Democratic lawmaker unloads on Ocasio-Cortez, chief of staff for 'using the race card'

[mcar]

Democratic lawmaker unloads on Ocasio-Cortez, chief of staff for 'using the race card'
BY JONATHAN EASLEY - 07/11/19 03:21 PM EDT

Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) unloaded on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday for "using the race card” after Ocasio-Cortez accused Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) of being racially insensitive.

Clay, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, fumed at Ocasio-Cortez and the group of progressive lawmakers that includes Reps. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.).

“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.”...

“It shows you how weak their argument is when they have to resort and direct racist accusations toward Speaker Pelosi … it’s very disappointing to me,” Clay said.

The Missouri Democrat also described Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti and the progressive group Justice Democrats as “juvenile” and “ignorant.”

The Justice Democrats have endorsed a progressive primary challenger against Clay and other centrist Democrats. Chakrabarti last week sent out a tweet comparing centrist Democrats to "new Southern Democrats" that "certainly seem hell bent to do to black and brown people today what the old Southern Democrats did in the 40s."

“It shows you how ignorant and little history [Chakrabarti] knows, how ignorant he is to American history. How dare he,” Clay said.

“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.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/452671-democratic-lawmaker-unloads-on-ocasio-cortez-chief-of-staff-for-using-the-race

[Takket]

1. Was Clay present for the meeting Pelosi held

Literally today, about not handling disputes in the media?

[Autumn]

2. He must have missed it. I'm sure Nancy will take him to task for this. nt

[sheshe2]

9. ...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212265352

[pazzyanne]

14. Thank you for the link, sheshe2!

[sheshe2]

16. You are welcome pazzyanne!

[mcar]

23. This is revolting, she

Why isn't she fighting against Republicans?

[sheshe2]

24. Hmmm.

Good question, mcar. I will keep my thoughts to myself at this time.

[demmiblue]

6. It isn't ok, until it is.

And hypocrites will applaud.

[Cha]

101. I'm glad Rep Clay is speaking out.. I don't care how

he does it.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Autumn]

125. This seems to be a well coordinated attack on AOC. I'm not hearing anyone lecturing Clay

to go and talk to Nancy if he has a complaint about members.

[demmiblue]

126. I'm not really paying much attentionto this, tbh.

This came up on my Twitter timeline today, though:

Do you know this wasn’t a DM and that you are using the public face of house Democrats to engage in petty bullshit?

Who is this guy and why is he explicitly singling out a Native American woman of color?

Her name is Congresswoman Davids, not Sharice.

She is a phenomenal new member who flipped a red seat blue.

Keep👏🏾Her👏🏾Name👏🏾Out👏🏾Of👏🏾Your👏🏾Mouth.

Link to tweet

:sigh:

[bahrbearian]

7. Its OK because he didn't use Twitter

[Cha]

96. I say.. so what?.. This needs to be called out..

however the hell he wants to.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[moose65]

3. That is like nails on a chalkboard....

He "couldn't" care less! Not he "could" care less. Drives me batshit crazy!

[mcar]

4. I caught that too

Same reaction.

[Cha]

95. Rep Lacy Clay is absolutely correct...

however he puts it.

[cwydro]

5. Thank you, that drives me nuts too.

It makes no sense lol, but people say that all the time.

[superpatriotman]

11. This is from a learned man?

A lawmaker, no less?

Grammar school is called that for a reason.

[George II]

38. He's very well respected in his district AND the Democratic caucus....

....and that's your problem with him?

[Cha]

98. SMH.. the Grammer Police! Black Democratic Caucus!

[redstateblues]

76. The grammar police must have a full time job correcting grammar here on DU

[True Blue American]

105. Especially on me!:)

But, like Trump, I am actually a good speller.my fingers and IPad Spell check are my problem!

[Cha]

97. Your deflection isn't working for me.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Nancy's thinking about Winning the House Again in 2020..

[3Hotdogs]

12. Well, maybe he could care less. I don't know.

[reACTIONary]

20. Drives you crazy, but me...

... I couldn't care less.

