Did you catch the Jamaal Bowman rally over the weekend? If not you missed a real show. Bowman was joined by AOC and Bernie Sanders and clearly the goal was to make some noise. But it feels like they went just a bit over the top. Here's AOC entering to a song by Cardi B:
AOC's entrance to @JamaalBowmanNY rally. It's in the 90s and sunny but the energy is electric.
— Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) June 22, 2024
People are fired up to take on AIPAC and Wall Street in this district and around the country. pic.twitter.com/4cTVnPxU25
Here she is screaming at the top of her lungs about winning the country back.
"Are you ready to win this country back?" - Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez AOC, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Rep. Jamaal Bowman are holding a rally in the Bronx as Pro-palestine protesters chant in attempt to disrupt it.
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) June 22, 2024
Video by Ed Quinn [email protected] to license pic.twitter.com/KZdB36XngV
Worth noting that the crowd was smallish, partly because it was 90 degrees out. Also, there were some more people around the back standing under some trees. So more than 50 but it wasn't a big turnout.
From this angle performance of @AOC on the stage in front of 50 people half of whom are journalists is even funnier pic.twitter.com/JTL09gxaX9
— Michael Elgort (@just_whatever) June 24, 2024
It was Bowman who really went off the rails, cursing and shouting and generally carrying on as if he was trying to settle a rap beef rather than run a campaign.
"I'm not supposed to fight back? We gonna show them, who the fk we are!" Spoke Rep. Bowman along with Rep AOC and Bernie Sanders at a rally in the Bronx as Pro-palestine protesters chant to disrupt the rally.
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) June 22, 2024
Video by Ed Quinn [email protected] to license pic.twitter.com/0UmNJN7FQs
You probably won't hear this language at any other political rallies this year.
#NYC Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez AOC and Rep Bowman DANCE AND RAP on stage during their Bronx rally today at St Mary's Park. pic.twitter.com/ri3sVkiqcV
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) June 22, 2024
Rep. Ritchie Torres used his personal account to call this unbecoming of a Member of Congress.
The level of profanity here is so shocking as to be unbecoming of a Member of Congress.
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) June 23, 2024
There is nothing in Jamaal Bowman’s unhinged tirade that remotely resembles the decency of the people I know and represent in the South Bronx. pic.twitter.com/IZZtgyffTv
Today, Jonathan Chait wonders if Bowman isn't trying to set himself up for his post-Congress job.
Jamaal Bowman has decided to close out his race for the Democratic nomination in New York’s 16th Congressional District by running as if his opponent is named “AIPAC.” At a weekend rally, he shouted, “We’re going to show f**king AIPAC the power of the motherf***ing South Bronx” (which is where the rally was held, but it’s not part of his district).
One explanation for this peculiar strategic choice is that Bowman is trying to boost his base by heightening its ideological and socioeconomic fault lines to the point that it would propel him outside its geographic boundaries. Another is that Bowman, who was found in the last poll to be trailing by 17 points, grasps his imminent defeat and is already positioning himself for a job at a professional protest organization by branding AIPAC as the author of his defeat.
As Chait sees it, Bowman's problem this election is hat he has simply moved so far left that even anti-Zionist Jewish groups consider him too radical. He calls Bowman's weekend tirade a political suicide attempt.
This year, J Street withdrew its endorsement of Bowman. That devastating move followed a series of comments Bowman had made that aligned himself with left-wing protesters rather than with liberal Zionists. The final straw was Bowman’s appearance with Norman Finkelstein, a hyperbolic critic of Israel and author of The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering...
Bowman seems almost to crave political martyrdom. But if he does lose, it would be more accurate to attribute his demise to political suicide.
I don't see how shouting the F-word at your opponents is going to help. It really does feel like Bowman has decided he might as well go out with a bang. Mission accomplished I guess.
Today's cover: Watch ‘Squad’ Reps. AOC, Bowman’s cringeworthy antics at R-rated NYC rally to boost embattled Dem https://t.co/EKNFljWCOH pic.twitter.com/6fbcJ6UzG7
— New York Post (@nypost) June 24, 2024
His campaign seems to be going well today though.
We won’t continue the status quo.
— Rep. Jamaal Bowman Ed.D. (@JamaalBowmanNY) June 24, 2024
Black and brown communities like Edenwald continue to be left behind. It’s time for us to fight back and ensure that our communities get the love and attention that they deserve.
pic.twitter.com/rUOKIzBNZO
Update: AOC is claiming there were 1,200 people there.
Fox News is big mad that we’re for the many, not the money.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 24, 2024
We rallied 1200 people in the Bronx to take on dark money, get fired up, and send busloads of volunteers to canvass and phone bank.
It’s called organizing. And it’s fun as hell.
Get into it: https://t.co/KhvvokqBG6 https://t.co/xJpJIi2HhM pic.twitter.com/bBx3HhjsLH
I see about 300, maybe 350 if you're being generous. That's not a great turnout for an event featuring AOC and Bernie Sanders.
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