The Day I Met Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
May 30, 2019 7:29 PM Subscribe
One year ago today, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez debuted her first campaign video online.
A week earlier, I was sitting across from AOC in a Queens diner for an interview. She had just qualified to be on the ballot in her race against one of the most powerful Democrats in the country. This was before anybody outside of her immediate community in New York City knew her name.
Fan Fare: Knock Down the House
A week earlier, I was sitting across from AOC in a Queens diner for an interview. She had just qualified to be on the ballot in her race against one of the most powerful Democrats in the country. This was before anybody outside of her immediate community in New York City knew her name.
Fan Fare: Knock Down the House
My favorite recent tweet of hers was her advertising a temporary return to bartending to increase awareness of a living wage.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:59 PM on May 30, 2019 [19 favorites]
(Previously:) The campaign video making its appearance in the MegaThread.
posted by miguelcervantes at 8:00 PM on May 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by miguelcervantes at 8:00 PM on May 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
I'm not crying rewatching her first campaign ad YOU'RE crying rewatching her first campaign ad
posted by WidgetAlley at 8:12 PM on May 30, 2019 [21 favorites]
posted by WidgetAlley at 8:12 PM on May 30, 2019 [21 favorites]
I was thinking about her while reading Robert Caro’s description of how LBJ hit the wall of seniority during his time in the House and realized that despite his incomparable savvy (from brownnosing to dirty tricks to genuine hard-knuckle work for his district), he would never gain real power until he vaulted himself out of there and into the Senate.
We will see what the future brings for AOC but from a purely political point of view, the amount of power she’s gathered to herself in less than a year as a House rookie is an unprecedented achievement in American politics. Whether you think her policies or tactics are good or bad, you can’t deny what she’s done.
posted by sallybrown at 8:19 PM on May 30, 2019 [32 favorites]
We will see what the future brings for AOC but from a purely political point of view, the amount of power she’s gathered to herself in less than a year as a House rookie is an unprecedented achievement in American politics. Whether you think her policies or tactics are good or bad, you can’t deny what she’s done.
posted by sallybrown at 8:19 PM on May 30, 2019 [32 favorites]
absolutely adore AOC; she's already got her three-letter acronym so I'm feeling pretty bullish about her inevitable presidency
posted by taquito sunrise at 9:29 PM on May 30, 2019 [17 favorites]
posted by taquito sunrise at 9:29 PM on May 30, 2019 [17 favorites]
has it only been a year? my goodness
posted by clockzero at 9:33 PM on May 30, 2019 [12 favorites]
posted by clockzero at 9:33 PM on May 30, 2019 [12 favorites]
I'm not AOC's primary demographic (I'm way older, male, left leaning but not a socialist) and I started out as supportive but skeptical.
She is so good. Her ability to lean into an attack and score a point for her policies off of it is just incredible. Compare it to say Ilhan Omar who yes, is treated unfairly, but comes out of her kerfuffles bloodied and other Democrats wanting to triangulate. That doesn't happen with AOC, and she pulls it off with an unsympathetic press. She makes it look easy but she is really a generational talent.
posted by mark k at 10:30 PM on May 30, 2019 [52 favorites]
She is so good. Her ability to lean into an attack and score a point for her policies off of it is just incredible. Compare it to say Ilhan Omar who yes, is treated unfairly, but comes out of her kerfuffles bloodied and other Democrats wanting to triangulate. That doesn't happen with AOC, and she pulls it off with an unsympathetic press. She makes it look easy but she is really a generational talent.
posted by mark k at 10:30 PM on May 30, 2019 [52 favorites]
She is just wonderful. May the Force be with her... always.
posted by Atom Collection at 10:56 PM on May 30, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by Atom Collection at 10:56 PM on May 30, 2019 [10 favorites]
She is an old school politician in some ways I don't think many people recognize - knows how to get people to work with her, knows how to make deals - work with other people both behind the scenes and out in front - knows how to make a speech and present herself as authentic (I'm not saying she isn't, I'm just saying that the knack of getting people to believe you're authentic is a distinct skill). Her ideology is essential to understanding her, but so is her pragmatism.
Pay attention to the way she interacted with the baby. That is classic old school politician.
posted by Peach at 4:19 AM on May 31, 2019 [21 favorites]
Pay attention to the way she interacted with the baby. That is classic old school politician.
posted by Peach at 4:19 AM on May 31, 2019 [21 favorites]
When she becomes US president there will be literal dancing in the streets. (And you may see me there if my creaky old knees permit.)
posted by pracowity at 4:24 AM on May 31, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by pracowity at 4:24 AM on May 31, 2019 [15 favorites]
I followed her on twitter after hearing of her primary win; what a small island of hope in the immense sea of shit that is our ideopolitical environment.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 6:28 AM on May 31, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 6:28 AM on May 31, 2019 [5 favorites]
A year ago, I was in my old stomping grounds of the Bronx for a visit, and I spotted one of her posters. I took note. An afternoon of walking around, and there were so many posters to see in the store windows of every mom and pop place. Someone had clearly done a lot of ground work. If she had an opponent, you wouldn't know it by street presence.
