Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) fired back at Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on Tuesday after he criticized her performance as a member of Congress.
“I find it amusing when politicians try to diminish the seriousness of our policy work, movement organizing & grassroots fundraising to ‘she just tweets,’ as though ‘serious’ politics is only done by begging corporate CEOs for money through wax-sealed envelopes delivered by raven,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.
I find it amusing when politicians try to diminish the seriousness of our policy work, movement organizing & grassroots fundraising to “she just tweets,” as though “serious” politics is only done by begging corporate CEOs for money through wax-sealed envelopes delivered by raven
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 2, 2020
Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet came in response to a comment Manchin made in response to her trolling him on social media.
“I guess she put the dagger stare on me,” Manchin told The New York Times. “I don’t know the young lady — I really don’t. I never met her. I’m understanding she’s not that active with her bills or in committee. She’s more active on Twitter than anything else.”
The report noted that Manchin’s words constituted “a sharp insult” because in the U.S. Senate “legislative prowess is prized.”
According to Congress.gov, Ocasio-Cortez has not introduced a single bill as the primary sponsor that has become law. In fact, the furthest any of her bills have made it is to Floor Consideration and that was just one bill. She has cosponsored 11 bills that have become law.
Manchin, who is one of the few centrist Democrats in Washington, D.C., also criticized Ocasio-Cortez and her cohorts in an interview with Fox News this week.
“They’ll have to answer to the public,” Manchin told Fox News regarding what will happen if the Squad stonewalls compromise on coronavirus legislation. “We’ve come in a bipartisan, bicameral way to agree on $908 billion. Some will say it’s too much. Some will say it’s not enough. I don’t know how you please everybody but we found something that met the needs we think America has.”
Manchin further addressed his comments on Ocasio-Cortez, saying, “I don’t know the young lady. I really don’t. Maybe she’s a fine – I just don’t know her. I understand we have different political positions. And that’s fine.”
“She’s very astute in the social arena,” he continued. “But we just got to get something done. And I hope they recognize that. We’re helping everybody in her area, in every district, in every state.”
Manchin said that extreme proposals that have come from the far-left wing of the Democrat Party have “hurt the brand for sure.” Many Democrats blamed the progressives in the party for their stunning House loses last month.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) said, “We need to not ever use the word ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again. . . . We lost good members because of that. If we are classifying Tuesday as a success . . . we will get f—ing torn apart in 2022.”
The conflict between Manchin and Ocasio-Cortez began when Manchin wrote on Twitter last month: “Defund the police? Defund, my butt. I’m a proud West Virginia Democrat. We are the party of working men and women. We want to protect Americans’ jobs & healthcare. We do not have some crazy socialist agenda, and we do not believe in defunding the police.”
Ocasio-Cortez responded to his comments by posting a picture of herself glaring at Manchin during the 2019 State of the Union address.
https://t.co/4D4LVOyYhc pic.twitter.com/MwNIc41Szj
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 12, 2020