The right's obsession with AOC

[GMDino]

[GMDino]

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qvqeaq/the-right-wing-media-cant-quit-alexandria-ocasio-cortez

Quote:The headlines are starting to get to me. On Townhall, there’s “Brutal Fact Check: 'Four Pinocchios' for Ocasio-Cortez on Ludicrous Single-Payer Healthcare Claims.” Over at Twitchy: “People are wondering why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez isn’t getting the Dan Quayle treatment.” The slightly more respectable National Review warns, “AO-C Is Not A-OK.” Hannity.com reports, “CORTEZ: Renewable Energy Will Lead to ‘Economic, Social, Racial Justice’ in the USA.” The Independent Sentinel, a website that claims to “report the news the media won’t,” exhorts, “Alexandria O-Cortez Wants Her 'Green New Deal' to Morph Into Marxism.”

These are only a few of the articles you run into when you dedicate yourself to reading an entire day’s worth of right-wing coverage of incoming New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, probably the most viral politician to emerge from last month’s midterms. She hasn’t done anything particularly newsworthy in the past day—definitely not enough to warrant wall-to-wall stories—but she’s reached the point where everything she does, or doesn’t do, can inspire outrage and thinkpieces and clicks. Hence Twitchy’s odd postcomplaining about how no one compares to her former Vice President Dan Quayle, and Breitbart’s uncritical coverage of her pledge to pay her interns $15 an hour.


There are plenty of reasons that people can’t stop talking about Ocasio-Cortez—for a young progressive millennial like myself, her journey from New York City bartender to a political icon makes her a relatable beacon of hope in these dark political times. For the right, she’s alternately enraging and terrifying. A young outspoken Latina who proudly identifies as a Democratic Socialist and already has the sharpest social media presence in Congress, Ocasio-Cortez has become a full-blown right-wing media obsession. Per NewsWhip’s Jonathan Barnes: “Right leaning publishers have written over 10x the articles about @Ocasio2018than their counterparts on the left since June 2018. Engagement numbers are staggering also.”

To see what that coverage looked like in real time, I read as much right-wing AOC coverage as I could for 24 hours. On Wednesday, when I started this project, conservative outlets were particularly excited about a factual error in one of Ocasio-Cortez’s tweets—another excuse for an article about her, yipee! Driving this coverage was what Townhall called a “brutal fact check” on Ocasio-Cortez's following tweet about a very real scandal at the Pentagon:

But while the scandal was real, she flubbed some of the details. As theWashington Post explained, “the specific line about the missing $21 trillion comes from research by Mark Skidmore, an economics professor at Michigan State University.” The number actually refers to “the sum of all transactions—both inflows and outflows—for which the Defense Department did not have adequate documentation.” It’s a statistic that points to the Pentagon’s sloppy accounting practices, but it doesn't mean that the Defense Department wasted $21 trillion. Guy Benson, a Townhall contributor who was writing about Ocasio-Cortez for the second time this week, found this Post quote “devastating”:


[i]Let’s put $21 trillion in context. The entire national debt is $21.8 trillion. According to the Congressional Budget Office, total defense spending from 1998 to 2015 was nearly $9 trillion. The CBO estimates $7 trillion in defense spending from 2019 to 2028. In other words, completely defunding the military for the next decade would yield only one-fifth of $32 trillion. That’s a much better way of illustrating the cost of Medicare-for-All.[/i]

Benson concludes his post by imploring his conservative colleagues to “limit their criticisms to AOC's worst ideas” and “resist the temptation to empower her through superficial and petty mockery.” Considering Townhall has mentioned Ocasio-Cortez on their website tens of thousands of times, I’m not sure they’ll take his advice.


