Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) on Sunday responded to an interview in which Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) alleged there is hostility to progressive ideas from Democratic members of Congress.
“Sometimes I have real problems trying to figure out what progressive means,” the House majority whip said during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“I tell people all the time, my father was very conservative. He was a minister. I never heard him ask his congregation to give conservatively. He always asked for a liberal offering. And so I believe that it’s good to be conservative at times and in many ways, but it’s also good to be liberal at times, in many ways. And so you have to balance all of this out.”
WATCH: @WhipClyburn responds to @AOC, says he rejects labels within the party, adding "I just want us to be Democrats in a big tent." #MTP
"I don't get hung up on labels. … I am an American. A very proud American. And I am a Democrat. A very proud Democrat." pic.twitter.com/5w1IUDQ7tO
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) November 8, 2020
In her New York Times interview, Ocasio-Cortez expressed doubts about remaining in politics due what she saw as a lack of support from the Democratic Party.
“It’s your own party thinking you’re the enemy. When your own colleagues talk anonymously in the press and then turn around and say you’re bad because you actually append your name to your opinion,” she told the newspaper.
Clyburn said on Sunday that being involved in the democratic process matters more than ascribing to any one political identity.
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“So I don’t, I don’t get hung up on labels, so I don’t know what I am. I’m an American, a very proud American. And I’m a Democrat, a very proud Democrat. So I just want us to be Democrats in a big tent, and these labels, I reject.”
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Clyburn responds to Ocasio-Cortez remarks: "I don't get hung up on labels" https://t.co/Ny775nKQSq pic.twitter.com/rXi3fefg4j
— The Hill (@thehill) November 8, 2020
“You guys raised millions, now give it to me“ is kind of on-brand for socialism 😁 https://t.co/CBrfoLJqDn
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 8, 2020
Telling voters they’re racist if they’re not into “socialism” and “defunding the police” is extremely unwise and also wrong https://t.co/Wu1UNf5utm
— Sean Illing (@seanilling) November 7, 2020
Also, having AOC opening friendly fire on other Dems and insisting on a move to the left when the Senate could hang in the balance on two seats in *Georgia* falls into the category of "the GOP can't believe their good luck that she even exists" level of political dumbness.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 8, 2020
Everyone who wants to argue with me about progressivism and the failure to capture more seats this time around can go take it up *first* with Jim Clyburn, the man who knew how to support the only person who could win the White House against Trump. https://t.co/ZKPRXWTg7E
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 8, 2020
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