'Defeat from jaws of victory': AOC blasted for making MTG more than 'lunatic sideshow'

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) humiliated the whole Republican Party with her out-of-order personal attack on Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) last week, wrote left-libertarian author Froma Harrop for RealClearPolitics — but Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) took away from that humiliation by focusing the spotlight onto her.

The drama began when Greene told Crockett in an Oversight Committee hearing, "I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you're reading."

Crockett smacked back after Chairman James Comer (R-KY) didn't strike her comments from the record, saying, "I'm just curious, just to better understand your ruling. If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody's bleached blond, bad-built butch body that would not be engaging in personalities. Correct?"

This should have been the perfect retort, wrote Harrop — but then that Ocasio-Cortez had to inject herself into the situation.

Harrop did not mince words in her disdain for the New York congresswoman, provocatively asserting that she "devolved into screeching, 'How dare you ... !' Blah, blah, blah. Her low point was descending into street talk. 'Oh, girl. Baby girl, don't even play,' she growled in a mean girl voice right out of high school. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat, denounced the whole performance as potentially uglier than 'The Jerry Springer Show,' noted for its staged fights and all-around bad behavior.

"Of course, AOC then struck back at Fetterman, accusing him of regarding 'racism and misogyny' as a 'both sides' issue. Fetterman swatted down her remark as 'absurd'" — leaving America to debate "whether mention of fake eyelashes has racist overtones" because of Crockett being Black.

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None of this had to happen, Harrop wrote, if Ocasio-Cortez had simply left it to Crockett to respond, then sit back and let Greene continue to beclown herself.

"The sad truth for Democrats, America and even Republicans is that MTG would be nothing more than a lunatic sideshow had the left flank cared more about maintaining power. The squad may be in decline, but AOC still gets to strut around as the voice of human decency," wrote Harrop. "Once again, the screamers grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory. Smart Democrats will let MTG be MTG."