Is Ocasio-Cortez pretending to be working class when she’s really not?

[Anonymous]

“The average household wealth of the town in which she grew up is $1.2 million.”

https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1078762213031272456

“The fact that @Ocasio2018 continues to tweet in defense of lying about growing up in the Bronx shows how fearful she is about pulling a Liz Warren with regard to her background.”

https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1079097858815651840

“That isn’t true. You first pretended that you commuted from the Bronx to a public school in Yorktown, and then you changed your bio when it was pointed out that you didn’t.”

https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1078842021249515521

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IInstead of correcting his assertion her background is actually quite privileged, her rebuttal is an ad hominem attack.

This is not a new attack on her, but something that has been repeated many times. She has answered it more substantively in the past. You should not be so quick to accept right-wing narratives. Her parents were not wealthy. Her mom was a house cleaner. The home in Yorktown was bought for $150,000, hardly a mansion. She went to public schools in Yorktown. During that time, her extended family was in the Bronx and she spent a lot of time with them. She then returned to the Bronx after college.

Your take on her job as a bartender is interesting. Given that she graduate from BU with a degree in International Relations, I'm not sure what type of "9-5 buttoned up gig" you think awaited her. I can tell you that I graduated with a Master's in a similar field and bartending jobs paid more (I took a low-paying job in my field to gain experience).

The guy she accused of mansplaining is John Cardillo, a right-wing nut job who tweeted about the Women's March, "“Wrap this up girls. My shirts aren't going to iron themselves. #WomensMarch” and has accused the Federal Reserve of purposely tanking the markets. He is really not the guy in whom you want to put you trust when it comes to the biography of Ocasio-Cortez or any other Democrat.

+1

[Anonymous]

Sooooo obsessed!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Her mother was a house-cleaner when her mother was a teenager, before she got married. They were solidly middle class, not working class, not working poor. Middle class. Two parent home. Professional dad. She grew up in Wedtchester county. Never struggling. Not poor. Like many of us. She had nexus to poorer family members. Again, like many of us. She had an impressive campaign. Why she feels that you needs to invent a background of struggle to identify with those who actually struggle is a mystery. One can be a middle class person and care about the poor.

Where are you getting that her mother was a housecleaner when she was a teenager before she got married? Ocasio-Cortez says she helped her mom clean houses. She couldn't have done that before she was even born. Working class and middle class can often mean the same thing. She never claimed to have been poor.

Her mother has been interviewed multiple times. She said she cleaned housed as a teenager after she moved from Puerto Rico. She said that she was a school secretary and occasional bus driver for the school when Ocasio-Cortez was in school. She did say that she had fallen on hard times after Ocasio Cortez graduated from college after her husband died and during the financial crisis (like many people), and that her house almost went into foreclosure. No, I do not think working class and middle class are not the same thing.

oh yeah, she's so privileged.

[Anonymous]

Seems like her parents split when she was 5 and she moved to Westchester with her mom while dad lived in the Bronx.

She grew up in Westchester and was afforded the opportunities available in that upscale environment.

An outsider from Westchester would not have won an election in the Bronx. She had to gloss over her upscale childhood and highlight the working class Bronx connection.

FTR, I know someone who cleans houses for a living. She's single, earns cash under the table, and owns a nice home in MoCo. Despite the fact that she cleans houses, I wouldn't call her working class. Cash under the table adds up quickly.

bartenders do well, too. I have a friend who bartends as a career in DC. Mid-40s, owns a nice place in DC, drives a sports car. Again: cash under the table adds up quickly.

[Anonymous]

Housecleaner isn't working class.

Only on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

“The average household wealth of the town in which she grew up is $1.2 million.”

https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1078762213031272456

“The fact that @Ocasio2018 continues to tweet in defense of lying about growing up in the Bronx shows how fearful she is about pulling a Liz Warren with regard to her background.”

https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1079097858815651840

“That isn’t true. You first pretended that you commuted from the Bronx to a public school in Yorktown, and then you changed your bio when it was pointed out that you didn’t.”

https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1078842021249515521

She’s going back and forth with this young man on twitter. He claims he grew up in a neighboring town. And I think they’re about the same age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Housecleaner isn't working class.

Only on DCUM.

Is there proof her mom was a house cleaner? Her mom worked alone, for a company, or did her mom own a house cleaning company?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

“The average household wealth of the town in which she grew up is $1.2 million.”

https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1078762213031272456

“The fact that @Ocasio2018 continues to tweet in defense of lying about growing up in the Bronx shows how fearful she is about pulling a Liz Warren with regard to her background.”

https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1079097858815651840

“That isn’t true. You first pretended that you commuted from the Bronx to a public school in Yorktown, and then you changed your bio when it was pointed out that you didn’t.”

https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1078842021249515521

So, you are the OP who claims to like AOC and to be a registered Democrat. If that is true, why are you posting tweets from someone whose Twitter profile identifies him as "a dapper, lib-triggering troll"?

I don't know whether he is correct about the average household wealth of Yorktown, but the family's home was purchased for $150,000 and was nearly foreclosed upon when her father died. That is not evidence of a lot of wealth.

