Payback Time: The Congressional Black Caucus Plays the Race Card Against … AOC and the Justice Democrats

The Congressional Black Caucus has just seriously raised the stakes in the escalating war of words between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY).

On Thursday, I wrote about how the freshman Congresswoman all but played the race card against Pelosi during an interview with the Washington Post on Wednesday, but then walked her comments back on Thursday. Here’s a brief recap for those who missed it:

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) accused Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) of repeatedly singling out newly elected women of color in the House, saying that the veteran congresswoman’s criticism has become “outright disrespectful.”

[…]

“When these comments first started, I kind of thought that she was keeping the progressive flank at more of an arm’s distance in order to protect more moderate members, which I understood,” Ocasio-Cortez told the Post.

“But the persistent singling out … it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful … the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color,” she added.

Less than 12 hours later, AOC said she did not believe Pelosi had racist motivations in targeting the Freshman Four:

I asked AOC if she thinks Pelosi has racial animus or is racist, and she said: “No, no, absolutely not, absolutely not.”

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 11, 2019

To add to the backstory on all of this, Bonchie wrote last night about how Congressional Black Caucus member William Lacy Clay (MO) absolutely blasted AOC over her use of the race card against Pelosi, and also took a swipe at her chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti:

“What a weak argument, because you can’t get your way and because you’re getting pushback you resort to using the race card? Unbelievable. That’s unbelievable to me,” Clay said. “I could care less. I could really care less. I agree with the Speaker. Four people, four votes out of 240 people, who cares.”

[…]

The Missouri Democrat also described Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti and the progressive group Justice Democrats as “juvenile” and “ignorant.”

The Justice Democrats have endorsed a progressive primary challenger against Clay and other centrist Democrats. Chakrabarti last week sent out a tweet comparing centrist Democrats to “new Southern Democrats” that “certainly seem hell bent to do to black and brown people today what the old Southern Democrats did in the 40s.”

“It shows you how ignorant and little history [Chakrabarti] knows, how ignorant he is to American history. How dare he,” Clay said.

In the latest development in this dramatic saga, the Congressional Black Caucus has decided to remind AOC that when it comes to playing the race card, no one can do it better than they can:

Congressional Black Caucus members are furious at Justice Democrats, accusing the outside progressive group aligned with firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) of trying to oust lawmakers of color, specifically African American lawmakers.

[…]

“It just seems strange that the social Democrats seem to be targeting members of the Congressional Black Caucus, individuals who have stood and fought to make sure that African Americans are included and part of this process,” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), a senior CBC member, told The Hill.

“I don’t know what that agenda is, but if they want to come after members of the Black Caucus, it’s two ways,” warned Meeks, the Queens Democratic Party boss who clashed with Justice Democrats in a local district attorney race last month.

Indeed, sir. Indeed.

Perhaps the best thing to come out of this outside of the utter schadenfreude many of us are experiencing over seeing Democrats hoist each other by their own petards is the fact that AOC’s Twitter feed has gone silent today. That’s not likely to last, but still – we must be thankful for even the smallest of favors these days…

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— Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter. –

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