Leslie Marshall Says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Should be Praised, not Criticized

In an Op-ed in Fox News yesterday, nationally syndicated liberal radio show host and Fox News contributor Leslie Marshall tries to tell us that we should praise, not criticize, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC).  Here are her remarks.  The responses in blue italics are mine.  ~CW

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also now known as “AOC,” is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Normally, a person who is first at something is admired, revered, respected; but in the case of Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, it’s been quite the opposite.

By Ms. Marshall’s logic we should admire the youngest serial killer and the youngest known rapist.  They were, after all, “first at something.”  In reality, Ocasio-Cortez did what all socialists do and she bought votes with other people’s money, so I am not impressed, nor do I “admire, revere or respect” her or the tiny fraction of New Yorkers who put her in congress.

She’s been attacked not just from the right and members of the GOP, but even from some in her own party. She’s charismatic (Adolf Hitler was “charismatic.”), favors very progressive policies (i.e. she’s a radical), and refers to herself as a Democratic Socialist (that’s the Left’s non-threatening term for “we’re going to rob you blind”).  Yet despite her accomplishments (Um, what exactly has she accomplished other than getting elected?), here’s what is being said about her. And keep in mind, she’s only been in office one week.

She’s dumb.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said that Ocasio-Cortez is a “29-year-old who doesn’t seem to know much about anything.” And that seems to be the opinion of many.

Maybe you should listen to those “many,” Leslie.  AOC is making radical – oops, I mean progressive – proposals which she purportedly has no idea how to finance.  I say “purportedly” because I think she knows very well how her plan will be funded, at least until the socialists run out of other people’s money.  The money will be stolen, via the government’s power to tax, from wealthy Americans (and the definition of who’s “wealthy” will change as the money gets tight).  It’s not exactly a secret.  We all know that taking away other people’s wealth and property by force is how socialism works.  AOC and other socialists just have to be careful about saying it out loud, lest it finally sink in with people that we’re talking about simple theft, albeit on a massive scale.

Is AOC a political scholar? No. In an interview on PBS’s “Firing Line with Margaret Hoover,” she admitted her own weakness on Middle East politics: “I am not the expert [laughing] at geopolitics on this issue.”

This is like saying, “General Custer wasn’t a perfect leader.  He even admitted to not shining his boots properly!”

Ms. Marshall not only understates the problem, she deliberately misses the bigger point.  AOC was elected, and is idolized by many on the Left, for her promises of socialistic bliss.  Apparently Ms. Marshall, who’s supposed to be politically informed, missed the infamous CNN interview in which AOC couldn’t – or wouldn’t – answer the “$40 trillion question” about how she plans to deliver this socialist utopia.  And of course no one ever asks the “charismatic” AOC the most important question of all:  What gives you the right to redistribute the wealth of the American people? 

I don’t know about the rest of you but I never signed up for this.

In my opinion, AOC is anything but dumb. She attended Boston University – not an easy school to get into. While working as a bartender, she decided to run for Congress and unseated the 10-term Democratic incumbent, Joe Crowley, who was not holding a vulnerable Congressional seat at that time. She won 57 percent of the vote. She saw what her district wanted and was lacking, and offered an alternative. And she won.

From a barmaid to a congresswoman? That’s no dummy.

She didn’t really earn her win, she just got lucky.

Ocasio-Cortez’s victory has been chalked up to a lot of factors, like “gentrification” and “changing demographics” in her district. In fact, she won because she gained the confidence of the majority of the voters with an old-fashioned tactic called hard work. This is a woman who pounded the pavement of New York’s 14th congressional district so much that she had holes in her shoes, literally. She admits that one reason she won was she worked harder than her opponent, and that’s true.

There is an extraordinary difference between book smarts and wisdom.  Just because someone can read and write and please the liberals who run Boston University doesn’t by any means guarantee that they are wise.  More importantly it doesn’t guarantee that they believe in the principles of the Constitution on which this nation is founded, and yet this is the one thing that all of our elected representatives should understand.  There are plenty of leftists who are clever.  There are none who are principled and who respect the individual’s right to what he or she has earned.