The poster stopped me dead in my tracks. Bold. Clear. Bilingual. Progressive with a hint of retro. Her face was on it. Relatable, but looking up and onwards to something else. I made the joke that I would vote for her on graphic design grounds alone. There was clearly something about her that set her apart. She clearly knew what she was doing. She was no ordinary candidate.
In the year since, there's been a steady stream of 'Can you believe..?' stories about AOC. And yes, I can believe. Stories about her hard work, her community engagement, her savviness -- it all came of confirmation of that first impression I had of her. She's good. She's very, very good. In the past year, every single one of her answers has been bang on right. There's no artifice or talking points. She always says the right thing, which while they may be spun or misrepresented, if you go to the original thing she said, they always make perfect sense because they come from a place of authenticity. She's the real deal, and that just can't be faked.
I don't know what the future holds for her. I hope for great things, both for herself and for ourselves. And I know that she has as good a shot as anyone.
And for me, all that came from a piece of paper taped on glass.
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:47 AM on May 31, 2019 [34 favorites]
The poster stopped me dead in my tracks. Bold. Clear. Bilingual. Progressive with a hint of retro. Her face was on it. Relatable, but looking up and onwards to something else. I made the joke that I would vote for her on graphic design grounds alone. There was clearly something about her that set her apart. She clearly knew what she was doing. She was no ordinary candidate.
In the year since, there's been a steady stream of 'Can you believe..?' stories about AOC. And yes, I can believe. Stories about her hard work, her community engagement, her savviness -- it all came of confirmation of that first impression I had of her. She's good. She's very, very good. In the past year, every single one of her answers has been bang on right. There's no artifice or talking points. She always says the right thing, which while they may be spun or misrepresented, if you go to the original thing she said, they always make perfect sense because they come from a place of authenticity. She's the real deal, and that just can't be faked.
I don't know what the future holds for her. I hope for great things, both for herself and for ourselves. And I know that she has as good a shot as anyone.
And for me, all that came from a piece of paper taped on glass.
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:47 AM on May 31, 2019 [34 favorites]
I'm still amused that the right wing outlet that dug the dance video up thought it would be a gotcha. "Why yes, I was young and attractive and danced for my college!"
posted by tavella at 8:14 AM on May 31, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by tavella at 8:14 AM on May 31, 2019 [11 favorites]
I had a chance to meet/interact with her when she was a guest where I work. She's intelligent, funny, charming, and very real. If something's really funny, she's not afraid to be bent over laughing like crazy. Having met more than my fair share of congresscritters/candidates/whatever, she ranks right there at the top of very appealing personalities. Given the choice between most of the older generation or members of her generation, I'll take the youngins any day. They just have a way with people. Charming and forthright. It's effective.
(Ilhan Omar, too. She was also great.)
posted by nevercalm at 8:49 AM on May 31, 2019 [9 favorites]
(Ilhan Omar, too. She was also great.)
posted by nevercalm at 8:49 AM on May 31, 2019 [9 favorites]
We will see what the future brings for AOC but from a purely political point of view, the amount of power she’s gathered to herself in less than a year as a House rookie is an unprecedented achievement in American politics. Whether you think her policies or tactics are good or bad, you can’t deny what she’s done.
Cuomo was, just this week, musing about being governor for life and i dont think its remotely likely to happen but in all honesty she was the only person i could think of who both could and would pose a real challenge.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:01 AM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
Cuomo was, just this week, musing about being governor for life and i dont think its remotely likely to happen but in all honesty she was the only person i could think of who both could and would pose a real challenge.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:01 AM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
As much as I wouldn't sniff at her making a presidential run, I'd like to see her replace Pelosi when Pelosi is ready to step down, and rebuild the national party.
posted by wotsac at 9:17 AM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by wotsac at 9:17 AM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
Cuomo is so deluded. I bet he broke up with Sandra Lee because he wants to run for President and doesn’t want to deal with Sandra Lee Food Network jokes.
posted by sallybrown at 9:20 AM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by sallybrown at 9:20 AM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
I'm still amused that the right wing outlet that dug the dance video up thought it would be a gotcha. "Why yes, I was young and attractive and danced for my college!"
Has anybody seen proof that this is true? I did a fair amount of google/wayback searching on the initial coverage and failed to find anyone thinking it was a gotcha. In the first 24 hours of the video's posting the only hate I could find was from the original anonymous twitter account that posted it, along with one other very similar anonymous twitter account. This was followed by a massive wave of "the right hates her!" articles but none of them (at least of the dozen I read) point to a specific instance of this.