[moose65]

40. Haha

I see what you did there 😆

[George II]

36. It's like "try and" instead of the correct "try to"

[sprinkleeninow]

75. That was a tad irksome to me also.

Add edit: Yes, but I have contributed to the Caucus a number of times so there's that.

[BeyondGeography]

8. Man goes overboard in response to man going overboard

What fun.

[gratuitous]

10. "We have a very thin margin of a majority"

A majority you didn't enjoy until quite recently, Mr. Clay. Those fresh-faced newcomers? They're representing a badly underserved constituency, one that hasn't had much of a voice in previous iterations of the Democratic caucus. Your "How dare he" lands on my ear as "Don't you know who I am?" which almost never impresses me. But for such an insignificant portion of your caucus, you seem far more upset with them than with anything folks like, say, Stephen King of Iowa have said or done in the past. Or Louie Gohmert. Or Virginia Foxx. Or a host of other folks on the other side of the aisle who have said and done far more egregious things than demand a voice for the neglected.

[mcar]

15. Most of the frsh-faced newcomers

are moderate Dems who won in conservative districts. They have a voice too.

AOC seems to spend more time slamming Democrats than she does Louie Gohmert and Virginia Foxxxx. Maybe she should focus on them.

[sprinkleeninow]

25. Howabout that virginia foxxxx...

😣

[moose65]

42. Ugh don't remind me

She’s not only my esteemed (gag) representative, but she lives about two miles from me. How lucky am I? 🙄

[sprinkleeninow]

74. Hope you don't hafta see her pie face ever in real time. Sheesh.

She has this self satisfaction about her.

Hay lady, wait till you're replaced with a Dem someday. We'll see how your 'aura' is then.

Been in office much too long. Every election she gets in again. Blech.

[moose65]

128. I've seen her a couple of times

She shops at the same grocery store as me, so I've seen her a few times. Also, one day I was driving home, glanced in my rear view mirror, and saw her right behind me, bearing down on me in some giant SUV. That was a scary image!

[sprinkleeninow]

129. Ooh, ow! She def scary! 😧

[True Blue American]

106. Do not remind me

Out of touch, granny posing with Trump! Ugh

[sprinkleeninow]

118. There you go. That's it.

She appears on the TV, I want to 🤤.

[George II]

39. Her Justice Democrats have already decided to put Cori Bush up against Lacy Clay again....

....next year in the primary. Clay defeated her 57% to 37% last year. I guess they're not going to build much on that 9% success rate of their endorsed candidates.

[mcar]

44. Just waste money and time

that could be spent fighting Republicans.

[shanny]

61. um...to be fair, so does Pelosi

she has harsher words for "the squad" than for the Democrats who tried to unseat her--what's up with that?

[mcar]

63. Um, no

Pelosi is far harder on Republicans, as she should be.

[shanny]

70. Contrast wasn't between "the squad" and Republicans

but rather "the squad" and the Democrats who tried to unseat her

so, um, yes...unless you have some evidence to back up your claim. Do you?

[reACTIONary]

84. Did any of those who tried to unseat her...

.... call her or any other Democrat part of the "child abuse caucus" ? Or assert that she is "racially insensitive"?

So what's up with that?

[mcar]

112. Or protest at her office?

[Cha]

99. Nancy is right.. AOC is Wrong on this..

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Nancy's thinking about Winning the House Again in 2020..

[True Blue American]

107. That guy is going against

The long time Black Caucus. His head will be handed to him on a platter.

[Cha]

108. You put that so nice

and succinctly, True Blue American.

As AOC's COS.. he did her no favors in the House and no favors with many Americans who see his tweet for what it is. Despicable.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[customerserviceguy]

83. Excellent point

The flipped seats essentially are all moderates who made Trump and his tax bill the issue last fall, in these predominantly suburban districts where the middle class residents pay way over $10K a year in state and local taxes. The GOP figures that the there's a decent chance that these voters will shift the blame from Trump to their local officials for needing that much money to run local government, and might well flip back to a Republican next year, even if they vote against Trump.

