During the vice presidential debate on Wednesday night, October 7, Vice President Mike Pence referred to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as "AOC" while trying to link Sen. Kamala Harris and former Vice President Joe Biden to the Green New Deal — and Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, "For the record @Mike_Pence, it's Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez to you."

The progressive Ocasio-Cortez has been applauded by many of her supporters for her Green New Deal environmental proposals, but Biden, a centrist Democrat, hasn't been as aggressive as the New York City congresswoman when it comes to environmental issues. Regardless, Pence was determined to associate Biden and his running mate, Harris, with Ocasio-Cortez' environmental recommendations during the debate, and he insisted, "Joe Biden and Kamala Harris want to raise taxes. They want to bury our economy under a $2 trillion Green New Deal, which you (Harris) were one of the original co-sponsors of in the United States Senate."

By bashing Ocasio-Cortez during the debate, Pence was clearly trying to rally President Donald Trump's MAGA base. But the more far-right Republicans vilify Ocasio-Cortez, the more obvious it is how much they fear her.

While Ocasio-Cortez has been outspoken on climate change, Trump is a climate change denier and a boisterous champion of fossil fuels. Biden acknowledges the dangers of climate change, but his environmental ideas have generally been to the right of Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and others in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

On Twitter, Ocasio-Cortez vigorously defended her Green New Deal proposals, arguing, "The Green New Deal is and has been lied about nonstop, and yet is STILL popular. It's a massive job-creation and infrastructure plan to decarbonize & increase quality of work and life. It's okay to call the GOP out on those lies just as we call them out on all their other lies."

Ocasio-Cortez also noted how much Pence dodged the questions asked by moderator Susan Page during the debate. The congresswoman tweeted, "Why is it that Mike Pence doesn't seem to have to answer any of the questions asked of him in this debate? Pence demanding that Harris answer *his* own personal questions when he won't even answer the moderator's is gross, and exemplary of the gender dynamics so many women have to deal with at work."