Rep.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., dismissed her and other socialist politicians' far-left rhetoric as a thing of the past, but conservative opposition was not persuaded.ABC's "This Week" host Jon Karl asked Ocasio-Cortez to comment on Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong's controversial past comments — including calling for Thanksgiving to be canceled or for prisons to be abolished — some of which she has tried to backtrack on as she seeks the Democratic nomination in her state."I have a local city councilman that has this saying, 'Woke 1 was crazy,'" Ocasio-Cortez said while laughing.
"And I think that what’s important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now."This received swift backlash from many conservatives.ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ SHRUGS OFF PAST 'DEFUND THE POLICE' COMMENTS, JOKING 'WOKE 1 WAS CRAZY'Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, U.S.Representative for New York's 14th congressional district, has been criticized for sharing a joke about Democrats allegedly distancing themselves from "woke" ideology.
"It sounds a little desperate to claim that you can't hold a politician accountable for something wacky they said less than six years ago, and a call to cancel Thanksgiving is among the wackiest," Tim Graham, the Executive Editor of NewsBusters at the Media Research Center, wrote in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital."Hong has inveighed against not just Thanksgiving, but Valentine's Day, the Fourth of July, and Halloween, and she found Christmas triggering," "Once a radical Democrat wins a primary, the party strategists are going to try to make their candidate sound more moderate to voters who don't pay a lot of attention to politics," he added.
"So they will try to claim outrageous statements are already out of context and out of date, even if they're not.Tweets like Hong's aren't about policy in 2026, but they can still suggest that her temperament isn't ready for prime time."Manhattan Institute Vice President and Po...