December 11, 2018 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez goes full Fredo (and beyond) By Thomas Lifson
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is upset that people don't appreciate her intelligence and depth. It turns out that people notice when she says stupid things, such as nattering on about the "three chambers of government" or not understanding that Pentagon accounting errors don't yield a pot of money available for her pet scheme of "Medicare for All."
Preparing to become a solon in the House of Representatives is not at all like being a hot chick working her previous occupation of bartending, where pretty much anything she said was eagerly appreciated by her male customers. Lots of generous tips, but few factual corrections in that environment for a slender, comely female with high cheekbones and a taste for fashionable clothing.
YouTube screen grab, cropped.
In my imagination, I hear her with a whiny voice, stomping her feet, as she tweeted:
If she doesn't want scrutiny, she shouldn't run for office, and then, after a victory that grabbed a national spotlight, shoot her mouth off over complex policy issues that she hasn't thought through. Whatever his faults, Paul Ryan has a well deserved reputation as a policy wonk and has never said anything remotely as stupid as her claim that "unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs. Unemployment is low because people are working 60, 70, 80 hours a week and can barely feed their family."
If she doesn't want to be mocked, she should not venture into policy recommendations she must retreat from, admitting, "I am not an expert."
Her Twitter complaint is fully resonant with this immortal moment from one of the greatest movies in history, creating the expression "going Fredo" (hat tip: Kurt Schlichter):
I have to wonder if in addition to going Fredo, she is also "going Fauxcahontas" with this claim, which seems to be trading on the ethnic stereotype of Jews as smart. She certainly didn't emphasize this point during the campaign – and revealed it only now, when she is fighting back against charges of being stupid.
Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has claimed that she is descended from Sephardic Jews who were forcibly converted to Catholicism.
Ocasio-Cortez, who was elected last month to the US House of Representatives for New York State's 14th congressional district, told supporters at a Hannukah party organized by the left-wing Jews for Racial and Economic Justice that she has Jewish heritage.
"A very, very long time ago – generations and generations ago – my family consisted of Sephardic Jews," Ocasio-Cortez said.
"The story goes, during the Spanish Inquisition, so many people were forced to convert on the exterior to Catholicism, but on the interior continued to practice their faith and continued to be who they were, even though they were pressured to not be that on the outside world."
Her family later fled to Puerto Rico to escape persecution, Ocasio-Cortez said.
Hmm..."generations ago" might yield percentages similar to Elizabeth Warren's 1/643 to 1/1,028 Native American claim, which generated mockery. Just the thing for Ocasio-Cortez to stay in character.
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