2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

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Scooter
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2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

Post by Scooter »

I am suggesting that, rather than have an interminable election thread that includes everything, that we create individual threads for discussions that revolve around a single candidate. So I'll start this one showing that PB has vaulted from nowhere to third in New Hampshire:
Buttigieg surges to third place in new NH poll

MANCHESTER, N.H. – A new public opinion survey in the state that holds the first primary in the race for the White House indicates that onetime longshot Pete Buttigieg is now in third place among the multitude of contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The 37-year old South Bend, Ind., mayor has the support of 10.7 percent of likely Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire, according to a Saint Anselm College Survey Center poll released Wednesday.

Former Vice President Joe Biden – expected by many political observers to formally announce a White House bid in the coming weeks – topped the poll. Nearly 23 percent said if the primary were held today, they’d vote for Biden. Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont – who’s running a second straight time for the Democratic nomination – was second at 15.6 percent.

Sanders won the 2016 Democratic primary in the Granite State by 22 percentage points over eventual nominee Hillary Clinton.

Buttigieg, an Afghanistan War veteran who would be the nation’s first openly gay president, was next in line.

“The emerging dark horse in this race may be Pete Buttigieg, who has gone from a virtual unknown to vault to 11 percent support,” said Neil Levesque, the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. “His emergence as a factor is driven by a 33-point increase in name recognition, almost all of it favorable.”
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2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

Post by RayThom »

"I'm Bonkers For Buttigieg"

I started contributing to his campaign when he stated he needed 65,000 donors in order to qualify for the first tier of the Democratic National Committee-sponsored debates. Not surprisingly, he quickly hit that mark, and hauled in well over $7M in the process.

He's most definitely the sharpest tool in the Dem shed at the moment and I'm sure he'll be able to cut the roster of 22 candidates in half shortly after the first debates scheduled for June 26 - 27.

As much as I like our local hero, Joe Biden, I'm hoping that he'll bow out once again and does his best to throw his support behind Mayor Pete. That's what I'm hoping for.
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Re: 2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

Post by Big RR »

He's a smart guy for sure, and his positions seem well thought out andd are presented well, but I still worry about his lack of experience, especially on the federal level. Working with Congress is an art, and it has to be learned; being the smartest (like Obama) or most appealing (like Clinton) is not enough. I'd pretty much vote for anyone over Trump, but I don't relish 4/8 more years of inaction and deadlock. Even if them dems take both houses, it would not be enough--look how hard it was to get Obamacare passed with the dems controlling both houses. I'd rather see someone with experience in the WH.

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Re: 2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

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It's way too earlier to say if he is the right candidate, but if we're going to limit the field to those with federal congressional experience, we would have had to eliminate quite a few presidents who didn't have it and proved both effective and popular. I think he has articulated quite well why his executive government experience, albeit in a small city, would be an asset, and the fact that even Mike Pence was forced to admit that they worked well together should say something. Frankly I think he would have a lot more success being able to work across the aisle than almost anyone in the field right now except Biden.
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Re: 2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

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I’m a fair bit less bullish on Mayor Pete after reading this article and seeing him in a few more interviews, wherein his answers to questions quickly became maddeningly repetitive - I ‘get’ talking points, but the truth is the more I hear Pete, the less I hear specific policy proposals to address the complicated issues which he certainly grasps and can articulate well. Perhaps he’ll start fleshing out specific policy proposals after his announcement this week?

All About Pete


I’ll be honest, I haven’t taken the time to watch all the other candidate town halls that have aired thus far - so I can’t speak with authority about the substance offered by others in the field so far. From what I’ve already heard over the past few years, I have the strongest feelings for both Warren and Sanders.
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Re: 2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

Post by Big RR »

Scooter wrote:It's way too earlier to say if he is the right candidate, but if we're going to limit the field to those with federal congressional experience, we would have had to eliminate quite a few presidents who didn't have it and proved both effective and popular. I think he has articulated quite well why his executive government experience, albeit in a small city, would be an asset, and the fact that even Mike Pence was forced to admit that they worked well together should say something. Frankly I think he would have a lot more success being able to work across the aisle than almost anyone in the field right now except Biden.
Such experience, while helpful, is not necessary IMHO; significant executive experience in dealing with legislatures as a governor could be helpful as well, even experience dealing with legislatures/congress in other capacities could help. But the being the mayor of a big town for a few years is not, IMHO, that sort of experience. Give him a bit more time and he might make a great president, but I see no reason to believe he is up to the task at this point.

