When Democrat New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced her socialist utopian climate change-focused Green New Deal proposal, it was widely mocked and dismissed in large part because of an associated document that revealed some of the more absurd aspects of the plan.
The Green New Deal FAQ sheet quickly disappeared in the face of widespread criticism — it was purportedly an early draft never meant for publication — and now Ocasio-Cortez has thrown one of her staffers under the bus by blaming them for the supposedly unauthorized and unintended release of the FAQ.
Staffer’s “very bad day”
Ocasio-Cortez cast blame upon the unnamed staffer during a town hall-style interview on MSNBC with host Chris Hayes to discuss and promote her Green New Deal.
Hayes, to his credit, actually asked the freshmen congresswoman about the botched rollout of her signature proposal.Bbut if anyone thought she would accept responsibility for the supposed mistake, they were soon proven wrong.
“Well, what I will say is that, I definitely had a staffer who had a very bad day at work,” Ocasio-Cortez replied with a chuckle. “And we did release a working draft early, so I get that that’s what they are seizing on.”
She added: “But really, what we need to do is have a serious conversation. And even in those draft versions, what they were talking about is really about the fact that we need to innovate on our technology.”
“I definitely had a staffer that had a very bad day at work,” @AOC said in response to a question about her controversial #GreenNewDeal FAQ that mentioned “farting cows”
She labeled it a “working draft” that was released too early by said staffer.https://t.co/ea17ZG48nx pic.twitter.com/vLoHFt9faA
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) March 30, 2019
Passing the embarrassing buck
The thing is, aside from Ocasio-Cortez dodging responsibility and shifting blame for the botched rollout to a staffer, her excuse came across as disingenuous at best, an outright lie at worst.
The FAQ document that drew so much ridicule wasn’t simply posted to the congresswoman’s website by accident for a brief moment, but instead, had been posted and promoted with confidence.
Copies were also sent in advance to numerous media outlets, and her team initially sought to defend the document against mounting criticisms, prior to changing course and characterizing it as a “working draft” that wasn’t supposed to be released.
That laughable six-page FAQ discussed such aspects of the Green New Deal proposal as providing “economic security” to all Americans, even those who were “unwilling to work.”
It also called for the veritable elimination of greenhouse gases by getting rid of all fossil fuels, phasing out air and auto travel in favor of mass transit and high-speed rail, and even eliminating “farting cows” who emit methane gas into the atmosphere.
But the absurdity of the FAQ wasn’t the only part of the Green New Deal worthy of being mocked. The estimated price tag of anywhere from $51 to $93 trillion to overhaul the nation’s economy — particularly the energy and agricultural sectors, as well as travel, manufacturing, and construction — even prompted criticism from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Ocasio-Cortez could have admitted her mistake and her overreach, but instead has doubled and tripled down in defense of her misguided proposal — and now, she is even casting blame on her own staffers for revealing to the public just how unserious her plan truly is.