US "The Squad" Megathread - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib Derangement Syndrome

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I honestly only know about American politics from what I read on the Internet but since we all love shitting on leftists I figured we'd get a kick out of this. Also it's trending on Twitter so you know it's important.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...irect=on&noredirect=on&utm_term=.960552c9ba53

NEW YORK — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old political novice running on a low budget and an unabashedly liberal platform, upset longtime U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley on Tuesday in the Democratic congressional primary in New York.

The surprise victory by the community organizer in a district that includes parts of the Bronx and Queens came after an energetic, grassroots campaign that mustered more than enough support in a low-turnout race that many had expected to be an easy win for Crowley, a member of the Democratic House leadership.

“The community is ready for a movement of economic and social justice. That is what we tried to deliver,” said Ocasio-Cortez, who has never held elected office and whose candidacy attracted only modest media attention.

She told The Associated Press after her victory that she didn’t have enough money to do polling in the race, but felt in her gut that her message had a chance to connect.

“I live in this community. I organized in this community. I felt the absence of the incumbent. I knew he didn’t have a strong presence,” she said.

Crowley has been in Congress since 1999 and hadn’t faced an opponent in a primary election since 2004, when Ocasio-Cortez was just a teenager. He was considered a candidate to become the next House speaker if Democrats win the majority.

“It’s not about me,” Crowley, 56, told his supporters at a campaign party following his loss. “It’s about America. I want nothing but the best for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. I want her to be victorious.”

He later played guitar with a band at the election night gathering, and dedicated the first song, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” to Ocasio-Cortez.

Crowley represents New York’s 14th Congressional District, where he is also the leader of the Queens Democratic party.

Ocasio-Cortez was outspent by an 18-1 margin during her race but won the endorsement of some influential groups on the party’s far left, including MoveOn, as well as the actress Cynthia Nixon, who is running for governor. She defeated Crowley by 15 percentage points.

Born in the Bronx to a mother from Puerto Rico and a father who died in 2008, Ocasio-Cortez said she decided to challenge Crowley to push a more progressive stance on economic and other issues.

She attended Boston University, where she earned degrees in economics and international relations, and also spent time working in the office of the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy.

After graduating, she returned to the Bronx where she became a community organizer. In the 2016 presidential campaign she worked for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Among her issues is expanding the Medicare program to people of all ages and abolishing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. She recently went to Tornillo, Texas, to protest against policies that have separated parents from their children at the southern U.S. border.

Ocasio-Cortez gained some internet attention for a campaign video called “The Courage to Change,” a two-minute spot for which she wrote the script and featured footage from her own home.

Crowley is chair of the House Democratic Caucus, the fourth-highest ranking position in Democratic leadership in that chamber of Congress.

His loss drew the attention of President Donald Trump.

“Wow! Big Trump Hater Congressman Joe Crowley, who many expected was going to take Nancy Pelosi’s place, just LOST his primary election. In other words, he’s out! That is a big one that nobody saw happening. Perhaps he should have been nicer, and more respectful, to his President!” he tweeted.

The Republican candidate for the office, Anthony Pappas, is running unopposed and had no primary. Pappas teaches economics at St. John’s University.
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She was a Bernie campaigner, is supported by BLM, and wants to abolish Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Also this was in a solid-blue Congressional District so you know she's a shoo-in for next Congress.

But hey, we did get to see Trump laugh at Crowley on Twitter.
 
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Azovka said:
I’m still waiting to see how she plans on paying for universal healthcare. Perhaps she can meditate about it during her self-care slacking.
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Here's a few that many socialists would love to do.

Increase taxes for the rich, Wall Street taxes, carbon taxes, and something else I'm missing (it usually covers it for socialists).
 
Peak Millennial indeed. Why bother doing good when looking good gets you more social reward?
 
Exact reason I think I'm turning into an early onset doomer. Both generations I'm between (millennial and zoomer) are equally terrible and I just don't want to be part of the ultra-lazy generation, where you have to be anti-job and pro-welfare. Jesus, I want to be accomplished in my life, not be a dumbass.
 
good grief she's verbose. when a retail worker takes off you just see their name off the schedule the next X days.

"hey bill, taking some time off?"
"yeah, gonna go hiking in the mountains just a day away"
"cool, don't let a bear eat you" (insert local predator of your choice)

Working class vacations are just that for the most part, short, close to home and convenient. I can see her trying to bill her first trip to wherever tropical she goes as something for the everyman.
 
I like that it was at the same time she complained that “This blows my mind!” because the House Ethics rules prevent her from “even receiving a $100 gift card!”

She’s already mad, and somehow was unaware, that she can’t take bribes.
 
God, that article was redundant.

Also if she asked the actual working class about self-care tips, I guaran-fuckin'-tee you they aren't gonna say anything along the lines that she's thinking because she doesn't belong to the same class.

