outliers of the future
It’s actually a little uninteresting in and of itself, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s primary victory. She wins a heavily immigrant district at a particularly tumultuous time issue wise against the dull Democratic Party apparatchik. And in a year where the only clear tealeaves in Democratic primary fights, on equal ground or the rare insurgent victory, is that women win over men. She doesn’t represent an obvious path for the party toward winning nationwide, and may just portend trends in the urban core that’d fade out in the suburbs.
The question worth trying to gauge, from historical precedent, whether in some future, Republicans can make some political hay out of her (one of 435 Representatives.) We see Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck going the “Like the Honest Socialists, don’t like the dishonest ones” route of facile praise (wink wink — jab at more politically vulnerable and careful positioning Claire McCaskill, or… whomever… who are “hiding their true colors” or… something.) Going with her obvious forebear — Bernie Sanders — any one since 1990 that a Republican won a race anywhere by morphing their opponent with this “Democratic Socialist”? No, for the most part he fades into eccentric obscurity. The party has more prominent figures (and likely less liberal) to work with.
Going back further… and clue me in if there’s someone else worth positing… at some point, will a Richard Nixon come out and win an election by “exposing” the voting similarities of his opponent, Jerry Voorhis, with that of Labor Party/ red or pink Wallacite Vito Marcantonio’s? Oh, who’s to say? Probably a ways too far from the Cold War. For the moment, Maxine Waters represents a better boogey woman… even if Ocasio-Cortez largely backs her up (if maybe not specific to the full frontal public confrontation Waters seems to favor).