I’ll admit to having enjoyed the last several months of not writing about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Obviously, there are far more important things going on than what a radical in a deep-blue district says and does.
Unfortunately, I’ve got to break the glass and hit the red button regarding this latest incident. Because when one of the Democrat Party’s most high-profile figures appears to have a nervous breakdown at a town hall, it’s got to be discussed.
AOC was confronted by protesters while addressing a crowd on Wednesday evening, and things got very weird.
I’m not even sure what those people are protesting, and given this is Queens we are talking about, it’s just as likely they are mad at AOC for not being radical enough. Still, I feel confident in going out on a limb and suggesting that comically dancing to people singing about your need to be thrown out of office probably isn’t the best response. The entire point of a town hall is to show you are taking the concerns of your constituents seriously. Mocking them does the opposite.
Then there was this performance where AOC appears to devolve into an imitation of Rosie Perez.
Before that, AOC actually ran out of the room in the face of the protesters and hecklers. The room erupts in cheers after she leaves. The camera then shows her standing in a doorway with what appears to be her personal security before she emerges again.
It sure seems like AOC is a person who isn’t used to getting pushback. After all, she’s perhaps the most over-hyped and pampered politician in Washington, at least compared to what she contributes. Far from the working-class persona that she attempts to cling to, she’s settled in nicely among the elite.
Somewhat ironically, the only reason AOC was at that town hall to get heckled and jeered was that she skipped a debate with her general election opponent, Tina Forte.
I’m not going to pretend that Forte has any real shot at defeating the Democrat. The dynamics of the district make that nearly impossible. I will say that it’s interesting to see how underwhelming AOC is when she’s not in her “element” of magazine covers and friendly interviewers. She’s an actress and a very bad one at that. Her lust for power also means that she doesn’t have the guts to cast the purity votes someone like Bernie Sanders does to keep his supporters happy. She wants to be in leadership, and it shows.