Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed 2020 Democratic presidential candidate John Delaney for opposing Medicare for All, suggesting he needed to “sashay away” from the rest of the field.
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted a video clip of the former Maryland congressman stating that government takeover of health benefits may “may sound good” but is “actually not good policy nor is it good politics.”
The New York socialist claimed it was an “awful, untrue line,” seething that Delaney should be ‘eliminated’ from the field of presidential contenders.
“John Delaney,” she said, “thank you but please sashay away.”
Since there’s so many people running for President (& not enough for Senate), instead of obsessing over who‘s a “frontrunner,” maybe we can start w some general eliminations.
This awful, untrue line got boo’ed for a full minute.
John Delaney, thank you but please sashay away ?? https://t.co/0RDOwbfcgv
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 2, 2019
Delaney also noted that the extremely costly Medicare for All program would kick “150 million Americans off their health care.”
His words echo those of Seema Verma, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), who acknowledged the program would “[strip] people of their private health insurance, forcing them into a government-run program.”
Delaney was booed for his comments, which were made in front of the California Democratic Convention, and tried to backpedal a bit by noting his desire for universal healthcare.
“We should have universal health care,” he insisted. “We should have universal health care, but it shouldn’t be a kind of health care that kicks 150 million Americans off their health care. That’s not smart policy.”
After dismissing him with a term typically ascribed as feminine, Ocasio-Cortez argued that Medicare for All is sound policy and good politics.
It’s Not Sound Policy or Politics
Medicare for All is most certainly not sound policy, at a price tag approaching $40 trillion, and it is most certainly not good politics when many top Democrats are even shying away from it.
Howard Schultz, former Starbucks CEO and possible 2020 candidate for president, has blasted socialist extremists like Ocasio-Cortez for promising pipe dreams like Medicare for All while pretending it is ‘free.’
“There’s nothing free in America,” Schultz said. “So these proposals about Medicare for all, and free college, and a government job for everybody, that is not free. Someone is going to have to pay for that and that means that taxes for everyone are going to have to go up…”
It’s so bad, even Barack Obama has criticized programs that have no plan for being funded.
Delaney Challenged Her to a Debate
Delaney responded to Ocasio-Cortez’s ‘sashay away’ comment by challenging her to a debate by noting that they have common goals but tweeting their arguments isn’t the way to go.
Hey @AOC, we have the same goal, universal healthcare for everyone, we just have different ways of getting there. Healthcare is the #1 issue for voters, so let’s debate the way forward. Any show of your choosing. Healthcare is too important for tweets, we need real discussion. https://t.co/LDrWa9sZQD
— John Delaney (@JohnDelaney) June 3, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez has often been criticized for not even being capable of tweeting factual statements on Medicare for All. She was slammed by the Washington Post fact-checkers for a misleading tweet claiming the Pentagon could have funded a majority of the program by correcting accounting errors.
But then, this is the same woman who said facts don’t matter as long as your morals are true.
