Ocasio-Cortez Tweets Praise for McCain, Immediately Gets Slammed by Her Base
When Democratic Socialist and New York congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tried Saturday to span the political chasm that many of her left wing followers have helped to carve, she realized the full extent of the intolerance often directed of those who oppose liberals.
Ocasio-Cortez became the face of the far left after a stunning congressional primary upset in June that knocked off incumbent Democratic power broker and kingpin Joseph Crowley, whose name figured on many short lists as a possible replacement for Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The primary win was tantamount to election in the heavily Democratic New York City district from which Ocasio-Cortez hails.
On Saturday, she sent a message across the aisle after the death of Sen. John McCain, who, she knew as more than a name, thanks to a Washington internship, The Daily Wire reported.
“John McCain’s legacy represents an unparalleled example of human decency and American service. As an intern, I learned a lot about the power of humanity in government through his deep friendship with Sen. Kennedy. He meant so much, to so many. My prayers are with his family,” she wrote.
A torrent of liberal scorn followed her comments on the Arizona Republican.
https://twitter.com/nealmeyer/status/1033543221048221696
She is a bigger phony than I thought and that is saying something. https://t.co/r5iR4nC08O
— Margaret Kimberley (@freedomrideblog) August 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/ProleValis/status/1034138172953948160
However, it wasn’t all scorn. Some Twitter followers applauded Ocasio-Cortez’s effort, and slammed her critics.
I’m so confused why ppl are giving her a hard time about saying something nice. Does this negate everything Mr. McCain did wrong? Absolutely not but damn she’s not allowed to send her condolences? We really are awful as a country, in every crevice of every party, just horrible.
— Tanya ✨🏳️🌈 (@TEE1031) August 26, 2018
But the liberal commentariat lined up more with Ocasio-Cortez’s more liberal wing.
“McCain’s record does represent the views Ocasio-Cortez has defined herself, and the fight she’s leading, against – does that fight pause for R.I.P.s?” columnist Whitney Campbell wrote on Jezebel. The rest of the column made it clear that liberals do not recall McCain fondly.
In a column for The Socialist Call, Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders were both excoriated for making statements of sympathy after McCain died.
“When Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez issued condolences to the McCain family, it wasn’t terribly surprising. It’s one of those rituals that is expected of political leaders,” wrote Chicago Democratic Socialist Joe Allen.
“But that’s no excuse to say of America’s foremost warmonger, as AOC did, that he offers an ‘unparalleled example of human decency and American service.’ Or to extol him as an American hero, as Bernie did,” he added.
Allen wrote true socialists must criticize “American imperialism” at all times.
“Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez shirked that calling this weekend. That doesn’t mean we need to ruthlessly denounce or disassociate ourselves from them. Sanders for example has been one of the strongest opponents of US militarism in national politics,” he wrote.
“But as an organization we do need to remain critical when, under the pressure of capitalist politics, they willingly participate in poisonous national rituals that set back our work.”
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