Two American women were talking politics on Wednesday night.

Here's Laura Ingraham, conservative pundit and media superstar, delivering herself of some thoughts regarding immigration. Money quote:

In some parts of the country, it does seem like the America that we know and love doesn’t exist anymore. Massive demographic changes have been foisted on the American people, and they are changes that none of us ever voted for, and most of us don’t like.

I dunno. I think it sounded better in the original Algonquian.

And then there's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, congressional candidate and media superstar, talking with Chris Cuomo, and delivering herself of some thoughts regarding budget priorities. Money quote:

“We write unlimited blank checks for war. We just wrote a $2 trillion check for that GOP tax cut and nobody asked those folks how they are going to pay for it...Why is it that our pockets are only empty when it comes to education and health care for our kids? Why are our pockets only empty when we talk about 100 percent renewable energy that is going to save this planet and allow our children to thrive?...We only have empty pockets when it comes to the morally right things to do. When it comes to tax cuts for billionaires and when it comes to unlimited war, we seem to be able to invent that money very easily. To me, it belies a lack of moral priorities that people have right now, especially the Republican Party.”

(On the electric Twitter machine this morning, I opined that I thought AOC was talking too fast for my elderly ears. Several of my female tweeps schooled me that, maybe sometimes, women talk fast because they know men are forever poised to interrupt. I am properly chagrined.)

To be fair, a lot of Democratic members of Congress asked, loudly, where the money for the egregious tax cuts would be coming from, but AOC showed the correct way to answer a snare-laden question: straightforwardly, and without hesitation. This is why I don't want her to be a star in our politics. I want her to be a force, which is a different thing altogether. And, as for the comparison between the two American women who were talking politics on Wednesday night, a third American woman, Florence Reece, asks the essential question.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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