Palate Cleanser: The Continuing Dust-up Between Pelosi and AOC (UPDATE ADDED)
[guest post by Dana]
I admit that I am having fun watching this train wreck in action. The writing was on the wall, now it’s happening, and I for one am not going to miss it!
After Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a not-nice accusation about Nancy Pelosi yesterday, Rep. Dan Crenshaw tweeted out a timely and informative bit of insight for the House Speaker to consider:
Yep. It’s true: players of identity politics inevitably eat their own.
Today, Pelosi answered questions about taking members to the woodshed and the continuing kerfuffle with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She stood beside her comments:
Asked about her ongoing spat with the New York lawmaker, Pelosi acknowledged how she recently addressed — “at the request of my members” — an “offensive tweet that came out of one of the member’s offices” that compared centrist Democrats to segregationists. That tweet was authored and then deleted by Ocasio-Cortez’ chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti.
Ed. Here is the deleted tweet via Washington Examiner:
“Our members took offense at that,” Pelosi said, claiming her comments received a positive response. “I addressed that.”
Ocasio-Cortez has since accused Pelosi of being “disrespectful” to several “newly elected women of color.” Pelosi repeatedly told reporters Thursday she wasn’t going to say anything else on the subject, but said she supports diversity in the caucus.
“I’ve said what I’m going to say…What I said in the caucus yesterday had an overwhelming response from my members. Because they know what the facts are and what we are responding to. We respect the value of every member of our caucus. The diversity of it all is a wonderful thing. Diversity is our strength. Unity is our power,” she said.
Right now, it doesn’t seem like a very unified group. Every day seems to bring yet another tear in the unity fabric. Consider that, just one day prior to Pelosi’s admonishment to members that they are to take their complaints directly to her, AOC did an interview with New York Radio Hour, wherein she asserted that Congress uses women of color as bargaining chips:
“When it comes to women of color in Congress, particularly the freshman, it’s that we both have encountered and represent communities that have been auctioned off and negotiated off for the last 20 years. And we’re over it,” Ocasio-Cortez said Tuesday.
“We see in these negotiations all the time— it’s like fighting for black communities or policies that help women. They’re bargaining chips. And they’re the first chips that are reached for in any legislative negotiations.”
Anyway, as I said the other day, this dust-up will play out publicly in the most passive-aggressive way imaginable. Pelosi knows this isn’t just about a mouthy freshman representative and her g-friends. It’s a struggle to regain control over her caucus in order to effectively set the course for her party in any number of upcoming elections and policy making.
Today, AOC stood by her comments regarding Pelosi but fell short of calling her a racist, saying she was only “pointing out a pattern”.
P.S. And if you think the centrist Blue Dogs took the hit with their tail between their legs, think again. Per NYT’s Jonathan Martin, this was from a mass mailing the group sent out:
UPDATE: It looks like some of AOC’s fellow members are none too happy with how she has been behaving. Congressional Black Caucus member Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay blasted AOC, her chief of staff and Justice Democrats in the Speaker’s Lobby:
“What a weak argument, because you can’t get your way and because you’re getting pushback you resort to using the race card? Unbelievable. That’s unbelievable to me,” Clay said. “I could care less. I could really care less. I agree with the Speaker. Four people, four votes out of 240 people, who cares.”
…“They’re missing the fact that we have a very thin margin of a majority that we’re operating under and apparently it doesn’t matter to Justice Democrats, they just want to get skins. They want to score points for whatever reason. But I find it juvenile, their tactics, I find their ignorance to be beyond belief about American history and about who are really segregationists. And so how dare they try to play the race card at this point, it shows you the weakness of their arguments.”
(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)
–Dana
Waiting for the eventual implosion.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/11/2019 @ 1:55 pmDemocratic National Convention in Milwaukee will go off like a bunker buster.
mg (8cbc69) — 7/11/2019 @ 2:10 pmyet the labour party under Jeremy Corbyn is essentially the same way, he’s like the Melvin belli character in the trek episode, the dems are being consumed with very little resistance, the tories are a pitiful lot, that idiot kim darroch is nominally representative of the mindset that sees iran as the one to trust, and the current administration, as the enemy
narciso (d1f714) — 7/11/2019 @ 2:20 pmDan Crenshaw is my spirit animal and I love how he artfully turns the table on the opposing side.
whembly (51f28e) — 7/11/2019 @ 2:20 pmI guess I’m a little too Machiavellian, but I can’t help thinking that this is all a bit of kabuki theater to make it appear the Democrats are fractured, in order to hide the agenda they’re passing.
