Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Nominates Bernie Sanders At DNC, Stirs Confusion And Even Anger
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s nomination of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Democrat, during Tuesday night’s convention proceedings and in doing so has stirred up lots of confusion and even some anger.
As it turns out, Ocasio-Cortez’s move was part of convention procedure in which the person who came in second place is endorsed in the spirit of working together and cooperation. It was not a snub of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, the former vice president, as many have assumed.
In fact, AOC, a progressive and a freshman Democrat from New York City, took to social media to make clear that she is backing Biden in the White House race.
“Congratulations, @JoeBiden -- I deeply look forward to fighting for our future together and reclaiming our democracy in November,” Ocasio-Cortez said via Twitter. “Thank you @DemConvention for having me deliver Sen. Sanders’ roll call nomination speech. It’s been an absolute honor. #NotMeUs & #Biden2020.”
Ocasio-Cortez praised Sanders’ aborted campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, praising it during her 1-minute and 42-second speech as “a movement that realized the unsustainable brutality of an economy that rewards explosive inequalities of wealth for the few at the expense of long-term stability for the many.”
The confusion over the speech by Ocasio-Cortez reached even NBC News, which posted a now-deleted tweet that read, “In one of the shortest speeches of the DNC (Democratic National Convention), Ocasio-Cortez did not endorse Joe Biden.”
The network later posted a clarification.
“Ocasio-Cortez was asked by the DNC (Democratic National Convention) to second Sanders’ nomination,” the network said on social media. “The nomination is a procedural requirement of the convention.”
The congresswoman was still not pleased, tweeting in response, “So @NBCNews, how are you going to fix the incredible amount of damage and misinformation that you are now responsible for? Because a 1:15 a.m. tweet to slip under the radar after blowing up a totally false and divisive narrative across networks isn’t it.”
One political observer said the Sanders endorsement was a good move on the part of the Democratic party as a way to appease progressives who believe Biden might expend too much energy appeasing moderates.
“Biden was wise to reach out to the Sanders wing of the party immediately after Bernie dropped out to bring the party together and work to build trust as well as the strong possible united front going forward,” Evan Weber, cofounder of the youth-motivated Sunrise Movement, told Politico.
Wednesday night’s convention proceedings include the formal acceptance of the vice presidential nomination by U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and speeches from former President Barack Obama and former presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
For even more highlights from BET’s coverage of Tuesday night’s official 2020 Democratic National Convention, click here.
