Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

[Beorning]

I've heard this politician is making waves in the current US Congress.

Any opinions on her? Is she an honest person or one of those politicians who care only about being in power? Does she have good idea or not? Etc.

Please give me your perspective, folks...

[Tolvo]

She's pretty good, here and there votes for some questionable things but generally when she does it's stuff all the other dems are voting for, so it doesn't really make her worse than any of them. Maybe the most left wing big figure in US politics right, furthest left in congress I believe. Supports green energy, fights for the marginalized, fights for trans rights, anti-war, anti-capitalist, etc. Likes to stream herself cooking and chatting with people, regularly meets with people, cares a lot about the rights of citizens(And those outside the US). Probably all around one of our best politicians, though people saying they want her to run for president need to understand she's only 29 so can't. But she's a very bright honest person with a lot of insight, a big thing is she actually listens to people and does a lot of research and has a good team backing her up. But only time will tell whether she stays like this or as she gets older and possibly more powerful settles into dem norms.

[Beguile's Mistress]

In my opinion she needs to back pedal a bit and get down to work.  Her job is to be a member of the House of Representatives and not a game changer.  My taxes go toward paying her salary and I'm not happy with any elected official who pushes their own agenda and doesn't work for the benefit of those who are in her constituency whether they voted for her or not.

[Beorning]

If I may ask some questions...

She's pretty good, here and there votes for some questionable things but generally when she does it's stuff all the other dems are voting for, so it doesn't really make her worse than any of them.

So... what were the questionable things she voted for, in your opinion?

Maybe the most left wing big figure in US politics right, furthest left in congress I believe. Supports green energy, fights for the marginalized, fights for trans rights, anti-war, anti-capitalist, etc.

In what way is she anti-capitalist?

[/quote]
Likes to stream herself cooking and chatting with people, regularly meets with people, cares a lot about the rights of citizens(And those outside the US).
[/quote]

Do you think she's honest with these things, or is this more a calculated thing to make herself look like she's cool and empathic?

BTW. What do you think of the dance video controversy? I've seen comments online saying she herself had that old college video released to make it seem as if the Republicans were being nasty to her. Do you think it's possible - or was a genuine (if idiotic) Republican attempt at smear campaign?

In my opinion she needs to back pedal a bit and get down to work.  Her job is to be a member of the House of Representatives and not a game changer.  My taxes go toward paying her salary and I'm not happy with any elected official who pushes their own agenda and doesn't work for the benefit of those who are in her constituency whether they voted for her or not.

Could I ask you to elaborate? Why do you think she's not doing her job, exactly?

[Tolvo]

https://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/180416/alexandria-ocasio-cortez

This should show her voting record.

https://votesmart.org/candidate/180416/alexandria-ocasio-cortez

This has a little summary of her.

These are just little snippets so don't give the whole picture but can help get an idea. I'm honestly trying to remember it's so few and far between when I see her do something and I think "I wish she didn't do that" that it's hard for me to remember.

AOC pretty frequently talks negatively of capitalist endeavors. She appears to be very socialist leaning though still is trying to work as a Democrat. She focuses a lot on listening to poor and marginalized communities. She also will at times take a PR bullet for others, like when she had meetings without press being allowed in with Latinx communities and its members for fear that people wouldn't be able to share their stories due to groups like ICE.

Her streams seem multi-purpose to me, to help her seem more relatable, to talk about issues in a sort of podcast format, and frankly to entertain her and keep herself from getting bored while doing a lot of mundane things.

For the dancing video it was just ridiculous for people to attack her especially given all the other things politicians have done in the past, remember how John McCain used to beat up gay students at his school?

She seems pretty good for a politician, and like I said it is in part due to her team who do a lot of research for her and seem to be very good at their jobs. Likely she does not have the time to find all the information she talks about so she must have a lot of people doing research and briefing her on subjects. But it is difficult for her to pass things due to her lack of power and breaking from established Democrat norms and her not playing ball and following orders. Which while good on principle is tricky because a part of being a good politician is getting things done not always how good of a person you are. She also frequently brings up trans rights and the issues that transgender people face, she's been doing it more and more over time.

[NightLux]

or the dancing video it was just ridiculous for people to attack her especially given all the other things politicians have done in the past, remember how John McCain used to beat up gay students at his school?

Speaking of that... how did a good looking woman that spent her later high school/college years end up with none of those pictures leaking?  I'm still amazed that we haven't seen those come out (given what others around seem to do on a regular basis).

Not to be flippant, but that along gets a lot of respect from me.  Good decision making, even at that younger age.

Or a good scrubber.  Still a good sign.

[LostInTheMist]

She's a branch of the Democratic party that is called the "democratic socialist" branch. When Bernie Sanders runs for President as a Democrat (even though he's not technically a member of the party) he's running as a Democratic Socialist. The far left flank of the party.

I like AOC. She's clearly smart, young, talented, and very popular with the young people. She ousted a ten-term incumbent in her district in the primary, and then easily won the general election (to the tune of 78%) because the district is like Strongly Democratic (+29 points), so the big challenge was to win the primary. She comes off as very genuine to me.

As far as "pushing her own agenda", in part, that's what we elect representatives for. They have ideas that we like. She does her job just like any other member of congress, but she's not just going to sit down and shut up like a lot of people want her to, and in my opinion, that's a good thing. We're facing some severe problems in the world, and unlike most of her colleagues, she's still going to be alive to see the consequences of the current status quo. So she's trying to change it. Yes, at the moment, she's shouting into the (hurricane force) wind, but people know where she stands, and 20 years down the line, they'll be able to see she's always stood there.

Time will tell, of course, and I could certainly be wrong. But I think she genuinely believes in what she's saying.

[elone]

In my opinion she needs to back pedal a bit and get down to work.  Her job is to be a member of the House of Representatives and not a game changer.  My taxes go toward paying her salary and I'm not happy with any elected official who pushes their own agenda and doesn't work for the benefit of those who are in her constituency whether they voted for her or not.

Her job is to represent her constituents. I'm sure when she was elected, those who voted were aware of her positions. It is an impossibility to represent everyone who has an opinion. Perhaps if we had more game changers, we would not be where we are today. We have a Congress that is stuck in politics ruled by the dollar and lobbyists with little regard for what the people want. She is against big business raping our country, for climate change recognition, and for supporting human rights across the globe. That is just a short list. Wish there were more like her. She has not yet been ruined by party politics and the power of money in government.