The Patriot Post® · Pelosi vs. Ocasio-Cortez

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is the very definition of the old guard. At age 79 and in Congress since 1987, to many, Pelosi represents “yesterday’s party.” Sure, she led Democrats to victory in the House in 2008, shoved ObamaCare down America’s throat in spite of the political cost, and then once again assumed the speakership after last year’s midterm win. But she’s increasingly having trouble reining in a few outspoken freshman Democrats who view themselves as the future. She even admonished the entire Democrat caucus in a closed-door meeting Wednesday for publicly airing grievances.

The most prominent among the newcomers is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the loudmouth former bartending Millennial socialist from the Bronx. The ubiquitous Leftmedia overload on “AOC” is mind-numbing, but pundits hang on her every word. The Right largely sees her as a poster child for everything foolish and idiotic about socialism.

At least publicly, Pelosi gives off the same vibe. In February, she dismissed the Green New Deal as “the green dream, or whatever they call it,” knowing full well what they call it. This week, she derided Ocasio-Cortez and her cohorts, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley, saying, “All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world. But they didn’t have any following” in the House. Indeed, these sorts of comments are becoming regular for Pelosi, who seems to disdain the way AOC and her pals think they’re “the boss.”

“I have no regrets about anything,” Pelosi said when asked about her remarks. “Regrets is not what I do.”

In response, Ocasio-Cortez pulled out the race card, claiming it’s “the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color.”

Perhaps this represents a true rift in the Democrat Party. For Pelosi and the old guard, the way to get things done is through rigid unity of the caucus. Keep squabbles private, and when push comes to shove, fall in line and vote to advance an achievable agenda. That’s how they accomplished the radical takeover of one-sixth of the economy through ObamaCare. To “progressives” a decade later, however, that’s already old policy needing to be replaced by single-payer health care via Medicare for All.

The extreme Left is vying for control of the Democrat Party — indeed, it already does dictate most of the agenda. But Pelosi isn’t taking kindly to being pushed faster or farther than she wants to go. “If the Left doesn’t think I’m left enough, so be it,” she said. It will bear watching how this Democrat “civil war” plays out.

Democrat Civil War: Socialism Rising. pic.twitter.com/FRSnIhH1nN

— GOP (@GOP) July 9, 2019