Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slams sexist comments calling her ‘vacuous’
“Unlikable.” “Shrill.” Now, “vacuous.”
That’s the latest slam in a series that have already been directed at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — this one from Washington Post columnist Max Boot, who on Jan. 8 published a scathing opinion piece criticizing the freshman House member for her factual correctness, and calling on her to curb her “vacuous soundbites.”
But Ocasio-Cortez, a “social media black belt,” according to Boot, immediately struck back, tweeting, “If you’re allowed to characterize female politicians as ‘unlikeable,’ are we allowed to describe takes like these [as] ‘resentful?’”
Naturally, the same week we kick-start a nat’l convo on marginal tax rates endorsed by Nobel-Prize winning economists, I’m being described as “vacuous.”
If you’re allowed to characterize female politicians as “unlikeable,” are we allowed to describe takes like these “resentful?” https://t.co/cMikVKcJ5U
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 8, 2019
It’s barely two weeks into 2019, and the rate at which choice (read: sexist) words are tossed at women with ambitious political aspirations has already escalated. When Sen. Elizabeth Warren formally launched an exploratory committee to run for president, the first characteristic used to evaluate her potential presidential bid was “likability,” with a Politico article questioning how Warren could “avoid a Clinton redux — written off as too unlikable before her campaign gets off the ground?”
Meanwhile, Max Boot, the author of The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I Left the Right, and a Washington Post columnist, was unforgiving in his evaluation of the “29-year-old former bartender.”
“She is a politician of immense gifts who can have an outsize impact — but only if she masters the intricacies of policy and curbs her fatal attraction to political celebrity and vacuous soundbites,” wrote Boot.
He then went on to compare Ocasio-Cortez’s political career to that of 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. “Palin was another talented young communicator who made a big splash in national politics before having her lack of knowledge painfully exposed,” Boot wrote. “Instead of studying up, Palin gave up any pretense of seriousness and has now disappeared from the debate.”
Far from fading into the background, Ocasio-Cortez has stepped up and spoken out.
“Let’s refocus our energy and coverage to policies instead of personality,” she told her 2.1 million Twitter followers. “Right now, 800,000 workers are without a paycheck. The President is holding gov [sic] operations hostage so that he can build a monument to himself on the southern border that the maj [sic] of Americans don’t want.”
Let’s refocus our energy and coverage to policies instead of personality.
Right now, 800,000 workers are without a paycheck.
The President is holding gov operations hostage so that he can build a monument to himself on the southern border that the maj of Americans don’t want.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 8, 2019
The biased commentary towards both Warren and Ocasio-Cortez has raised a larger debate over how the media covers female politicians, with women and allies calling out the “inherent misogyny in the way we describe women in politics,” and the way political pundits have unfairly drawn comparisons between politicians who are women, while rarely writing about how the personalities of male politicians differ.
Read all the best reactions to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s response below:
You are my Twitter hero.
— Joe Ripari (@joeripari) January 8, 2019
Palin: singlehandedly shifted the 08 election in Obama’s favor.
AOC: singlehandedly shifted the Overton window on marginal tax rates for the first time in decades.
Max Boot: These two women are nearly identical in knowledge and strategy.
If Palin was a liberal genius, yeah.
— andrewthoesen (@andrewthoesen) January 8, 2019
AOC: there’s a hell of a lot of us in the American hinterland who’ve got your back. This White guy from Utah says, “Give em hell, A.O.C. Don’t back off. Most of your critics have been intellectually dead half their lifetimes.”
— David Thomas (@vanya42st) January 8, 2019
Every woman with rimless glasses looks the same to him.
— (((Adam Korengold))) (@akorengold) January 8, 2019
I’ve never seen anyone who terrifies old conservative blowhards more than you, @AOC. It’s an amazing thing to witness.
— USinCrisis (@Clovermuse) January 8, 2019
If you didn't terrify them they would shut up about you. We've had Congressmen this cycle mixed up with white supremacists and foreign governments but they are focused on you. Because racism and treason is business as usual and equality and equity isn't.
— Y'all Too Nosey (@blaknarcissus) January 8, 2019
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mocked for J.Lo reference in showing new office plaque
‘Self-care is political:’ How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez clapped back at critics
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