There is a general lean in American politics to the outsider who is not "tainted" by the "system", but getting things done in the system is the job of an elected official, and IMHO that requires significant experience. Like a good wine, I'd rather he was allowed to age a bit more; he seems to have many of the necessary skills, but he has to develop them more in some positions of more responsibility before he becomes the chief executive.

As I said, I'd pretty much vote for anyone voting against trump, but I think now we need a president who will be able to break the stalemate that the federal government has become, and I don't think that person is an outsider.

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Re: 2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

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That didn't take long. The Trumpanzees are obviously running scared.
The religious right is claiming Pete Buttigieg isn’t a ‘real’ Christian because he’s gay

The religious right is upset that out presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has taken the nation by storm. Evangelical leaders are claiming the small town Indiana mayor isn’t actually a Christian because he is gay.

They’re particularly perturbed he’s had the temerity to challenge holier-than-thou Vice President Pence’s conservative brand of evangelical Christianity and President Donald Trump’s lack of “Christian values” despite being embraced by the religious right.

Buttigieg has made it a point to mention his faith during his media appearances and has tackled the right’s hypocrisy by aligning themselves with the “porn star presidency.”

Buttigieg has accused Pence of being “complicit” in the rise of white nationalism and said he had “stopped believing in Scripture when he started believing in Donald Trump” and had become “the cheerleader of the porn star presidency.”

Pence, like others who oppose equal rights for LGBTQ people, often frames his political opinions as religious ones. Buttigieg is Christian and said that his marriage is good on those terms.

“It has made me more compassionate, more understanding, more self-aware, more decent,” Buttigieg said. “My marriage to Chasten has made me a better man. And yes, Mr. Vice President, it has moved me closer to God.”

“The idea that the only way a religious person could enter politics is through the religious right — I just don’t think that makes sense. What could be more different than the message I take from my faith and what we’re being shown in Washington right now?” Buttigieg said last month on Morning Joe.

“I think a lot of people wonder where they fit, either because who they are, if you’re a member of the LGBTQ community like I am, or because of what you believe politically,” Buttigieg went on. “I think the time has come for more of a religious left to emerge in our country, that let’s people know that they aren’t alone when they look at faith and think that teaches us to reach out to others, to humble ourselves, to take care of the immigrant, the prisoner, and frankly the sex worker.”

“I’m reluctant to comment on another person’s faith, but I would say it is hard to look at this president’s actions and believe that they’re the actions of somebody who believes in God,” Buttigieg has also said.

“I just don’t understand how you can be as worshipful of your own self as he is and be prepared to humble yourself before God. I’ve never seen him humble himself before anyone. And the exaltation of yourself, especially a self that’s about wealth and power, could not be more at odds with at least my understanding of the teachings of the Christian faith.”

Michael Brown, writing for the American Family Association’s blog, took umbrage at Buttigieg’s dig at Trump’s decided lack of “Christian values” supposedly a bedrock of evangelical doctrine, saying it is “absurd” because the candidate “professes to be a serious Christian, yet is pro-abortion and ‘married’ to his same-sex partner.”

The American Family Association has been deemed an anti-LGBTQ hate group masquerading as a Christian charity.

“Buttigieg must discard the entire testimony of Scripture, since every single reference to homosexual practice in the Bible is condemnatory, without a single positive, homosexual-affirming statement of any kind,” Brown writes before claiming Buttigieg will not get into heaven when he dies.

