “thing”, you celibrate that for a brief, shining moment, the excretable MSM had to actually mention a Democratic Policy and Agenda.
Consult with Al Gore on Climate Change, or Hillary Clinton on Heathcare all you want. Just do it via secure communications or covert meetings and don’t ever mention it.
When you have the House, Senate and the White House again, ( after it’s been fumigated and the child sex dungeons have been removed), make the structural changes needed and permanent.
MisterForkbeard
@tobie: I mean, even South Park recently ‘apologized’ for going after Gore and Climate Change. I think the country has somewhat come around on Gore. That said, the wingnuts (and to a lesser extent the general media) still talk about “earth tones” and other nonsense whenever he comes up.
It’s another case of the conservative/media establishment getting a narrative and not changing it despite the country moving on. If Gore came up again in a big public way, I think the media might reconsider him once they’re humiliated on twitter and social media… but the conservatives will never change their mind, and they can exert a lot of pressure on the media.
dr. bloor .
@different-church-lady: Nah. We’re just in the silly season before the natural order of things reasserts itself in the House heirarchy, and Schiff and Cummings start going all medieval on Trump and his toadies.
Emma
@Jay: No. No. NO DAMMIT. What kind of people does it make us that we don’t have the guts to defend the good guys? Look at Bill Clinton. If he had had the gonads to tell Ken Starr to take a long jump off a short pier and then turned to the country and said “my private life is none of your business. My wife has already said and done what she needed and wanted, as have relatives and friends. Yes, I screwed up. Shall we find out how many of my Republican accusers are hiding something themselves?” we wouldn’t be in this mess.
Dan B
@ruemara: I’m with you on this. There are some good small minority led environmental orgs. Even they put out murky PR. They’re prone to be seen as attacking orgs that are allies, but privileged and ignorant of minority group needs. The mainline enviros have decent access to the levers of power. The minority led enviro groups get steamrolled or ignored by the mainline and the fossil fuel corporations take advantage of the disarray, or just ignore both camps.
There mat be some PR benefits from this demonstration but I’d rather have some productive strategy and issue discussions at this point
dr. bloor
@Emma: Bill Clinton was not a “good guy” in this particular respect. He was an extremely smart, talented politician whose foibles led him to step on his dick repeatedly over the years, never more so than in L’Affaire Lewinsky. Playing the Trump card of “deny everything, come at me asshole” wouldn’t have prevented this mess, it would have normalized the pathology.
pka
@Mart: Stupid is a crisis in politics too. I prefer the Franken approach to being a newbie in Congress. So many interesting and impressive new people in Congress, but MSM is always focused on AOC and not for good reasons. So far she hasn’t done much harm and not much good, but having a “brave” contingent of Dems who oppose the old guard sounds unpleasantly like those brave GOP members like Jim Jordan et al. who believe in “principles” over sane governing. She’s young, hoping she learns the difference between effective publicity and personal political grandstanding.
Cheryl Rofer
I’m pleased to see Ocasio-Cortez take action and Pelosi make the best of it. Looks like win-win to me.
The Democratic Party is a big tent. It has to be, because the Republicans have withdrawn to all white men, all the time. So everyone else is potentially on the side of the Democrats. And they all deserve some wins.
If you can find a politician with a small ego, or who doesn’t want news coverage, please let me know!
Global warming is a big topic, with many specifics for different people to address. It’s possible and desirable to have both demonstrations and strategy and issue discussions. We can make progress at the state level during the next two years, but nationally, it will be a matter of educating people and making them enthusiastic, along with showing up the Republicans’ deficiencies.
I don’t claim to know what Pelosi or Ocasio-Cortez was thinking today. I looked at the events and came up with an interpretation that gives both women credit for smart strategy and working together. And it’s the kind of thing I can sign on to. I’ve seen demonstrations accomplish a lot. Today’s was very small. Let’s build on it.
Jay
@Emma:
If Johnson had Nixon/Kissenger/Chennault charged and tried for treason, you also wouldn’t be in this mess.
If Al Gore get’s called to a House Commitee Hearing on Climate change, what do you think the FTFNYT is going to write and publish?
– a series of insightful and indepth analysis articles about his testimony, the Green Plan and how it will possibly slow Climate Change,
– or an article about Al Gore missteps, tinted by wingnuttia, the Insane Clown POSus’s twits, Maggie’s hot take du jour and a host of Friedman taxi driver op eds on how the Green Plan will destroy the taxi driver economy?
TenguPhule
@different-church-lady:
She is not. Which is why the argument “this protest is a good thing that highlights the issue!” doesn’t ring true to me.
Protesting to the very people trying to help solve the problem just doesn’t strike me as sound tactics, whatever anyone else might think.
Cheryl Rofer
Here’s one of the people the protest was aimed at.
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer:
Which is fine. But don’t make the mistake of assuming that’s what actually happened should evidence to the contrary appear. Its not a good idea to fall in love with your own narrative casuality if its not true.
L85NJGT
The Democrats just elected a bunch of suburban moderates. Somebody has to be the face of their wide eyed radicalism.
different-church-lady
@Emma:
He did say that.
I think he should have said, “I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinski. I wanted to. I tried to! But she wouldn’t have me!” And the whole country would have gone, “Pffh, well, yah…”
different-church-lady
@Cheryl Rofer: Why does he think Pelosi needs arguing with on this subject?
chris
@Cheryl Rofer: Yes, thank you.
Cheryl Rofer
@TenguPhule:
Exactly, TenguPhule, exactly.
Waynski
@kindness: As someone who grew up in Briarcliff and lived in Tarrytown for awhile, and also lived in Yonkers for a cup of coffee, I must concur with your geographic correction. The Bronx is not Westchester.
