Backfire: How a Stupendously Ignorant Tweet From Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Undermines Single Payer Healthcare

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Before we delve into her new “argument,” I’d like to make a point about why the conservative commentariat sometimes seems fixated on Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  First, she entered the national spotlight as a media fascination and darling — a young woman of color who shook up the Democratic Party from the left by defeating an establishment fixture.  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.  And please recall the DNC Chairman referring to her as “the future of our party.”  Second, because of the attention lavished upon her, she has built a massive online platform.  Among the dozens of newly-elected Democrats arriving in DC to serve in the next Congress, Ocasio-Cortez has, by far, the largest social media following.  One metric:



Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has as many Twitter followers as the other incoming 60 Democratic freshman House members combined, according to numbers compiled by Elizabeth Hale at Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas, a lobbying firm…In the next Congress, with so many young members, having a strong digital presence could be more important than seniority. Ocasio-Cortez in particular has used Twitter (1.38 million followers) and Instagram (just under 1 million followers) to connect people around the country, promote policy platforms and troll Republicans before she’s even started her official job.

Third, Ocasio-Cortez can be sloppy and ill-informed, inviting easy criticisms.  But because she’s an increasingly-visible face of the New Left, she’s fair game for fact checks and substantive critiques — which, incidentally, should not include sniping ather clothing or personal finances.  Fourth, she clearly pays a fair amount of attention to her righty detractors, dismissing them with unsophisticated, broad-brush laziness:

She also pretended that an obvious spoof video was insidious fake news, and somehow ‘proof’ that Republicans are ‘scared’ of her, or something.  And don’t forget the time she claimed Ben Shapiro’s offer to debate her was tantamount to “cat-calling.”  In other words, she’s a lightning rod with a very large press and social media following — and she’s leaning into the role.   Which is why when she says things like this, a forceful response is warranted:

This astoundingly false talking point is rooted in a story from The Nation, a left-wing magazine, which attempts to track the Pentagon’s various accounting maneuvers, gimmicks, and tricks.  Ocasio-Cortez, who either didn’t read the piece or lacks basic reading comprehension skills, gives her followers the distinct impression that by merely recouping $21 trillion in military accounting errors, the US government could fund two-thirds of “Medicare for All,” i.e., single payer healthcare (reminders: existing Medicare is going insolvent, and the realistic ten-year price tag for single payer is closer to $40 Trillion).  This represents a distortion so ludicrous that it can be comprehensively debunked from multiple angles, starting with this one:

The Pentagon has not misallocated $21 trillion in defense spending through shady accounting practices because the United States government has not budgeted $21 trillion in national defense spending…over the combined history of the country.  Yet Ocasio-Cortez apparently believes that $21 trillion is a relatively small portion of military waste, fraud and abuse that can be recouped for other purposes.  This is frightening ignorance that will be forgotten in many quarters just as soon as media types have a new anti-conservative zinger from AOC to wag their tongues at.  Allahpundit summarizes another egregious mistake in this “gotcha” fail:

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I think Republicans choose their candidates differently from Democrats. Republicans choose on the basis of capability. Democrats choose on the basis of popularity. They choose gimmicks and anomalies that attract their attention, like “first black” or “first woman”. The like the “shiny object”.

Trump was popular from the beginning because of his long career and reputation. Many Republicans gravitated to their official candidates believing Trump could never win the general election due to his non-political nature. As his popularity and victories grew, so did his support. In the end, those who rejected him on the grounds of incompetence were proved disastrously wrong.

So, Ocasio-Cortez beat an incumbent Democrat in the primary that simply failed to show up. This gave her superstar status; defeating the Republican in liberal New York was no big deal. But, damn, is she STUPID. Yet, I agree… she IS the future of the Democrat party.

Note to Ocasio-Cortez and the hapless liberals that believe her; IF there was a $21 trillion accounting error in the Pentagon budget, this is not a military problem… it’s a GOVERNMENT problem. Waste, graft, corruption and loss is a problem endemic in government and the bigger the government, the bigger the problem. So, Alexandria does not propose to FIX a problem; she proposes to make it vastly worse. The corrective action would be the Donald Trump approach; treat it like a business and make people accountable for successes and failures.

But that Alexandria! Shoo, wee is she DUMB!

Wile E. Cortez Super Genius…

All of the “dumb blonde,” and Polish jokes are being recycled as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez jokes.
AOC thinks to herself:
I put the bread in the toaster and toast comes out. But, where is the bread?
Also,
I put a potato in the microwave.
I push the “Pizza” button.
The bell rings, I open the door but it is STILL a potato!

I could go on.

But when she has lost the Liberal WaPo, she’s really lost a lot.
WaPo gives her four Pinocchios for her claim that Medicare-for-All could be funded by $21 Trillion in accounting tricks accumulated by the Pentagon.

@Nan G: She has definitely set a new standard for stupid.

@Nan G: Just saw one:

“Few people know this, but the Supreme Court is the same as a regular court but with sour cream and tomatoes.”

Looks like Ocasio-Cortez understands how the left intends to use the power granted them by the people: bring the full force of the government down on people that say things they don’t like.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/39160/ocasio-cortez-threatens-retaliate-against-trump-jr-ryan-saavedra?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=062316-news&utm_campaign=howerton&fbclid=IwAR2NDzAQ3jw8KBQDzICXNQPWKNpCKOUQIstfpScVT4fiFQaEQiA7yYgOo4k

Nothing like the expression of fascism to get the new Congress off and running! Good luck subpoenaing Trump Jr. for anything now without having to answer questions about a vendetta.