Ytdyklly

In light of there being virtually no prominent conservative cited by any of the media outlets making the claim, and further in light of Fox News' through article (which you already cite), the burden of proof that a conservative outrage actually exists or existed is firmly in the claimants' hands. As that Fox article notes multiple times, not a single bit of evidence aside from an anonymous tweet can be found as the reason for this claim. Without an exhaustive search of all media, I'm not sure what else could be provided to disprove the claim. Without the claimants coming forward with real evidence, a skeptical position seems the most reasonable.

What I believe we are witness to here is an instance of a recent phenomenon. So called "Fake news" is perhaps the most comprehensive term, but in this instance, the drumming up of controversy from a small collection of tweets from common people with no audience is specifically what has happened. It's been determined that Twitter specifically is prone to spreading falsehoods (secondary source), but more and more people are depending on Twitter as a news source. Science News blames this on cleverly designed Twitter bots. The Guardian scathingly blames fellow journalists as self-referential and detached from the rest of the world outside their "twitter bubble". Ken Kam of Forbes, in an article on the rapidly changing landscape of news media, calls Twitter a direct line to newsworthy persons. Specifically, he means to point to President Trump, with with 50 million Twitter followers, whose Twitter use is only exacerbated by his belief that the news media will not report on him fairly.

With all this in mind, your inner skeptic should be screaming his head off the moment you see any news that has anything to do with the activities happening on Twitter. This Ocasio-Cortez dancing thing is only a recent example, egregious as it is.

Someone had the foresight to archive the original tweet on archive.is. From that archive, we can see what the original account, and a few of the conservatives following it, actually thought.

@AnonymousQ1776: "Here is America’s favorite commie know-it-all acting like the clueless nitwit she is..."

Right-wing reply: "I actually find this endearing although she is completely out of her mind politically..." @AnonymousQ1776: "Agreed"

Right-wing reply: "Got to admit she is smokin' hot." @AnonymousQ1776: "First thing my liberal acquaintances say when she comes up in conversations. Bruh...she’s so hot!" Reply: "No brain, too bad."

Right-wing reply: "maybe Sandy from the Bronx was auditioning for a Fame remake.oh well politicians are just actors anyway." @AnonymousQ1776: "Agreed"

Combative reply: "You realize this just makes her look cool as hell right?" @AnonymousQ1776: "Really?"

Combative reply: "It’s a kid dancing, nitwit." @AnonymousQ1776: "No it’s a nitwit dancing, kid."

In summary, the original anonymous account thought the video made her look stupid. Some right-wing users agreed, while others disagreed. If the original account was trolling, they were doing a very good job looking authentic.

The MSNBC/NYT/CNN spin that these Twitter users were "losing their minds" and were representative of "the GOP" is hyperbolic. However, I think the description by USA Today is accurate. There was indeed a funny thread on Twitter which spawned memes.

It's important to note that you are the one using the term 'outrage' here. From the claims you quoted:

So when an old video of her as a college student emerged, some of them
[conservatives] darn near lost their minds.

This COULD be argued into meaning outrage, but isn't quite as strong. It can also mean they just all fell over each other to mock her.

I love how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has turned American politics into
a live action Footloose. People dancing!? Oh the horror! Where will it
end?

This COULD be argued into meaning outrage, but isn't quite as strong.

I hear the GOP thinks women dancing are scandalous. -Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

This is not about outrage.

After several conservative Twitter accounts resurfaced clips from the video this week in an attempt to mock Ocasio-Cortez, supporters rushed to her defense.

This is about mocking, not outrage.

Conservatives Try to Shame Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Dancing Video from College

This is about mocking, not outrage.

Conservatives Mock Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for College Dancing Video, Everyone Else Thinks it's Adorable

This is about mocking, not outrage.

Now you can still argue that the claims in the articles are exaggerated. It depends where you draw the line I suppose. I think we can all agree not ALL conservatives care about this. It's also fair to say that a number do. from a post by Youtube channel Conservative News. Starting with:

she's actually pretty hot when she keeps her mouth closed & her eyes at half-mast.

