Politics

Liz Cheney: Ocasio-Cortez’s Role As ‘Intellectual Leader’ Of The Democratic Party Is ‘A Pretty Low Bar’

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Republican Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney referred to Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s role as an “intellectual leader” of the Democratic Party as “a pretty low bar.”

The House Republican Conference Chair made the comments during a broader Thursday evening discussion on “The Story with Martha MacCallum” about the ongoing tension between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez and the left-wing of the Democratic House caucus.

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“I think what you are watching is really the unraveling of the Democratic Party as we’ve known it in the past,” Cheney said, referring to the fracture. “You have a situation you’ve got this very radical wing of the House Democrats, and the speaker has attempted many times to try to sort of keep everybody in control by in the past moving very far left.”

Cheney contended that this strategy is no longer working because as the Democratic far left becomes more and more “the party of socialists,” Pelosi now “knows that those are not positions the vast majority of Americans agree with.”

When Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum shifted the conversation to Ocasio-Cortez’s criticism of the Department of Homeland Security’s creation after the 9/11 attacks, Cheney called it “fundamentally irresponsible” and “uninformed.” (RELATED: Black Missouri Democrat Rips Into Ocasio-Cortez For ‘Using The Race Card’ Against Pelosi)

“I did note that when Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez talked about its creation she failed to mention 9/11,” Cheney said. “That is pretty much what we see consistently, frankly, on their side of the aisle, a lack of a willingness to recognize what the nation went through, the worst attack in our history and the fact that we put the Department of Homeland Security together to help ensure the security of the homeland.”

“It was one thing when they were out there saying they were going to abolish ICE,” Cheney added. “That in and of itself is absurd and irresponsible enough, but now for Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, who frankly seems to be emerging as one of the intellectual leaders of their party in the House — and I think that tells you that it’s a pretty low bar — but that she has been in a situation where she is now saying that we should abolish DHS. That is absurd and dangerous and highly irresponsible.”