One of my favorite songs is by Don Henley, “How bad do you want it?” The refrain says, “How bad do you want it? Not bad enough.” Crowley didn’t want it bad enough, didn’t fight hard enough, didn’t work hard enough. AOC did. And this I know from personal experience. I was the youngest person to be syndicated on national radio back in 1992, and many thought I must have done something less than legitimate to get there. Trust me, I got there on nothing but hard work and merit.

So she worked hard.  Donald Trump works very hard too, by all accounts.  I don’t hear anyone on the Left singing his praises.

She’s an imposter.

AOC likes to call herself “Alex from the Bronx,” but her critics argue she’s an imposter because she grew up in Westchester County. Some say that makes her privileged. The fact is, she grew up in Yorktown, a very middle-class neighborhood, and currently lives in the Bronx.

Jim Hoft, a Gateway pundit, even entitled one of his pieces: “Exclusive: Yorktown Elitist and Bronx Hoaxer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Went by ‘Sandy’ Well into College at Boston U….”

Seriously? She’s not Alex from the Bronx because she was Sandy in college? I wonder if Flounder from “Animal House” used that nickname once he left college? And for the record, I was “Fletch” in college. Am I an imposter too?

The average person doesn’t refer to themselves as, “Mary from the bay area” or “John from the panhandle.”  AOC is making a statement when she calls herself “Alex from the Bronx,” so it’s fair for people to judge the fairness of the image that she’s intending to portray.   That certainly was the attitude adopted by the Left when ‘Joe the Plumber’ confronted Barack Obama.

Her clothes.

Despite the #MeToo movement, women still are constantly judged for our appearance, and AOC is no exception. The Washington Examiner posted to Twitter a photo it snuck of her in the halls of Congress. The caption read, “Hill staffer sent me this pic of Ocasio-Cortez they took just now. I’ll tell you something: that jacket and coat don’t look like a girl who struggles.”

If it weren’t for the way in which the Left viciously attacks Melania Trump for the way she dresses I’d say Ms. Marshall has a point, but meh, who cares.

Her facts.  (Her “facts?”  Don’t you mean her non-facts, or her absence of facts?)

AOC pointed out in a recent tweet that PolitiFact has fact-checked her the same number of times as White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.

Sarah Sanders doesn’t get a vote in the Congress.  Sarah Sanders isn’t the newest star of the Democrat Party.   But not to worry, AOC.  Barack Obama misrepresented the facts all the time, and look how far he got.  

Her vote.

When she rose to vote for Nancy Pelosi for House speaker, some Republican members booed – treatment her Democratic colleagues did not receive. “Over 200 members voted for Nancy Pelosi today, yet the GOP only booed one: me,” Ocasio-Cortez later tweeted.

Oh please.  Being booed by the GOP is probably a badge of honor for a leftist like AOC.  In fact, she should feel honored.  They probably booed because they thought she might be the one Democrat who was sincere in her rejection of Pelosi.  

She danced!

There was almost more fuss, in my opinion, over a video that surfaced of AOC dancing in college than over the treatment of children being separated from their families at the border.

In the first place, Ms. Marshall’s assertion is false.  There was mass hysteria over family separations at the border.  The headlines went on for days.  Democrats and their cohorts in the leftwing media made certain of that.  The dancing fuss was just a blip.  But since she brought it up, let’s talk about those children.  Remind me, please, of how they came to be crossing the U.S. border illegally?  Leftist logic says that if you commit a crime (or your parents drag you along as they commit one), and there are consequences to that, the people who must impose the consequences are the bad guys, not the people who committed the crime.  This kind of childish reasoning is why leftists should never, ever be elected to positions of importance inside our government.

The bottom line is, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is someone who can be a role model for young girls everywhere. She had a goal, worked hard and achieved it. We should be applauding her accomplishments, not tearing her down and constantly criticizing her.

Hitler had a goal.  Hitler had achievements.  I’m not saying AOC is Hitler.  I’m saying that the morality of the goal matters, and there is nothing noble or moral about forced socialism, which is what AOC is promoting.  If I had a daughter the last person I would want her to emulate would be Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  She is a fool and a threat to her fellow citizens whose rights she doesn’t respect and whose futures she wantonly jeopardizes.  She has the hubris to believe that she’s smarter and wiser than the Founders of this nation, so much so that she is unmoved by the realities of the man-made disaster playing out right now in Venezuela.  Leslie Marshall, in a fashion so tragically typical of the Left, ignores the substance and celebrates the fluff.  Her op-ed gives us insight into what’s wrong with the liberal mind.