Chuck Bartowski (bc1c71) — 7/11/2019 @ 2:21 pmthey’re both cannibals, one wants to consume your raw, the other wants to cook you,
https://www.caracaschronicles.com/2019/07/10/an-unraveling-nation-state/
narciso (d1f714) — 7/11/2019 @ 2:27 pmThe parable of the old woman and the snake. I know I reference this a lot, but it’s amazing how perfectly it fits so many situations of modern politics. Except of course in this view the old woman doesn’t rescue the snake because she feels sorry for it; she rescues the snake because she plans on using it against her enemies. Yet she still registers surprise on the day when the snake doubles-back and bites her.
JVW (54fd0b) — 7/11/2019 @ 2:27 pmChuck Bartowski,
I think Pelosi is clever enough for something like that and would see the benefit on such a ruse, but the Squad just don’t seem to play politics that way, nor do they seem like they have any inclination to do so.. They are seeped in their own earnestness and the belief in the righteousness of their cause(s).
Dana (bb0678) — 7/11/2019 @ 2:29 pmWake me when one of them leaves the Democratic party.
john (90b57c) — 7/11/2019 @ 2:38 pmBrown is the new orange.
Dave (55e817) — 7/11/2019 @ 2:39 pmgayle king is not young, just as deranged as the other crew,
https://pagesix.com/2019/07/10/cbs-holds-bizarre-pep-rally-for-staffers-amid-evening-news-shake-up/?_ga=2.30682431.1045899176.1562805341-763764044.1562805341
narciso (d1f714) — 7/11/2019 @ 2:41 pmJVW,
You’re right that your reference aptly and frequently speaks to modern politics. And that’s not a good sign.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/11/2019 @ 2:42 pmNo dog in this fight. https://greece.greekreporter.com/2019/07/11/first-known-homo-sapiens-outside-africa-was-greek/
That’s in Mani, my part of Greece.
nk (dbc370) — 7/11/2019 @ 2:47 pmPardon me while I enjoy my racial primogeniture.
Liam Neeson makes it plain who he favors in this kerfuffle…
https://youtu.be/fBW2i7Jbefw
Colonel Haiku (f2baf4) — 7/11/2019 @ 2:53 pmI have about 1000/24th Neanderthal DNA, which means your ancestors oppressed and unfairly competed against mine. I’m afraid reparations will be necessary.
You give me potato!
Dave (55e817) — 7/11/2019 @ 3:04 pmAOC now taking heat from fellow Dems unhappy with her mouthing off to Pelosi. This from Congressional Black Caucus member Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay:
Further, re AOC’s chief of staff who sent out the foul tweet (and later deleted):
Dana (bb0678) — 7/11/2019 @ 3:16 pmI like that the squad is out there hatin’ anda hatin’. It’s mask-off time for the Dems. They are inviting a crackdown. Like maybe some brave news reporter should investigate who exactly is Antifa. For a start.
Patricia (3363ec) — 7/11/2019 @ 3:17 pmdoes he listen to himself, this is the same carp, he’s been whining about for 20-30 years,
narciso (d1f714) — 7/11/2019 @ 3:22 pmnarciso, if you’re referring to Clay, a couple of things: He’s not just complaining. He’s saying it to her face. And he’s saying it in front of fellow members and in front of the media as well. It’s not just complaining. It’s a full on confrontation. More teeth.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/11/2019 @ 3:30 pmI agree, Patricia.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/11/2019 @ 3:33 pmDemocratic base is fed up with pelosi/clinton corporate democrats wall street stooges. Pelosi threatening democrat operatives if they help primary democrat corporate stooges. Pelosi is loathed by democrat base and pedophile clintons not far behind.
lany (8ae482) — 7/11/2019 @ 3:34 pmpedophile clintons
Evidence?
