# Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Cannot Afford to Move to Washington **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 9, 2018, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263 "2018-11-09T21:47:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/341 "2018-11-18T19:36:46Z")
She shouldn’t complain about being mistaken for an intern. People are mistaking trump for a president. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/342 "2018-11-18T19:52:04Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > I love it that right wingers are already calling her She Guevara before she is even sworn in. They must be really afraid. Yeah, sure. Fear is the only explanation. :rolleyes: She is a useful boogeyman. She can be held up to the R base as “See? This where the Dems are going!” and giving her prominence helps highlight and aggravate the progressive-moderate split in the Dems. Notice how many moderate Dems on this very board have only a sneer for her? ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/343 "2018-11-18T20:32:28Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I feel perfectly comfortable forming an opinion based on the information I have at this time. …you managed to form this opinion: > [@Ravenman](#): > > On the question of being stopped by the Capitol Police (I assume that’s what she meant) and beloved to be an intern or staffer - yeah, that’s some grade A arrogance right there. > > The Capitol Police consists of thousands of officers who have had just a few days to study the pictures of dozens of newly elected members of Congress. Being a member of Congress means that you can bypass security screenings, like metal detectors. > > Of course police should err on the side of not waving through people the don’t recognize. > > Usually it takes years or sometimes decades for politicians to develop the sense of entitlement that they are more important than the police whose only job is to protect THEM. She has managed to do it six weeks before being sworn in. From this single sentence? > [@AOC](#): > > Last night I was stopped bc it was assumed I was an intern/staffer. Thats some mighty fine detective work from someone who claims they are “not a fucking social media investigator.” ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/344 "2018-11-18T20:33:30Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > Information apart from the tweet? And a general knowledge about how members of Congress can bypass security. Even if she wasn’t talking about police, maybe she was talking about staff from Congress involved in her orientation. With several dozen new members elected just days ago, is it any surprise they are not universally recognized? This has all the hallmarks of “Don’t you know how important I am!?!” I have no patience for that arrogance. ETA: and what’s so awful about being an intern, that you feel degraded by being compared to one? ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/345 "2018-11-18T20:35:22Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > It’s seriously insulting to people of color and women when you assume you know better about their own experiences, from miles and miles away and diagnosis-by-internet, than they do. It’s possible she’s wrong about something, but there’s no way you’d know this, and your assumption that you would is the height of arrogance. So according to your post, anytime someone makes an accusation of racism or sexism (or as in other threads, sexual assault), no white or male person is entitled to even opine about its truth or falsity and must indeed accept the accusation as true because we cannot discern what racism and sexism is? Fuck that. That is nothing more than attempting to silence the opinion of white males. As i pointed out in my forbidden opinion, as I white male, I have been mistakenly treated poorly and that it is obvious that it was not based upon my race or sex. Why is this whiny, self entitled millennial permitted to make that allegation stick against these hard working Capitol police officers when it is clear, as Ravenman posted, that they were just doing their jobs? Is it your opinion that every female and every minority member has a device in their head where they can tell the difference between an honest mistake and racism? Or is this just something else that white people are unable to understand and we should just shut up and agree with her? How does she have time to tweet anyways? Shouldn’t she be out panhandling for money so that she can pay her living expenses until January? ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/346 "2018-11-18T20:48:24Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Even if she wasn’t talking about police, maybe she was talking about staff from Congress involved in her orientation. With several dozen new members elected just days ago, is it any surprise they are not universally recognized? …when I worked at NZ Parliament 18 years ago, at the change in government we were all issued photos and information for every new Member of Parliament, and we were expected to learn who they were and be able to call them by their name. And I worked in _catering_. Its not about “being universally recognized.” Its about the \*assumption \*she is a spouse or an intern/staffer. Its about getting sent to the spouses lunch instead of the members lunch not because “she wasn’t recognized” but because she wasn’t asked “who she was” so she could get sent to the correct place. Its the \*assumptions \*that are problematic. Not that they didn’t know who she was. > [@](#): > > This has all the hallmarks of “Don’t you know how important I am!?!” I have no patience for that arrogance. This has all the hallmarks of an old man yelling at the kids to “get off my lawn.” > [@](#): > > ETA: and what’s so awful about being an intern, that you feel degraded by being compared to one? I didn’t get a sense of that at all. