After DNC Speech, AOC Slams NBC for 'Malicious' Tweet

Yes, she seconded nomination for Bernie Sanders, as per procedure. Also yes: She's voting for Biden.
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 19, 2020 7:17 AM CDT
After DNC Speech, AOC Slams NBC for 'Malicious' Tweet
In this image from video, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, speaks during the second night of the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday.   (Democratic National Convention via AP)

During the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivered a symbolic speech (transcript here) in which she seconded a nomination for Sen. Bernie Sanders during the roll call. It's routine procedure: Each presidential candidate who brings delegates to the convention has to be formally nominated, per BuzzFeed, and Ocasio-Cortez used her time to talk about the progressive vision for the Democratic Party—a "warning" of sorts to the party establishment not to ignore progressives, per the Washington Post. But in what the Week calls a moment of "political illiteracy," NBC News is now drawing flak for what AOC says was a "malicious & misleading" tweet that made her speech seem like a slam against Joe Biden, who earned the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, and who also earned congratulations from Ocasio-Cortez and her vote.

The original tweet, now deleted, read: "In one of the shortest speeches of the DNC, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez did not endorse Joe Biden," followed by AOC's endorsement of Sanders. Three-plus hours later, NBC deleted the tweet and clarified what Ocasio-Cortez had done was standard procedure—and that "her speech was similar in length to other nominating speeches"—but the congresswoman called the tweet "completely unacceptable, disappointing, and appalling," noting it took hours for the tweet to come down and that "it sparked an enormous amount of hatred and vitriol," with inaccurate info that other outlets soon picked up. "All to generate hate-clicks," she added, demanding to know how this had happened and how NBC was going to remedy it. "Because a 1:15am tweet to slip under the radar after blowing up a totally false and divisive narrative across networks isn't it," she said. (More Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stories.)

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