“I guess they used that argument to its end, and so they have to find someone new,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said in a brief interview. We’re least like them in every way possible, so I think it’s a potent symbol.”But Republicans like Mr. Emmer say they are simply repeating Democrats’ own words, and they have been aided by Democratic stumbles. A vote in favor of the Green New Deal could help them court progressives in the primary vote, but hurt in a general election. “Democrats have handed Republicans this messaging on a silver platter,” said Andy Surabian, a Republican strategist and former Trump White House official, adding that he believed socialism and Democrats’ stance on abortion were more powerful lines of attack than anti-Semitism. “All these controversies dovetail perfectly with the president’s messaging at the State of the Union.”Democrats dismissed the messaging as par for the course.

Source: New York Times February 17, 2019 21:11 UTC