# Why is conservative media obsessed with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 21, 2018, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906 "2018-11-21T17:44:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/161 "2018-11-27T14:53:49Z")
> [@Dacien](#): > > That is a compelling and not at all emotional argument you just made. Thank you. As your post tacitly acknowledges, if you go over anyone’s statements with a fine-toothed comb you will find a gaffe that can then be taken out of context and made to fit a negative narrative. The larger question is why is the right so obsessed with AOC, a junior member of Congress from NYC? And the answer is obvious her gender and race are threatening to what is a white nationalist authoritarian political movement. Such movements need enemies to mobilize their base. As I noted before, American conservatism is not aspirational, it is purely based on racism and fear and AOC is a new face of the enemy. I appreciate you having the maturity to concede the point. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/162 "2018-11-27T15:31:15Z")
[Nada, not worth it.] ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/163 "2018-11-27T16:38:25Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > She ran AGAINST the Party favorite in the primary, and won. \ How do we know he was the party favorite, just because he was the incumbent? She does seem unusually politically correct when compared to the old white man she beat in the primary. \ That said, I suspect a big piece of her… appeal(?) to conservative media is that she ticks all the boxes that they view as stuff Democrats value above what they (conservative media) consider as actual substance: [ul] [li]Person of Color[/li][li]Female[/li][li]Foreign descent[/li][li]Socialist/extremely liberal[/li][li]Very outspoken[/li][/ul] On top of it, she has virtually no political experience, or even life experience to speak of. She was a bartender for a few years, and then a campaign organizer for one campaign. And now the left-wing media is tooting her horn big time and she’s pretty outspoken. All of which combines in the right-wing media side of things to indicate a politician chosen more for what she signifies than what she actually is, which plays right into their opinions about political correctness and putting it ahead of what they consider right, etc… For my part, I’m pretty skeptical of the political views of some twenty-something who’s never held a real job or political office before. My first thought is something along the lines of “Come back once you’ve held a real job and paid real taxes for a few years and we’ll see how you feel about that socialism.” ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/164 "2018-11-27T16:39:59Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > She ran AGAINST the Party favorite in the primary, and won. \ How do we know he was the party favorite, just because he was the incumbent? She does seem unusually politically correct when compared to the old white man she beat in the primary. \ That said, I suspect a big piece of her… appeal(?) to conservative media is that she ticks all the boxes that they view as stuff Democrats value above what they (conservative media) consider as actual substance: [ul] [li]Person of Color[/li][li]Female[/li][li]Foreign descent[/li][li]Socialist/extremely liberal[/li][li]Very outspoken[/li][/ul] On top of it, she has virtually no political experience, or even life experience to speak of. She was a bartender for a few years, and then a campaign organizer for one campaign. And now the left-wing media is tooting her horn big time and she’s pretty outspoken. All of which combines in the right-wing media side of things to indicate a politician chosen more for what she signifies than what she actually is, which plays right into their opinions about political correctness and putting it ahead of what they consider right, etc… I’m not at all convinced that they’re threatened by her- if anything, she’s more of a lightning rod for ridicule / pointing out all that they think is wrong with the Democratic party/left-wing. (“What kind of idiots elect a twenty-something socialist hispanic woman who’s never held a real job in her life?”, type stuff) For my part, I’m pretty skeptical of the political views of some twenty-something who’s never held a real job or political office before. My first thought is something along the lines of “Come back once you’ve held a real job and paid real taxes for a few years and we’ll see how you feel about that socialism.” ---
**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 27, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/165 "2018-11-27T16:55:58Z")
> [@bump](#): > > \ > How do we know he was the party favorite, just because he was the incumbent? She does seem unusually politically correct when compared to the old white man she beat in the primary. > \ We know because he was on the Committee on Ways and Means and was the Democratic Caucus Chairman. You don’t get those jobs just for being an incumbent. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/166 "2018-11-27T16:58:23Z")