~CW

You can leave a comment on this post at The Pesky Truth, where it is re-posted.  I am unable to respond to comments on Blogger.

Will Democrats Cut Off Their Noses to Spite Donald Trump?

Have you ever seen a more self-destructive force than today’s Democrat Party?  We’re talking about people who look at the horrific mess and suffering that’s going on in the socialist experiment known as Venezuela and say, “Let’s do some of that!”  Or do CNN, Huffington Post, Mother Jones and The Guardian even cover Venezuela and the predictable destruction brought on by people who were sold on the notion of getting something for nothing?  My guess is that story gets very little play where it would do the most good.

What also gets little play, no doubt, are the economic and foreign policy successes of the Trump Administration.  Instead liberals and leftists are no doubt bombarded with a continuous stream of absurd scaremongering about “fascism” and “racism” as they are led down the path towards a bleak future for themselves and their children.  I might have given up caring by now, given how long this tiring struggle between liberty and tyranny has been going on, except that we are all tethered to the liberals and leftists by virtue of our shared citizenship, and when they foolishly jump into the ocean with the expectation that the strong swimmers will keep them afloat they threaten to drown us all.

The elections today are a proxy fight between Left and Right – between people who believe what they are told vs. people who believe what they can see with their own eyes.  “Fascism, racism, white supremacy, the threat to your healthcare…..”  None of that is real, despite what some would wish you to believe.  None of it passes the smell test.  But your jobs are real.  The want ads are real.  Your 401K’s are real.  And the threat of socialism and all its destruction is very real.

They say this election is a referendum on Trump – a judgment, if you will.  That’s only partly true, because judgment implies reason.  Judgment implies rationality and objectivity.  All of these things have been driven out of the Democrat Party and they’ve been supplanted by mindless rage, and thus we have not a referendum but a tantrum of monstrous proportions.

Will you be a child on election day?  Will you march to the polls and defiantly hack off your own nose to spite Donald Trump?  Will you “resist” the restoration of prosperity and strength for all Americans – yourself and your children included – for such empty and foolish satisfaction?  I have a better idea.  Why don’t you switch sides so we can all be winners?

Please restore the sanity.  Vote RED today.

~CW

To leave a comment on this post please follow this link to The Pesky Truth where it is reposted.  I am unable to respond to comments on Blogger.  

So What’s Wrong with Socialism?

"We have to say yes to socialism — to the word and everything.  We have to stop apologizing.”

~ Jim Carrey, on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher”

“Medicare for all, ending student debt, ….it seems like if there is maybe a shining spot in this Trump tragedy, it’s that it’s made the Democrats sort of rediscover who they are.”

 ~Bill Maher

The appetite for socialism is on the rise again in America.  “Democratic socialist” Bernie Sanders, once considered a marginalized, fringe player in U.S. politics, is now respected and revered by many inside one of this nation’s two major political parties.  Other “democratic socialists” like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are becoming rising stars in the Democrat Party as well.  When I read the comments following articles on Fox News about Ocasio-Cortez or on the subject of socialism in general, those in favor of socialism (a minority of readers at Fox, to be sure) typically answer the critics by pointing to the nation’s military or local police or fire fighters as positive examples of “socialism,” or they’ll talk about Social Security or Medicare or public schools.   With such a narrowly selective view of what it means to embrace socialism it’s no wonder people – particularly the young – are mystified by the critics.  So it’s time - yet again - to get some clarity on what socialism actually is and what’s wrong with it.

Socialism, per Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, is defined as follows: 

“Any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.”

Let me repeat:  “…governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.” 

That goes a tad bit beyond military, police and fire protection, or even Social Security, wouldn’t you say?  I’d like to point out the irony of this nation’s Left, so often critical of our military and police, using these services as their shining examples of socialism.  Now, I know that “democratic socialists” like Bernie Sanders attempt to distinguish socialism from “democratic socialism” by supposedly drawing the line at having government take physical control of the means of production; but when their plan is to tax the pants off of the producers to finance their socialist agenda, they are – for all practical purposes – making government the de facto owner of the means of production, correct?  Still, socialism apologists will read this with wide eyes and ask, “Gee, what’s wrong with that?  What’s wrong with sharing the wealth and making things more equal for everyone? What’s wrong with ‘social safety nets’ like Social Security and Medicare?”

