I Supported AOC. Until Now.

She’s on a political race to the bottom.

I remember when Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez was elected. It was exciting; she was the underdog running against an establishment candidate who did not take his competitor seriously. She and I also shared the common background of having volunteered for Bernie Sanders. Having a millennial in Congress representing such a diverse part of the country would no doubt bode well for the future. Or so I thought.

But AOC is no longer the beacon of hope that I remember when she was elected in 2018. Just in the last week alone, she has shown herself as a self-absorbed mean girl…to other minorities.

I’ll save the anti-Jew example for last. Let’s start with her meanness towards other women of color from her own district.

Recently, the NYPD dance team performed on local TV news. To be frank, the dancing was not good…at all. They’re not exactly professional dancers. This segment never should have aired; it’s obvious to me that the people working at the PIX11 network knew that the only thing that would come from it would be ridicule (and probably only aired it for that reason). But I would not expect that ridicule to come from a member of Congress who claims to support female empowerment!

If we take her words at face value for a moment — what do school music programs run by the DoE have to do with NYPD sports teams? They’re two entirely different agencies. She dragged an entire group of policewomen participating in an extracurricular activity…for what? To make a shallow political point that doesn’t even make much sense to begin with?

Then just a few days after the drama above, she expressed this lunacy:

Let me start by saying that I have never been much of an AIPAC person because I do not believe that this organization represents mainstream American Jews very well. I probably would not have used the glib language that AIPAC did in its original Tweet and I probably would not have specifically directed it to the Squad because it effectively turns them into the perceived “victims” of [Jewish] cyberbullying.

Now that’s out of the way, it’s hard to know where to begin with AOC’s response. Obviously, AIPAC’s intention was to provoke her into spouting word vomit. They succeeded:

• She believes that referencing Hamas’s sexual assault against women (which she is calling “horrific rhetoric”) is a personal attack on her and her colleagues. I would imagine that someone who has experienced sexual assault understands the need to acknowledge the victims of it and to prevent it from reoccurring, no…?
• “Of course they don’t want a ceasefire.” They’re AIPAC — who ever said they did?
• Comparing AIPAC to the NRA is wrong because the NRA has no money. AIPAC is full of rich Jews. So I find that comparison highly offensive. =P But sarcastic humor aside…the NRA is about getting guns easily to Americans who mostly should not possess them. AIPAC is about Israel’s survival as a Jewish state. I would not say that they share similar goals. Just because both of these organizations have expressed they do not like her doesn’t make them the same.

I do not like calling out fellow progressives for bad behavior. But I call it as I see it. Whether she’s been spending too much time with her dumb friends of the Squad or is simply posting bombastic statements to gain attention on social media, she is neither representing herself nor her congressional district well at the moment.

I’m not going to yell “vote her out” because given the way the lines are drawn, that does not seem realistic. But I will say — AOC, please do better.