Former Rep. John Delaney challenged Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to a debate over health care on Monday after the New York congresswoman slammed the 2020 presidential hopeful and told him to “please sashay away” from the Democratic primary due to his opposition to “Medicare for All,” according to The Hill.
Delaney also said Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks could help lead to a second term for President Donald Trump.
“The only person Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez helped with her tweet about Congressman Delaney was Donald Trump,” Delaney's press secretary, Michael Starr Hopkins, said in a statement. “If Democrats are serious about beating the President at the ballot box, we need less political grandstanding and more truth-telling from the Bernie wing of the party."
Delaney was loudly booed on Sunday at the California Democratic Convention when he said "Medicare for All" is “actually not good policy nor is it good politics.”
Ocasio-Cortez mocked him in a tweet, saying that “Since there’s so many people running for President... instead of obsessing over who‘s a “front-runner,” maybe we can start w some general eliminations. This awful, untrue line got boo’ed for a full minute.”
Delaney responded with a tweet of his own, saying “Healthcare is too important for tweets, we need a real discussion.”
He stressed that “we have the same goal, universal healthcare for everyone, we just have different ways of getting there. Healthcare is the #1 issue for voters, so let’s debate the way forward. Any show of your choosing.”
With the Trump administration's repeated attempts to eliminate Obamacare, universal health care and Medicare for All is a major issue in the Democratic primary.
Ocasio-Cortez backs Medicare for All legislation introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
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