[mcar]

113. I would think they'd be susceptible to the "socialism" meme

that you know the Rs are going to try to tar them with.

They are representing their constituents. We need them to be reelected to keep the House. AOC and Co doesn't seem to get that basic fact.

[customerserviceguy]

117. Oh, yes

that will be trotted out against anyone we nominate.

My theory is that these suburban voters just wanted to send a message to Trump that they were displeased with the way the tax bill was written, but they're not normally inclined to vote Democratic. Everyone knows that a House seat is just for two years, and if they thought there was a chance that Trump would lose, they'd want a GOP House member to counter MFA, reparations, etc.

AOC and her little band of attention seekers are always seeing the good as the enemy of the perfect.

[leftstreet]

67. +1

[GulfCoast66]

77. Think again. All the loud progressives won safe seats.

2018 was a moderate victory where we switched seat that could easily switch back.

The speaker knows this as does the vast majority of her caucus.

Publicly cutting loose the few very progressive members and making them seem outside the mainstream of the party will not threaten our majority. Allowing them to become the face of the party does.

We have a more moderate house in the majority than we did in the minority. That will continue if we want to keep the majority.

I’m not making a value judgment. That’s just the way it is.

[gratuitous]

81. You're right

We should be completely and utterly satisfied with just staving off the worst of the Trump administration, and if he's replaced in the 2020 election, simply holding the point with where we are is as much as could possibly be hoped for another generation or two. Anyone who's been left behind or who isn't served by the status quo just needs to be patient. Maybe their grandchildren will realize a larger share of the American Dream, but that isn't for the present generation, and trying to hurry that process threatens our majority.

[GulfCoast66]

90. I get your point. But it makes no real point!

In fact, you tacitly admit where America is.

When I said I make no value judgment I was being honest.

I support Universal Healthcare today. Not Medicare for all but that would better than what we have now!

In fact, I support the entire Democratic Platform from 16, which was very progressive and I expect 20’s to be so as well. Hopefully more so.

I’m no socialist in that I don’t support government controlling business. But very few Americans support that.

But I am also realistic. Most Americans are to the right of me. Even most democrats. Seeing reality and tempering our goals is no dishonor as long as we don’t lose sight of our ultimate objective.

Look how long it took the Democratic Party to go from SS and such of FDR to Civil Rights, Medicare, Medicaid of LBJ! And not for lack of will! But lack of public support!

If we as a party run on things that will result in a loss, while honorable, will result in exactly nothing.

Don’t think for a minute that the pragmatist of the party don’t share your goals. We just realize it won’t be quick and if we are in the minority we will get nothing.

Americans want Normalcy right now. Not radical ideas. Give the Normalcy and the radical ideas will start to seem less radical.


We share the same general goals. Honorable people can disagree on how to get there.

[eilen]

109. Agreed 10BX nt

[House of Roberts]

13. Backbencher says wut?

4.7 followers on Twitter. That's a lot more than four votes. That's grassroots activists in the making.

[mcar]

17. Wait, you're using # of Twitter followers as an important metric?

I heard someone else bragging about his social media followers today.

[House of Roberts]

21. In this case, AOC's followers are a potential voting block that can swing some House races

to the challengers. If insurgent candidates like her really work hard, a number of Pelosi allies could lose their primaries. Of course, Pelosi herself won't be there too much longer anyway.

[mcar]

22. If AOC allies win primaries in districts like Clay's,

Republicans will win those districts. Do you really think an AOC type could win in a district that Dotard took?

We are a big tent for very good reasons.

[House of Roberts]

33. Well, they can't blow any more races than the DCCC has over the last ten years.

It took a total clusterfuck like Trump to get the majority back.

[JI7]

43. AOC endorsed candidate lost to Lacy Clay last year

[House of Roberts]

48. Last year very few people knew her.

She hadn't won her own race yet.

[True Blue American]

119. Didn't she and Bernie back the candidate?

he lost most of those he backed.

