It’s been a few months since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez kicked off her Green New Deal crusade with an epic faceplant, but her defenders are still trying to spin it as a win.

Over the weekend, CNN’s Brian Stelter shared a New York Times piece on GOP messaging featuring what we can only assume was supposed to pass for insight by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake:

"@celindalake said that as she surveyed likely 2020 swing voters, she was surprised to hear people in focus groups repeat false assertions made by the president and his allies…" https://t.co/uoO5HklVL6 — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 14, 2019

More:

It is not clear whether any of the Republican messaging is having an impact on voters outside of the president’s so far unmovable base. But Ms. Lake said that as she surveyed likely 2020 swing voters, she was surprised to hear people in focus groups repeat false assertions made by the president and his allies — that Democrats would end air travel in the United States and shut down dairy farms and beef production because of greenhouse gas emissions from cows. “It’s amazing the number of people who would volunteer that,” she said. The actual language in the proposal calls for cleaner transportation and agriculture “as much as is technologically feasible.” The misperception about cows and airplanes originated with a now-retracted fact sheet published by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s office that contained an ironic aside about getting rid of “farting cows and airplanes.”

So, Republicans taking key bits of AOC’s embarrassing Green New Deal FAQ and running with them are making “false assertions”? Color freelance conservative journalist Jeryl Bier … whatever color it is when you’re not buying what someone’s selling:

"The misperception about cows and airplanes originated with a now-retracted fact sheet published by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s office that contained an ironic aside…" OOOOOOOHHHH… Guys! The stuff about airplanes and cows was just an "ironic aside"!! https://t.co/BZkv96rZAa — Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) April 15, 2019

Crud, and here we've just been repeating "false assertions" all along!https://t.co/vodGCF4gc8 pic.twitter.com/c4oesI2xeM — Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) April 15, 2019

Reminder: the "ironic aside" about the cows actually **underwent revision** before being retracted, so they were pretty serious about their "ironic aside":https://t.co/Os1ayKKEMx — Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) April 15, 2019

Well, let me tell you, my face is red! NOTE: My face is not actually red — that was an ironic aside. https://t.co/BXFCcXAV6M — Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) April 15, 2019

Heh.

“No they were doing irony” – hell yeah. — Very Stupid Man (@very_stupid_man) April 15, 2019

Yep. We always put ironic asides into proposed legislation. It's how we insure that it is taken seriously. — Robert Craigen (@RCsEvilTwin) April 15, 2019

They MUST think we’re stupid. — Veta Louise (@ednasdiner) April 15, 2019

Oh, they definitely do.