Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

[malchior]

On the positive side, will the upcoming GOP congress, the one that has talked about cutting funding for Ukraine, be willing to admit that they agree with AOC and Ilhan Omar about Ukraine?

Maybe that's the 4D chess.

[LordMortis]

On the positive side, will the upcoming GOP congress, the one that has talked about cutting funding for Ukraine, be willing to admit that they agree with AOC and Ilhan Omar about Ukraine?

Well, there was nothing humorous about this until now. Is the far left so far left it's right or the far right so far right it's left?

[malchior]

On the positive side, will the upcoming GOP congress, the one that has talked about cutting funding for Ukraine, be willing to admit that they agree with AOC and Ilhan Omar about Ukraine?

Well, there was nothing humorous about this until now. Is the far left so far left it's right or the far right so far right it's left?

The other non-humorous way to potentially think about this that this is driven by populist politics which does have some issues that unite some folks on the far edge of the left-wing and most of the right-wing now.

[pr0ner]

Lol.

[Zaxxon]

So bizarre.

[Unagi]

“Let me be clear,” Jayapal said in a statement issued just before 7 p.m., “We are united as Democrats in our unequivocal commitment to supporting Ukraine in their fight for their democracy and freedom in the face of the illegal and outrageous Russian invasion, and nothing in the letter advocates for a change in that support.”

[El Guapo]

Apparently it's amateur hour.

[Jaymann]

Oops, backsies.

[pr0ner]

More lol.

[El Guapo]

Bizarre. Is that true? Seems too specific a representation to be completely made up as a cover story. But if it is...was it some rogue staffer who opposes Ukraine aid? Hard to wrap my head around.

[Defiant]

Don't forget that the progressive caucus also embarrassingly released a draft proposal of the Green New Deal, so I wouldn't dismiss incompetence (as opposed to a response to the backlash) entirely.

[Smoove_B]

"Democrats in disarray" coming soon, right ahead of the midterms. I'm sure leadership is furious as they're doing everything they can to project unity.

[malchior]

You can't make this stuff up. Nothing explains what 'political mastermind' drafted this stupid release in the first place.

[Kraken]

I'd lay odds that the letter was drafted before Ukraine turned the tide on the battlefield. It's one thing to pledge undying support when your side is winning, and quite another to promise endless weapons to a lost cause.

If it weren't for that whole WW3 thing, Ukraine could threaten (real) Russian territory based on their superior motivation and weaponry. Even with that off the table, the West is doing serious, lasting damage to Russia's military and to Putin. How many billions is it worth to cripple your #1 adversary without directly firing a shot? versus How much hardship will American voters tolerate to achieve that end? Before Ukraine started actually winning, it made some sense to signal to voters that our pockets aren't bottomless.

[El Guapo]

Unsurprisingly my peace activist cousin-in-law, who is kind of anti-anti-Putin, picked up on this letter and took it as an opportunity to chide the Biden administration for not doing enough to promote peace in Ukraine. My favorite part of the summary was the part where he said essentially 'We're not saying that we know better than the Ukrainians about what's good for them, but here's the reasons why we do...'

[Kurth]

Bizarre. Is that true? Seems too specific a representation to be completely made up as a cover story. But if it is...was it some rogue staffer who opposes Ukraine aid? Hard to wrap my head around.

[Little Raven]

"Democrats in disarray" coming soon, right ahead of the midterms.

Sure, but at least this time everyone involved is in a super-blue district. The odds that any member of the Progressive Caucus goes down because of this is ~0.

Is the far left so far left it's right or the far right so far right it's left?

To be fair the Progressive Caucus, there really is a segment of the American left that is deeply uncomfortable with what we are doing in Ukraine. I suspect that segment is fairly small, but it definitely exists. People no doubt find their way to that space via a lot of different paths, but I've only encountered two in real life.