Too bad she can't just manage her time better and practise 'self care' tips while actually doing stuff. No one's stopping you from trying to have a healthy lifestyle regardless of where you are.

Few things make her sound less relatable than when she's going off a list of hipster bourgeois activities then saying "this is what the AVERAGE person does!" like she knows.
 
Butta Face Lopez said:
I like that it was at the same time she complained that “This blows my mind!” because the House Ethics rules prevent her from “even receiving a $100 gift card!”

She’s already mad, and somehow was unaware, that she can’t take bribes.
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She's Maxine Waters part 2. I think she'll be able to avoid committing the most blatant sort of corruption which actually would land her in prison. But like Waters and other corrupt Congresscritters, she'll be topping the list of most corrupt politicians many, many times. For decades even, given her district is safely (D).

The Flawless Gazelles said:
so she is like a more successful brianna wu?
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Occasional-Cortex is Wu if Wu hooked up with a team of progressive activists and their billions instead of a Chinese paypig. Not being born into money helped her develop the slightest bit of work ethic.
 
DrunkJoe said:
Yeah she actually won her race, some how.
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Because the guy who she usurped didn't think he'd need to campaign. Also notice it's in some faggy part of NYC (faggier than the usua fagfest that is NYC) and not something on a national level of campaigning like say president? She'd get her shit pushed in if she ran for prez. I am aware she's way under age to run but I hope the dems are stupid enough to run here when she hits 35. Her track record in congress will help bury her.

She's not only a commie, she's a woman. That's like being hit with the retard stick twice.
 
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/18/ocasio-cortez-hakeem-jeffries-2020-primary-1067107

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Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is eyeing a new member of House Democratic leadership as a 2020 primary target: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).

Ocasio-Cortez, who ousted House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley earlier this year in a shocking primary victory, put colleagues on notice for future primaries just days after the November election, telling a livestream audience that she and an allied group, Justice Democrats, would keep working together to boost anti-incumbent challengers — though she didn’t name names. But a person who has discussed the project with Ocasio-Cortez and her team said the congresswoman-elect has recruited an African-American woman to challenge Jeffries, who was just elected to replace Crowley as caucus chairman — the No. 5 House Democratic leadership position.

The person who spoke with Ocasio-Cortez and her team, who asked for anonymity to discuss a private conversation, called Jeffries the “highest priority” primary target of Ocasio-Cortez.

A second person with direct knowledge of Justice Democrats’ primary plans said the group is “looking” at Jeffries’ seat. Since Justice Democrats put out a call for potential targets, the group's supporters have singled out Jeffries as a member they would be “excited” to oppose. “We’re not going to shy away from New York,” the second person said.

Challenging Jeffries would open an audacious new front in Ocasio-Cortez’s efforts to steer the direction of the Democratic Party, pitting her and allies against a rising-star African-American Democrat seen by some as a potential future speaker of the House. It would also set off another intra-party New York City brawl — Jeffries’ Brooklyn district is just a few miles south of Ocasio-Cortez’s Bronx-and-Queens seat — that would peak just as Democrats hope to rally around a presidential nominee in mid-2020.

Jeffries has sparked the ire of Justice Democrats for several reasons. The group feels Jeffries takes too much money from corporate interests, a key litmus test, and is overly friendly with banking and pro-charter school interests. But Ocasio-Cortez is also unhappy that a campaign donation to her from Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) was allegedly used in a whisper campaign against Lee before her narrow loss to Jeffries in the recent race for Democratic caucus chair — a charge those allegedly involved have called a complete falsehood.

“It’s personal for Ocasio,” said the person who spoke with Ocasio-Cortez and her staff. "And she’s going to go all out to take him out.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s communications director denied that she had already recruited an anti-Jeffries candidate.

“We’re not looking at recruiting people to run campaigns, we’re looking at building a congressional staff," said Ocasio-Cortez spokesman Corbin Trent.

But when asked whether the congresswoman-elect is looking at Jeffries' seat, Trent said Ocasio-Cortez and her allies were "disappointed" with Jeffries after the caucus chair race.

“We’re disappointed in the way that the leadership elections went down, specifically that leadership election," said Trent. "We would have liked to have seen that be a more fair fight with less pressure."

Ocasio-Cortez tweeted late Tuesday that anonymous sources were spreading "claims containing false information" about her.

Jeffries had a brief response to a potential challenge: "It’s a free country and democracy is a beautiful thing.”

Jeffries — who, like Lee, is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and has A-ratings from a range of liberal organizations such as the ACLU and NAACP — also shrugged off questions about his ideological credentials.

"Spread love, it’s the Brooklyn way,” Jeffries said, quoting a lyric by famed East Coast rapper Notorious B.I.G., or Biggie Smalls, whom Jeffries saluted on the House floor last year.

