In an interview with Axios on HBO this weekend, former Vice President Joe Biden insisted that people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her “Squad” do not represent the Democratic Party. Fighting back against the perception that the beating heartbeat of the Democrats could be found in the radical, socialist wing of Congress, Biden said that it was more instructive to look at AOC, Bernie Sanders, and others of their ilk as an entirely different party.
Asked if the election of so-called “Democratic Socialists” was a reaction to the failure of Hillary Clinton in 2016, Biden waved away the suggestion.
“You guys got it all wrong about what happened,” he said, insisting that the Democratic base was not nearly as far left as the media was portraying them. “It’s just bad judgment. You all thought that what happened was the party moved extremely to the left after Hillary. AOC was a new party, She’s a bright, wonderful person. But where’s the party? Come on, man.”
Seeing as how Biden is leading both Sanders and progressive Elizabeth Warren is just about any poll you look at, it’s hard to argue with his theory.
“The party’s not there. The party’s not there at all,” Biden continued, speaking specifically about Medicare-for-All. “You know the numbers.”
Ocasio-Cortez herself has been oddly silent about the Democratic frontrunner’s remarks. Perhaps that’s because she’s too busy making an absolute fool of herself on social media (again). This week, Amazon announced that they would be bringing 1,500 jobs to New York City. AOC is taking this as an opportunity to do a victory lap, since it was her criticism and opposition to tax breaks for the company that led them to choose another location for their HQ2 project.
“Won’t you look at that: Amazon is coming to NYC anyway – *without* requiring the public to finance shady deals, helipad handouts for Jeff Bezos, & corporate giveaways,” the congressional jester tweeted on Friday. “Maybe the Trump admin should focus more on cutting public assistance to billionaires instead of poor families.”
And maybe AOC should learn the difference between 1,500 Manhattan jobs and the 25,000 Queens jobs that Amazon would have brought in with their headquarters.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the base of the party, we’re inclined to disagree with Biden. AOC, Sanders, and their radical ideas are growing in popularity among the Democratic voting base every single day. Biden’s name-recognition, his association with Obama, and his positive numbers among black voters are helping him win this race – not his centrism. We wouldn’t mind being wrong here, but from what we can see, the party is shifting farther to the left with each passing minute.
