AOC's Response to Rep Yoho-- You Absolutely MUST Listen

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez gave a speech to congress, in response to the despicably false apology by Rep. Yoho. It has been called one of the most important speeches in decades. Every man should listen to it to learn. Every woman should listen to it so she raises her expectations of men's behavior. A rough transcript follows the videos.

Here's the response Yoho gave.

here's the automated, uncorrected transcript, from Youtube.

and in front of reporters representative

yoho called me

and i quote a b*tch

about two days ago i was walking up the

steps of the capitol when

representative yoho suddenly turned a

corner

and he was accompanied by representative

roger williams

and accosted me on the steps right here

in front of our nation's capital

i was minding my own business walking up

the steps

and representative yoho put his finger

in my face

he called me disgusting he called me

crazy he called me out of my mind

and he called me dangerous

and then he took a few more steps and

after i had recognized his uh after i

had recognized his

his comments as rude he walked away and

said

i'm rude you're calling me rude

i took a few steps ahead and i walked

inside and cast my vote

and because my constituents send me here

each and every day

to fight for them and to make sure that

they

are able to keep a roof over their head

that they're able to feed their families

and that they're able to carry their

lives with dignity

i walked back out and there were

reporters

in the front of the capitol and in front

of reporters representative yoho called

me

and i quote a b*tch

these are the words that representative

yoho

levied against a congresswoman

the congresswoman that not only

represents new york's 14th congressional

district

but every congresswoman and every woman

in this country

because all of us have had to deal with

this

in some form some way some shape

at some point in our lives and i want to

be clear

that representative yoho's comments

were not deeply hurtful or

piercing to me because i have worked

a working class job i have weighted

tables in restaurants i have ridden the

subway

i have walked the streets in new york

city

and this kind of language is not new

i have encountered words uttered by mr

yoho and men

uttering the same words as mr yoho

while i was being harassed in

restaurants i have tossed

men out of bars that have used language

like mr yoho's

and i have encountered this type of

harassment

riding the subway in new york city

this is not new and that is

the problem mr yoho was not alone

he was walking shoulder to shoulder with

representative roger williams

and that's when we start to see that

this issue

is not about one incident it is

cultural it is a culture of lack of

impunity

of accepting of violence and violent

language

against women an entire structure of

power

that supports that because not only have

i been spoken to disrespectfully

particularly by members of the

republican party and elected officials

in the republican party

not just here but the president of the

united states

last year told me to go home

to another country is the implication

that i don't even belong

in america the governor of florida

governor desantis before i even was

sworn in

called me a whatever that is

dehumanizing language is not

new and what we are seeing is that

incidents like these

are happening in a pattern this is a

pattern of of an attitude

towards women and dehumanization

of others so while i was not deeply hurt

or offended by little comments

that are made when i was reflecting

on this i i honestly thought that

i was just going to pack it up and go

home it's just

another day right

but then yesterday representative yoho

decided to come to the floor of the

house

of representatives and make excuses

for his behavior and that i

could not let go i could not

allow my nieces i could not allow

the little girls that i go home to i

could not allow

victims of verbal abuse and worse

to see that to see that excuse

and to see our congress accept it as

legitimate

and accept it as an apology and to

accept

silence as a form of acceptance

i could not allow that to stand which is

why i'm rising today to raise this point

of personal privilege and i do not need

representative yoho to apologize to me

clearly he does not want to clearly

when given the opportunity he will not

and i will not stay up

late at night waiting for an apology

from a man

who has no remorse over calling women

and using abusive language towards women

but what i do have issue with

is using women our wives

and daughters as shields and excuses

for poor behavior mr yoho mentioned that

he has a wife

and two daughters i am two years younger

than mr yoho's youngest daughter

i am someone's daughter too

my father thankfully is not alive

to see how mr yoho treated

his daughter my mother

got to see mr yojo's disrespect

on the floor of this house towards me on

television

and i am here because i have to show my

parents

that i am their daughter and that they

did not

raise me to accept abuse from men

now what i am here to say

is that this harm that mr yoho levied

it tried to levy against me

was not just an incident directed at me

but when you do that to any woman

what mr yoho did was give permission

to other men to do that to his daughters

he gave in using that language in front

of the press

he gave permission to use that language

against his wife his daughters women in

his community

and i am here to stand up to say that

is not acceptable i do not care what

your views are

it does not matter how much i disagree

or how much it incenses me

or how much i feel that people are

dehumanizing others

i will not do that myself

i will not allow people to change

and create hatred in our hearts

and so what i believe

is that having a daughter does not

make a man decent having a wife

does not make a decent man

treating people with dignity and respect

makes a decent man and when a decent

man messes up as we all

are bound to do he tries

his best and does apologize

not to save face not to win a vote

he apologizes genuinely

to repair and acknowledge the harm done

so that we can all move on

lastly what i want to express to mr yoho

is gratitude i want

to thank him for showing the world

that you can be a powerful man

and a cost women you can

have daughters and a cost women

without remorse you can be married and

accost women

you can take photos and project an image

to the world

of being a family man and a cost women

without remorse and with a sense of

impunity

it happens every day in this country it

happened

here on the steps of our nation's

capital

it happens when the when

individuals who hold the highest office

in this land

admit admit

to hurting women and using this language

against all of us