Jeffries, a former state legislator who was first elected to Congress in 2012 after running an aggressive primary campaign against former Rep. Ed Towns, forcing him into retirement, represents a majority-black Brooklyn district that’s 23 percent white and 18 percent Latino. Voters there went against Ocasio-Cortez’s preferred candidates for governor and attorney general in 2018 primaries — Cynthia Nixon and Zephyr Teachout — instead backing Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Attorney General-elect Letitia James.

Jeffries has climbed the ranks of Congress while working across the aisle, and he is on the cusp of seeing the First Step Act, which he co-sponsored, become law. It would be the fourth bill he's shepherded through the House to be signed into law. The sweeping criminal justice reform measure is expected to pass the Senate this week after years of haggling in both chambers. It reforms prison sentencing, reducing the “three strikes” penalty for drug offenses and giving judges latitude to make exceptions to mandatory minimum guidelines.

Jeffries’ allies said he will be well-prepared to defend his seat — the former corporate lawyer for CBS and Viacom has more than $1 million on hand after the 2018 cycle, according to OpenSecrets.

"There is no one who knows their district better than Hakeem Jeffries," said Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.). "Hakeem is and will continue to work the district, and he will continue to win by large margins, so, ultimately, whoever primaries him will be wasting their time and their money."

Ocasio-Cortez and Justice Democrats are trying to organize better and earlier in primary target districts over the next two years, hoping to replicate the playbook Ocasio-Cortez used to beat Crowley. But Crowley’s district is different than the one Jeffries represents in a few ways. Ocasio-Cortez defeated Crowley during a low-turnout primary by securing a majority of young voters in fast-changing neighborhoods.

After her June primary win, Ocasio-Cortez put her new political muscle behind anti-incumbent candidates in several states, but while Rep.-elect Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) succeeded in Boston, challengers in Florida and Missouri were crushed by Reps. Stephanie Murphy and Lacy Clay.

New York City, where two other Democratic primary challengers held incumbents under 60 percent of the vote as Ocasio-Cortez won in 2018, could be particularly ripe ground for Ocasio-Cortez’s activism in 2020.

But Justice Democrats-backed primary challenges could sprout elsewhere around the country, too. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, a Blue Dog Democrat who in the past has won endorsements from the conservative Club for Growth and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is also on Justice Democrats’ early target list, according to the person with knowledge of the group’s plans.

Justice Democrats said that in 2020 it hopes to challenge more Democrats who, like Crowley, it considers too closely aligned with special interests and it says don’t demographically reflect districts that are minority-white.

“We’re going to double down on primary challenges and look at some of these white, male corporate Democrats similar to Joe Crowley," said Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats. "Many of these places are majority or plurality people-of-color districts that don’t demographically or policy-wise reflect the diverse working class communities they often serve.”

Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.), a leader of the moderate New Democrat Coalition, which has been a target of criticism for progressives, voiced frustrations with Ocasio-Cortez’s push to primary Democrats.

"This majority was made by New Dems and Blue Dogs,” Peters said, referring to a second Democratic caucus considered more centrist than the New Democrats. "It was not made by turning seats from blue to blue. It was made by those people who turned seats from red to blue. If we want to keep the majority, those are the people we should be listening to."

"We should not be listening to people who don’t represent tha
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Purge everyone right of Mao
 
Maxliam said:
Because the guy who she usurped didn't think he'd need to campaign. Also notice it's in some faggy part of NYC (faggier than the usua fagfest that is NYC) and not something on a national level of campaigning like say president? She'd get her shit pushed in if she ran for prez. I am aware she's way under age to run but I hope the dems are stupid enough to run here when she hits 35. Her track record in congress will help bury her.

She's not only a commie, she's a woman. That's like being hit with the exceptional individual stick twice.
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This bitch is not even in office yet and she thinks she's so hot shit she wants to start purging the party starting with the Number 5 ranking house Democrat because he didn't support her when she ran for congress.
 
JosephTX said:
This bitch is not even in office yet and she thinks she's so hot shit she wants to start purging the party starting with the Number 5 ranking house Democrat because he didn't support her when she ran for congress.
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Oh I love how the Democrats are so retarded with the way they go full on infighting with each other. The Simpsons joke that they can't lead really isn't a joke anymore, it's just the truth. The only reason Obama was elected was being half-nigger and McCain picking Caribou Barbie as his running mate. That and the recession hitting and people pissed that McCain was a rich white guy who married a rich bitch.

If it weren't for that shit show on the Republicans side, Obama may not have won...if he weren't half nig. Everyone was retarded about that like somehow one monkey being elected meant all monkeys were going to get their shit taken care of.
 
This is the woman we're supposed to feel bad because rent in DC is expensive?

I'm glad she's in the spotlight. Her entire existence is the best argument against socialism we've seen in a while.
 
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