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/347 "2018-11-18T21:05:50Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > That is nothing more than attempting to silence the opinion of white males. …“silencing the opinion of white men”. Heh. This thread is almost exclusively populated by the opinions of white men. This messageboard is dominated by the opinions of white men. I don’t think you have much to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/348 "2018-11-18T21:11:44Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > So according to your post, anytime someone makes an accusation of racism or sexism (or as in other threads, sexual assault), no white or male person is entitled to even opine about its truth or falsity and must indeed accept the accusation as true because we cannot discern what racism and sexism is? Fuck that. That is nothing more than attempting to silence the opinion of white males. > > As i pointed out in my forbidden opinion, as I white male, I have been mistakenly treated poorly and that it is obvious that it was not based upon my race or sex. Why is this whiny, self entitled millennial permitted to make that allegation stick against these hard working Capitol police officers when it is clear, as Ravenman posted, that they were just doing their jobs? Is it your opinion that every female and every minority member has a device in their head where they can tell the difference between an honest mistake and racism? Or is this just something else that white people are unable to understand and we should just shut up and agree with her? > > How does she have time to tweet anyways? Shouldn’t she be out panhandling for money so that she can pay her living expenses until January? You and me and any white man can talk about anything you wish. And I can mock you when you say something silly, like assuming you have the power to more accurately discern bigotry from an event described in a few words than the one who was there and described it. Especially when you couldn’t possibly have the experience with those types of bigotry that she does. But carry on with the ridiculous hyperbole in your response to a handful of pretty damn innocuous tweets from a representative elect. She didn’t say anything that warrants your over the top descriptions. The things she said, in fact, were pretty damn mundane. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/349 "2018-11-18T21:32:27Z")
I don’t think being a minority or a woman is a free pass to level the charge of sexism or racism without evidence. It doesn’t seem like there is evidence at this point. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/350 "2018-11-18T21:55:26Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …when I worked at NZ Parliament 18 years ago, at the change in government we were all issued photos and information for every new Member of Parliament, and we were expected to learn who they were and be able to call them by their name. And I worked in _catering_. > > Its not about “being universally recognized.” Its about the \*assumption \*she is a spouse or an intern/staffer. Its about getting sent to the spouses lunch instead of the members lunch not because “she wasn’t recognized” but because she wasn’t asked “who she was” so she could get sent to the correct place. Its the \*assumptions \*that are problematic. Not that they didn’t know who she was. > > This has all the hallmarks of an old man yelling at the kids to “get off my lawn.” > > I didn’t get a sense of that at all. Keep in mind that she is also very young looking for her age. If the security officer had mistaken her for a child of a Congressman, I could understand. As you pointed out, it would show a level of unprofessionalism on his part, but not sexism. The problem I have with the accusation is that today, much like an accusation of sexual assault, a person is guilty when the accusation was made, and with no way to prove his innocence. When he protests his innocence, he is further accused of "mansplaining’ which is apparently now a separate crime punishable by scorn. When others, like me, state that we have been in substantially similar circumstances, we are attempted to be silenced because we cannot possibly say that it was not sexism, again, despite the fact that we have endured similar treatment that clearly was not sexism or racism. Prior to one trial, I was voir diring the jury and I asked if anyone believe that my client sitting at the table was guilty as he sat there. A prospective juror said that she actually thought that my client (who was also in a suit) was the attorney and that I was the one on trial. We all had a good laugh over that. Now imagine if I was black. Would I be justified in saying that this juror was racist and just assumed that because I was black, I was a defendant and could not possibly have been an attorney? These accusations simply provide unsubstantiated and unfounded claims that do more to divide us than anything Donald Trump has ever thought of doing. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/351 "2018-11-18T21:58:37Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > I don’t think being a minority or a woman is a free pass to level the charge of sexism or racism without evidence. It doesn’t seem like there is evidence at this point. …Ocasio-Cortez shared her story. That story is “evidence.” So we do have “evidence at this point”. I worked in the conference and events industry for fifteen years. I saw the very same assumptions during “partner” and “spouse” events all the time. There isn’t anything extraordinary about what Ocasio-Cortez shared on twitter. If this is the first time you’ve heard about this sort of thing then I think it shows just how important it is that these sorts of stories get shared. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/352 "2018-11-18T22:12:47Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > …The Capitol Police consists of thousands of officers who have had just a few days to study the pictures of dozens of newly elected members of Congress. Being a member of Congress means that you can bypass security screenings, like metal detectors… Do members(-elect) of Congress not get some kind of security badge/ID card? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/353 "2018-11-18T22:18:44Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > And a general knowledge about how members of Congress can bypass security. > > Even if she wasn’t talking about police, maybe she was talking about staff from Congress involved in her orientation. With several dozen new members elected just days ago, is it any surprise they are not universally recognized? > > This has all the hallmarks of “Don’t you know how important I am!?!” I have no patience for that arrogance. > > ETA: and what’s so awful about being an intern, that you feel degraded by being compared to one? Yes, perhaps she wasn’t talking about the Capitol Police, hence my previous question. As for her supposed self-importance and arrogance, I don’t see it here, and certainly no indication that she felt degraded in any way. How do you get all that from a simple tweet? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/354 "2018-11-18T22:25:56Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > I don’t think being a minority or a woman is a free pass to level the charge of sexism or racism without evidence. It doesn’t seem like there is evidence at this point. She barely said anything. What she said is entirely consistent with “this kind of thing happens to me frequently, and it sucks, and I think it’s likely related to my race and gender”. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/355 "2018-11-18T22:32:17Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > She barely said anything. What she said is entirely consistent with “this kind of thing happens to me frequently, and it sucks, and I think it’s likely related to my race and gender”. I believe that’s what she thinks. I don’t have any reason to believe it is an accurate assessment. Or inaccurate for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/356 "2018-11-18T22:35:54Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > She barely said anything. What she said is entirely consistent with “this kind of thing happens to me frequently, and it sucks, and I think it’s likely related to my race and gender”. And that was the point. She should have ended the paraphrase after “sucks.” She has absolutely no evidence that this was done based upon her race and gender. It is not like this is the first year that women or minorities have been elected to Congress. The guards are used to them. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/357 "2018-11-18T22:38:03Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > I believe that’s what she thinks. I don’t have any reason to believe it is an accurate assessment. Or inaccurate for that matter. Fine with me. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/358 "2018-11-18T22:39:48Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > And that was the point. She should have ended the paraphrase after “sucks.” She has absolutely no evidence that this was done based upon her race and gender. It is not like this is the first year that women or minorities have been elected to Congress. The guards are used to them. It was a tweet. That’s all it was. Not a big deal. Doesn’t require some trail of evidence for such an innocuous statement. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/359 "2018-11-18T23:00:41Z")
I gotta say - I am no fan of Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. She quickly came off to me as foolishly believing the hype the press was writing about her and too full of herself. Her apparent desire to create a Tea Party of the Left is stupid. I do not believe it is good for the country or the party. But dang the way the Right’s media machine hangs on to her every tweet and word, obsesses over her, is really really weird. Are they wanting to tear her down because they somehow are afraid of the movement that she is one pebble of? Or are they hoping to make her and her more left of center positioning the face of the Democratic party and be able to fight those positions more than the more center left positions most who vote Democratic would endorse? Why are they so fixated on her? ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/360 "2018-11-18T23:16:41Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > It was a tweet. That’s all it was. Not a big deal. Doesn’t require some trail of evidence for such an innocuous statement. An implication or accusation of racism or sexism is not “an innocuous statement.” The Capitol Police who protect her (while she attempts to take our means of protection away) like anyone in society deserve to be treated respectfully and only be accused of something when there is actual evidence of it. We argued about Dr. Ford in the Kavanaugh thread, but at least Dr. Ford had evidence: She said that I personally remember Kavanaugh doing these things to me. AOC is merely stating that she thinks that these people have done a horrible thing to her when she cannot point to any objective facts that make her think so. Did they call her sweetheart or little lady? Did they say that she looks just like the little Cuban girl that was hired to clean the toilets? If they did none of this, then why the accusation? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263.md?page=19)