Along those lines, in Hannity.com’s piece on Ocasio-Cortez saying “100% renewable energy as the vehicle to truly deliver and establish economic, social, and racial justice in the United States of America,” the writer barely even criticizes her claim, calling her statement “bizarre” but not explaining why. In another Hannity.com post written hours later, the headline screams, “DOUBLE TROUBLE: Al Gore Says Ocasio-Cortez’ ‘Green New Deal’ Will Help ‘Create Jobs,’” which briefly details Gore’s support of the green new deal proposal without any criticism attached. It’s as if Hannity’s blog is so confident that its readers are against AOC that they’re beyond explaining why they think she’s bad. It also conveniently dodges the need to make an actual argument.

Fox Business, on the other hand, took a more aggressive stance. “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the face of Democratic socialism, and since her brain is as empty as the promises of unfettered statism I am absolutely fine with that,” Lisa Kennedy Montogomery wrote in an op-ed about the $21 trillion tweet blunder. “My problem isn't with how Ms. Ocasio-Cortez looks or what she wears or how she talks. It's that she's been thrown so many softballs that leftist interviewers are getting group rate Tommy John surgery.” This underscores how the intense focus on Ocasio-Cortez from the right isn’t particularly driven by what she says—though everything she says seems to generate at least one article—but something else. What is it about her that drives the right to distraction?

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Benson actually attempted to answer this question earlier this week, writing, “She wasn't randomly plucked from relative obscurity by right-wing writers or pundits for sport; she was elevated by a mainstream media that loves covering, and sympathizes with, rising liberal stars.” This is the “they started it” school of right-wing thought: Right-wing commentators realize they’re obsessed, but they blame their obsession on their lefty opponents.



What's going on here can be summed up in that old adage: “Haters make you famous.” Benson does make a salient point when he notes that Ocasio-Cortez “pays a fair amount of attention to her righty detractors,” which definitely fuels their infatuation.

The media in general, but specifically on the right, thrives on having an antagonist to denigrate. Before Ocasio-Cortez hit the scene, Fox News was obsessing about Hillary Clinton's email scandal and Obama's (apparently erotic) official portrait. But it's 2018 now, and although a poll on Hannity.com asks readers whether they think Hillary Clinton should run again in 2020—which would honestly be a dream for the right—the former secretary of State and Obama are old news. Ocasio-Cortez is a young woman of color from New York City who proudly identifies as a socialist—perfect grist for the right-wing media mill. She also does occasionally screw up, which gives conservatives ammo, but those articles attacking her ultimately end up elevating her profile. It's a funny sort of a cycle: The more she's attacked the more famous she is, the more worthy she is of attack.

Just imagine what will happen when she runs for president. 

Just to repeat from the article:

Quote:Per NewsWhip’s Jonathan Barnes: “Right leaning publishers have written over 10x the articles about @Ocasio2018than their counterparts on the left since June 2018. Engagement numbers are staggering also.”

...

“She wasn't randomly plucked from relative obscurity by right-wing writers or pundits for sport; she was elevated by a mainstream media that loves covering, and sympathizes with, rising liberal stars.” This is the “they started it” school of right-wing thought: Right-wing commentators realize they’re obsessed, but they blame their obsession on their lefty opponents.

And mind you my observation of this came purely from watching and reading around the "news" and internet.  Once you look for actual numbers it's pretty clear.

[GMDino]

Quite incredible. Right leaning publishers have written over 10x the articles about @Ocasio2018 than their counterparts on the left since June 2018. Engagement numbers are staggering also - via @NewsWhip pic.twitter.com/2GHyEVPoYj

— Jonathan Barnes (@BarnesWhip) December 3, 2018

[Belsnickel]

(02-18-2019, 06:57 PM)GMDino Wrote:

Quite incredible. Right leaning publishers have written over 10x the articles about @Ocasio2018 than their counterparts on the left since June 2018. Engagement numbers are staggering also - via @NewsWhip pic.twitter.com/2GHyEVPoYj

— Jonathan Barnes (@BarnesWhip) December 3, 2018

I wish to see the underlying data. What news publications make up the two categories? Is MSM counted in left-leaning, or is it counted at all? If it is not counted in the graph, I would like to see a line representing that category.

