For a member of Congress who has been in office for less than a week, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has received what seems like a lifetime of media attention. Much of that comes from her supporters, showing appreciation for her words and actions. But a lot, and possibly even more of it, comes from rightwing media and wannabe internet pundits.
You’ve Tweeted about her 21 times since 3pm Thursday.
— Adam Schiavone (@AdamSchiavone) January 5, 2019
A narrative has been created around Ocasio-Cortez that relies on the admiration many young, progressive Americans have for the new lawmaker, but is dedicated to “proving” that such admiration is undeserved. That narrative gives no space for mistakes, missteps, or the sort of on-the-job learning curve nearly every other freshman representative gets to ride out outside of the media’s eye.
But, for better or for worse, AOC has become a very public figure. The “better” of that is that her progressive values get a central place in public discussions. The “worse” is that she is held to a different standard than her colleagues and reported on differently by the media, often with that narrative—rather than straight facts—in mind.
The latest example is an article on CNN about her “slippery slope with facts.” This comes after her sit-down with Anderson Cooper, where she was asked about a recent fact-check from The Washington Post, who awarded her a Four Pinocchio rating for a tweet she wrote in December about Medicare funding.
At one point in that conversation, she said, “I think that there’s a lot of people more concerned about being precisely, factually, and semantically correct than about being morally right.” And that’s the quote CNN’s Chris Cillizza led with.
“I think that there’s a lot of people more concerned about being precisely, factually, and semantically correct than about being morally right.” — @AOC https://t.co/jKoBUDAa9v
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) January 7, 2019
However, that wasn’t the entire quote, and as we’ve seen many times before, when she is misrepresented, AOC will call it out.
“And whenever I make a mistake, I say, “OK, this was clumsy.” and then I restate what my point was. But it’s— it’s not the same thing as— as the President lying about immigrants. It’s not the same thing, at all.” – the next sentence
Cover the quote in context, thanks. https://t.co/e5zHw4uHaw
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 7, 2019
Cillizza tries to claim the character count kept him from providing necessary context to what otherwise comes across as a very flippant, ignorant quote. But that’s a claim that doesn’t require the Washington Post to fact-check.
Hey @CillizzaCNN, why are you lying? You had enough characters to fit the entire next sentence in that tweet. @AOC pic.twitter.com/dOq7esFhue
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) January 7, 2019
.@CillizzaCNN – looks like your ‘character count’ argument to avoid including my full quote is straight up wrong.
Also: where are all the “Pinocchios” for Republicans this week (many of whom are much more senior than me) blatantly lying about marginal tax rates? https://t.co/d8VIMLKaYD
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 7, 2019
A sitting Congressional rep (or even rep-elect, as she was at the time of that tweet) should absolutley be called out when they misstate facts when pushing their policy agendas. But what Ocasio-Cortez and others are taking issue with is the scale of her scrutiny.
As a representative-elect, a month out from taking office, AOC’s tweet got not just a passing fact-check, but a full WaPo article with the same sort of detail you’d expect from an investigation of a whole collection of Trump’s lies.
Facts are facts, America. We should care about getting things right. Yet standards of who gets fact-checked, how often + why are unclear.
This is where false equivalency+bias creeps in, allowing climate deniers to be put on par w/scientists, for example.https://t.co/87c6kVzIuI
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 7, 2019
For example, it looks like @PolitiFact has fact-checked Sarah Huckabee Sanders and myself the *same* amount of times: 6.
She’s been serving for almost 2 years. I’ve served 4 days.
Why is she fact-checked so little? Is she adhering to some standard we don’t know about?
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 7, 2019
Or why did @washingtonpost give my confusing tweet on military accounting offsets the same “Pinocchios” as Trump’s flat denial of how many Americans died in Puerto Rico?
These are legitimate questions not intended to attack. Who makes these decisions? How? Is there a rubric?
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 7, 2019
Another question for @politifact: some officials’ statements (ex. Andrew Cuomo) get rated “true” frequently.
I say true things all the time – I’d hope most do. When does Politifact choose to rate true statements?
Is there a guide? I’d be happy to repost if there is.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 7, 2019
Fact-checking is essential, and WaPo, Politifact, and others do important work. But we have to acknowledge that there is a bias and a narrative to deciding what to fact-check. Ocasio-Cortez was drawing attention to this fact while being entirely respectful of those who do this work.
Fact-checking is critically important. It’s not always fun. But that’s okay! It pushes me to be better.
It’s important that if fact-checkers are referees, everyone know the rules – and those rules be as clear + fair as possible for all to play.
Thank you for the work you do. https://t.co/LGfd6pOReX
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 7, 2019
Of course, there are still some calling this conversation a “meltdown.” But that’s always going to be the case, and AOC still dominates at this game.
This is why we question, by the way – because women, people of color, immigrants, LGBT+, & the poor have been treated unfairly in the past. And when many of the decision-making rooms aren’t as diverse as they should be, communities fairly ask: “is it happening to us, again?” https://t.co/oiqB39nLYm
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 7, 2019
(image: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
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