New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hasn’t done much to improve her image as a serious Democratic legislator lately. Whether she is showing off her dance moves, inciting panic over a climate change apocalypse, or sharing her destructive economic theories, the freshman congresswoman perpetually appears to be in over her head.
But if Ocasio-Cortez wants to be taken seriously outside of her home state of New York, she didn’t do herself any favors during a Monday appearance on CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. When Colbert asked the congresswoman how many f***s she gave about how senior Democrats think of her amateurish behavior, Ocasio-Cortez responded, “I think it’s zero.”
Not a care in the world
Colbert explained how his guest had alienated members of her own party. Indeed, the Bronx native has been criticized for attacking moderate Democrats and pushing a radical socialist agenda.
“I’m sure Ms. Cortez means well, but there’s almost an outstanding rule: Don’t attack your own people,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO). “We just don’t need sniping in our Democratic Caucus.”
Colbert accused the Democratic establishment of telling Ocasio-Cortez to “wait her turn” and “don’t make waves.”
“I want to ask this question in a respectful manner, knowing also that you’re from Queens, so you will understand this question,” Colbert said. “On a scale from zero to some, how many f***s do you give?”
Ocasio-Cortez pondered for a moment before answering with a laugh, “I think it’s zero.” Watch below:
Ocasio-Cortez claims that she did not say last night on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” that she gives “zero” f*cks about pushback from Democrats
Here’s the clip showing that’s what she said pic.twitter.com/WTQBTnyYpx
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 22, 2019
Blank slate
Zero is also the number of legislative accomplishments under Ocasio-Cortez’s belt while serving in a government that has effectively been shut down for her entire career. This explains why incumbent Democrats were upset to learn that the 29-year-old felt entitled to senior committee posts and has used her social media stardom to criticize the party’s platform.
“She needs to decide: Does she want to be an effective legislator or just continue being a Twitter star?” said a House Democrat whom Politico described as being “in lockstep with Ocasio Cortez’s ideology.” “There’s a difference between being an activist and a lawmaker in Congress,” the source said.
Instead of apologizing for participating in Colbert’s vulgar line of questioning, Ocasio-Cortez accused the media of racism. She even went after Politico, a left-wing online news outlet which has applauded the New Yorker’s radical brand of politics and helped to craft her celebrity.
I actually didn’t say this, so while I know “brown women cursing” drives clicks, maybe you accurately quote the whole exchange instead of manipulating people into thinking I said this sentence instead of just the word “zero.” https://t.co/MrXIbALNP3
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 22, 2019
In a shock to no one, @politico is also running with the misattribution as well.
Here’s what actually happened: I was asked a question on a late night show and answered with the word “zero.”https://t.co/soBEwGTSbd
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 22, 2019
Out of context?
If Ocasio-Cortez didn’t want her answer taken out of context, perhaps she should have answered the question in a manner that didn’t appear to fill in the blank for Mr. Colbert. She could have said, “I don’t care what my party thinks about my bombastic and often clueless rhetoric,” for instance.
Alternatively, she could have said, “None,” or any word other than the term which appropriately completed Colbert’s sentence. “Zero f***s” is a common slang term used to denote indifference.
Ocasio-Cortez joins a group of newly-minted Democratic lawmakers who have been branded “The Bad Girls’ Caucus.” The fact that the current Congress includes more women and more women of color than any previous set of federal lawmakers is a sure sign of progress for the country, but the radical politics which many of them espouse is a frightening and disappointing development.
When Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) disgraced her party by telling a group of progressive activists that she was going to go after President Trump and “impeach the motherf*****,” Ocasio-Cortez defended the comment. “I got your back,” she told Tlaib in a tweet.
For the novice legislator to pretend now that she is a lawmaker who values decorum and civility is completely at odds with her character. Ocasio-Cortez isn’t fooling anyone.
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