Ocasio-Cortez Convention Snub Highlights Rift Among Democrats
The Twittersphere is resounding with condemnations of the Democratic Party from progressives irate over the fact that Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has been given a minuscule role in next week’s Democratic National Convention.
Ocasio-Cortez will have 60 seconds on Tuesday to share a pre-recorded message.
Meanwhile, coveted live speaking spots are going to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former presidential contender and former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg.
The convention begins Monday, nominally in Milwaukee but with speakers chiming in from all parts of the nation in a fully online convention that will officially nominate former Vice President Joe Biden as the party’s presidential candidate.
Ocasio-Cortez had been a strong supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont during the Democratic presidential primaries.
She used her Twitter account to tease her reaction and her comments, posting a poem by Benjamin Mays, the longtime president of Morehouse University in Atlanta who was a mentor to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., a Morehouse graduate.
“I only have a minute.
Sixty seconds in it.
Forced upon me, I did not choose it,
But I know that I must use it.
Give account if I abuse it.
Suffer, if I lose it.Only a tiny little minute,
But eternity is in it.”– Dr. Benjamin E. Mays
(and recited by Elijah Cummings) ? https://t.co/ul9CE7NriV— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 12, 2020
“I only have a minute. Sixty seconds in it. Forced upon me, I did not choose it, But I know that I must use it. Give account if I abuse it. Suffer, if I lose it. Only a tiny little minute, But eternity is in it,” she posted. As noted by Inc, the poem was the first floor speech in the House of Representatives given by the late Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland when his congressional career started in 1996.
But if Ocasio-Cortez was restrained, her followers on Twitter were not.
But Bill Clinton gets a featured speech? ?These people are not for us. You saw how secure your job was with your re-election blowout; you need to be more aggressive with them. I know you’re the future and all, but you should be the present too.
— ACAT (@EricRizzotti) August 12, 2020
What a slap to the Progressive wing. It’s a constant spite of us. They think we will cower and peter our. They are wrong. We ain’t going anywhere. With @AOC as our leader we’re just getting started. Now that the squad was re-elected we are ready to rumble in the halls of Congress
— offtherails (@Women2Dc) August 12, 2020
Progressive Democrats are like battered housewives in an abusive relationship, thinking that they can change their abuse if only they try harder.
— Café Smultronstället (@Multronstallet) August 13, 2020
If it was me, I’d use those 60 seconds to tell true progressives to abandon the democrats November 4. Tell them they can vote against Trump now if that’s their choice, but come November 4 to stop voting democrat because the democrat party is fundamentally broken.
— No More Black Lives Lost (@unicornflyers) August 13, 2020
Joining Ocasio-Cortez in Tuesday’s lineup will be former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, Schumer, former President Bill Clinton and Jill Biden, according to NPR.
Monday’s speakers will include Sanders, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (a Republican) and former first lady Michelle Obama.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Warren, former President Barack Obama and Sen. Kamala Harris of California, Biden’s running mate, will speak Wednesday.
Biden will speak Thursday, preceded by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Buttigieg, and members of the Biden family.
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