Great point by AOC on sexist double standards

[NewJeffCT]

Link to tweet

text of tweet:
Double standards are Paul Ryan being elected at 28 and immediately being given the benefit of his ill-considered policies considered genius; and me winning a primary at 28 to immediately be treated with suspicion & scrutinized, down to my clothing, of being a fraud.

she was responding to Ezra Klein saying this:
I gave Paul Ryan the benefit of the doubt. I was wrong.

[EffieBlack]

1. Boom!

The Distnguished Lady speaks the truth.

[NewJeffCT]

5. Yes

Paul Ryan was way way too respected by the media without ever achieving much.

[calimary]

14. When you look up "Empty suit" in the dictionary,

you’re probably gonna find his photo there.

Did somebody say “nothingburger”?

[Gothmog]

45. I never understood why Paul Ryan was considered intelligent

Ryan's budgets and blueprints were all jokes and never added up

[Ace Rothstein]

2. She makes a lot of great points on a variety of subjects.

[demmiblue]

3. Yep, you can even see this type of attitude on DU.

Sure, Ocasio would often do better to consult with wiser people before speaking,...

[R B Garr]

4. LOL! Thanks for illustrating what these threads are really

about — talking about other DUers.

[Autumn]

6. I've never seen so many people suggesting a woman should shut up and sit down

in my life as I have seen when it comes to her. The good thing is she will never do as she's told and that pisses off the republicans.

[demmiblue]

35. Meh, I can't see them.

I just looked at the number of posts and number of posts I can see. A whole lot of misogyny/racism/ageism is going on, I'm guessing.

[George II]

42. Where is the racism and ageism? As you say, "Meh, I can't see them."

[R B Garr]

46. LOL! Thanks for the confirmation about discussing DUers

[EffieBlack]

7. There's a difference between urging a young person to seek counsel and treating them

as if they are stupid or telling them to shut up

I think AOC is very smart, savvy and has huge potential and I deeply resent the double standard that viewed Ryan as a savant and her as a clueless dolt. On the other hand, I think she has a lot to learn in her new role and consistently urge her to find the right balance between being a national figure and being a freshman Congresswoman. The two are not mutually exclusive.

I also hope that she keeps her eyes on the ball and doesn’t let her fans convince her to get too far out over her skis - and that, unlike some of her more starry-eyed supporters, she’s not so enamoured of her own success that she believes she can’t learn anything from those with more experience.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. Good Post EB

The double standard is quite clear because the clueless dolt was Ryan, not AOC.

Yet he was treated as a visionary and genius and her as a kid.

And, i completely agree that while she should continue to be loud and proud, she should be cautious to not get out over her skis. An apt analogy.

[watoos]

12. Any examples that would lead you to giving her that advice?

[ProfessorGAC]

30. History?

Becoming the center of gravity and not a comet?

Learning all the mechanisms before you take the machine apart?

I could do this all day.

[question everything]

17. +1000

Yes, different generation, but I keep looking at when Hillary and Franken were elected. Both were well known, and both took the back benches, took their time to learn how Congress works, to forge ties. As much as many despised Hillary, she was respected by her peers.

And then there was Ted Cruz who immediately challenged Feinstein.. and was, perhaps is, despised by members of his own party.

Will ACO, and other newbies, sit and learn and decide what is important for their constituents, or will they choose to keep their names in the news, knowing that their seats are safe?

[watoos]

20. With all due respect,

have you listened to her (her initials are AOC) speak? I think she has a very good idea of what is good for her constituents right now, at least that's what I hear when I listen to her speak.

[Ciaphas Cain]

29. Sit and learn

Sitting and learning about what her constituents need is something that happened before she even ran. That seems like an odd criticism.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

15. Yep. We even had people crunching numbers and calling her a liar about her housing issues.

[Autumn]

23. That was the most republican bullshit I've seen in my life. Right out of Eddy Scarry's

playbook.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

36. More like Reagan Democrat.

[QC]

37. She truly enrages conservatives

in both parties.

[IronLionZion]

9. Sexist and racist. She gets hit twice

[ZeroSomeBrains]

10. Ezra Klein was always looking for that "Reasonable Republican"

And it never existed in the first place but picked Paul Ryan out as a "policy wonk" so that he could boost his bipartisan credentials. In doing so he showed himself to be a sucker and I love AOC calling out the hypocracy of the double-standard being applied by the media. She has so far found all the right times to pick a fight. Keep it up AOC!

[watoos]

22. I don't think she was fighting with Ezra Klein.

There are a heck of a lot worse journalists out there than Ezra.