Of course the right does hate her for sure, but what I'm interested in is the truthfulness of this line that the right thought the video was damaging, and perhaps posted it in the first place. I couldn't find any evidence of this in the time period between the video being posted and the media reaction. I waded through Breitbart comments and right wing forums too, no dice, they mostly were like "she sucks but who cares about this". I'd be happy to be proven wrong on this, it makes me feel like a conspiracy nut to think major newspapers are peddling falsehoods. It's possible my technique of google search by custom date range + delve through articles for a single reference to a hateful comment is insufficient.
posted by ilikemefi at 9:25 AM on May 31, 2019 [4 favorites]
Has anybody seen proof that this is true? I did a fair amount of google/wayback searching on the initial coverage and failed to find anyone thinking it was a gotcha. In the first 24 hours of the video's posting the only hate I could find was from the original anonymous twitter account that posted it, along with one other very similar anonymous twitter account. This was followed by a massive wave of "the right hates her!" articles but none of them (at least of the dozen I read) point to a specific instance of this.
Of course the right does hate her for sure, but what I'm interested in is the truthfulness of this line that the right thought the video was damaging, and perhaps posted it in the first place. I couldn't find any evidence of this in the time period between the video being posted and the media reaction. I waded through Breitbart comments and right wing forums too, no dice, they mostly were like "she sucks but who cares about this". I'd be happy to be proven wrong on this, it makes me feel like a conspiracy nut to think major newspapers are peddling falsehoods. It's possible my technique of google search by custom date range + delve through articles for a single reference to a hateful comment is insufficient.
posted by ilikemefi at 9:25 AM on May 31, 2019 [4 favorites]
Has anybody seen proof that this is true? I did a fair amount of google/wayback searching on the initial coverage and failed to find anyone thinking it was a gotcha.It definitely happened at the time, but mostly on Twitter and people deleted their retweets when it didn’t get traction. Some of the social media archives might have some records of that since it’s not uncommon to use fringe accounts as a trial balloon.
posted by adamsc at 9:34 AM on May 31, 2019 [4 favorites]
You could have saved yourself a lot of time if you had realized you answered your own question by quoting tavella, which only states that it was the Twitter account that thought it would be a gotcha.
posted by zombieflanders at 9:36 AM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by zombieflanders at 9:36 AM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
Also, if you want to actually know why someone thought it would be a gotcha, may I direct you to the entirety of conservative media's portrayal of AOC?
posted by zombieflanders at 9:39 AM on May 31, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 9:39 AM on May 31, 2019 [4 favorites]
I saw at least one article and accompanying tweet from a right wing outlet that was definitely trying to brand it as kooky at the time. Which eventually got deleted (at least the tweet) after it got ratio'd to the moon by mocking.
posted by tavella at 9:41 AM on May 31, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by tavella at 9:41 AM on May 31, 2019 [4 favorites]
Yeah it's possible it existed but never hit the archives. I first investigated this about 4 days after the video was posted, I imagine it's even harder now.
posted by ilikemefi at 9:44 AM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by ilikemefi at 9:44 AM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
That campaign video gave me chills. People vs. money!! They have the money, we have the people. YES. I'm not at all surprised that AOC's friends in Brooklyn made her campaign poster; the young women in my area who are crushing it politically have graphic design/social media/SEO skills (or connections) that make their campaigns that much more compelling and seamless. The less time candidates have to spend figuring out social media, or negotiating with their campaign manager about graphic design, the more time they have to devote to meeting people, knocking on doors, talking to constituents, and doing other valuable campaign work.
And this, from the article, is a perfect distillation of my love for AOC and my frustration with the rest of the party:
"From an individual standpoint, I believe I took her more seriously than other political observers did, in part because of my identity. Why would I, a young, working-class Latina, underestimate a young, working-class Latina? Take the fawning profiles and interviews with Democratic presidential candidates Beto O’Rourke and Pete Buttigieg. White men with connections to elite institutions are behind most of the coverage, the same white men obsessed with “electability.”".
posted by stellaluna at 10:04 AM on May 31, 2019 [9 favorites]
And this, from the article, is a perfect distillation of my love for AOC and my frustration with the rest of the party:
"From an individual standpoint, I believe I took her more seriously than other political observers did, in part because of my identity. Why would I, a young, working-class Latina, underestimate a young, working-class Latina? Take the fawning profiles and interviews with Democratic presidential candidates Beto O’Rourke and Pete Buttigieg. White men with connections to elite institutions are behind most of the coverage, the same white men obsessed with “electability.”".
posted by stellaluna at 10:04 AM on May 31, 2019 [9 favorites]
This post went from discussion and enthusiasm about AOC to debating the treatment of her by the right-wing misinformation machine super quick. That alone scores a point for them imo. Libs owned. What a waste of this fine blue real estate.
