Just kidding! It turns out Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) is a fan of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey's (D-MA) ambitious Green New Deal. Hirono was justifiably confused about how her Hawaii constituents would fare if the measure passed, considering it calls for things like reduced air travel.
Sen Mazie Hirono (D-HI) on Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal & trying to cut down on air air travel.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) February 7, 2019
“That would be pretty hard for Hawaii”
It certainly sounded like she was mocking Ocasio-Cortez's lofty environmental plan. Yet, when MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Hirono asked Hirono on Tuesday if she was just joking when she said it, the senator pivoted to attack Republicans, who she says are the real "crazy" ones.
"What the Green New Deal stands for is a recognition that climate change is happening and not sticking our head in the sand," she explained. "So what's really crazy is Trump and all his minions and his ilk who think that global warming and climate change is not happening and they just stick their heads in the sand."
"All they can do is mock and attack," she added.
"They" still includes members of Hirono's own party. Democrats like Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) aren't backtracking on their criticism of the freshman lawmaker's farfetched proposal.
Despite his best efforts to make sense of the measure, Durbin couldn't figure out what Ocasio-Cortez was trying to accomplish in the Green New Deal, he revealed quite candidly on "Morning Joe" last week. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who lovingly referred to it as "the green dream or whatever," noted last month that it was not a top priority of hers.