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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez continues to be an inspiration to and admirable advocate for women.
On Thursday, the 30-year-old congresswoman spoke on the House floor to address the hateful comments that Republican Rep. Ted Yoho made to her face on Monday.
Earlier this week, as The Hill reported, after Yoho and Ocasio-Cortez disagreed on "issues of crime and policing," Yoho confronted her on the steps of Capitol Hill and called her "disgusting" and a "fucking bitch."
Ocasio-Cortez, who was on her way to vote at the time, later addressed the interaction on Twitter. "I never spoke to Rep. Yoho before he decided to accost me on the steps of the nation's Capitol yesterday. Believe it or not, I usually get along fine w/ my GOP colleagues. We know how to check our legislative sparring at the committee door." she wrote. "But hey, 'b*tches' get stuff done."
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On Wednesday, Rep. Yoho addressed his comments to Ocasio-Cortez in a speech on the House floor, and he noted that he should not have been disrespectful. He highlighted the fact that he has a wife and daughters, however, he also said "I cannot apologize for my passion," which Ocasio-Cortez and many of her supporters felt amounted to a non-apology.
On Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez decided to address Yoho's comments in a stirring speech on the House floor. She said the disrespect Yoho showed on Monday was not only directed towards her.
"When you do that to any woman, what Mr. Yoho did was give permission to other men to do that to his daughters," she said. "In using that language in front of the press he gave permission to use that language against his wife, his daughters, women in his community. And I am here to stand up to say that is not acceptable."
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"I do not care what your views are. It does not matter how much I disagree, or how much it incenses me, or how much I feel that people are dehumanizing others. I will not do that myself," Ocasio-Cortez continued. "I will not allow people to change and create hatred in our hearts."
She went on to say that having a daughter or wife does not make someone a decent man.
"Treating someone 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," she said. "Not to save face. Not to win a vote. He apologizes genuinely to repair and acknowledge the harm he has done so that we can all move on."
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"I will not teach my nieces and young people watching that this is an apology, and what they should learn to accept," the congresswoman tweeted. She went on to explain that Rep. Yoho did not specifically name his actions, attempted to distract from the issue at hand, and attempts to lay blame on others.
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He also never said Ocasio-Cortez's name during the nearly two minutes that he spoke.
After Ocasio-Cortez delivered her comments on the House floor, she tweeted to thank her colleagues and "everyone speaking up and out against the rampant mistreatment of women both in Congress and across the country."
She also shared a video of her full response, which you can watch below.
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TopicsPolitics