OPINION:
Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC fame said during a televised sit-down with a couple of guests that calling the likes of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a socialist was patently untrue — that saying so was simply “opposition research” garbage, ostensibly from conservatives and Republicans and President Donald Trump’s supporters and base. Come again?
Does Mitchell ever watch or read the news herself?
To say Ocasio-Cortez is not a socialist is to say the sky is never blue. Ocasio-Cortez herself admits she’s socialist.
Here’s what Mitchell said, in context of discussing how socialism was a top-searched online dictionary term in the wake of Trump’s recent rally, in which he blasted certain congressional members for their anti-American, socialist leanings, Mediaite noted: “The president did call out these congresswomen [Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Ilhan Omar] by name. [But] first of all, none of these members of Congress are socialists, but that is the way the Republican leadership wants to frame this election face-off. There’s not a single member of these congressional representatives who are avowed socialists, so I don’t know where that is coming from other than opposition research.”
Or — Ocasio-Cortez.
“Are you a Democratic Socialist? Is that what you call yourself,” asked “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd of Ocasio-Cortez, back in July of 2018. “Or you don’t want that label?”
And Ocasio-Cortez replied this way: “I mean, it’s part of what I am. It’s not all of what I am. And I think that that’s a very important distinction. I’m an educator. I’m an organizer.”
And — a socialist.
“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a Democratic Socialists of America member,” wrote Vox, in a June 2018, headline.
The DSA, meanwhile, touts itself as “the largest socialist organization” in America.
Where has Mitchell been?
This is why Trump’s message of “fake news” resonates so well with the American people.
When there’s a member of the media like Mitchell, with all her influence and power and prestige, chalking up all this socialist talk about true socialists in Congress to “opposition research” conducted by Republicans — well then, you know the “fake news” label really fits.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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