Kentucky Republicans Worried Inviting AOC to Meet with Coal Miners Might Backfire

tulc

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Kentucky Republicans Worried Inviting AOC to Meet with Coal Miners Might Backfire
Last month, a clip of New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went predictably viral after she forcefully responded to one of her colleagues on the House Financial Services Committee when he called climate change an "elitist" concern. "Wanting clean air and water is not elitist," she said.

In response, Kentucky Republican congressman Andy Barr invited Ocasio-Cortez to come meet coal miners in his state "who will tell you what the Green New Deal would mean for their families, their paychecks." His concern, he said, is that the Green New Deal would phase out U.S. reliance on coal and fossil fuel, which would wreak havoc on the lives of people who work in those industries. Ocasio-Cortez accepted, saying she'd be "happy" to go, adding that the Green New Deal was written to fund coal-miner pensions. "We want a just transition to make sure we are investing in jobs across those swaths of the country," she said.

All in all, it seemed like an uncharacteristically cordial exchange for two members of Congress. And not even a month later, that cordiality is out the window: Barr attached a rather inhospitable and obnoxious demand to his invitation, writing in a letter posted to Twitter that she should "apologize to [Texas representative Dan Crenshaw] prior to coming to visit Kentucky," for a completely unrelated event before meeting with miners. The public scolding over purported incivility, along with the random call for an apology to a colleague from a completely different state, leaves the impression that the Barr might not want her to come to Kentucky after all.
tulc(thought the rest of the article was very interesting) :wave:
 
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FireDragon76

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Of course he feels threatened because he wants to keep people like AOC "othered", it's part of his fear-mongering strategy, instead of dealing realistically with climate change.
 
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The Barbarian

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Yeah, I think Barr never expected the lady to accept his invitation, and is grasping at any excuse to keep his constituents from hearing her.

He's defending Crenshaw, who engaged in exactly the same sort of incivility against a fellow House member, that he accuses Ocasio-Ortiz of doing with Crenshaw. I suppose it sticks in his craw, being reminded that right-wing terrorism has become the major source of terrorism deaths in America, but it's very obvious that he is having second thoughts about her coming to his district.

The invitation was likely just empty rhetoric; who would have expected her to agree to come and speak with the people of that district?
 
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Arcangl86

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Yeah, I think Barr never expected the lady to accept his invitation, and is grasping at any excuse to keep his constituents from hearing her.

He's defending Crenshaw, who engaged in exactly the same sort of incivility against a fellow House member, that he accuses Ocasio-Ortiz of doing with Crenshaw. I suppose it sticks in his craw, being reminded that right-wing terrorism has become the major source of terrorism deaths in America, but it's very obvious that he is having second thoughts about her coming to his district.

The invitation was likely just empty rhetoric; who would have expected her to agree to come and speak with the people of that district?
I have no idea how accurate it is, but I recently saw a meme claiming that it turns out there are no coal mines in his district for her to visit.
 
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jgarden

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Kentucky Republicans Worried Inviting AOC to Meet with Coal Miners Might Backfire

Unlike "The Donald" and many od his surrogates, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez does not come from a background of wealth, privilege and entitlement - she also represents a "hard-scrabble" district of New York of blue-collar workers!

Based on her life experiences, AOC probably has far more in common with the coal-miners of Kentucky than her Republican counterparts!
 
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The Barbarian

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I have no idea how accurate it is, but I recently saw a meme claiming that it turns out there are no coal mines in his district for her to visit.

The republican party seems to have completely accepted Trump's idea of truth as a reflection of whatever you want people to believe.
 
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HannahT

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I think the coal miners have been told something along the same lines as she mentioned in many years past already. I mean how many years now have I heard politicians claiming they were going to bring 'replacement' jobs into those areas - not just Kentucky? Forever. It's not likely she would get the pensions for them - that she spoke of either. If that was possible? It would have happened years ago. lol like when they needed to survive then too.

I'm not sure what good her visit would do, but I'd tell her to go anyway.
 
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The Barbarian

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I think the coal miners have been told something along the same lines as she mentioned in many years past already. I mean how many years now have I heard politicians claiming they were going to bring 'replacement' jobs into those areas - not just Kentucky? Forever. It's not likely she would get the pensions for them - that she spoke of either. If that was possible? It would have happened years ago. lol like when they needed to survive then too.

I'm not sure what good her visit would do, but I'd tell her to go anyway.

She'd be willing to listen, I think. And truth is, she actually cares for people who disadvantaged.

Could she help them? I don't know. But unlike Trump, she would try.
 
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