Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/04/19/all-hardhat-no-cattle.html
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Her tendency to call out bullshit is making her lots of enemies in the Republican party, and they have the attack machine running full out against her, but they aren’t helping themselves by saying easily refuted bullshit to her face.
I’m very excited to see if she can survive the grinder that is Washington DC and maybe even shake up the DNC while she is at it. I’m excited to see the Democrats finally taking their own stands instead of trying to move to an ever shifting “middle ground”.
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Barr is such an idiot…
In general, AOC and other Democrats should visit Kentucky/Appalachia much more often than they do, and speak directly to voters in Republican strongholds. Or even better, research the issues and come to listen to the voters. These days, Republicans are afraid of town halls. Now’s a great time for Democrats to swoop in and show voters someone who will actually listen to and fight for the common person.
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Nice to see Barr is so in touch with the local economy and workers of his district. Should be easy to use this to expose him as an establishment candidate that never put a foot in the “real” world.
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But there may be a simpler explanation: there are no coal-mines in Barr’s district. However, his political career has been handsomely funded by coal companies, lobbyists and financiers, which might explain how he got confused.
So I guess he should have asked her to come visit Alliance Resource Partners on K street?
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No mines so, I’m guessing without any Googling that there are one or two coal fired power plants in his district.
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Congress people aren’t national politicians. They represent specific areas and specific states. It doesn’t make a ton of sense for a congress member from NY to prioritize hearing out voters from West Virginia. Unless that person is running for president.
And I think you’ll find politicians in national offices, particularly presidential candidates spend a lot of time in such areas. To the point where people often complain about it, and states schedule their primaries early to make it happen. As do Democrats from those areas, obviously.
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Oh, but I’m sure they’re “clean coal” burning plants.
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Yup, this.
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How about unreclaimed abandoned mines leaking toxins. She could visit the neighbourhood.
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In other news, despite repeated invitations to women he met during his twenties, Barr does not now, nor has he ever, had any “etchings” back at this place.
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In terms of getting elected, and re-elected, yes, AOC has to focus on her constituents.
But she and everyone else in Congress make laws that affect every state. They are absolutely justified in visiting states other than their own, for fact-finding, learning, listening, etc. And it helps the national Democratic effort, including other Democrats who run for President.
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I agree. And, there is the practice of having famous out-of-district politicians visit to bolster fellow party members.
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You would lose that bet …
Dale Power Station was the last coal power plant in his district, and the East Kentucky Power Cooperative shut it down in 2016.
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dale_power_station
Dude’s fighting for coal and no one in his district gives a damn.
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Coal’s both economically and environmentally unsustainable, no matter how much the GOP clings to the past.
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Hahahaha this is so true. My congressman when he’s not insider trading on the White House lawn is busy trying to avoid constitutes outside of surprise events held by friendly conservative groups.
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I’m half with you there. The whole idea of representative democracy is there’s someone who represents you, personally. We’ve all but abandoned that idea because of party politics and giant media, but without it, the argument for democracy falls apart.
On the other hand, the House of Representatives is also collegial, and it’s not inappropriate for districts to lend each other specialist political assets occasionally. Like, when it emerges that a district has no idea how to represent the interests of its workers, it makes sense for them to hear from a US Representative who actually knows about that.
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What I find amazing is that AOC is basically following the same media relations playbook as Trump did, but instead using it as a force of positive change.
Every time she speaks Fox and the others go insane, and spend endless hours and column inches in anger and misrepresenting her positions - because she represents such a threat to their worldview (and bosses). In the process they give her endless attention and continue to provide her with an outsized platform and significant clout that a freshman Congressperson would not normally have.
Every time Trump said anything all the news organizations would go nuts and put him on the front page, at the top of the newshour etc etc. That led to his election because he sucked up all the oxygen and all the other candidates faded into the background. And now AOC is basically using the same critical weakness in the media world to share a progressive message. Good for her.
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