Ocasio-Cortez lived in the Bronx until she was 5 and her father and extended father continued to live there. She actually now lives in the exact same apartment in which she lived until she was 5. I don't think she is lying about growing up in the Bronx. But, I do wonder why a Democrat would post a tweet besmirching not just one, but two Democratic officials.

She slightly changed the wording of her biography which never stated that she commuted from the Bronx to her school.

Regardless of your political registration, you are clearly siding with conservatives. In that respect, the first responder in this thread who identified you as an "obsessed RWNJ" seems to have been correct.

[Anonymous]

I love her. Seriously love her. Why why why is she exaggerating her Bronx roots? For what? It’s senseless.

I don’t know who the boy she’s responding to on twitter is. But she has been back and forth with him, hence his tweets are noteworthy. I didn’t read his profile. And I don’t know what rwnj means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Idk what rwnj means but I assume right wing something. I’m a registered Democrat. There’s just no need for her to stretch the truth. It’s dumb and lame. And fake.

LOL. Right. You are a huge, lying sack of sh1t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Housecleaner isn't working class.

Only on DCUM.

I think a lot of people in dcumlandia are very out of touch and clearly don't have "blue collar" or "working class" friends and family.

FTR, I have a white collar job in DC, and I'm a registered Dem.

I've posted before about how my plumber and contractor---two professions that you might consider blue collar/working class---earn far more than I do. They have McMansions in MoCo, and vacation homes at the beach, in the mountains, and abroad (Greece, Europe, etc.). One sends his kids to private school.

While you might look down on "the working class," many of them are far better off than you are. They operate in cash and aren't paying taxes the way white collar people do.

Similarly, I do know a house cleaner and a manicurist who I do not consider working class. Everyone lives in moco and is doing very well.

The woman who shampoos my hair at a fancy salon in DC takes nicer vacations than I do (traveling internationally to resorts in addition to traveling abroad to visit her family). Again: she earns cash under the table on top of her hourly pay.

But the best example is my cab driver: he owns cabs and a side business. He lives in a $1.5 million home in the burbs, and his kids are attending ivies on scholarship. I'm sure the fine people of dcumlandia would look down on him as working class.

Moral of the story: don't make assumptions.

I don't think AOC grew up wealthy, but she certainly didn't grow up poor. She also didn't grow up in the Bronx. She lived in Westchester.

Imagine if your parents separated and mom moved to Potomac while dad stayed in SE DC. If you lived with mom and went to school in Potomac, it would be a stretch to say you're from DC...based on visiting dad. But that's exactly what you would say if you were running for the DC council, right?

FRR: I like AOC. Everyone should give her a chance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love her. Seriously love her. Why why why is she exaggerating her Bronx roots? For what? It’s senseless.

I don’t know who the boy she’s responding to on twitter is. But she has been back and forth with him, hence his tweets are noteworthy. I didn’t read his profile. And I don’t know what rwnj means.

I finally just googled the boy she’s back and forth with. He’s the same age as her, grew up in neighboring (he claims poorer) town, and went to Yale.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Knowles

“Right, but @Ocasio2018 didn’t grow up in a city. She grew up in a small, homogenous, affluent suburb, where she attended excellent schools before pretending she grew up in the Bronx.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Housecleaner isn't working class.

Only on DCUM.

I think a lot of people in dcumlandia are very out of touch and clearly don't have "blue collar" or "working class" friends and family.

FTR, I have a white collar job in DC, and I'm a registered Dem.

I've posted before about how my plumber and contractor---two professions that you might consider blue collar/working class---earn far more than I do. They have McMansions in MoCo, and vacation homes at the beach, in the mountains, and abroad (Greece, Europe, etc.). One sends his kids to private school.

While you might look down on "the working class," many of them are far better off than you are. They operate in cash and aren't paying taxes the way white collar people do.

Similarly, I do know a house cleaner and a manicurist who I do not consider working class. Everyone lives in moco and is doing very well.

The woman who shampoos my hair at a fancy salon in DC takes nicer vacations than I do (traveling internationally to resorts in addition to traveling abroad to visit her family). Again: she earns cash under the table on top of her hourly pay.

But the best example is my cab driver: he owns cabs and a side business. He lives in a $1.5 million home in the burbs, and his kids are attending ivies on scholarship. I'm sure the fine people of dcumlandia would look down on him as working class.

Moral of the story: don't make assumptions.

I don't think AOC grew up wealthy, but she certainly didn't grow up poor. She also didn't grow up in the Bronx. She lived in Westchester.

Imagine if your parents separated and mom moved to Potomac while dad stayed in SE DC. If you lived with mom and went to school in Potomac, it would be a stretch to say you're from DC...based on visiting dad. But that's exactly what you would say if you were running for the DC council, right?

FRR: I like AOC. Everyone should give her a chance.

before gentrification if you said this people would think you're from the hood and poor.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if your parents separated and mom moved to Potomac while dad stayed in SE DC. If you lived with mom and went to school in Potomac, it would be a stretch to say you're from DC...based on visiting dad. But that's exactly what you would say if you were running for the DC council, right?

It was not just her dad that remained in the Bronx, but her extended family. There are lots and lots of people born in DC who later moved to Prince Georges and still have family in DC who say they are from DC. It would be more unusual if they didn't.