> [@bump](#): > > \ > How do we know he was the party favorite, just because he was the incumbent? She does seem unusually politically correct when compared to the old white man she beat in the primary. > \ Well, he was (is?) the chairman of the Queens County Democratic Party. [As the New York Times puts it:](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/nyregion/joseph-crowley-party-boss-queens.html) > [@](#): > > Under Mr. Crowley, the Queens Democratic machine played local kingmaker, holding sway over judicial races, Surrogate’s Court, even the speakership of the New York City Council. Very little of consequence seemed to occur in Queens politics that Mr. Crowley or his cohorts did not have a hand in. That would seem to indicate that the local branch of the party considered him the favorite, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/167 "2018-11-27T17:04:50Z")
Eh, I get most of my news from Yahoo news, which is a news aggregate that is probably 90% “objective” (hah) or blatantly liberal, and I see them jizzing over her in the metaphorical sense all the time. It’s not just conservate. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/168 "2018-11-27T17:11:10Z")
> [@bump](#): > > For my part, I’m pretty skeptical of the political views of some twenty-something who’s never held a real job or political office before. My first thought is something along the lines of “Come back once you’ve held a real job and paid real taxes for a few years and we’ll see how you feel about that socialism.” Are you recommending that people need to have a “real job” before they can run for political office? Hmmm, interesting idea. Of course, she did have a job, and she did pay taxes, so, not sure what you are trying to say here. What do you consider a “real job”? Anyway, a job that you have to work with people for long hours for low pay, or a job that is gifted to you by your family connections where you sit on your butt and tell other people to work harder? Do you have the same advice for someone like say Trump, and insist that he needs to get a real job and pay real taxes before he may have any sort of opinion on the state of the economy? BTW, I know quite a number of bartenders that would be quite interested to know that they’ve never held a real job. Funny thing is, is that most of them are very conservative and probably Trump supporters, and would probably agree with everything that you said about her, up until you mentioned her profession not qualifying her to have an opinion. Do me a favor, and continue to express your opinion of bartending as not being a real profession while criticizing democrats, you may very well get us some converts. ---
**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 27, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/169 "2018-11-27T17:30:41Z")
You know, k9bfriender, not everyone who dislikes AOC is a Trump supporter. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/170 "2018-11-27T17:43:27Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Do me a favor, and continue to express your opinion of bartending as not being a real profession while criticizing democrats, you may very well get us some converts. I’m not at all saying that bartending isn’t a profession. Far from it. Real bartenders and mixologists are every bit as much craftspeople as carpenters, butchers, chefs, etc… By “real job”, I mean work in a career job, not basically as a bartender after graduating college. That’s not a career, that’s finding a way to pay the rent while looking for something better. It’s life experience, but it’s not the only kind of life experience or even enough of it that I feel someone running for national-level political office ought to have. In essence the people in that district elected an inexperienced person who’s a step from being called a kid. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/171 "2018-11-27T18:17:49Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I don’t think her misstatements are _why_ right-wingers hate her. Many people made fun of Sarah Palin and GW Bush for misspeaking, and some of those people also hated them, but the misspeaking isn’t why, is it? That kind of nitpicking is something we do to someone we already distrust. > > I still think it’s as simple as this. She’s part of the Democratic Socialists of America, which is very unusual for a Congressperson; _and she’s hot._ Very few politicians look _good_, like runway model good, in a pantsuit. She does. The right wing skews male. The male of the species is hormonal, emotional, & kind of manipulable in general. In order to prevent the young men who are the right wing’s necessary future voting base from following her on pure instinct, she has to be mocked, and the idea that she is stupid has to be reinforced, and reinforced more often than positive news about her appears before impressionable male eyes. > > Edited to add: A hottie who’s a mainstream neoliberal might get some flack from the right for being a Dem. A common-looking DSA socialist could be profitably ignored, lest alternatives occur to the base. But a DSA hottie? Code Red, man. You noticed a lady has visual appeal!!! :eek::eek::eek::eek: I don’t think that’s it. I think it’s because she’s young, she’s explicitly socialistic, she’s made a gaffe or two, and we live in an always on hyperpartisan age. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/172 "2018-11-27T18:23:54Z")