[ZeroSomeBrains]

31. I don't think he's a horrible journalist

But his commentary regarding Paul Ryan was always incredibly stupid.

[George II]

11. She should sit down with Hillary Clinton for a heart to heart talk about being in the public eye....

....and how to react, or NOT react, to every negative comment.

[EffieBlack]

16. Great advice

Nancy Pelosi would also be a great mentor/role model.

[question everything]

18. Hillary Clinto sat quietly in the back seat to learn how Congress works

and to forge ties with her peers.

[R B Garr]

28. Great advice. And it wasn't just Republicans attacking Hillary.

Now she might have an idea of how Republican all those supposed attacks on Hillary sounded — with possible apologies — might be a great move.

[JCanete]

39. what specifically do you find problematic about this? She's not REACTING. She's drawing attention to

[Adrahil]

13. While I think that's absolutely true....

... she should avoid getting mired in conversations about herself.

I think she should just get in there and show she has good ideas and that she can lead. There is no chance she is going to get the right wing idiots to STFU. She's gotta focus on performance.

[mountain grammy]

19. No, she should absolutely bring attention to the exact

Things she’s bringing attention to..

[watoos]

24. I agree 100%

There are a lot of people here on this thread giving AOC advice but I haven't heard what issues they are upset about? I say, you go girl.

[Adrahil]

26. Bringing attention to it is one thing...

... but she has to avoid making the conversation about herself. The bad guys don’t want to talk about issues. They want to demonize individuals. Just my opinion, course, but I think she can be a leader if she handles her Freshman term well.

[demmiblue]

34. Yep.

The sit down and shut up advice is crap, imo.

Sad to see here.

[Bettie]

38. I agree

and I am also sad to see it here.

She should not sit down and shut up, the house and the senate are very different bodies, so comparing her to freshman senators is not a good comparison.

[TimeToGo]

21. I don't remember

I don't remember any/many people calling him a genius. But he was, somehow, considered an able policy wonk. With zero antecedent evidence. And certainly zero policy accomplishments. But once people said that . . .

Was it Franklin that said something like -- give a man the reputation of an early riser, and he can sleep till noon.

But I think Adrahil is right. The media is not likely to do for her what they did for Ryan. So, perhaps she should just move forward.

[watoos]

25. The notion that Paul Ryan was an economic genius,

was a right wing corporate M$M talking point. The right made him into a hero because he worshipped Ayn Rand.

Rand and Ryan are 2 peas in a pod, both hypocrites. They both railed against Social Security and Medicare but both used them when they were in need.

[TimeToGo]

44. Well, yea

I was just meaning that there were few people calling him a genius -- even the media isn't that stupid.

They did want to cast him as an intellectual. A deep and careful thinker. There was absolutely no evidence for that, but that didn't stop them.

[George II]

32. She has to learn to not comment on everything that is said about her. She has a lot to learn...

...about being a legislator, and none of it has to do with lashing back regarding a comment about her shoes.

If she, and EVERY legislator (male, female, black, white, asian, etc...) gets tripped up on every comment made about them, they'll never get anything done. This is the big time in Washington DC now, not life in Yorktown Heights.

[melman]

33. "not life in Yorktown Heights"

[JCanete]

40. no..... there's a fight going on. She's center stage in the media.

It is smart not to just duck her head and allow attacks to stand and not to turn them on their heads. It is both smart and a good to draw attention to the problematic narratives and the underbelly of things that she has a unique opportunity to recognize and shine light on. Do you know exactly how it was that Pelosi and Clinton became SO vilified over decades? Because they chose "decorum" and never fought back against attacks...never flipped them on their heads or called out the hypocrisy, so they allowed false narratives to fester because they thought "rising above" those conversations was a good idea. Maybe back then they had to...it was a tricky business gaining purchase as female legislators...but today is a different day.

What she does need to do at times is to take a step back and make sure before she tweets that she's not making the wrong assumptions, because that will hurt her when she gets it demonstrably wrong, but I'm confident she'll figure that out.

[Adrahil]

43. If she makes the fight about herself....

... then she is doing EXACTLY what her opponents want. They don't want to talk about issues. They want to villify a vocal, young, black woman.

Don't take the bait. Stay on target.

[JCanete]

48. I don't agree that she is making the fight about herself. Nor do I agree that she's doing what her

opponents want.

[pdsimdars]

27. Isn't pretty much EVERY point she makes great? I think so.

[Celerity]

47. she is wonderful, a breath of fresh air