US "The Squad" Megathread - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib Derangement Syndrome

I honestly only know about American politics from what I read on the Internet but since we all love shitting on leftists I figured we'd get a kick out of this. Also it's trending on Twitter so you know it's important.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...irect=on&noredirect=on&utm_term=.960552c9ba53

NEW YORK — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old political novice running on a low budget and an unabashedly liberal platform, upset longtime U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley on Tuesday in the Democratic congressional primary in New York.

The surprise victory by the community organizer in a district that includes parts of the Bronx and Queens came after an energetic, grassroots campaign that mustered more than enough support in a low-turnout race that many had expected to be an easy win for Crowley, a member of the Democratic House leadership.

“The community is ready for a movement of economic and social justice. That is what we tried to deliver,” said Ocasio-Cortez, who has never held elected office and whose candidacy attracted only modest media attention.

She told The Associated Press after her victory that she didn’t have enough money to do polling in the race, but felt in her gut that her message had a chance to connect.

“I live in this community. I organized in this community. I felt the absence of the incumbent. I knew he didn’t have a strong presence,” she said.

Crowley has been in Congress since 1999 and hadn’t faced an opponent in a primary election since 2004, when Ocasio-Cortez was just a teenager. He was considered a candidate to become the next House speaker if Democrats win the majority.

“It’s not about me,” Crowley, 56, told his supporters at a campaign party following his loss. “It’s about America. I want nothing but the best for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. I want her to be victorious.”

He later played guitar with a band at the election night gathering, and dedicated the first song, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” to Ocasio-Cortez.

Crowley represents New York’s 14th Congressional District, where he is also the leader of the Queens Democratic party.

Ocasio-Cortez was outspent by an 18-1 margin during her race but won the endorsement of some influential groups on the party’s far left, including MoveOn, as well as the actress Cynthia Nixon, who is running for governor. She defeated Crowley by 15 percentage points.

Born in the Bronx to a mother from Puerto Rico and a father who died in 2008, Ocasio-Cortez said she decided to challenge Crowley to push a more progressive stance on economic and other issues.

She attended Boston University, where she earned degrees in economics and international relations, and also spent time working in the office of the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy.

After graduating, she returned to the Bronx where she became a community organizer. In the 2016 presidential campaign she worked for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Among her issues is expanding the Medicare program to people of all ages and abolishing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. She recently went to Tornillo, Texas, to protest against policies that have separated parents from their children at the southern U.S. border.

Ocasio-Cortez gained some internet attention for a campaign video called “The Courage to Change,” a two-minute spot for which she wrote the script and featured footage from her own home.

Crowley is chair of the House Democratic Caucus, the fourth-highest ranking position in Democratic leadership in that chamber of Congress.

His loss drew the attention of President Donald Trump.

“Wow! Big Trump Hater Congressman Joe Crowley, who many expected was going to take Nancy Pelosi’s place, just LOST his primary election. In other words, he’s out! That is a big one that nobody saw happening. Perhaps he should have been nicer, and more respectful, to his President!” he tweeted.

The Republican candidate for the office, Anthony Pappas, is running unopposed and had no primary. Pappas teaches economics at St. John’s University.

She was a Bernie campaigner, is supported by BLM, and wants to abolish Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Also this was in a solid-blue Congressional District so you know she's a shoo-in for next Congress.

But hey, we did get to see Trump laugh at Crowley on Twitter.

 

[Buster O'Keefe]

When a dog shits on the carpet, it's common practice to rub it's nose in it so it doesn't do it again.

I hope you don't have dogs.

Edit: I posted this during a fit of spergery. I'll leave it here as a testament to exceptionalism.

 

[Unog]

I hope you don't have dogs.

Thanks for contributing to the topic at hand in a meaningful and interesting way.

 

[It's HK-47]

A young Israeli girl was killed, and her brother and father were seriously wounded after a terrorist used a bomb to blow them up while they were swimming. Rashida Tlaib responds to this by blaming "Israeli occupation" for the attack. They're not "occupying" the land you retarded bitch it's their land. Jesus fucking Christ, an Israeli family just got fucking bombed by a Palestinian terrorist and you couldn't wait two seconds to start blaming it on Israel?

 

[Jigglyjogglers]

A young Israeli girl was killed, and her brother and father were seriously wounded after a terrorist used a bomb to blow them up while they were swimming. Rashida Tlaib responds to this by blaming "Israeli occupation" for the attack. They're not "occupying" the land you retarded bitch it's their land. Jesus fucking Christ, an Israeli family just got fucking bombed by a Palestinian terrorist and you couldn't wait two seconds to start blaming it on Israel?

Notice she doesn't even say "of the west bank" or anything... just "the Israeli occupation". She means "their occupation of any land whatsoever".

Of course the side that is obsessed with seeing secret codes and 'dogwhistles' in everything someone on the right says would never admit such an obvious interpretation of her words could have any merit.