• The Anti-Imperialist: This person basically believes that everything bad that happens in the world is the result of American Imperialism, and the only cure is getting America out of everywhere, as soon as possible. As they see it, America isn't "protecting Ukrainian Democracy." America doesn't give 2 shits about the Ukraine or Democracy. America is trying to sow conflict, destabilize as much of the world as possible, and gin up arms sales. No good will come from American intervention, just endless carnage, follow by crippling debt repayments as the arms dealers demand the shattered remains of Ukraine pay up for a conflict America both engineered and financed.
• The Anti-Colonialist: This person believes that the Ukrainian intervention is fundamentally racist. They point to American inaction regarding ongoing conflicts in Yemen or Tigray, and can't help but notice a certain difference in the melanin content of the skin. Moreover, they find the idea that American has limitless billions for war in Ukraine but no ability to provide clean drinking water to Jackson to be farcical. This can only be true if America is more interested in helping white people across the globe than it is in helping black citizens in their own nation. As they see it, American has no business sending resources anywhere else until it deals with its own internal colony.

[El Guapo]

The main thing I see sometimes is people who buy the Russian propaganda around the war. A lot of this is a strain of anti-imperialist thinking, but the argument is that really the United States precipitated the conflict by expanding NATO up to Russia's border. That doesn't mean that Russia should have invaded Ukraine....but they wouldn't have if the U.S. just didn't make them so angry.

[LordMortis]

• The Anti-Imperialist: This person basically believes that everything bad that happens in the world is the result of American Imperialism, and the only cure is getting America out of everywhere, as soon as possible. As they see it, America isn't "protecting Ukrainian Democracy." America doesn't give 2 shits about the Ukraine or Democracy. America is trying to sow conflict, destabilize as much of the world as possible, and gin up arms sales. No good will come from American intervention, just endless carnage, follow by crippling debt repayments as the arms dealers demand the shattered remains of Ukraine pay up for a conflict America both engineered and financed.
• The Anti-Colonialist: This person believes that the Ukrainian intervention is fundamentally racist. They point to American inaction regarding ongoing conflicts in Yemen or Tigray, and can't help but notice a certain difference in the melanin content of the skin. Moreover, they find the idea that American has limitless billions for war in Ukraine but no ability to provide clean drinking water to Jackson to be farcical. This can only be true if America is more interested in helping white people across the globe than it is in helping black citizens in their own nation. As they see it, American has no business sending resources anywhere else until it deals with its own internal colony.

I am anti imperialist as well. But this a fight against Russian Imperialism not to expand American (or western?) imperialism. It's hard to see that point.

I don't know anything about racist inasmuch NATO interests are racist. I do recognize, especially with my 'xenophobic' tenancies that we have big issues with international commitments while we ignore or minimize domestic commitments and that's bothered me for my entire adult life. It is hard to find a compass there but this has been the most just intervention I've seen and it's intervention by proxy. We're not trying to convince Ukraine it's in their interests to defend themselves like in every other (quite frankly imperialistic) involvement we've been in in my lifetime.

Also, anti imperialism/isolationalist positions have traditionally been a position of libertarian right in my lifetime. But I guess that gets to my wondering. The far left seems to be becoming the far right. So thanks for helping me think it through.

[Victoria Raverna]

[Pyperkub]

AOC under Ethics Investigation:

The nonpartisan Office of Congressional Ethics forwarded its inquiry into Ocasio-Cortez to the House ethics panel in June, according to the statement. Typically, when that office refers an investigation, it is because the office has reason to believe an ethics law was broken.

Possible reason?

In September 2021, a conservative watchdog filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics after Ocasio-Cortez attended the Met Gala, suggesting that her ticket may have be an impermissible gift. A spokesperson for the congresswoman did not respond to an email asking if the investigation involved Ocasio-Cortez’s appearance at the gala.

The usual suspects are frothing of course. Forbes seemed the most balanced link...

PS Met Gala was where she wore the Tax the Rich dress, AFAIK...

[LawBeefaroni]

She probably lost money on a stock trade. Pelosi is furious.