[Honeycombe8]

34. Yeah....there's tweeting (like Trump does). And there's doing the job, which is legislating.

Some of the new kids on the block don't seem to understand that they've graduated from cheerleading activism to legislating.

Legislating requires behind the scenes grunt work. You don't get on tv for it. You don't have much time to tweet. But that's what the job of a U S Representative is.

Cortez crossed a line when accusing her fellow Democrats and her leader of racism. How disruptive. And how bad for getting things done...which is what Cortez professes she wants to do (but which she actually has not done at all).

[mcar]

46. She sure did cross a line

They don't get that legislating is far more than social media.

[shanny]

62. wait: how many Democrats in the House voted against that bill?

Was it more than 4? If so (hint: it was), why is Pelosi focusing her ire on "the squad"?

[reACTIONary]

87. Because the Speaker was accused ...

Last edited Sat Jul 13, 2019, 11:48 AM - Edit history (1)

.... of being a racist and their allies accuse their fellow democrates of being a "child abuse caucus".

[shanny]

94. No they didn't.

Check your facts.

[reACTIONary]

121. For the topic of this thread....

.... I think the opening paragraph is good enough:

Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) unloaded on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday for "using the race card” after Ocasio-Cortez accused Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) of being racially insensitive.

As for the comment about the child abuse caucus,
Pocan is certainly ailed with them.

[George II]

41. How many of them will vote on legislation in the House? For that matter, how many of them....

....will vote in next year's 14th District Democratic Primary or General Election?

[House of Roberts]

45. Interesting question.

How many WON'T vote at all, unless there's an AOC to persuade them?

[George II]

47. How many are Democrats?

[House of Roberts]

50. None, until they have a reason to vote.

.

[George II]

58. The fact is, of those "4.7" (I assume you meant million) very few if any will be voting...

...for her in next year's elections and NONE will be voting for any legislation on the House floor. For that matter, we don't even know how many either aren't old enough to vote or are even Americans!

[eilen]

110. or for that matter, even people. nt

[mcar]

49. Any registered Democrat who doesn't vote in 2020

unless their vote is suppressed, has no business complaining about anything. This ongoing "be nice to me or I won't vote" threat is childish and immature. Voting is so much more than who excites you. We have an existential threat in the WH and Senate.

[House of Roberts]

55. Well, let's denigrate their favorite politicians, marginalize them, other them,

and see how many of them show up when it counts.

[mcar]

57. How about they grow up and realize that politics isn't about them?

It's about what can be done in the best interests of this country. I can't believe we're hearing this again, after 2016.

[House of Roberts]

65. Altruism?

That's your go-to message to get out the vote?

Good luck turning out the persuadables with that.

[mcar]

68. Good luck with defeating Dotard and McConnell with AOC's message

[redstateblues]

79. Sorry but some of AOCs antics are akin to carrying water for

The Republicans

[mcar]

114. +1

[George II]

71. "Denigrate their favorite politicians"? How do we know who their favorite politicians are...

....through twitter?

[House of Roberts]

88. That's just it.

YOU DON'T!

So why tempt fate? You could be alienating people we need now, and for the future.

[UniteFightBack]

82. Sounds like they need to grow the hell up then. nt

[House of Roberts]

91. You go tell them we don't want their vote, then,

until they grow up.

[George II]

73. She has 4.7 million followers, but only 14,500 likes. Obviously most of her followers don't like...

...what she's saying.

On the other hand, I have only 100 followers and 4,500 likes, most of my followers like what I'm saying. I have about 15,000 more likes per follower than she does.

See how twitter works?

[mcar]

115. Math for the win!

[Cha]

100. I don't care.. she's Wrong.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Nancy's thinking about Winning the House Again in 2020..

[maxrandb]

18. Does her Chief of Staff not know

That those "Southern Democrats from the 40s" are all Retrumplicans now?

What a fucking idiot. That's like blaming Democrats for the Strom Thurmond of the 90s

[mcar]

19. The rhetoric is disturbing, max

[True Blue American]

111. Doubtful!

If he is as young s AOC he needs a History lesson.

