What are your thoughts on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez streaming a video game on Twitch with congreswoman Ilhan Omar?

Both of them are reaching out to a demographic that they want to have supporting them. I would liken what they did to George Bush going to a NASCAR race or Reagan going to a rodeo. The whole idea is “meet the voters where they are”.

I think this is actually a wise thing for them to do, to hit the younger demographics. I’m not a gamer, so it doesn’t speak to me .. but then I am not 25 years old.

@elbanditoroso “I would liken what they did to George Bush going to a NASCAR race or Reagan going to a rodeo.”

Just to play devil’s advocate, to my knowledge neither Bush nor Reagan actually participated as competitors in those events, which is a significant difference from what AOC and Omar did. Do you think that’s at all relevant, or changes the calculation at all? For example, the game “Among Us” features deception and manipulation as an important game play strategy. If you’re too good of a liar that may look bad, but if you’re not good at spotting deception, that could reveal you to be naive or weak—or am I reading too much into it?

I think you’re reading too much into it, @gorillapaws – getting into the depths and nuances of the game being played.

The real political message is “We need voters in the 20–40 age group, and this is where we can connect with them.”. The game, frankly, is irrelevant.

I think its smart and out of the box thinking.

Seems like a good move to me. It’s in keeping with them being relatable people with fresh ideas, unlike the corrupt fossils in Congress.

(The people who will criticize it are probably almost all those who have already criticized for not being old white male bad-Christian conventional establishment politicians.)

Anyone complaining about this is too damn old!

You’d rather she organized a fundraising golf tournament with a bunch of old white guys? Or, since she’s woman, a tea party at the Country Club?

@zenvelo “You’d rather she organized a fundraising golf tournament with a bunch of old white guys?”

Not at all. I think it’s really cool, but I believe Omar and Ocasio-Cortez are the first elected US officials to do ever do something like this. I’m just trying to think about all of the implications and solicit a variety of viewpoints and interpretations.

I just wonder if this kind of thing could hurt AOC in 4/8/12 years if she runs for POTUS? Picture the black and white video and obnoxious political ad narrator: “When hundreds of thousands of Americans were dying of COVID, AOC was playing videogames with her friends online” [cut to clip of her giggling from the stream] “It wasn’t a laughing matter. We need a serious candidate in the White House who doesn’t have time for playing games. Ivanka/Eric Trump will get things done!”

I could also see this approach backfiring with much older politicians trying this to establish bona fides with the younger generation, only to have it spectacularly fail as the insincerity would be obvious (e.g. “Pokemon Go to the polls!”).

@gorillapaws politicians need to tailor their behavior to fit their age and their constituents. AOC doing something on Twicth to GOTV is a lot more dignified that Trump’s.flailing at dancing to the Village People.

And if someone ran that ad 12 years from now, she could counter with, “while the GOP was suppressing votes, I reached out to young people across the country to exercise their right to vote!”

@gorillapaws I have played the game and I’m near 60. Mostly, it’s fun and I get to play with my adult children and their friends and we get to chat online. I’ve played the killer and been a victim countless times. This game is no different than any other game. A chance to play with family and friends and have fun and communicate with others. I think among her voters they will only see this as endearing. The only people who would find anything wrong with it would be Trump voters who don’t vote for her and old people who won’t care because she’s not trying to take away their social security or medicare.

@gorillapaws I understand your point of view, but actually from Gen X (me) on, we’ve all been pretty immersed in gaming since elementary school and the first computer programs available.

And most of us feel like we need term limits if not age limits at this point. Everyone is tired of 70 year old white guys running the country into the ground. Case in point, our two President-elects, that both sound semi-senile at times.

Yeah, they aren’t on my ‘team’, but slick move. Until we break the established ‘rules’, we can’t rebuild it to be better. Dems or Reps, two sides of the same tarnished coin, but I’m very hopeful the younger generations won’t be as dismissive of the political machinations as mine has been.

@Pandora Thanks for the GA! Do you think politicians over 60 could “pull this off” and get a good response? or do you think they would look silly trying?

@KNOWITALL “I understand your point of view…”

Well I was playing Devil’s advocate so… I’m actually in the same camp as everyone else. I really enjoyed the stream and think AOC rocks.

I just think the idea of politicians streaming video games may have interesting, and unforeseen implications down the road. I genuinely curious to hear people’s opinions, and thoughts on the subject

@gorillapaws Do old people look silly playing slot machines or playing a board game like Sorry? How is an online game any different. I play board games, have played slots and played numerous card games and online games. It is no different. People who find it silly to play online games are usually people who don’t like games. I have a cousin who thinks games are a waste of time.

@gorillapaws I get it. My dad saw AOC at a restaurant up East and got a pic and now it’s on his phone, Insta and FB. He shows everyone. It’s hilarious! And he’s almost 75 years old.

I think it’s great. I really like AOC I think she’s awesome and great for our democracy.