Dan B
@ruemara: Agree again. The message has been set and to change the message takes discipline and infrastructure. In the Dems case its going to take masses if people not just expensive Think Tanks.
On the other hand this is just one event so there may be as much opportunity as there is damage. Don’t ever waste a good crisis!
Cheryl Rofer
@different-church-lady:
That’s not what he said. He was using “arguing” in the sense of “advocating for.”
Politics is not primarily about people, although individuals bring their own strengths. The demonstration was held outside Pelosi’s office. That allowed her to appear graciously and say “Yes, I agree with you and here’s what I’m doing about it.” While stirring up enough excitement to get it into the news. Seems like a good thing to me.
Marcopolo
Whether or not this was planned as a good pol bad pol exercise, it is definitely what we need. I just want everyone to remember Obama telling folks they needed to make him do what he promised. In all honesty, we did not do that nearly enough for him.
This is not a bad thing! Once you are elected you move to DC and face all kinds of lobbying. Dare I say that even those folks who most work at keeping in touch w/ their constituents still wind up seeing their information/access bubbles shrink.
So more power to the activists. Just keep it cordial (which appears to be the case today), and remember to praise those electeds who do good stuff when they do it.
Last, but not least, it strikes me that folks kvetching about this aren’t giving nearly enough credit to Pelosi for pretty much taking any kind of situation & making the best of it.
geg6
@Cheryl Rofer:
That’s the stupidest take I’ve ever seen. They are “arguing” with someone who already agrees with them and has actually taken action, and will again, on their demandsl. What the hell are they arguing with her about? It’s counterproductive in that it heightens the exact narrative the GOP wants and that the media lap up like six years olds with a chocolate fountain. Maybe some factoids about climate change may slip in there, it will not be the story.
Jay
@TenguPhule:
It made the news, first time in 668 days that the MSM mentioned Democratic Party Policies.
Jay
@geg6:
It made the news. When’s the last time you saw that?
TenguPhule
@Jay: We’ll see how it goes.
geg6
@Jay:
Yeah, Dems in disarray over climate change. Yay!
Cheryl Rofer
@geg6: See my comment at #155.
Mnemosyne
@Marcopolo:
I have a hunch that Pelosi’s gracious and welcoming response was not what AOC was expecting, but that AOC had enough political sense to follow Pelosi’s lead.
If AOC is willing to learn how the game is played from a master (mistress?) like Pelosi, she’ll do well. If she gets too caught up in her own press as an “insurgent,” she’ll crash and burn.
WaterGirl
@Humdog: Maybe we need an BJ office pool for when and who will be the first media person to say the words “cat fight” with regard to Pelosi and OC.
edit: maybe we should open it up to more than just “cat fight” and include all the obvious sexist word choices.
Captain C
@TenguPhule: cf. Wilmer
TenguPhule
@Marcopolo:
I give her full credit for it. I merely object to the idea this was all planned out ahead of time.
different-church-lady
@Cheryl Rofer: And he thinks Pelosi needs to be lobbied why?
ETA: I’ve just read the CBS article about this, and I think it’s a semantic thing: this is being called a protest when it’s really a demonstration. They are not synonyms.
Citizen_X
@Gretchen:
You know what you call that kid after last Tuesday? Congresswoman-elect.
Jesus, people, if you’re going to complain—rightly—about Pelosi being disrespected, you need to show a little respect for a new Congresswoman.
Oh, but she was grandstanding! Hey, you know what that’s called? POLITICS.
Cheryl Rofer
@different-church-lady: Not lobbying Pelosi. I agree it’s a demonstration. And I’ll repeat what I said earlier.
Jay
@geg6:
You need to step away from the winger sites. The news coverage of the actual event were quite evenhanded.
There’s way more slagging and disarray in this comment thread.
Emma
@Jay: maybe it’s time to treat the press the same way Republicans do. Look you’re never going to convince me and I’m never going to convince, so let’s call it a day.
Felanius Kootea
@maryQ: You are absolutely correct; Ocasio-Cortez lived in Yorktown Heights for a while and then after her father died, the family lost their home in Yorktown Heights and moved back to the Bronx, where she was born. Yorktown Heights is very much in Westchester County.
By the way, I agree with Cheryl’s take on this. The media focus on Trump 24/7. If Ocasio-Cortez gets them to focus on Democratic priorities and she gets young people excited in the bargain, so much the better.
schrodingers_cat
From everyone’s favorite newspaper, the epitome of respectability.
Emma
@schrodingers_cat: AAAAND that’s all folks!
Felanius Kootea
@schrodingers_cat: Heheheh – they really just regurgitate the same tired old crap. They are the paper of the “socially liberal, fiscally conservative” wing of the Republican party, which is now facing extinction, and bashing Dems is what they do best. But I think Cheryl is on to something and I believe Ocasio-Cortez is not as clueless as many seem to think. If she gets young people to pay attention and understand that one party is actually doing the things they want and the other is … not, that’s a win for us. Her voters don’t read the New York Times.
vitaminC
@ruemara: And look how far you’ve gotten!
…
Or, maybe you could take an opportunity when you see it. I’m hearing “Green New Deal” over and over now, which seems to be a new phrase… at least in terms of media coverage. Not sure how that came about.
3am
I don’t know if anyone will see this. I tried to search the page for similar content, and didn’t see any mention of “parents’.
But let me say: if anyone things that young people are the primary constituency for global warming, that is wrong. Woke parents are fucking tigers. It’s like gun rights risk, but with morbid certainty in the outcome. They are killing our children. It is one thing to harm or kill me, but it is entirely another to hurt my kid.
Cheryl Rofer
@3am: Good points!