Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is at it again, this time taking jabs at 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful John Delaney on Twitter.
This weekend, John Delaney spoke at the California Democratic Convention. At one point in his speech, Delaney claimed: "Medicare for all may sound good but it's actually not good policy nor is it good politics."
This, as you might expect, was not exactly a crowd pleaser.
Delaney was jeered and booed for what seemed like an eternity before finally saying, “We should have universal healthcare, but it shouldn’t be a kinda healthcare that kicks 150 million Americans off their healthcare. That’s not smart policy.”
In the spirit of kicking a man while he’s down, the notorious AOC decided that it was her time to pounce. The young socialist upstart tweeted that it may be time to think of some eliminations in the Democratic primary field, ending her tweet with, “John Delaney, thank you but please sashay away.”
Since there’s so many people running for President (& not enough for Senate), instead of obsessing over who‘s a “frontrunner,” maybe we can start w some general eliminations.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 2, 2019
This awful, untrue line got boo’ed for a full minute.
John Delaney, thank you but please sashay away 👋🏽 https://t.co/0RDOwbfcgv
John Delaney, however, didn’t take this lying down. In a cordial reply to AOC, Delaney tweeted they share the same goal—that they both want universal health care—but they just disagree on how to get there. Delaney then challenged the New York Congresswoman to a debate.
Hey @AOC, we have the same goal, universal healthcare for everyone, we just have different ways of getting there. Healthcare is the #1 issue for voters, so let’s debate the way forward. Any show of your choosing. Healthcare is too important for tweets, we need real discussion. https://t.co/LDrWa9sZQD
— John Delaney (@JohnDelaney) June 3, 2019
In a follow-up tweet, Delaney again called out Ocasio-Cortez by saying,
My plan provides healthcare coverage to every America as a right & it preserves private health insurance for those want it. Others favor Medicare For All, which makes private insurance illegal. Most Republicans favor doing nothing and eliminating the ACA. What's your choice?
— John Delaney (@JohnDelaney) June 3, 2019
So far, it has been crickets on Ocasio-Cortez’s end.
This, however, is not all too uncommon for the new star, who has a habit of shying away from debates when challenged.
When Ben Shapiro offered to donate $10,000 to her campaign— later a charity of her choice— if she’d debate him, Ocasio-Cortez slammed Shapiro as having “bad intentions” and compared his attempts at discussion to catcalling.
Just like catcalling, I don’t owe a response to unsolicited requests from men with bad intentions.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 10, 2018
And also like catcalling, for some reason they feel entitled to one. pic.twitter.com/rsD17Oq9qe
Challenges from Katie Pavlich, Allie Stuckey, Kaya Jones and the like have similarly gone unheeded.
The takeaway?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may talk a big game, but when it actually comes to defending her ideals, she is not up to the task.