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- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won’t say who she’s supporting for president in 2020, but she’s been increasingly outspoken about which Democrats she won’t get behind.
- On Sunday, the congresswoman condemned former Rep. John Delaney, a 2020 candidate, after he declared that Medicare-for-all is bad politics and policy.
- "John Delaney, thank you but please sashay away," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.
- Delaney defended his position on healthcare and compared Democrats who booed him at the California Democratic Party convention to President Donald Trump.
- "Healthcare is the #1 issue for voters, so let’s debate the way forward. Any show of your choosing. Healthcare is too important for tweets, we need real discussion," he tweeted.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won’t say who she’s supporting for president in 2020, but she’s been increasingly outspoken about who she won’t get behind.
On Sunday, the congresswoman condemned former Rep. John Delaney, a 2020 presidential candidate, after he declared that Medicare-for-all, "may sound good but it’s actually not good policy nor is it good politics."
Delaney’s comments received extended boos at the California Democratic Party convention in San Francisco.
"Since there’s so many people running for President (& not enough for Senate), instead of obsessing over who’s a ‘frontrunner,’ maybe we can start [with] some general eliminations," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Sunday. "This awful, untrue line got boo’ed for a full minute. John Delaney, thank you but please sashay away."
Ocasio-Cortez, who ran on Medicare-for-all, followed up by insisting that single-payer would be less costly than the country’s current system.
Delaney defended himself against Ocasio-Cortez’s criticism in a series of tweets on Monday, arguing that Democrats should have an open debate about the future of healthcare policy. He also insisted that eliminating private health insurance — as some versions of Medicare-for-all would do — is a bad idea.
"Hey @AOC, we have the same goal, universal healthcare for everyone, we just have different ways of getting there," he wrote. "Healthcare is the #1 issue for voters, so let’s debate the way forward. Any show of your choosing. Healthcare is too important for tweets, we need real discussion."
And Delaney, a former Maryland congressman, compared Democrats who shut down debate over healthcare to Trump.
"Intolerance to alternative points of view is not what the Democratic Party should be about," he wrote. "Don’t we get enough of that from Trump?"
Ocasio-Cortez has also voiced her disapproval of former Vice President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, calling his position on climate change policy a "dealbreaker" last month.
"There is no ‘middle ground’ w/ climate denial & delay. Blaming ‘blue collar’ Americans as the main opponents to bold climate policy is gas lobbyist 101," the Bronx native wrote, retweeting a report that Biden would pursue a "middle ground" on climate policy. "We’re not going to solve the climate crisis w/ this lack of leadership. Our kids’ lives are at stake."
The 29-year-old freshman congresswoman hasn’t endorsed a candidate for president yet, but she’s expressed support for both Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
See Also:
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- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez poured drinks and waited tables at a Queens restaurant to promote a minimum wage law
- Watch radio host Charlamagne tha God tell Elizabeth Warren she’s ‘like the original Rachel Dolezal’
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Eliza Relman)