After being falsely accused of historical ignorance by a noted right-wing activist and conservative biographer of Ronald Reagan, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) struck back with a withering comeback on Twitter this afternoon.
Craig Shirley, chairman of the grassroots conservative group founded by the former Republican president, Citizens for the Republic, and the author of numerous Reagan biographies, started the Twitter feud with a series of posts that all began with the unproven premise of “There is no evidence that @AOC ever picked up a book on President Ronald Reagan” and continued by then listing various accomplishments and policy positions that presumably would surprise the young representative from The Bronx.
Among the supposedly unknown achievements by the late president that Shirley cites are Reagan’s advocacy of statehood for Puerto Rico, his signing of the bill authorizing the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, his appointment of a record number of African Americans to state positions when he was governor of California, and his economic record of tax cuts for the rich and supply-side “voodoo economics.”
Representative Ocasio-Cortez responded to Shirley’s list of the supposedly unlearned accomplishments that his much-lauded hero was responsible for with a counterbalancing list — a brief compendium of Reagan’s greatest failures and misdeeds that the sycophantic biographer glossed over while compiling his list of hostile bragging points that he accused the congresswoman of not being sufficiently well read to have noticed.
Her reply demonstrated that she knew quite a bit about the Reagan legacy, but consulted sources perhaps less biased towards the sainted right-wing icon than the books by the former Republican National Committee staffer.
Ok great, now talk about Reagan and:
– Iran-Contra +
– The gutting of our mental health system +
– The explosion of homelessness under his watch +
– The crack epidemicMaybe instead of insinuating I’ve never read a book, be open to the idea that we’ve read different ones. https://t.co/aP96oCCBwm
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 11, 2019
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With Twitter’s character limit impeding her ability to include a fuller list of President Reagan’s failures, the congresswoman was compelled to follow up her initial post with a second Tweet offering even more horrendous items to the late president’s hall of shame.
– HIV/AIDS crisis and demonization of LGBT+ community
– Union-busting
– Ending the Fairness Doctrine, which launched the polarized media environment we’re suffering from todayWhy are we not supposed to talk about these things?
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 11, 2019
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Ocasio-Cortez’s laundry list of the predominantly darker side of the Reagan administration proves that Shirley’s claims of a lack of evidence that she “ever picked up a book on President Ronald Reagan” is a slanderous lie.
The Congresswoman, a graduate of Boston University with a cum laude degree in International Relations, is obviously well-versed in the history of the Reagan presidency.
It’s just that, unlike her antagonist Shirley, she chooses not to ignore the legacy of disastrous right-wing policies that Reagan initiated that have culminated in the reactionary and monstrous behemoth that the GOP has become today.
As she continues to fight against the attacks by conservative critics who have decided that she is the new favorite Democratic target to pillory, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez continues to prove why she is the emerging star of the freshman class of progressive Democrats in the House of Representatives and will help lead the next generation of political luminaries in her newly energized party.
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