Former Vice President Joe Biden on Friday tossed some shade at leftist superstar Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) during a CNN interview, suggesting she’s not representative of the Democratic Party as a whole while claiming some progressive policy proposals can’t win in swing states.
Asked by anchor Chris Cuomo about his more moderate stances on issues like health care and the economy, Biden said that while he believes health care should be available to everyone, his plan is far more “rational” than the Medicare for All proposal embraced by the left wing of the party.
Cuomo then pressed the former veep on how he’ll be able to convince the party that popular progressive ideas like Medicare for All aren’t the way to go, prompting Biden to point to last year’s midterm election results, which found moderate Democrats leading the so-called Blue Wave.
ADVERTISEMENT
“That’s what this election is about,” Biden declared. “I’m happy to debate that issue, and all those issues with my friends. Because guess what? Again, look who won the races. Look who won last time out.”
Biden then took direct aim at AOC, brushing off her shocking 2018 primary victory over longtime Democratic Congressman Joe Crowley.
“By the way, I think Ocasio-Cortez is a brilliant, bright woman,” he said. “But she won a primary. In the general election fights, who won? Mainstream Democrats who were very progressive on social issues, and very strong on education, health care.”
Biden, who boasted he is known as “Middle-Class Joe,” went on to tie his campaign directly to the middle class, claiming they are his “North Star” and that when they do well, “everybody does well.”