[ripcord]

26. AOC's Co'S needs to go

His comment was totally inappropriate

[mcar]

27. It really was

[LiberalFighter]

28. new Southern Democrats? What are they thinking?

Those Southern Democrats are the fringe right of the Republican Party. Don't know who these new Southern Democrats are they talk about but they need to focus on beating Republicans instead of Democrats.

[betsuni]

29. No wonder Justice Democrats believed all the Russian propaganda.

Always the victims of something or other.

[mcar]

51. Now we're getting the same old

if you're mean to us, we won't vote threats. Like they haven't learned anything from 2016 and don't really care that Dotard could be reelected because Democrats are "pure" enough.

[betsuni]

64. I think sometimes they wake up and realize that Republicans are the enemy

but then slide back into their ideology which demands they believe that the real reason Americans cannot get the progressive programs they want is because "you've got a Congress indebted to wealthy campaign contributors."

[mcar]

66. If only the "revolution" would start

Then they'd be happy. Not willing to even vote, but hey, they'll go on Twitter!

[betsuni]

80. Seems to me that voting is a heck of a lot less trouble than a revolution.

[mcar]

116. Yep

[Tarc]

30. The Pushback of the Entrenched begins

[warmfeet]

31. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez

is the future of our party.

Get on board. Or don't.

I am betting on LIBERALS.

[George II]

35. On what do you base that?

[beachbum bob]

59. US has never been a left-center country, ever..

If you think US is going to be a liberal outpost, gots lots to learn about those of us in the middle.

[shanny]

69. lol

it is right now, and has been for some time. I'll bet that left-center country even includes you.

The Economy
82 percent of Americans think wealthy people have too much power and influence in Washington.
<snip>
Inequality
82 percent of Americans think economic inequality is a “very big” (48 percent) or “moderately big” (34 percent) problem. Even 69 percent of Republicans share this view.
<snip>
Money in Politics
96 percent of Americans—including 96 percent of Republicans—believe money in politics is to blame for the dysfunction of the U.S. political system.
<snip>
Education
63 percent of registered voters—including 47 percent of Republicans—of Americans favor making four-year public colleges and universities tuition-free.

There's more at the link. On:
Taxes
Minimum Wage
Healthcare
Climate Change!
Gun Safety
Criminal Justice
Immigration!
Abortion & Women's Health
Same-Sex Marriage

Americans agree with the left* position, frequently by huge majorities.
"Few Americans call themselves “progressive,” or think they share similar views with citizens of social democracies like Canada, Denmark, and Germany. But on most major issues, Americans lean left. Although Trump, the corporate plutocracy, and the so-called alt-right may think otherwise, the United States is a more decent and democratic society than we give it credit for."


https://prospect.org/article/most-americans-are-liberal-even-if-they-don’t-know-it

*so at what point do these positions stop being far-left as opposed to middle of the road? Asking for a friend.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

104. thanks for that link! (corrected breakage)

https://prospect.org/article/most-americans-are-liberal-even-if-they-don't-know-it

[dem4decades]

60. I'd rather not have Republicans in power for 100 years till we get to your "future".

But if that's your plan, it's a bold one.

[shanny]

72. Don't worry: we don't have 100 years.

[Cha]

102. No.. We got the House in 2018 mostly

because of Moderates.

Insulting Dems is Not going to be the "future" of our party.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Nancy's thinking about Winning the House Again in 2020..

[George II]

32. If Nancy Pelosi was "singling out" those for because they are WOC, then why hasn't she...

..."singled out" Sharice Davids, Lauren Underwood, Lucy McBath or Jahana Hayes?

So I guess it's NOT that they're "WOC".

[mcar]

52. Good question

Maybe it's just some WOC, which renders AOC's ridiculous claim moot.

[George II]

54. It's not even that. People seem to forget that Nancy Pelosi is, gasp, a WOMAN!

[mcar]

56. Old, Turd Way, corporatist

Blah, blah, blah.

