Those of us who own more than one cat, especially if they’re not siblings, know that a cat fight will occasionally break out. In our house, we have two unrelated females who sometimes spar. The older cat will sucker punch the younger, which results in teeth bared and hissing from junior. However, despite her bravado, she generally runs off at the threat of the older cat, but not until some clumps of fur fly.

That scene is rather similar to this week’s cat fight between outgoing MO Sen. Claire McCaskill and the fresh new House member from New York: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

McCaskill appeared on CNN the day after Christmas to issue caveats about Ocasio-Cortez’s penchant for socialism — which McCaskill doesn’t think is a good look for Democrats:

“I’m a little confused why she’s the thing. But it’s a good example of what I’m talking about, a bright shiny new object, came out of nowhere and surprised people when she beat a very experienced congressman.”

Ooh! Me-owww!

Shiny object! Victory Girls Blog original art by Darleen Click.

McCaskill continued:

“But I hope she also realizes that the parts of the country that are rejecting the Democratic Party, like a whole lot of white working class voters, need to hear about how their work is going to be respected, and the dignity of their jobs, and how we can really stick to issues that we can actually accomplish something on.”

“The rhetoric is cheap. Getting results is a lot harder.”

As Chris Farley said in Tommy Boy: “That’ll leave a mark.”

On Saturday Ocasio-Cortez responded to McCaskill’s sucker punch with bared teeth and a hiss. Why she waited until now to make this a cat fight I don’t know. Maybe she had been partying hard over Christmas or something.

Not sure why fmr Sen. McCaskill keeps going on TV to call me a “thing” and “shiny object,” but it’s pretty disappointing.

McCaskill promised she’d “100% back Trump up” on his anti-immigrant rhetoric & lost. In MO, almost all progressive ballot issues won. https://t.co/53qKvnr8KG

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 29, 2018

She didn’t stop:

“I’m also not sure why McCaskill is covering for the GOP by saying they “secretly think Trump is nuts.” Nobody cares. Trump is melting down our institutions and inciting division between people. At any time GOP could have checked him and choose not to. They’re accomplices.”

Hissss! 

However, McCaskill wasn’t the only one with a warning for fellow Democrats, because outgoing Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana raised a red flag, too:

“The talk on the coasts just doesn’t get it done in the middle. . . .”

“But when you talk ‘Medicare for all’ … you start losing the people in my state.”

Pffft! hissed the kitties over at Jezebel, a leftwing feminist website. Why, Ocasio-Cortez’s proposals are “run-of-the-mill” — such as a federal $15 per hour minimum wage, a Federal job guarantee, and free trade schools for all. Jezebel also advises Democrats to stop courting the ‘racist’ white working class.

They went there, didn’t they? Of course they did. Because they think blue collar white people are racists.

Now I was born and raised in the Midwest, and I’m proud to still live in the Heartland. And Ocasio-Cortez’s socialist dreams just don’t have much traction out here. Moreover, just look where McCaskill and Donnelly hail from: the midwestern states of Missouri and Indiana. Both lost their Senate seats to Republican challengers.

But let Ocasio-Cortez entertain her dreams about Medicare for all and other socialist hot air. As McCaskill said, “The rhetoric is cheap. Getting results is a lot harder.” Ocasio-Cortez will be lots of fun to watch when she finally takes her House seat. I wonder how many cat fights this young kitten will start with the more seasoned tabbies in Congress.

Feature image: cropped and altered image from Flavio~ at flickr.com. CC by 2.0.