I just like data and want to see more of it.

[fredtoast]

She is the "Sarah Palin" from the left. Maybe not as dense, but she is an attractive women with extreme positions on issues. We will be seeing her face a lot.

[*bfine32*]

No doubt. Just look how many threads the right has made about AOC in this very forum

[SunsetBengal]

(02-18-2019, 07:16 PM)fredtoast Wrote: She is the "Sarah Palin" from the left.  Maybe not as dense, but she is an attractive women with extreme positions on issues.  We will be seeing her face a lot.

Heck, I saw more than that of her, this weekend.  There was a photo, from her bartending days floating around on social media.  She was giving the world a beaver shot.  She had some scanty shorts on, but you could definitely tell that her carpet matches her drapes..

[*michaelsean*]

They lobbed a softball and the Republicans will try to hit it out of the park. The right didn’t elevate her as the face of the future and give her national airtime. And it won’t be the right that knocks her down, but the leaders of her party. They don’t seem particularly thrilled with the Amazon pullout.

And while the author claims the right is afraid of her, I would say it’s the mainstream Dems who don’t want her to be seen as representative of them. Were Dems scared of Palin or thrilled?

[*michaelsean*]

(02-18-2019, 08:40 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Heck, I saw more than that of her, this weekend.  There was a photo, from her bartending days floating around on social media.  She was giving the world a beaver shot.  She had some scanty shorts on, but you could definitely tell that her carpet matches her drapes..

I prefer hardwood floors. Maybe a small throw rug.

But who the hell has a picture like that sitting around? I assume she wasn’t famous at the time.

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(02-18-2019, 08:53 PM)michaelsean Wrote: They lobbed a softball and the Republicans will try to hit it out of the park. The right didn’t elevate her as the face of the future and give her national airtime.  And it won’t be the right that knocks her down, but the leaders of her party. They don’t seem particularly thrilled with the Amazon pullout.

And while the author claims the right is afraid of her, I would say it’s the mainstream Dems who don’t want her to be seen as representative of them. Were Dems scared of Palin or thrilled?

Dude, crushing it today.  This is entirely spot on.  The GOP is using AOC to undermine the Dems.  As I said in the other thread, that apparently prompted GM to make this one, this is smart politics on their part.  AOC is radical, her ideas are far fetched to unworkable, she clearly likes being in the spotlight and she's not very smart.  Painting her as the face of the Democratic party is a big a win for them as saying Palin was "one heartbeat away from the Presidency" if McCain had won was for the Dems.

[*bfine32*]

(02-18-2019, 08:40 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Heck, I saw more than that of her, this weekend.  There was a photo, from her bartending days floating around on social media.  She was giving the world a beaver shot.  She had some scanty shorts on, but you could definitely tell that her carpet matches her drapes..

Link

[Belsnickel]

(02-18-2019, 09:39 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Dude, crushing it today.  This is entirely spot on.  The GOP is using AOC to undermine the Dems.  As I said in the other thread, that apparently prompted GM to make this one, this is smart politics on their part.  AOC is radical, her ideas are far fetched to unworkable, she clearly likes being in the spotlight and she's not very smart.  Painting her as the face of the Democratic party is a big a win for them as saying Palin was "one heartbeat away from the Presidency" if McCain had won was for the Dems.

The thing to me is that she isn't that radical. A lot of what she supports is straight out of the FDR playbook. The problem is that she doesn't have enough institutional knowledge or political capital to really make anything work or get any help on making it feasible.

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(02-18-2019, 09:57 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: The thing to me is that she isn't that radical. A lot of what she supports is straight out of the FDR playbook. The problem is that she doesn't have enough institutional knowledge or political capital to really make anything work or get any help on making it feasible.

Matt, FDR was pretty radical as well.  He was also an autocrat as much as he was could swing it.  His plan to pack the SCOTUS is borderline Nazi party plan to destroy the current government from within.  In any event, AOC; 90% top tax rate?  Allowing people to not work if they don't feel like it?  Eliminating ICE?  The government paying to rebuild or reconstruct every building in the nation? These are radical ideas.