With some nice ones like

Anyone know which stripper club she used to work at? I've known plenty of strippers in my youth and I am positive she has experience working a pole on stage.

Or begrudging women like

Possibly the type for a one night stand, but definitely NOT something you'd take home to meet the family.

There are a lot more copies of the video circulating with a lot more similar comments. And these are all regular people, sure. I doubt any prominent GOP'ers are commenting in Youtube threads. There's another answer that mentions some tweets from them though.

Original video and comment thread can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S04CGa44VP0

In conclusion, are conservatives massively outraged? I don't think so, but that is only a claim you're making in the first place. Are they mocking her, are there sexist comments, do they think it's scandalous and out of place for a woman to be dancing like this? That point can be made, by going about social media. Has there been an objective poll that asked a random sample of conservatives what they thought about the video? No. But if that's the kind of standard you would need to accept these claims then it's probably better to stop watching any news that mentions the opinion of large political groups about something.

The original tweet about dancing came from an anonymous account, and indeed could have been done to make conservatives look stupid. However, noted and widely-read conservative pundit Jim Hoft (Gateway Pundit) retweeted it favorably. So at least he was outraged.

As you and Fox News noted, there isn't much evidence by way of conservative outrage, at-least among notable conservatives, but there appears to be even less evidence of the Fox News claim of claimed outrage, and the people who are claiming there was no outrage are actually the same people claiming there were claims of outrage.

That's probably a bit confusing, but Fox News is actually makes two claims here.

Primary Claim: media claims of conservative outrage.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dance video spurs false media claims of conservative outrage

...

a slew of misleading stories claiming conservatives were outraged over it

Dependent Claim: those claims are false.

despite virtually no supporting evidence.

The problem with the dependent claim is it's moot if the primary claim is false.

These are the articles and tweet Fox appears to be referencing by publisher name (conveniently only 2 were actually linked for some reason).

• https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/us/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-dance-video.html


• https://www.gq.com/story/aoc-dancing-right-wing


• https://www.newsweek.com/alexndria-ocasio-cortez-conservatives-dancing-video-1278950


• https://twitter.com/aoc/status/1081234130841600000


• https://nowthisnews.com/videos/politics/conservatives-try-to-shame-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-for-college-video

None of them claim conservatives were outraged by the video though.

New York Times: just says it was posted with the intent to smear, not that people were angry when they saw it.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Dancing Video Was Meant as a Smear, but It Backfired

They also quote a notable comedian hyperbolically suggesting there may have been outrage, but they do not endorse that opinion themselves.

“Man sexually assaults women in high school: ‘That was so long ago!’ Woman dances in high school: ‘We must set her ablaze.’”

GQ: article barely even mentions the video, it's mostly talking about a different controversy about her yearbook photos. Oddly enough, this is one they actually linked, so I'm sure it's the one they meant.

Newsweek: article says it was posted to mock her, not that people were angry when they saw it.

Conservatives Mock Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for College Dancing Video

...

several conservative Twitter feeds shared a video of her dancing on a rooftop

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: I'm not sure why Fox references this since she isn't in 'the media', but she made a humerus response video to the whole thing, using the word "scandalous" which doesn't necessarily imply "outrage", and in context of the tweet and video probably isn't serious.

I hear the GOP thinks women dancing are scandalous.

Wait till they find out Congresswomen dance too! 💃🏽

Have a great weekend everyone :)

Now This: Just says that they tried to shame her, and that "conservatives lost it".

Conservatives Try to Shame Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Dancing Video from College

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez danced around once in college — and conservatives lost it.

It's a bit unclear what "lost it" means here. It could be outrage, or it could mean they mistakenly thought it would be a good way to shame her.

If feeling generous, you could give them 1/5 for the Now This article, but that's not "a slew" of stories, 1 isn't even plural.

Fox's claim of claimed outrage appears to be a bit of a straw man arguments for what the other outlets were claiming. It's a bit like fake-outrage-Inception.