Why do elected officials need to hold what you consider a career job? There are a lot of people who work long-term in these jobs that you disparage. Are they not worthy of representation too? I think it’s quite useful to have a broader range of experiences representing us, not only people who followed a similar track to you. ---
**Author:** ![Dacien](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dacien/32/5663_2.png) [@Dacien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dacien)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/173 "2018-11-27T18:39:07Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I still think it’s as simple as this. She’s part of the Democratic Socialists of America, which is very unusual for a Congressperson; _and she’s hot._ Very few politicians look _good_, like runway model good, in a pantsuit. She does. The right wing skews male. The male of the species is hormonal, emotional, & kind of manipulable in general. In order to prevent the young men who are the right wing’s necessary future voting base from following her on pure instinct, she has to be mocked, and the idea that she is stupid has to be reinforced, and reinforced more often than positive news about her appears before impressionable male eyes. Is she though? Do a lot of men find her “runway model attractive?” I don’t think she’s unattractive, but I do find the claims that she is extremely attractive a bit bizarre. Regardless, “Sexually-driven Republican men might be convinced to vote Democrat because she’s just that hot” is probably my favorite theory so far ---
**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 27, 2018, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/174 "2018-11-27T18:39:27Z")
When I imagine a broad range of life experience, I don’t really put martini making near the top of my list. But it doesn’t matter. There’s no actual qualifications for the job and now she’s probably got it for as long as she wants it. So like it or not, Congresswoman is her first real job and probably a better use of her BA in Economics and International relations. I’m sure her mom agrees with me there. ---
**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 27, 2018, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/175 "2018-11-27T18:41:42Z")
Remember how all those hot blooded young men became vegetarians when those Pamela Anderson PETA ads came out? Me neither. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/176 "2018-11-27T18:47:14Z")
Being young and outspoken, she represents the future. A future that we will almost certainly be moving in the general direction of, one which terrifies the right. They do not want to be dragged there, so anyone who seeks to pull the tiller directing us that way must be torn down as much as possible. She scares them. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/177 "2018-11-27T18:55:32Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > When I imagine a broad range of life experience, I don’t really put martini making near the top of my list. Of course not. But living paycheck to paycheck with poor or no benefits is unfortunately a scenario for a large part of the population, and it is very rare to find a politician who has experienced that. More first-hand knowledge of how government policies affect people in that situation is a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/178 "2018-11-27T19:20:23Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > When I imagine a broad range of life experience, I don’t really put martini making near the top of my list. > > But it doesn’t matter. There’s no actual qualifications for the job and now she’s probably got it for as long as she wants it. So like it or not, Congresswoman is her first real job and probably a better use of her BA in Economics and International relations. I’m sure her mom agrees with me there. Do you have a list of occupations that you don’t consider a “real” job? Or is it pretty much “jobs that aren’t like mine”? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/179 "2018-11-27T19:41:20Z")
[quote=“bump, post:163, topic:824906”] \ How do we know he was the party favorite, just because he was the incumbent? She does seem unusually politically correct when compared to the old white man she beat in the primary. \ He was the chair of the House Democratic Caucus. He was spoken of as being Speaker of the House if the Democrats took back the House. His campaign raised over $3 million while she only had $300,000. ---
**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 27, 2018, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906/180 "2018-11-27T19:43:46Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Do you have a list of occupations that you don’t consider a “real” job? Or is it pretty much “jobs that aren’t like mine”? It’s like you think you know what kind of job I have. Fascinating. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-conservative-media-obsessed-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/824906.md?page=10)