“Just like catcalling.”
After being challenged to a debate by The Daily Wire Editor in Chief Ben Shapiro earlier this week, New York congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declined Thursday evening by likening his offer to that of a catcaller with bad intentions.
“Just like catcalling, I don’t owe a response to unsolicited requests from men with bad intentions,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in a reply to The Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra. “And also like catcalling, for some reason they feel entitled to one.”
Just like catcalling, I don’t owe a response to unsolicited requests from men with bad intentions.
And also like catcalling, for some reason they feel entitled to one. pic.twitter.com/rsD17Oq9qe
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) August 10, 2018
A recent media blitz by Ocasio-Cortez — who’s become something of a darling on the left and a bugaboo on the right since she unexpectedly toppled prominent House Democrat Rep. Joe Crowley in a primary race for New York’s 14th Congressional District — spurred debate challenges from conservative personalities, such as Shapiro and Candace Owens, eager to test the unabashed democratic socialist’s policy chops.
Ocasio-Cortez’s attempt to deflect Shapiro’s offer by comparing his motivations to those of a catcaller did not go over well with her harshest detractors. The response was overwhelmingly negative, especially from right-leaning Twitter personalities.
Free Beacon contributor Noah Pollak charged Ocasio-Cortez with posturing and said Shapiro’s debate invitation indicated the conservative commentator was “treating her as an equal.”
This is your brain on identity politics. By challenging her to debate, @benshapiro was actually treating her as an equal. She knows she’d lose, and she needs to posture for her SJW fans, so she declares herself a victim of “catcalling.” Totally demented. https://t.co/o8viIeBAV4
— Noah Pollak (@NoahPollak) August 10, 2018
Owens renewed a previous debate invite.
And what exactly was your excuse for having turned down the debate with me?
Can’t wrap that one up in fake-feminism.
I’ll double @benshapiro’s offer. 20k to a charity of your choice— a capitalism vs. socialism debate. https://t.co/jHQHZcJ83V
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) August 10, 2018
Townhall Editor Katie Pavlich made a similar offer.
Okay fine @Ocasio2018, if you won’t debate @benshapiro because he’s a man (and because he would destroy you intellectually) how about a debate with me? https://t.co/y4m2mkLbVt
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) August 10, 2018
So did CRTV Host Allie Beth Stuckey.
If a man asking @Ocasio2018 to debate is catcalling, what was it when I asked? (And other women that I’m sure have also asked.) I would LOVE to discuss her claim that Jesus was a socialist. Or is that mean?
— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) August 10, 2018
Judicial Watch’s Jeremiah Stephan Dunleavy IV accused Ocasio-Cortez of “making a mockery of real victims of sexual harassment.”
You’re making a mockery of real victims of sexual harassment and you should delete this and apologize to them. https://t.co/vHtsiA1c78
— Jeremiah Stephan Dunleavy IV (@JerryDunleavy) August 10, 2018
Ocasio-Cortez wasn’t without her defenders, one of whom suggested Shapiro’s debate style made her analogy apt.
I can’t imagine how people are having issues with this analogy… Ben Shapiro doesn’t debate. He just Gish Gallops his way into sounding smart when he spews tons of incorrect, inflammatory arguments that riles up uneducated crowds.
— Aidan (@Aiomon) August 10, 2018
Shapiro popped up on Twitter to defend the sincerity of his offer.
Discussion and debate are not “bad intentions.” Slandering someone as a sexist catcaller without reason or evidence does demonstrate cowardice and bad intent, however. https://t.co/kYaYuf0W43
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 10, 2018
And he couldn’t resist taking a parting shot at the media. “I’m sure your media sycophants will eat it up,” Shapiro said in a followup tweet.
But sure, go with “the Orthodox Jew who has never catcalled a woman in his life is ACKSHUALLY a sexist catcaller for asking for a discussion or debate.” I’m sure your media sycophants will eat it up.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 10, 2018
Conservatives, perhaps sensing a threat in the potential for the millennial socialist to develop into a bonafide political star, have been relentless in their attempts to expose Ocasio-Cortez as a flash in the pan.
To be fair, Ocasio-Cortez hasn’t exactly refrained from providing critics with ammunition, like
the time she claimed that unemployment was low at the moment because “everyone has two jobs.”
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