[1]Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress



Someone recently asked me, “Why do politicians always answer questions in
‘politician-speak’? Why can’t they answer questions like a normal person?”

There are likely a few reasons — probably more than I can list — but two
thoughts:

One is, if you talk like a normal person, you will get in trouble. I
choose to speak like a normal person, and I get in trouble a lot. Most
people do not want to do that.

And by trouble, I mean as a politician, people are always taking little
snippets of what you say out of context. So if at any given time you
string together six words that don’t have a disclaimer, someone’s going to
make a thing about it.

Some politicians don’t want headlines of fake controversies, so they use a
lot of practiced messaging and answers because they don’t want to deal
with the New York Post or Fox News, because they decided to answer in an
improvised way.

Because that’s a big part of what talking like a normal person is: you’re
part of a conversation, you don’t pre-rehearse things, you’re talking,
answering, and replying to someone in front of you based on what they said
in real time. And for a lot of people that can create distraction.

The second thought is that there are specific ways that people poll for
what phrases to use that are more persuasive to key audiences, and so they
choose to use that.

I’m not here to judge it or talk about whether it’s bad or good. I know it
can be frustrating sometimes, because people get too stuck in a rut and
then it feels like you’re not getting a real answer. It can feel not
authentic.

It’s also this affect that then gets picked up in politics, a
“politician-speak”, which is weird. So I get it.

I don’t do it, but I also pay a price for not doing it. You have to choose
your battles.

But that's exactly why our movement came to Congress: to speak truth to
power, to call out corruption, and to fight tooth and nail for working
people across the country — even if that means they call us 'extreme' for
it.

[ [link removed] ]Help us continue the fight for social, economic, environmental, and
racial justice by making a grassroots donation right now.



[ [link removed] ]Contribute $5



In solidarity,

Alexandria


 


This email was sent to [email protected]. Email is the most important way we keep in touch with people like you, so thank you for reading to the end. Small donors like you keep us going. To contribute via check, please address to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress, PO Box 680080, Corona, NY 11368.



You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time:
[link removed]


PAID FOR BY ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ FOR CONGRESS