Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is often the target of conservatives’ ire. And that was on full display this summer when a Republican Congressman accosted her on the steps of the Capitol.
In July, Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) approached her on the steps of the Capitol and called her “disgusting” for saying that poverty was leading to an increase in crime.
“You are out of your freaking mind,” he added.
The exchange was overheard by a reporter who said that the New York lawmaker responded by telling him he was being “rude.”
As Yoho left, he reportedly called Ocasio-Cortez a “f**cking b**ch.”
However, that was not the end of the story. She told Vanity Fair that the day after the incident, she told Yoho, “You do that to me again, I won’t be so nice next time.”
She added that she felt Yoho’s actions verged “into the zone of harassment, discrimination.”
In a speech on the House floor after the incident, Ocasio-Cortez addressed Yoho’s comments and a “culture of lack of impunity, of accepting of violence and violent language against women and an entire structure of power that supports that.”
“I could not allow my nieces. I could not allow the little girls that I go home to, I could not allow victims of verbal abuse, and worse, to see that. To see that excuse, and see our Congress accept it as legitimate and accept it as an apology and to accept silence as a form of acceptance. I could not allow that to stand,” she said.
In case you missed it:
Yoho defended himself and denied that he used offensive language, “Having been married for 45 years with two daughters, I’m very cognizant of my language. The offensive name-calling, words attributed to me by the press, were never spoken to my colleagues, and if they were construed that way, I apologize for their misunderstanding.”
Still, Ocasio-Cortez said, “Having a daughter does not make a man decent. Having a wife does not make a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man. And when a decent man messes up, as we all are bound to do, he tries his best and does apologize.”
