MSNBC host Jen Psaki scolded Democrats for missing a “big opportunity” to learn from their brutal 2024 election defeat by passing on the young and “media-savvy” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.
“Instead, he chose the much older Representative Gary Connolly, who has the support of Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi,” Biden said recently on “Inside with Jen Psaki.”
“Why is that important?” she continued. “This is one of the few committees in Congress that actually generates national attention or media coverage. Under Jamie Raskin, it became an important platform for countering Republican misinformation. And while I have great respect for Speaker Pelosi and nothing against Representative Connolly, this felt like a clear opportunity to apply some of the lessons we should have learned from the November election.
“Instead, Democrats replaced one of their youngest, most media-savvy members of Congress for a key public leadership role.”
Democrats dealt a blow to the party’s progressive wing earlier this month by choosing 74-year-old Connolly over the 35-year-old “Squad” member by a vote of 131 to 84. The panel’s ranking Democrat will face daily duels with Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky, who said he would like to see Ocasio-Cortez appointed to the position because she more accurately reflects the Democratic Party’s “socialist” ideology. I suggested it myself.
Fox News senior lawmaker Chad Pergram said the appointment was “a blow to the youth movement in the Democratic Party.” This is because the gap between the young and the elderly risks “driving a wedge” into the Democratic Party coalition.
Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., a former Biden challenger who will soon retire from Congress, accused the party of excluding younger talent to preserve its veteran guard.
“Now is the time to nurture the best and brightest talent. We literally prevented them from rising to leadership positions. This means they go somewhere else. And when we lose the talent of ambitious, capable and patriotic young Americans, we are in trouble,” he said.
Connolly, on the other hand, argued that the debate between older and younger generations was “frankly a false story put forward by the media.”
Other left-wing journalists criticized the party for AOC’s loss.
“Pelosi voted to allow Connolly to assume oversight of the party’s young star even as the 84-year-old Pelosi was recovering from hip surgery after a fall. It really feels like a moment of madness,” said MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.
MSNBC’s Joy Reid similarly criticized the decision.
“(The) gerontocracy seems intractable,” she said. “When Barack Obama was elected, he pushed out the DNC and created his own organization. “Because I am dissatisfied with the DNC’s creaky management style.”
