Two days later, Yoho stood on the House floor and apologized for the "abrupt manner of the conversation I had with my colleague from New York." He denied using the expletives. "Having been married for 45 years with two daughters, I'm very cognizant of my language. The offensive name-calling words attributed to me by the press were never spoken to my colleagues and if they were construed that way, I apologize for their misunderstanding," Yoho said. Bob Cusack, editor in chief of the Hill, stood by the reporting, and said, "Our story was and remains 100 percent accurate."
While Yoho said he was "passionate about those affected by poverty," many women -- and quite a few men -- know this confrontation wasn't really about a policy difference at all. First, it's important to note that Ocasio-Cortez is right: the link between crime and poverty has been well-documented. (Ocasio-Cortez has said she was clear in the virtual town hall earlier this month in which she originally drew the connection that she was referring to petty -- not violent -- crimes.)
Second, our political system was designed specifically to foster representation of different political views in Congress, which is why it remains unusual to see a member of Congress denigrate himself and the institution by verbally attacking another member in this way. Ocasio-Cortez said it had never happened to her before and tweeted, "Believe it or not, I usually get along fine w/ my GOP colleagues. We know how to check our legislative sparring at the committee door."
Democratic Reps. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Dean Phillips of Minnesota highlighted the sexism at play here, tweeting that they had previously expressed the same views on poverty and crime without being accosted in the way Ocasio-Cortez was. By allegedly using the word "bitch" in his stunning breach of decorum, Yoho suggested that what he was really complaining about was that a woman was daring to wield political power at all.
We know this because of his very choice of that word (allegedly) is often used to denigrate women for being (in the eyes of the person wielding the term) malicious, unpleasant or selfish. These also happen to be the characteristics used to describe women who dare seek power, as Kate Manne writes in "Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny." Manne says that when women compete for positions typically held by men, they tend to be portrayed as "morally suspect." That's why, according to Manne, "dislike and hostility are relatively predictable reactions to female politicians aspiring to highest office."
On Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez responded to the confrontation by tweeting, "Hey, 'b*tches' get stuff done." By reclaiming the word and using it to refer to powerful women in a nod to a famous Tina Fey sketch on Saturday Night Live, Ocasio-Cortez played with Yoho's attempt to use the term to punish her for wielding political power as a woman -- and, brilliantly, refused to let him do it.
On Thursday, a day after Yoho's cowardly non-apology, Ocasio-Cortez took to t
