In the marathon-sized field of 2020 candidates, John Delaney isn’t the only white moderate Democrat who’s running for president while polling at less than 1 percent. In fact, he isn’t even the only white moderate Democrat named John who’s running for president while polling at less than 1 percent (hello, John Hickenlooper).
But on Sunday, Delaney finally managed to make some headlines—as a source of relentless booing at the California Democratic Convention.
The former Maryland congressman was giving a speech on the importance of “smart policies” when he zeroed in on health care.
“Medicare for All may sound good, but it’s actually not good policy nor is it good politics,” Delaney said, to which the crowd immediately responded with loud boos.
“I’m telling ya. I’m telling ya,” Delaney tried to say over the booing while wagging his finger at the audience. “We should have universal health care, but it shouldn’t be a kind of health care that kicks 115 million Americans off their health care.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a rising star in the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, dismissed Delaney with a nod to RuPaul’s “Drag Race.”
“Since there’s so many people running for President (& not enough for Senate), instead of obsessing over who’s a ‘frontrunner,’ maybe we can start [with] some general eliminations,” Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) tweeted on Sunday. “John Delaney, thank you but please sashay away.”
Since there’s so many people running for President (& not enough for Senate), instead of obsessing over who‘s a “frontrunner,” maybe we can start w some general eliminations.
This awful, untrue line got boo’ed for a full minute.
John Delaney, thank you but please sashay away ?? https://t.co/0RDOwbfcgv
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 2, 2019
Delaney fired back: “Hey @AOC, we have the same goal, universal healthcare for everyone, we just have different ways of getting there.”
“Healthcare is too important for tweets, we need real discussion,” he continued.
On Monday, Delaney bemoaned “intolerance to alternative points of view.”
Intolerance to alternative points of view is not what the Democratic Party should be about. Don't we get enough of that from Trump?
— John Delaney (@JohnDelaney) June 3, 2019
He also defended his health care plan by comparing it to Republicans’ attempts to get rid of the Affordable Care Act altogether.
“Most Republicans favor doing nothing and eliminating the ACA,” Delaney tweeted. “What’s your choice?”
2020 Democrat John #2, aka John Hickenlooper, didn’t fare much better at the California convention on Saturday when he told the audience that “socialism is not the answer.”
Amid the boos, Hickenlooper said “You know, if we’re not careful, we’re gonna end up helping to reelect the worst President in American history.”
The crowd booed on.
Watch Delaney below:
Presidential candidate John Delaney booed at CA Dem convention for saying: "Medicare for all may sound good but it's actually not good policy nor is it good politics." pic.twitter.com/aWwdeHM8nH
— The Hill (@thehill) June 2, 2019
Watch Hickenlooper below:
John @Hickenlooper is booed at the California Democratic convention for saying: "Socialism is not the answer." pic.twitter.com/jxnJPubJ0q
— The Hill (@thehill) June 1, 2019
Booed, rad-ly
Dumbest. Statement. Ever.
Bye, Felicia.
Now you’re just mocking…
You will be Mockingbirded for that one. It was no Jem.
Messaging matters. Will Medicare-for-all look like current Medicare? Probably have a number of differences (different age groups/needs), sure.
But you don’t have to get into a 500-point plan at this time trying to dive into the nuances.
Either you’re on board with the concept or not. If not, probably shouldn’t bother wasting more time running.