AOC blasts Carville for using term 'wokeness,' says mostly 'older people' use the word
AOC warns use of the word 'woke' will impact 'youth turnout' at the polls
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., took to Twitter to slam Democratic strategist James Carville, and others, for blaming the party's "wokeness" for Terry McAuliffe's gubernatorial loss in Virginia, claiming that the terms is "almost exclusively used by older people."
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks in Durham, New Hampshire, Feb. 10, 2020. (Getty Images)
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"How can news outlets even attribute words to me I didn’t say," Ocasio-Cortez questioned in a tweet, linking to a report and another tweet from ABC 13 News in Virginia which quoted the New York congresswoman as saying McAuliffe lost the race because he was not "woke" enough.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I said there are limits to trying to mobilize a campaign with a 100% moderate strategy without mobilizing the base," Ocasio-Cortez added. "Said nothing [about] ‘wokeness’ which is a term almost exclusively used by older people these days btw".
U. S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks in City Hall Park, New York City. (Getty Images)
Ocasio-Cortez, a member of far-left progressive Squad, also claimed that the word "woke" is used primarily by "Carville and Fox News pundits." She said statements targeting younger generations as "woke" by older Democrats will hurt "youth turnout" at the polls.
According to Carville, McAuliffe's loss in Virginia was primarily a result of "stupid wokeness" and the progressive agenda.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}James Carville is seen April 11, 2015. (Getty Images)
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"What went wrong is stupid wokeness," Carville said. "Don’t just look at Virginia and New Jersey. Look at Long Island, Buffalo, look at Minneapolis, even look at Seattle, Washington. I mean this ‘defund the police’ lunacy, this take Abraham Lincoln’s name off of schools, people see that. And it really has a suppressive effect on all across the country on Democrats. Some of these people need to go to a woke detox center or something."
Merriam-Webster added the word woke to its dictionary in 2017, defining it as, "aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)." The Oxford dictionary adopted it the same year, defining it as "originally: well-informed, up-to-date. Now chiefly: alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News' Michael Ruiz contributed to this article.