This is where, as a critic, I’m supposed to point to the predictable human tragedy unfolding in Venezuela, where socialism was working just great until it wasn’t and now people are struggling just to survive.  Or I’m supposed to point to America’s national debt, now $22 TRILLION and rapidly climbing, and the prospect of an unimaginable catastrophe of our own when the bill for our “social safety nets” finally comes due (don’t worry, it’ll probably only happen to your children).  Or I’m supposed to give you a crash course in simple economics or human nature in the hopes that people will finally get it.  Or maybe I should talk about the dismal state of our public schools and how the Left has used the socialist nature of our education system to take almost complete control of it.  Sorry to disappoint you but I’m not here to argue the obvious flaws of socialism.  There’s no point in bothering the socialists with the realities of economics or human nature.  They just cover their eyes and refuse to see it.   

What’s wrong with socialism, “democratic” or otherwise, is that it is a complete contradiction to the notion of individual freedom that this nation was founded upon and that is supposed to be protected by our Constitution.  Maybe, just maybe, that’s why the Kavanaugh fight was so bitterly fought by the Democrats. 

Go back and read Merriam-Webster’s definition of “socialism,” or research the rhetoric from people like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and take note that the word “voluntary” is conspicuously missing from that definition and from the Left’s passionate speeches.  That’s why “socialism” is a dirty word to those who read between the lines and truly comprehend the implications of it.  Socialism – democratic or otherwise – is forced wealth transfer, also known as “theft.”   When Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez excite their cheering crowds with their schemes for imposing socialism on this nation, people are actually cheering at the prospect of being able to legally steal from their fellow citizens.  Nice, eh?  To make it more palatable and side-step the sound logic against it the Left cunningly inserted the word “democratic” in front of “socialism” because changing the names of things that we rightfully associate with evil is what they always do.  “Democracy” - and the notion of voting – attaches positive feelings to something that amounts to the proverbial “two wolves and a sheep deciding what’s for dinner,” as so brilliantly put by the eternally wise Benjamin Franklin.  Unfortunately community organizers like Bernie Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are trying to supplant their own version of wisdom for that of Benjamin Franklin’s and all of the Founders who sought to preserve individual liberty.

There are times when it makes sense for us to do things as a unit, the military being the prime example which is why it is expressly provided for in the Constitution.  If and when our nation comes under attack or needs to assert itself militarily, what moron would argue that this can be done on an individual level?  But what excuse, other than wanting someone else to pay your bills, is there for socializing healthcare, retirement or a college education?  All of these things are attainable on an individual level as evidenced by the fact that people have been doing so for centuries.  There is no practical imperative that justifies depriving citizens of their freedom for such things.

The biggest rub of all when it comes to the Left’s attempts to turn us into a might-makes-right socialist nation is that they could have as much voluntary socialism as they want.  Nothing is stopping Bernie Sanders and his followers from pooling their resources for healthcare, retirement and higher education or anything else they want to socialize on their own.  They don’t need to persuade us to exercise that kind of freedom.  They could start tomorrow if they wanted to.  The problem is, they want our money and they want the power to control these things for everyone, as they do with public education; consequently our freedom to say “NO” is very annoying to them. 

Margret Thatcher’s famous quote, “Socialism is fine until you run out of other people’s money,” is often invoked as the simplest explanation for what’s wrong with socialism, but it is perhaps a bit too simple as it doesn’t fully capture her feelings towards socialism as well as this quote from Stephen Pollard for his  book review of Claire Berlinski’s “There Is No Alternative’: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters,” in which he wrote: 

“[Berlinski} is quite right, for example, to stress that Thatcher's crusade against socialism was not merely about economic efficiency and prosperity but that above all, ‘it was that socialism itself—in all its incarnations, wherever and however it was applied—was morally corrupting.’"

“Morally corrupting.”  Yep, I think that says it well. 

As for Jim Carrey and his call for us to “say yes to socialism,” this is precisely what we might expect from someone who makes his living talking out of his ass.

 

Just say NO to socialism.

~CW

To leave a comment please go The Pesky Truth where this essay is reposted.  I am unable to respond to comments on Blogger.