[UniteFightBack]

85. I guess because they don't run their mouth every hour of every day, that is the PATTERN. nt

[DeminPennswoods]

37. FTR, they were 4 No votes out of 95 Dem No votes

Pelosi made a decision that rather than go to conference with the Senate, she would accept the Senate bill. I can see why because of all the news reports of the horrendous conditions - which are a feature, not a bug - created by Trump's immigration policies. She wanted to make sure if money was the actual problem (imho, it isn't), that the funds were available and to take away that excuse.

But this was not a popular decision within her caucus as the Dem vote breakdown shows: only 129 (52%) supported it. Pelosi made a hard decision and tough call. That's her job as Speaker and leader of the majority. There was no need to get snippy at the freshmen who voted against it when many liberals like Jerry Nadler voted against the bill, too.

[mcar]

53. How many are taking to Twitter to attack fellow Democrats?

I get that it was a tough vote, but most members understand that sometimes votes are hard.

[questionseverything]

78. i feel like it was stupid to give trump that money with no oversight

isn't that what aoc is saying too?

[reACTIONary]

89. I think that what was said (tweeted) was...

that that those who voted for the bill are members of the "child abuse caucus". I think the follow on message was that the speaker is racist.

I'm not sure how that is going to help out.

[questionseverything]

92. i dont do twitter and i am not defending that kind of font

but I stand by my original thought that we should of demanded oversight on how this admin spent that money

[DeminPennswoods]

93. That was Marc Pocan

Here is the story from The Hill: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/450717-progressive-democrat-after-border-defeat-since-when-did-problem-solvers-become

Ahead of the scheduled vote, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), a leader of the Problem Solvers Caucus, reportedly told Pelosi the caucus had the votes to defeat a rule including additional language providing for the explicit protection of migrant children and cutting funds to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Center-right members signaled concerns that cuts to ICE could be used as attacks on Democratic candidates in future elections.

"That is terrible policy, terrible politics all around for many of these front-line members," a House aide told The Hill.

The caucus’s liberal wing argued that the specific language in the bill was necessary to ensure the emergency funds it authorizes are only put toward the care of migrant children.

"This is not a controversial or radical idea," Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) said earlier Thursday. "This is about our basic humanity and the responsibility we have for the children who are in our custody."

It really appears in this case, the "problem solvers" were the "problem makers". It's disconserting that some members are worried that cutting ICE, an agency all of America can now see is completely out of control, is going to doom their re-election chances.

[reACTIONary]

120. I think that their worries...

... are based on the reality of their political situation. For a Representative in the house "all of America" doesn't count for as much as "my constituents" do. They know their district and they have to act accordingly.

But as far as "all of America" is concerned, you may be underestimating the support that ICE has, and overestimating the concern.

[DeminPennswoods]

122. My reps is a Dem centrist, too, but last night

in a the area of his district that voted for Trump, there was a vigil (one of the nationwide ones) to protest what is being done, in our name, to other human beings at our southern border.

Sometimes you have to do what is right, consequences notwithstanding.

[reACTIONary]

124. I would say that, yes, sometimes you do ...

... have to do what is right. And sometimes voting for a bill that provides aid to the children being held on the Southern boarder IS the right thing to do.

Even if the bill isn't perfect.

By the way, my rep, Elijah Comings, is a member of the House Progressive Caucus. Not considered a centrist. He voted for the bill. I'm glad he did.

[DeminPennswoods]

127. Yes, sometimes you have a Hobson's choice

That's where Dems ended up. But the centrists created that Hobson's choice because they were afraid. I guess I have more faith in my fellow Americans than others do. I think when you can make a clear case for holding the CBP and ICE agents accountable because of what they purposely are doing, you should do so. I think Americans respect that. These reps are going to be attacked regardless of how they voted. My personal code is when faced with "da***d if you do and da***d if you don't", do what is right. But, YMMV.

[UniteFightBack]

86. I'd like to know why I can't leave a message for AOC at her office. Thought I called McConnell for

a minute.

[KG]

103. I lulz'd