In yet another unforced social media gaffe, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) mistook one of her fellow House Democrats for a Republican on Thursday.

In an effort to mock a tweet from the Republican Party of Kentucky, the self-described socialist mocked Republicans for posing "older male members next to cardboard cutouts of young, female legislators." In this case, the cutout was of herself.

The only problem is that the tweet wasn't about a Republican. Rather it was about Kentucky Rep. John Yarmuth, the Democratic chairman of the House Budget committee — i.e., a prominent member of her own party's leadership in the House of Representatives where she serves.

The congresswoman (who said she was cutting back on social media earlier this month) deleted her tweet shortly afterward, but screenshots are forever.

Perhaps a close read of the original tweet itself could have helped Ocasio-Cortez avoid this particular gaffe (emphasis added):



"#ThrowbackThursday last month the socialists threatened the lone #Kentucky #Democrat in Congress if he didn't bend to their radical, extremist will: http://bit.ly/2vl9onV looks like @AOC and #socialism are calling the shots for @KyDems now!"

In fact, the link story in the tweet was about how Yarmuth resisted calls to get on board with Medicare for All proposals despite primary challenge threat from AOC's Democratic Socialists of America.

AOC has been long been criticized for her seemingly constant string of gaffes and mistakes, of which there has been no shortage between her campaign and first few months in office. She's also previously defended herself against her political critics for seizing on her statements by pointing to her own inexperience in the House.



This writer's perspective

If a freshman member of Congress want to come and shake things up in either chamber, as Ocasio-Cortez campaigned on, it would help to do and remember one's homework on who is in charge of running important committees of that chamber at the very least.