 

[Freedom Fries]

I'm no fan of the shlomos, but they have a perfect right to deny entrance to anyone, especially some cunts whose whole purpose in going would be to rabble-rouse and bitch. Tlaib is much more pissed about not having the opportunity for photo ops and speeches than she is about not visiting granny. Sorry, Rashida. Maybe you can go find a chain-link fence around a nursing home parking lot and get some pictures taken there of you sobbing away.

Normally I'd agree with you, but since we're giving them over $40bn over the next 10 years, have given over $142bn non-inflation adjusted to date since WWII, and they are far and away the largest recipient in US foreign aid, I'd say our government representatives have a fucking right to go there.

 

[Sped Xing]

I mean I know I'm 80 years :late: but it's just so tedious the cycle of the Arab states declaring war with the stated goal of exterminating the Jews, getting their shit pushed in, and then crying about the "occupation."

 

[Jigglyjogglers]

Normally I'd agree with you, but since we're giving them over $40bn over the next 10 years, have given over $142bn non-inflation adjusted to date since WWII, and they are far and away the largest recipient in US foreign aid, I'd say our government representatives have a fucking right to go there.

The thing is you're falling into the trap of thinking of them as representatives of the government, which is how they want you to think of them. They're not, they're representatives of a small slice of America, and they're supposed to be looking after the well-being of their own constituents in that small slice, not all of America, not international relations, and sure as fuck not "Palestinians". Any argument you could make for why someone who represents American citizens in a specific part of America would need to go to Israel and "Palestine" is certainly not an argument these yahoos put forth, because they're invested in everyone seeing them as being empowered by and representatives of the federal government and America in general, rather than the county or two that they're actually meant to be looking out for the welfare for.

So yes, we give them a lot of money, I don't see how that's tied to them needing to indulge any Who Gives A Shit Representative from Who Gives A Fuck District in a publicity stunt that everyone knows perfectly well is just aimed at making the country look bad.

 

[Syaoran Li]

Seriously though, what would you say her genuine odds of being re-elected were? I’ve seen people rally behind bad candidates before.

AOC getting a second term in 2022 would be nothing short of miraculous given the Amazon fiasco and the fact she's the most visible and vocal member of The Squad. The DNC will definitely find a candidate to primary her and do everything they can to boot her from Congress, especially if Trump wins in 2020.

Omar and Rashida might get re-elected in 2022, but if they do, they probably won't see a third term in 2026,

Ayanna Presley is the one who has the best chance of serving more than one term simply because she is both the least well-known member of The Squad and unlike AOC, she isn't prone to Sarah Palin-tier gaffes and hasn't done anything as alienating to her constituents like AOC's handling of the Amazon deal and unlike the other two members of The Squad, is not as blatant in her antisemitism and blase attitude towards radical Islamic terrorism.

I have no doubt that Presley has a massive hate-on for Israel and thinks the Palestinians dindu nuffin, but she's smart enough not to be so on the nose about it as her Muslim compatriots in The Squad.

 

[Pickle Dick]

AOC getting a second term in 2022 would be nothing short of miraculous given the Amazon fiasco and the fact she's the most visible and vocal member of The Squad. The DNC will definitely find a candidate to primary her and do everything they can to boot her from Congress, especially if Trump wins in 2020.

Omar and Rashida might get re-elected in 2022, but if they do, they probably won't see a third term in 2026,

Ayanna Presley is the one who has the best chance of serving more than one term simply because she is both the least well-known member of The Squad and unlike AOC, she isn't prone to Sarah Palin-tier gaffes and hasn't done anything as alienating to her constituents like AOC's handling of the Amazon deal and unlike the other two members of The Squad, is not as blatant in her antisemitism and blase attitude towards radical Islamic terrorism.

I have no doubt that Presley has a massive hate-on for Israel and thinks the Palestinians dindu nuffin, but she's smart enough not to be so on the nose about it as her Muslim compatriots in The Squad.

Highlighted the parts where you are wrong. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives, four of which the Squad represents, are open every two years. The four were elected in 2018, and I really doubt any of them, except for maybe Pressley, will make it past 2020.

 

[It's HK-47]

and they are far and away the largest recipient in US foreign aid

What? No they're not. Plenty of other countries receive nearly as much or more foreign aid than Israel, but no one bitches at them for taking a dollar even a fiftieth as much as they do when Israel takes a dollar. They receive quite a bit of foreign aid but they're nowhere near being in the lead by any sort of "far and away" margin.

 

[HeyYou]

What? No they're not. Plenty of other countries receive nearly as much or more foreign aid than Israel, but no one bitches at them for taking a dollar even a fiftieth as much as they do when Israel takes a dollar. They receive quite a bit of foreign aid but they're nowhere near being in the lead by any sort of "far and away" margin.

The absolutely justified complaint that people have is that most of our foreign aid is to developing countries to stabilize them (we won't) while Israel is ostensibly stable but takes a fair amount of money. This is where the "greatest ally in the Middle East" argument comes in and there are good arguments to both sides.

 

[Syaoran Li]

Highlighted the parts where you are wrong. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives, four of which the Squad represents, are open every two years. The four were elected in 2018, and I really doubt any of them, except for maybe Pressley, will make it past 2020.