The Left’s Message to America: We Reject Democracy

Democracy:  a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections

For as long as I can remember now the Left in this country has continually lowered the bar when it comes to standards of behavior, political discourse and political gamesmanship. From Ted Kennedy’s lying tirade against the superbly qualified Robert Bork…to Democrats’ partisan defense of Bill Clinton’s predatory ways against women…to Al Gore’s hissy-fit legal battle over his legitimate loss in the 2000 presidential election…to the first era of Derangement Syndrome (i.e. the complete absence of reason, fairness and objectivity) targeted at George W. Bush…to the “pen and phone” presidency of Barack Obama under which the Deep State grew and flourished and Democrats became at ease with being lied to by their government (remember their outrage over the Jonathan Gruber/Obamacare revelations?  Yeah, me neither)…to Harry Reid’s invoking of the “nuclear option”…to today’s Trump Derangement Syndrome which dwarfs BDS by perhaps a factor of ten, Democrats just keep lowering that bar.  And each lowering brings a rash of angry editorials, furious blog posts, radio diatribes and pseudo debates between TV talking heads as conservatives rightly denounce the Left’s actions but rarely – unless I’ve missed it – do they take the argument to its obvious conclusion, which is as follows:

The American Left rejects democracy and the concept of shared government by The People – All of the people

That reality is a critical point for everyone to understand because we live under the best system of government in the world designed by some of the brightest, wisest Americans who ever lived.  Actions speak louder than words, and by their actions the Left’s rejection of that system has been clearly  communicated again and again.  Consider all that we’ve witnessed in recent years:

Ongoing and increasingly vicious attacks on the free speech rights of conservatives;

The deliberate politicization of our judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, and disintegration of order and respect in the confirmation process when nominees are deemed to be a conservative;

The rise of groups such as Occupy Wallstreet and Antifa who anoint themselves as the arbiters of other peoples’ rights and who justify their lawless ways with made-up claims of fighting “fascism,” which they – not the dictionary - define;

The rise of the Black Lives Matter movement fueling anti-police sentiment and racial unrest;

The increased acceptance of legalized theft under the guise of “democratic socialism;”

Nefarious Deep State plots and desperate, mob-style vilification to undermine – and perhaps even remove - a legally elected POTUS;

The proudly touted “resistance” movement, embraced by leaders of the Left including Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi, in response to a legitimately elected administration enacting a constitutional agenda; 

And last but not least, the lies, lies, lies, lies. 

The American Left has rejected democracy in every conceivable way except by formal declaration. Honesty is not their style.  These are, after all, not the sort of brave and principled people as those who formally declared their intention to separate from Mother England and were willing to fight and die for the rights they believed to be theirs back in 1776.  Instead, the American Left feigns allegiance to the Constitution and to our non-violent system of government crafted therein, all while continually engaging – once surreptitiously, now openly - in attacks meant to undermine that very Constitution and system of governance.  They are, in short, attempting a coup, and they’re only hoping we won’t notice or act until it’s too late.  Why?  Because the Left wants to enjoy the benefits and protections of our constitutional republic without all the pesky obligations that go along with it.  It is those obligations – the requirement to honor the Bill of Rights and abide by the law – that keeps the Right in check while the Left carries on with its evil intent.

And if you’re not angry yet, there’s something amiss with you.

It’s time to bring the reality of who we’re dealing with to the forefront of every debate and discussion that centers on politics, because without this understanding of what’s actually going on little else matters.  Democrats, and particularly those who hail from the far Left and self-describe as socialists or  “democratic socialists” (a term that’s meant to get past Americans’ instinctive aversion to socialism) should be asked point blank whether they stand with the Constitution as written or not and, after they lie, made to defend their actions that are contrary to their declaration.  We are in desperate need of daylight in this nation, because right now it’s so dark too many people can’t see the giant elephant that’s right there in the room.

~CW

Postscript:

Within an hour of my publishing this post we have this latest news item from Fox News:

“New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker injected chaos into Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing Thursday by releasing confidential Kavanaugh emails with the backing of fellow Democrats in possible violation of Senate rules, calling it an act of “civil disobedience” and drawing condemnation from the Republicans on the committee.”

Perfect example of what I’m talking about.  The bar is lowered yet again.  ~ CW

This post can also be seen at the blog site The Pesky Truth (link).