Anywho. I believe she's yet to endorse a presidential candidate which is interesting given her ties to the DSA and their endorsement of Sanders. I too feel torn only between Warren and Sanders. I like Warren more as a candidate and my only reservation is a desire to mainstream socialism even more. I wouldn't be surprised if AOCs endorsement is what guides mine and many other hands come primaries.
posted by avalonian at 10:43 AM on May 31, 2019 [5 favorites]
Anywho. I believe she's yet to endorse a presidential candidate which is interesting given her ties to the DSA and their endorsement of Sanders. I too feel torn only between Warren and Sanders. I like Warren more as a candidate and my only reservation is a desire to mainstream socialism even more. I wouldn't be surprised if AOCs endorsement is what guides mine and many other hands come primaries.
posted by avalonian at 10:43 AM on May 31, 2019 [5 favorites]
I believe she has said shes keeping her endorsements local for now, notably backing the amazingly awesome Caban for Queens in the DAs race.
She did do the video with Warren last week and has praised specific policy proposals by a number of candidates including Bernie, Booker, and Warren.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:48 AM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
She did do the video with Warren last week and has praised specific policy proposals by a number of candidates including Bernie, Booker, and Warren.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:48 AM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
Ted Cruz And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Team Up To Ban Lawmakers From Lobbying
posted by kliuless at 1:37 PM on May 31, 2019
posted by kliuless at 1:37 PM on May 31, 2019
AOC ran on abolishing ICE... has there been any progress on that?
When she becomes US president there will be literal dancing in the streets
Maybe in (certain parts of) the Bronx, but across the country, more have an unfavorable than favorable opinion of her.
posted by Noisy Pink Bubbles at 2:22 PM on May 31, 2019
When she becomes US president there will be literal dancing in the streets
Maybe in (certain parts of) the Bronx, but across the country, more have an unfavorable than favorable opinion of her.
posted by Noisy Pink Bubbles at 2:22 PM on May 31, 2019
Also, if you want to actually know why someone thought it would be a gotcha, may I direct you to the entirety of conservative media's portrayal of AOC?
I love it when they try to Gotcha! her because it usually means she's about to explain some very important but little-understood tax law etc. in a super comprehensible way & we all learn something.
posted by taquito sunrise at 4:22 PM on May 31, 2019
I love it when they try to Gotcha! her because it usually means she's about to explain some very important but little-understood tax law etc. in a super comprehensible way & we all learn something.
posted by taquito sunrise at 4:22 PM on May 31, 2019
AOC ran on abolishing ICE... has there been any progress on that?
Did you expect this to happen within her first five months in office?
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 4:50 PM on May 31, 2019 [9 favorites]
Did you expect this to happen within her first five months in office?
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 4:50 PM on May 31, 2019 [9 favorites]
I'd imagine the nationwide unfavourables is because, as a House member, she's been getting a lot of unfavourable national coverage from Fox. I'd imagine that her favourables would rise if she ran for something with more of a national profile, like a Senate seat.
posted by Merus at 5:52 PM on May 31, 2019
posted by Merus at 5:52 PM on May 31, 2019
Did you expect this to happen within her first five months in office?
No, I didn't expect her to successfully, single-handedly abolish ICE within her first five months in office, but I also would have expected her to make it a priority of her tenure in congress, since she ran on it.
posted by Noisy Pink Bubbles at 6:32 PM on May 31, 2019
No, I didn't expect her to successfully, single-handedly abolish ICE within her first five months in office, but I also would have expected her to make it a priority of her tenure in congress, since she ran on it.
posted by Noisy Pink Bubbles at 6:32 PM on May 31, 2019
“This is why I say that expanding the electorate is a more effective strategy than burning💰to win over a tiny slice of people.
It’s entitled to demand “vote blue no matter who” - no matter how “right” that is.
You HAVE to deliver a real platform that improves people’s lives.” @AOC
So the in-depth read of the Muller Report “like ten coven brothers movies crashing into each other” mentioned it was interrogation and questions by the freshmen house members like Katie Hill And AOC that opened up paths for prosecution and the next stage of stakes raising with disobeying court orders and the like ...
posted by The Whelk at 9:07 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
It’s entitled to demand “vote blue no matter who” - no matter how “right” that is.
You HAVE to deliver a real platform that improves people’s lives.” @AOC
So the in-depth read of the Muller Report “like ten coven brothers movies crashing into each other” mentioned it was interrogation and questions by the freshmen house members like Katie Hill And AOC that opened up paths for prosecution and the next stage of stakes raising with disobeying court orders and the like ...
posted by The Whelk at 9:07 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
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