[SunsetBengal]

(02-18-2019, 08:54 PM)michaelsean Wrote: I prefer hardwood floors.  Maybe a small throw rug.

But who the hell has a picture like that sitting around?  I assume she wasn’t famous at the time.

(02-18-2019, 09:41 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Link

She's now claiming that it's not her, but you can find it on this link.

https://leadstories.com/aocfartfake.jpg

She say's it's not her, looks fairly convincing.  You be the judge.

[Belsnickel]

(02-18-2019, 10:10 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Matt, FDR was pretty radical as well.  He was also an autocrat as much as he was could swing it.  His plan to pack the SCOTUS is borderline Nazi party plan to destroy the current government from within.  In any event, AOC; 90% top tax rate?  Allowing people to not work if they don't feel like it?  Eliminating ICE?  The government paying to rebuild or reconstruct every building in the nation? These are radical ideas.

90% tax rate - had it before
Work thing - don't know anything about this claim, any further info?
Eliminating ICE - that's a relatively new agency, why is going back to the way it was before so radical?
Rebuilding every building - also one I hadn't heard before, any info?

As for FDR, I don't deny he was radical at the time and I don't deny he had his flaws. But his policies were also what made the Democratic party a powerhouse. He brought the Democrats back to being a reputable party after the Civil War. There were a lot of things he did wrong, but there were a lot of things he did right and the ideas he had were ahead of their time. They aren't radical any longer.

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(02-18-2019, 10:25 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: 90% tax rate - had it before
Work thing - don't know anything about this claim, any further info?
Eliminating ICE - that's a relatively new agency, why is going back to the way it was before so radical?
Rebuilding every building - also one I hadn't heard before, any info?

As for FDR, I don't deny he was radical at the time and I don't deny he had his flaws. But his policies were also what made the Democratic party a powerhouse. He brought the Democrats back to being a reputable party after the Civil War. There were a lot of things he did wrong, but there were a lot of things he did right and the ideas he had were ahead of their time. They aren't radical any longer.

I noticed you skipped over his trying to pack the SCOTUS.  Whether we had a 90% tax rate before or not, it's a radical idea now.  The work thing is from her FAQ that she then had people in her office lie about and subsequently had removed.  Eliminating ICE isn't going back to the way it was before, it's ending immigration enforcement.  Rebuilding every building is straight from her "Green Deal".


As for FDR, yes some of his ideas were radical at the time and no longer are.  Some of them were radical for the time and still are.  He was, overall a good POTUS and certainly the right person for the job at the time.  However, that's not really the point here, is it?  It's your attempted comparison between FDR and AOC.  The first was a dedicated, intelligent, public servant, the other is an ex-bartender who isn't smart by any definition of the word.  Enjoy this cringe inducing clip.

[BmorePat87]

(02-18-2019, 10:25 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: She's now claiming that it's not her, but you can find it on this link.

https://leadstories.com/aocfartfake.jpg

She say's it's not her, looks fairly convincing.  You be the judge.

That’s the worst photoshop job I’ve ever seen. The farting fire should have given it away...

I’ve also seen the original year ago.

[*bfine32*]

(02-18-2019, 11:06 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: That’s the worst photoshop job I’ve ever seen. The farting fire should have given it away...

I’ve also seen the original year ago. The girl is fully naked in the original.

For real; that's the worst photoshop you've ever seen? I've seen much worse. 

[BmorePat87]

(02-18-2019, 11:09 PM)bfine32 Wrote: For real; that's the worst photoshop you've ever seen? I've seen much worse. 

The absolute worst. I wasn’t using hyperbole to give Sunset a hard time.

[*bfine32*]

(02-18-2019, 11:14 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: The absolute worst. I wasn’t using hyperbole to give Sunset a hard time.

Here's me on the beach disagreeing with you: