Republicans continue to perceive U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) as a threat. The Williamson County Republican Party decided to share a meme featuring the congresswoman, which depicted her as unintelligent and also made fun of Mexicans.
The meme, featured in a recent newsletter, was made from a screenshot of a July interview with PBS “Firing Line” host Margaret Hoover. The text box above Hover’s head reads, “What’s your opinion on Roe v. Wade”
In an apparent attempt to conjure humor, the meme shows the congresswoman giving an answer that would indicate she didn’t know what the case was about.
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This caused outrage on the Internet, as some called it downright racist. Debbie Deaver, chair of the Williamson County Republican Party, told the Tennessean that she would not apologize for sharing the meme.
“Allowing a few people on the left to whip up media outrage over political satire is just another example of the left manipulating the press to present their narrative as truth and all other views as wrong or worse racist,” Deaver said.
“The Republican Party of Williamson County will not let those outside our organization tell us what we can or can’t say,” she added.
On his Facebook page, Eric Welch, a Republican that sits on the nonpartisan Williamson County School Board said:
“The text suggested it was meant to be humorous. It absolutely was not. It wasn’t funny, or clever and it certainly wasn’t worthy of the party of Lincoln. Speaking as a Republican, this doesn’t represent me or my beliefs.”
Another Williamson County politician, Holly McCall agreed. As Democratic Party Chair, she added that the image was sad, but not at all surprising.
“This is a tired, old racist joke that the Williamson County Republican Party has now shopped around in meme form, additionally attacking a Democratic congresswoman,” McCall said. “It’s not even shocking to see something like this coming out of (the party). Instead of addressing issues, they would rather take the low road.”This caused outrage on the Internet, as some called it downright racist.”
Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, had made her presence felt last week as she broke C-SPAN online viewing records for any House speech ever given. Her 4-minute speech now has more than 2 million views.
In her debut on the House floor, Ocasio-Cortez slammed President Trump for keeping the longest government shutdown in history going.
“It is not normal to hold 800,000 workers’ paychecks hostage. It is not normal to shut down the government when we don’t get what we want,” she pronounced.
“The truth of this shutdown is that it’s actually not about a wall. The truth is, this shutdown is about the erosion of American democracy and the subversion of our most basic governmental norms.”
The outspoken 29 year old will certainly give crusty conservative Republicans some sleepless nights during her term of office. She speaks her mind, and so far, based on her Internet views, is a popular brand with younger Americans.
