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Ocasio-Cortez breaks the rules -- and that's what scares her opponents

Ruben Navarrette Jr. on

SAN DIEGO -- Who's afraid of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?

A whole lot of Republican white men, it seems. I can smell the fear coming from Fox News host Tucker Carlson, radio host Rush Limbaugh, podcaster Ben Shapiro, and others.

Congress has more than enough lawyers. What it could really use is a few more bartenders.

The latter often have good social skills. They tend to understand customer service. And they're usually good listeners. It also turns out that some of them can have a lot of grit.

Ocasio-Cortez defied expectations and earned her membership in the club. The 29-year-old Democrat built an upstart campaign from scratch, stared down her party's establishment without flinching, clobbered by 15 points a Democratic incumbent who had been in office since she was in elementary school, and won her seat in Congress fair and square.

Not bad for a Puerto-Rican kid from Brooklyn.

 

Who could possibly have a beef with that version of the American Dream?

See above: A whole lot of white Republican men.

The former mixologist turned congresswoman-elect won't be sworn in until January. She hasn't even officially moved to Washington yet, having announced that she can't afford rent in the nation's capital until her first congressional paycheck rolls in.

Yet, as became clear during her recent trip to Capitol Hill for orientation meetings, she has already captured the public's imagination. Tourists approached her for selfies. The media tracked her every move.

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