“My issue is with a pro-abortion, practicing homosexual who claims to be Christian calling out Trump’s alleged ‘hypocrisy.’ That, indeed, is the height of hypocrisy, and there is nothing Christian about it.”

Conservative pundit Erick Erickson also took aim at Buttigieg – and his faith.

“I mean if Buttigieg thinks evangelicals should be supporting him instead of Trump, he fundamentally does not understand the roots of Christianity,” he sent to Twitter. “But then he is an Episcopalian, so he might not actually understand Christianity more than superficially.”

Erickson says that Buttigieg’s faith is “corrupt and flawed.”

“Buttigieg wants to reject the inconvenient parts of faith he does not like,” Erickson writes in an article for The Resurgent. He is a gay man who got married; he does not think homosexuality is a sin despite express statements in scripture, and he thinks abortion is a moral issue and we cannot legislate our morality.”

But in the end, Erickson takes one step back toward reality than Brown is willing to do.

“Frankly, Buttigieg makes a valid criticism of evangelicals who give the President a pass on his bad behavior,” he writes. “It actually is a valid criticism.”
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Re: 2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

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Launching now; live coverage on MSNBC.
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Re: 2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

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I was expecting the launch to be a bit heavier on specific policy, not sure if this is typically the venue for that, though.
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Re: 2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

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I thought the speech was excellent and it moved me to tears. I still really like his energy and youth, and hope he starts bringing specificity to his policy discussions soon.

My head still loves Warren best, but my heart recognizes we need a candidate who really moves people and she’s probably just not that.
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Re: 2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

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I watched about 20 minutes, then had to take off to run an errand...

I wasn't expecting much in the way of specifics at this point (Barack Obama got nominated and elected in 2008 with almost no specific proposals the entire campaign. Specific proposals just give the press and your opponents something to tear apart, and the earlier you make them the more time you give them to do the shredding...) but I have a question for anyone who saw the whole thing, (I can't find a copy of the text on the interwebs yet)

Did he ever get around to saying anything (specific or not) about foreign policy or defense? By the time I left, he hadn't said one word about either...
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Re: 2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

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I definitely found it an inspiring speech and I loved how in so many ways he challenged Republicans on what they have come to believe is their home turf.

The only specific thing I heard him say about security was that it needed to include cyber security, he mentioned security of the electoral process against external threats, which is obviously topical right now.
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2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

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ICYMI: Pete Buttigieg throws his hat into the ring. (Skipping all the pomp and circumstance you can start at 1:32:00)



At the moment. I'm fully committed to Pete. However, I will not be contributing any more money to his campaign until after the debates in June.

I have a good feeling he won't be a disappointment but I need to see how all the others stack up. The 2020 election is too important to be steadfastly committed to just one candidate.

I'm still waiting for Papa Joe to announce.
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Re: 2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

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The campaign cash register continues to ring...
Pete Buttigieg campaign raised more than $1M in hours after 2020 announcement

Mayor Pete is in the money.

Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., officially announced he is running for president Sunday afternoon, and within hours his campaign coffers were overflowing.

“Some news: since delivering his announcement speech, our grassroots supporters have invested more than $1m in @PeteButtigieg’s campaign,” Buttigieg’s communications adviser Lis Smith tweeted Sunday night.

Smith tweeted the stat shortly after 7 p.m. ET. Buttigieg’s 2020 bid was made official about 3 p.m. ET.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pete-b ... nouncement
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Re: 2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

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Good interview with Rachel Maddow right now - airs again later tonight and/or available later on YouTube, I'm sure.
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Re: 2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

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Re: 2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

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Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's pussy.

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Re: 2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

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I couldn't vote for a South Bender
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Re: 2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

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2020 Presidential Candidates: Pete Buttigieg

Post by RayThom »

Scooter wrote:"Christian" group sends out dog whistle calling for Mayor Pete's assassination.
All while circling the wagons around their Porn Star President.

The hypocrisy is mind blowing.

God bless our two Americas.

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