Dana (bb0678) — 7/11/2019 @ 3:37 pmIf Ocasio-Cortez wants to be taken seriously by her colleagues, she should fire her Chief of Staff, Chakrabarti, the guy who wrote the “segregationists” tweet. This is the same guy who was wearing a T-shirt with the image of Subhas Chandra Bose, a fascist/communist who allied with Hitler (and then Hirohito) in seeking Indian independence, so you can see where Mr. Chakrabarti’s sympathies lie. His sacking would send the appropriate message to the rest of the Democrat members.
Paul Montagu (fc91e5) — 7/11/2019 @ 4:59 pmHeh! The Black Caucus was not going to be happy about some Johnny-come-latelies appropriating “their” race card, just when they were doing so good with it, too.
nk (dbc370) — 7/11/2019 @ 5:04 pmHes her handler, part of the justice Democrats ponzu scheme
Narciso (0bfcbe) — 7/11/2019 @ 5:23 pmDana, that’s rich. If William Lacy Clay did not invent the race card, he perfected its use.
Gary Hoffman (7ec1de) — 7/11/2019 @ 5:47 pmCrenshaw’s tweet is the island of reality in a sea of madness.
harkin (58d012) — 7/11/2019 @ 5:59 pm23. Chakrabarti got her elected to Congress – he was 1 for 30 (supported 30 candidates, got one elected. She is not going to fire him him unless she determines that he is hopelessly bent on sabotaging her.
Getting elected to Congress at her age wasn’t easy, but it was easier than paying off her student loans, according to Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (as is presumably proven by the fact that she did one but not the other.)
Sammy Finkelman (8b217f) — 7/11/2019 @ 6:16 pmAOC should voice a strange new respect for Josh Hawley and the Blunts…get Clay Lacy’s district split 9 ways for ’22.
urbanleftbehind (c5ceb5) — 7/11/2019 @ 6:35 pmGary Hoffman,
Right. But I’m still loving all the drama, and Clay publicly confronting AOC ratchets it up a big notch. They all richly deserve each other.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/11/2019 @ 6:41 pmAlso, the fight is three-way: CBC, Pelosi and the more moderate old guard, and hard progressives, AOC and the Squad. Something’s gotta give.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/11/2019 @ 6:44 pmHow far left have they gone that they pretend a socialist like Pelosi is a moderate? This is just the usual socialist purges that have gone on since man decided he can use the government to enslave fellow man.
NJRob (9a51f4) — 7/11/2019 @ 7:07 pmRemember the story of jonah and the whale?
Narciso (0bfcbe) — 7/11/2019 @ 7:17 pmCrenshaw is of presidential timbre.
Some day…
Patricia (3363ec) — 7/11/2019 @ 7:51 pmRuh roh:
https://freebeacon.com/issues/steyer-invested-chinese-premiers-family-tax-haven-leak-reveals/
Narciso (0bfcbe) — 7/11/2019 @ 7:57 pmTrump ties made in China label reveals.
nk (dbc370) — 7/11/2019 @ 8:00 pmAOC and her flock of four have done more to help get Trump reelected than all of the republicans combined.
mg (8cbc69) — 7/12/2019 @ 2:51 amLany: pedophile clintons
22. Dana (bb0678) — 7/11/2019 @ 3:37 pm
Surely, there are some Russian trolls that are saying that. Don’t you remember Pizzagate?
This is actually one of the more common bits of disinformation promoted by Russian intelligence agencies. It was presumably Russian hackers who planted child pornography on the computer of former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky and started an investigation in the UK.
It was supposed to be a big thing in Belgium. (something real, but which there was an attempt to connect too many people to, not just as corrupt but as participants)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Dutroux
There are pedophiles all the place supposedly. And anything that might be a sign of corruption is really a pedophile ring. This is not the explanation of why anyone like that might be protected.
Sammy Finkelman (8b217f) — 7/12/2019 @ 8:35 amhttps://www.citizenfreepress.com/column-1/the-zombie-apocalypse-continues/
mg (8cbc69) — 7/12/2019 @ 10:34 amThe next AOC.
Are we going to blame everything on the russianss, like sorcha faal honestly
Narciso (0bfcbe) — 7/12/2019 @ 10:40 am