Pardon us, but we see something a lot more deliberate in Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s recent votes on Iron Dome funding than she is willing to let on.
As has been widely reported, she voted “present” on the vote for the stand-alone Iron Dome funding bill – which ordinarily signals neither being in favor nor against – after leading the opposition to the same funding via the general budget legislation. She has suggested that she was overtaken by the “panic and horror” that seized the moment as reflected in her emotional and tearful reaction to passage of the special bill. But we’re not buying it. From what we can determine, this was a carefully calculated move.
The almost universal reaction to the episode was that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was simply positioning herself for a challenge to Sen. Chuck Schumer for his Senate seat, and reasoned that opposing funding aid to Israel was a disqualifier in New York.
Yet while true, it is only part of her calculations. Could she actually believe her flip-flop would change people’s mind’s about her views on Israel? The founding member of “The Squad?” Of course not. But what she was really about was having her cake and eating it too.
So, she carefully explained that her opposition to the original Iron Dome funding as contained in the general budget only reflected her disdain for the little attention that would be paid to it since it was drowned in a sea of countless other measures. What she really wanted, she insisted, was that Iron Dome funding should be subjected to full scrutiny and debate and thus suggesting – although never quite saying so – that she has an open mind on particular issues involving Israel and is willing to be persuaded. And, in fact, when the stand-alone bill was up for a vote, she seized it as a platform and took no position.
Perhaps there is a logical gap here, but we daresay the public will now tend to remember that on a significant Israel-related issue, she was not an automatic anti-vote.
Let’s never forget what AOC is really all about – and remind others – when she next runs for political office.