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.

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.
 
AOC talking about the shutdown while eating ice cream. This is trending on YouTube right now. Comments are full of people commending her for her intelligence and “how great of a role model” she is.
 
https://youtube.com/watch?v=2f4gMQd_9HsAOC talking about the shutdown while eating ice cream. This is trending on YouTube right now. Comments are full of people commending her for her intelligence and “how great of a role model” she is.
Christ, her staffers/press secretary are retarded if they didn't tell her how bad the optics are on this. Live streaming can actually be a valuable tool for legislators to build a rapport and connect with the public along with humanizing them. However, sitting during the longest government shut down to date, especially whilst casually eating ice cream is a terrible look.

Even if her staff couldn't talk her out of live streaming, (which fundamentally undermines the image she should be projecting; namely that she is working around the clock tirelessly fighting to protect the interests of her constituents, to get the unpaid Federal employees what they rightfully deserve, and to restore other governmental services some of people in her district rely on,) they should have at least made her do it in her office or at a desk in a professional looking environment, preferably staged with plenty of documents to make it appear she's actively doing things.
 
Christ, her staffers/press secretary are exceptional if they didn't tell her how bad the optics are on this. Live streaming can actually be a valuable tool for legislators to build a rapport and connect with the public along with humanizing them. However, sitting during the longest government shut down to date, especially whilst casually eating ice cream is a terrible look.

Even if her staff couldn't talk her out of live streaming, (which fundamentally undermines the image she should be projecting; namely that she is working around the clock tirelessly fighting to protect the interests of her constituents, to get the unpaid Federal employees what they rightfully deserve, and to restore other governmental services some of people in her district rely on,) they should have at least made her do it in her office or at a desk in a professional looking environment, preferably staged with plenty of documents to make it appear she's actively doing things.

It's at least a step up from her literally appearing on a Twitch.tv Donkey Kong 64 stream in terms of professionalism and optics.
 
"Steven Colbert is the voice of a generation! He's very fair and balanced!"

>> Eats ice cream with Democrats on camera like it's their first date.

God, how or why did Colbert gain the reputation that he is "anti-establishment"? He's a fucking shill.
 
"Steven Colbert is the voice of a generation! He's very fair and balanced!"

>> Eats ice cream with Democrats on camera like it's their first date.

God, how or why did Colbert gain the reputation that he is "anti-establishment"? He's a fucking shill.
Because he actually used to be very entertaining when he was pretending to be a cuckservative (NOTE: Referring to those like Karl Rove and Bill Kristol)
 
"Steven Colbert is the voice of a generation! He's very fair and balanced!"

>> Eats ice cream with Democrats on camera like it's their first date.

God, how or why did Colbert gain the reputation that he is "anti-establishment"? He's a fucking shill.

Because he used to be. It's a sad memory but needs to be brought up, but he once roasted George W Bush directly to his face.
 
Man does this bimbo get a lot of press or what?

I see 15 year veteran pol who can't buy a mention in the MSM and this air head gets constant attention.

Gee, I wunder if they're grooming her for anything in particular?

And boy will they be disappointed when they find out her brand of krazy doesn't fly outside of the Twatter Bubble.
 
Roasting Dubya was about as establishment as it gets.


How many scoops?

I hate to defend Colbert, but at the time it really wasn't establishment to roast the president to his face (and it still isn't common today). It was basically a "fuck you" move to vocal comedians by the establishment to invite them to perform at the White House Correspondant's dinner (basically, "hey come say that shit to my face"). A lot of comics at the time talked about being invited and then not going because they were effectively scared (Colin Quinn and Lewis Black talk about it in some specials, for example) but Colbert decided he was going to do it and did it.

He's absurdly nervous and obviously bombs but was a pretty big deal at the time, it seems hum-drum now because other younger comics are trying to re-create that controversy (Michelle Wolf comes to mind).

Honestly - it makes it even more sad that a man that used to have something resembling balls has been reduced to this. Could you ever imagine George Carlin having a serious discussion about predatory banking on a TV show with someone named "Ketchup"?

EDIT
May as well post the video.
 
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http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019...?utm_source=tw&utm_campaign=nym&utm_medium=s1

Poll: Majority Backs AOC’s 70 Percent Top Marginal Tax Rate

Earlier this month, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went on national television and said that the United States should tax incomes above $10 million at a 70 percent rate.

In response, some centrist pundits pronounced the Democratic Party dead by political suicide: National Journalreporter Josh Kraushaar argued that, while congresswoman Rashida Tlaib’s profane call for Trump’s impeachment was getting more attention, Ocasio-Cortez “calling for a 70 percent tax rate on the nation’s most-watched news show a whole lot more politically damaging for Ds.”

There was never much evidence for this assessment. In public opinion polls, raising taxes on the rich consistently ranks as one of the most popular ideas in American politics. Moreover, political-science research suggests that the American people’s resentment of the wealthy is bitter and deep — and, in the not-too-distant past, Democrats succeeded in leveraging such resentment for political gain.

Meanwhile, as far as plans for class war go, Ocasio-Cortez’s was more “Jimmy Carter” than “Jacobin.” As recently as 1980, the U.S. taxed all incomes above $216,000 (or $658,213 in today’s dollars) at 70 percent rate. And recent research on optimal taxation has suggested that the ideal top marginal rate might be closer to 80 percent.

certain bloggers to describe the congresswoman’s idea as a “moderate policy.” And now, a new pollhas confirmed that such bloggers are, in fact, profoundly wise.

Over the weekend, pollsters from the Hill–HarrisX asked voters, “Would you favor or oppose a tax proposal that would apply a 70% rate to the 10 millionth dollar and beyond for individuals making $10 million a year or more in reportable income?” — and 59 percent said yes.

The idea was “popular in all regions of the country.” Southerners backed it by a 57-to-43 percent margin, while 56 percent of voters in rural zip codes agreed that the socialist congresswoman was onto something. Even 45 percent of self-identified Republicans approved.

There are reasonable critiques of Ocasio-Cortez’s tax plan (raising taxes on capital gains might be a more effective way of soaking the superrich; a confiscatory top marginal rate might prove impotent, absent a global war on tax havens; socializing the means of production, under the control of a workers’ state, might be a more technocratically efficacious means of reducing America’s Gini coefficient). But the notion that it’s “politically damaging for Ds” ain’t one.
 
Hot take:

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Source.
 
For some reason I'm reminded of Paris Hilton's Stop Being Poor shirt here.

About as much substance, anyway.
Thats not Fair! Paris never said she is a normal girl from the bronx.
I Liked her Unapologetic im-rich-deal-with-it-peasant attitude. thats how superrich heirs should act, i dotn want them to play poor people.
 
Thats not Fair! Paris never said she is a normal girl from the bronx.
I Liked her Unapologetic im-rich-deal-with-it-peasant attitude. thats how superrich heirs should act, i dotn want them to play poor people.

"Normal girl from the Bronx"

Honestly I would be surprised if she has ever been to the Bronx for real.
 
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