West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, hit back at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after being the subject of a viral tweet by the Democratic socialist last month, telling The New York Times that she’s “more active on Twitter than anything else.”
At the time, Manchin vowed to stand up against the radicals in his party, particularly on the subject of defunding the police.
“Defund the police? Defund, my butt,” he tweeted. “I'm a proud West Virginia Democrat. We are the party of working men and women. We want to protect Americans' jobs & healthcare. We do not have some crazy socialist agenda, and we do not believe in defunding the police.”
AOC retweeted his message with a photo of her glaring at him in the background.
https://t.co/4D4LVOyYhc pic.twitter.com/MwNIc41Szj
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 12, 2020
While it may have scored her some points among fellow progressives, Manchin was completely unfazed.
“I guess she put the dagger stare on me,” Manchin told the Times in an interview published Monday.
“I don’t know the young lady — I really don’t. I never met her. I’m understanding she’s not that active with her bills or in committee,” he added. “She’s more active on Twitter than anything else.”
The senator continued: “We’re not going to defund the police, we’re not for the new green deal. That’s not going to happen. We’re not for Medicare for All — we can’t even pay for Medicare for some.”
Manchin has not been the only Democrat to push back on radical positions pushed by some in his party after Democrats lost a number of House seats to Republicans.
Virginia Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger lost it on a Democratic Caucus call after the election, saying a defund the police attack ad and talk of socialism almost cost her her race.
“We lost races we shouldn’t have lost," Spanberger said. "If we run this race again we will get f*cking torn apart again in 2022."