AOC refuses to debate Marty Dolan and says its beneath her dignity

Question

Marty Dolan, in a comment on a @nowthisimpact post about AOC says "They should also respect the Democratic process and debate bona fide balloted opponents — she doesn’t.

@repaoc blasts $8 million around one of the poorest districts in NYC and says it is beneath her dignity to debate."

Answer 1

In his statement, Marty Dolan commented that house representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez refused to debate him despite his challenge in the 2024 Democratic Primary. Dolan publicly states that AOC believes herself to be above the democratic process due to her declining the debate. Although they never did debate, Marty Dolan's comments did receive national news coverage from the New York Post and linked here, https://nypost.com/2024/05/21/us-news/awol-aoc-refuses-to-debate-underdog-rival-thinks-shes-above-democratic-process/ .  Typical hosts of NYC debates (League of Women Voters, BronxNet, NY1) do not list any such event or video. The idea behind this accusation is plausible, but there remains no evidence that AOC was ever even approached for a debate by Dolan, let alone declined his challenge. With that being said, The New York Post is a notoriously right leaning news source, so it would make sense they would cover this claim. Possibly to smear AOC in the eyes of voters.

Comments

I like how you talk about how although it is plausible for the claim to be true, it is misleading due to there being no evidence to prove its true. I also like how you mention how The New York Post is notorious for being right leaning and how there is a possibility they covered this claim as to taint AOC's name and reputation.

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I like how you provide both sides of the argument and see through the bias. You create a view, back it up, and explain how each view can be misconstrued. I appreciate the source that you used to back up each statement that you make in the response.

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I really like how you noted the bias of the New York Post (which is proven to be right leaning by sources like Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias/Fact Check) and looked into the platforms that would host the debate if it occurred. It’s also important to note that it’s not uncommon for incumbents to skip debates (ABC). Also, AOC did debate against Crowley (the incumbent at the time) in 2018 (Politico) who she went on to defeat. Since then she’s faced smaller challengers and hasn’t debated with them, which is consistent with many other incumbents. Despite this being a common political strategy, holding a debate could help voters hear multiple perspectives and prove accountability. Still, as you mentioned, the media often frames the story using loaded wording and adding words that were never directly quoted like “beneath her dignity”, to make AOC look worse.

https://adfontesmedia.com/new-york-post-bias-and-reliability/
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/new-york-post/
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-candidates-are-debating-less-often-this-election-cycle/
https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2018/06/15/crowley-ocasio-cortez-stay-civil-despite-differences-in-primary-debate-470236

Answer 2

This claim concerns Marty Dolan, a Unity Party Politician, who commented that New York's 14th Congressional District House Representative, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic politician, refused to engage in a debate with him. This claim, although covered by major national news outlets, in 2024 has never been confirmed.  

Dolan has publicly stated that AOC believed she was above the democratic right because she declined the debate. This was covered by media outlets such as the New York Post (https://nypost.com/2024/05/21/us-news/awol-aoc-refuses-to-debate-underdog-rival-thinks-shes-above-democratic-process/) and Yahoo! News https://www.yahoo.com/news/marty-dolan-never-heard-back)

This claim remains unsolved as there has been no confirmation or evidence of a debate being held. 

Answer 3

This statement is overexaggerated, but based in fact. 

The real statement by A.O.C., procured by Bronx Times and reported by USA Today, was “I don’t see dignifying him with [a response to his debate challenge].” This was then stretched by Dolan in his reply, wherein he speculated that “She said it would be beneath her dignity to debate with us. I think she knows that I would ask questions that she wouldn't have answers for.” (USA Today) 

It’s important to note the the original source that was cited on NewsDetective was from an Instagram post. The quote that supported their claim — “They should also respect the Democratic process and debate bona fide balloted opponents — she doesn’t. @repaoc […] says it is beneath her dignity to debate.” — was in the comments of a news profile, and received very little attention from those interacting with the post. (Instagram, NowThisImpact) 

Comments

Good work! The Bronx Times interview tends to get buried, making it appear that the NY Post is the only org reporting on the subject, but it’s a crucial source in confirming that AOC did, in fact, reference “dignity” in connection with Nolan’s debate request.

You suggest that the source of the claim might be shaky, which is good, but you don’t mention that it came from an account claiming to be Marty himself. That detail suggests the extra context that Marty or his team are reinforcing and spreading this narrative purposefully on AOC-related content, rather than it originating from an unrelated third-party account.