Fair point, but I think with the 2020 Election cycle being as heated as it is and the Left going further down the insanity spiral as they try to keep control, I could see The Squad getting by on the smallest of margins in 2020, what with TDS and the DNC wanting to present the illusion of a united front.

AOC is part of a district that even a moderate Republican has little chance of winning, so she's likely only getting the boot the moment a less unhinged Democrat primaries her.

The 2020 Election being what it is, I don't see the DNC willing to back a candidate to primary her just yet. The Squad got into office precisely because the DNC wanted mascots to recruit more of the woke Millennial SJW vote, with AOC being the most obvious example of this.

AOC will likely win another term in 2020 by default unless some dark horse candidate primaries her and gets enough of the popular support in that district that they win without major backing from the DNC higher ups.

Once the 2020 Election is over, she's on her own and I'm sure that the Democrats will back any candidate who will no doubt primary against her in 2022, especially if Trump wins in 2020 and she loses all value to the Democratic Party as a result.

You are probably right about Talib and Omar though, especially given their recent antics of blatant antisemitism under a paper-thin disguise of criticism against Israeli policy.

 

[Eekum Bokum]

Normally I'd agree with you, but since we're giving them over $40bn over the next 10 years, have given over $142bn non-inflation adjusted to date since WWII, and they are far and away the largest recipient in US foreign aid, I'd say our government representatives have a fucking right to go there.

No government official has a right to go anywhere outside of their nation without permission from that nation.

 

[Arctic Fox]

No government official has a right to go anywhere outside of their nation without permission from that nation.

No person in general. It's a little known term called national sovereignty.

 

[Freedom Fries]

The thing is you're falling into the trap of thinking of them as representatives of the government, which is how they want you to think of them. They're not, they're representatives of a small slice of America, and they're supposed to be looking after the well-being of their own constituents in that small slice, not all of America, not international relations, and sure as fuck not "Palestinians". Any argument you could make for why someone who represents American citizens in a specific part of America would need to go to Israel and "Palestine" is certainly not an argument these yahoos put forth, because they're invested in everyone seeing them as being empowered by and representatives of the federal government and America in general, rather than the county or two that they're actually meant to be looking out for the welfare for.

So yes, we give them a lot of money, I don't see how that's tied to them needing to indulge any Who Gives A Shit Representative from Who Gives A Fuck District in a publicity stunt that everyone knows perfectly well is just aimed at making the country look bad.

Is her constituents' money not going to that for some reason?

What? No they're not. Plenty of other countries receive nearly as much or more foreign aid than Israel, but no one bitches at them for taking a dollar even a fiftieth as much as they do when Israel takes a dollar. They receive quite a bit of foreign aid but they're nowhere near being in the lead by any sort of "far and away" margin.

Not on a yearly basis, as a country over the life of US foreign aid.

No government official has a right to go anywhere outside of their nation without permission from that nation.

If I help you buy a house, am still helping you pay the note and pay for the alarm system and the security guard who patrols your neighborhood, you wouldn't let me take my asshole cousin to your dinner party every now and again?

 

[Eekum Bokum]

Is her constituents' money not going to that for some reason?


Not on a yearly basis, as a country over the life of US foreign aid.


If I help you buy a house, am still helping you pay the note and pay for the alarm system and the security guard who patrols your neighborhood, you wouldn't let me take my asshole cousin to your dinner party every now and again?

If i didn't want you there no

 

[Iron Hamster]

The Hate Squad is more of an embarrassment to the US than any of them can make Trump out to be.

 

[Unog]

snip

Someone mentioned upthread the possibility of AOC's district being redrawn out of existence.

 

[It's HK-47]

Not on a yearly basis, as a country over the life of US foreign aid.

I don't even understand the point of measuring it by that metric and extrapolating a negative out of it, but even if you want to measure by that--and assuming they're even at the top of that one-- that same database will show you what the foreign aid was meant for, and the overwhelming majority of foreign aid we've sent to Israel is for their military, not for their economy. Given that absolutely everyone in the world wants to murder them and they've managed to survive in the Middle East of all places for all of this time and built the Iron Dome on top of that, I'd say that they've been putting the money to good use.

If we hadn't been bankrolling Israel's military for all of this time then they would have been utterly and completely curb-stomped by everyone around them a long, long time ago, and we would have lost the only mention-worthy ally we have in that region of the world. Every other country around them hates us so much that most of them routinely run around chanting, "Death to America!" and the fucking slogan for the Houthi in Yemen is, "God is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam"

The Middle East doesn't like us very much. Israel's kind of important, in that regard.

 

[Unog]

If we hadn't been bankrolling Israel's military for all of this time then they would have been utterly and completely curb-stomped by everyone around them a long, long time ago, and we would have lost the only mention-worthy ally we have in that region of the world. Every other country around them hates us so much that most of them routinely run around chanting, "Death to America!" and the fucking slogan for the Houthi in Yemen is, "God is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam"

The Middle East doesn't like us very much. Israel's kind of important, in that regard.

Not to be that guy or anything but isn't one of the biggest reasons they hate us in the first place is our continued support of Israel?