When Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., recently dismissed past left-wing platforms by noting that “Woke 1 was crazy,” some media reports framed the comments as a shift toward the political center. But Pirate Wires Editor-in-Chief Mike Solana argues her comment points to a more aggressive direction for the party.
As Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidates win races across the country, centrist Democrats are confronting the groups growing influence as DSA-backed candidates support policies like abolishing the Senate and expanding public ownership of major companies.
Speaking with Solana criticized Ocasio-Cortezs response to her partys progressive past after the congresswoman appeared on ABCs “This Week.” When host Jonathan Karl on Wisconsin state Rep. Francesca Hongs past calls to defund police and abolish prisons, Ocasio-Cortez dismissed concerns about Hongs previous positions.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ SHRUGS OFF PAST ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ COMMENTS, JOKING ‘WOKE 1 WAS CRAZY’
“I have a local city councilman that has this saying, ‘Woke 1 was crazy,'” “And I think that whats important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now.”
Hong failed to capture the Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial nomination, .Â
Solana argued the congresswomans comment allowed her to avoid accountability for past positions. “She said something more interesting, which she had from another Democrat, a phrase, Woke one was crazy,” he said. “Now, it was an incredible obfuscation, you know, there’s no real admission of guilt there, but there is an admission that there was an era of crazy left-wing views that was not really palatable or correct.”
Solana said Ocasio-Cortez has not renounced several of her previous “woke” positions. He pointed to her past support for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defunding the police and granting mass amnesty to illegal immigrants.
“I mean, it’s crazy, right? It’s like, ‘Sure, we lorded over a loosely decentralized global censorship apparatus in service of burning the world down in the era of BLM, but that was like so long ago. Oops, my bad, girls will be girls,'” Solana said sarcastically.
While Solana acknowledged that politicians can change their views over time, he argued voters deserve clear answers on which positions progressives are actually abandoning.
AOC’S ATTEMPT TO DISMISS ‘WOKE 1’ AS ‘CRAZY’ DRAWS CRITICISM FROM LEFT-LEANING OUTLETS
“There are all of these things in the era of woke that she’s been a part of that she hasn’t actually said she no longer believes. We kind of wrap it all in a neat little bow which is woke one was crazy, and we move on and maybe she’s not going to talk about those things anymore,” Solana said.
“Maybe there are some things there that she no longer believes. It’s possible that people, politicians, can evolve on some other topic. In fact, it’s great. But we need to know exactly what position she’s evolved on an
