AOCYA JOE!
Left hook: Socialist firebrand doesn’t even mention Biden in speech
It was short and sweet — except, perhaps, to Joe Biden. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was given only 60 seconds to speak last night, and she used them to salute Bernie Sanders while not even mentioning Biden as he officially became the Democratic presidential nominee.
Firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez only had one minute to speak at the Democratic National Convention, but she made it count — for Bernie Sanders.
The Bronx-Queens rep. lobbed a grenade at the party gathering on Tuesday evening when she nominated fellow socialist Bernie Sanders in her brief speech and snubbed Joe Biden altogether, making no mention of the now-official Democratic presidential nominee.
“I hereby second the nomination for Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont for Presi- dent of the United States of America,” Ocasio-Cortez, 30, said at the end of her 60-second address.
In her socialist rhetoric-heavy speech, the progressive lawmaker spoke about Sanders’ movement to “repair the wounds of racial in- justice, colonization, misogyny and homophobia” and not once addressed Biden, 77.
“In fidelity and gratitude to a mass people’s movement working to establish 21st century social, economic, and human rights, including guaranteed health care for all people in the United States,” she began, describing the US economy as one of “unsustainable brutality” and “explosive inequalities of wealth” with her trademark zeal.
The lawmaker was forced to clear the air after her remarks set Twitter ablaze, with the term “Did AOC” trending almost immediately as people tried to make sense of the speech.
The Bronx-born legislator, who has become the face of the party’s far-left wing since being elected to Congress in 2018, explained her speech was a procedural vote and said she was asked to second Sanders’ nomination because he passed the delegate threshold.
Still, the only nod she made to Biden was in her tweet and not her highly anticipated speech.
“I extend my deepest congratulations to Joe Biden — let’s go win in November,” she wrote.
After a lengthy primary fight with a bloated field of candidates which included billionaires and a self-help guru, Biden was the unlikely last man standing and was finally crowned the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee in an awkward and anticlimactic finale.
The party’s primary roll call race took place entirely online amid the coronavirus pandemic, with live appearances from all 50 states and 14 territories.
Despite being assured as the presumptive nominee for months, Biden appeared shocked by the result and stood in the library of a Delaware high school looking stunned and confused next to his wife Jill Biden and grandchildren.
Instead of the famed balloon drop, fanfare and large crowds that defined conventions in years past, a sad group of streamers fell from the ceiling as Biden’s masked relatives let off party poppers.
“It means the world to me and my family and I’ll see you on Thursday,” Biden said, accepting an official invitation to deliver a keynote speech at the convention as the nominee before planting a kiss on wife Jill.