Late last month, Rep. Andy Barr [R-KY] “invited” Congresswoman
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to visit the coal miners in his Appalachian
district, by way of rebuttal to her brilliant response to the charge that the Green New Deal was a rich, city-person’s luxury, taking no account of working, poor and rural people.
AOC took him up on the invitation, saying “It’s a complete injustice the
cancer levels that a lot of these communities are confronting. We have
to plan a future for all of our communities, no matter what. Failure to
plan is planning to fail and I feel like we’ve been failing Appalachian
communities for a very long time and it’s time to turn that ship
around.”
Now, Barr has rescinded the invitation, blaming it on her defense of Rep
Ilhan Omar, who has been smeared by Republicans and establishment
Democrats with the racist slur that she supports Islamic terror. Barr
said he was dismayed by her “lack of civility.”
In response, AOC tweeted:
“GOP’s getting scared that up close, their constituents will realize
I’m fighting harder for their healthcare than their own Reps .”
The one detail that seems to be left out of all these headlines, which is perhaps the most important in understanding Barr’s decision, is that there are no coal miners in his district. He made up complaints from people that don’t exist, then panicked when AOC agreed to meet them.
In The Woods Somewhere by Hozier but you’re actually somewhere in the woods during a summer night, sitting by a campfire; occasionally there’s thunder in the distance.
