AOC Says Republicans Are 'Grieving' Speaker Vote, 'Projecting' on Alcohol

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says Republicans are projecting their desire to drink alcohol while "grieving" GOP leader Kevin McCarthy's faltering bid to become the next speaker of the House.

The New York Democrat made the remarks during an Instagram Live session with Democratic Representative-elect Greg Casar of Texas following McCarthy's sixth consecutive failed vote on Wednesday night.

Ocasio-Cortez's comments on alcohol were in reference to remarks made by GOP Congresswoman Kat Cammack of Florida, who a short time earlier was booed by Democrats on the House floor after suggesting her political rivals were drinking amid the Republican chaos.

"I wish there was alcohol, frankly," Ocasio-Cortez said. "If there was alcohol, y'all would know, because I'd be making fire cocktails and mocktails. But, you know, that did not happen. But I think there was some projection."

"I'm gonna say there's some projection," she added. "I think there are people grieving, on the Republican side, that they're not all that and a bag of chips. I think that they thought that they were, and now they can't even [elect a speaker]."

Ocasio-Cortez also said she would hypothetically be willing to bet money on McCarthy not becoming speaker, although the Republican leader might require additional rounds of failed votes before accepting his position.

"If I were a betting person, my bets would be on Kevin McCarthy not becoming the speaker," Ocasio-Cortez said. "The next bet is how long is it going to take, how many more rounds is it going to take for Kevin McCarthy to finally realize that he is not going to be speaker of the House?"

"Do you think he's going to give up after tonight?" she continued. "Do you think he'll go more rounds? Two more rounds?"

Casar responded to Ocasio-Cortez by saying that his fiancee had told him she was "getting real Jeb Bush vibes" about McCarthy, suggesting that it might be "slowly dawning" on the Republican leader that he will not become speaker despite believing that he was "supposed to get it."

Ocasio-Cortez went on to argue that McCarthy "doesn't have any real plan to get the votes that he needs," while claiming that he was "just chilling" rather than attempting to win votes by speaking to dissenters during the House sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Ocasio-Cortez responded to Cammack's alcohol accusation by tweeting, "If Dems took a shot every time McCarthy lost a Republican, we'd all be unconscious by now."

While there is no evidence that Democrats were celebrating the chaos by drinking alcohol on the House floor, many have appeared pleased by the shambolic Republican attempt to choose a new speaker.

Representative Ted Lieu posed with a bag of popcorn before heading to the chamber to take in the entertainment on Tuesday morning.

Cammack's alcohol comment came as she warned that Democrats were taunting Republicans in hopes of furthering the chaos.

"They want us to fight each other," she said while nominating McCarthy for the speaker job for a sixth time on Wednesday. "That much has been made clear by the popcorn and blankets and alcohol that is coming over there."

Newsweek has reached out to the offices of McCarthy and Cammack for comment.