Pete Buttigieg 2020 campaign megathread

[America Needs R'hllor]

Hope he does well!

[America Needs R'hllor]

Based on what little polling data we have so far, Buttigieg's niche is wealthy white liberals.

https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki/status/1117972745915121665

Surely when they learn about how he'll bulldoze their neighborhood, minorities will flock to him.

Lol. The alarms in the Bernie or Bust camp are raised!

[America Needs R'hllor]

The amount of homophobic garbage that is happening to Pete shows that his campaign is important as ever for paving the pathway for all future queer candidates. And we get to see who the garbage human being are.

This. I would love it if he somehow wins, if only for the immense positive effect it would have on LGBTQs around the world. And very possibly, on my own personal life.

[America Needs R'hllor]

*Yawn*. Another fake controversy. And I love how Atlas is already 100% confident it knows just what kind of a person and candidate Pete will be.

[America Needs R'hllor]

I could easily see Buttigieg being the runner up to Sanders or Biden in the primary and then winning the nomination and defeating Pence in 2024 after Sanders or Biden lost the general to Trump.  This could be the most likely way he becomes president. 

By 2024, progressives will dominate the Democratic Party, this is Pete's only shot.

Err...Buttigieg is a progressive.

Nice try. Progressives don't say that it's too early to talk about policy.

I forgot, when was it that you were given the role of deciding who's a progressive and who's not? Or is that some role Bernie supporters always have, deciding that all these female, black, gay candidates are not progressive?

[America Needs R'hllor]

I could easily see Buttigieg being the runner up to Sanders or Biden in the primary and then winning the nomination and defeating Pence in 2024 after Sanders or Biden lost the general to Trump.  This could be the most likely way he becomes president. 

By 2024, progressives will dominate the Democratic Party, this is Pete's only shot.

Err...Buttigieg is a progressive.

Nice try. Progressives don't say that it's too early to talk about policy.

I forgot, when was it that you were given the role of deciding who's a progressive and who's not? Or is that some role Bernie supporters always have, deciding that all these female, black, gay candidates are not progressive?

There’s a difference between a progressive and a mainstream liberal. From what we’ve seen of his history as mayor, his campaign rollout, some of his stances, and who he took money from until he was called out he is not necessarily progressive. Folks like Harris and O’Rourke are definitely to his left. And one’s demographic make up does not make them a progressive.

I... Don't think you can say that? Neither of them took as bold a stance on democratic reform, for example, and on issues like healthcare there's zero evidence that Beto, for example, is to the left (Buttigieg supports single payer). Buttigieg just doesn't try to pander to extremes (like Harris when she endorsed the incredibly terrible idea of ending private insurance and then walked back on it).

[America Needs R'hllor]

To be fair, it's hard to argue anyone is in Pete's left or right if he doesn't even put out any policy proposals.

Literally every small google search would prove you wrong.

[America Needs R'hllor]

This was probably just a dumb spokesperson. I think the Buttigieg campaign just needs better staffers, it's not suited for a national campaign right now. It's at least respectable that they responded clearly, while the other campaigns all went completely vague or just didn't respond, but the statement itself was stupid.

This position, anyway, is much more in sync with Pete's past statements on vaccinations:

https://twitter.com/ClaudiaKoerner/status/1123447999852576768

[America Needs R'hllor]

This is why Jared Polis needs to be the first gay President, not Mayor Pete.

And when Jared Polis announces, out will come all the little controversies and skeletons from the past, he'll misspeak a few times, and there we'll go, searching for the next perfect candidate- on paper, at least...

[America Needs R'hllor]

The original vaccines comment was a big misstep. But hey, at least he didn't double down. I get a lot of folks around here are looking for reasons to hate Pete, but this isn't one of them.

It was also a spokesperson making that comment. From past statements about vaccines, it's probably not Buttigieg's actual position.

[America Needs R'hllor]

I keep hearing how Pete is just another white male running for President and that's the only reason his candidacy took off but none of the other candidates are being interrupted with "one man, one woman" protesters so

So much this. As a gay man, his candidacy is very historical. Liberal millenials who live in liberal bubbles might not appreciate this, but years ago it was not even close to possible that a gay man would be running and gaining positive attention. It's still hard- you can see the pushback it's getting from the homophobes of the world, and we all know the attacks of "he'd look wimpy near Trump" aren't completely innocent of internalized homophobia. So yeah, he might not be from all the margianalized groups possible, but he's goddamn historical and his campaign is providing a great service for millions of LGBTQs worldwide.

I keep hearing how Pete is just another white male running for President and that's the only reason his candidacy took off but none of the other candidates are being interrupted with "one man, one woman" protesters so

None of the other candidates are gay...

He’s taking off because he’s a gay white male whose intellectualism appeals to the Washington press corps.

Aside from Bernie and Biden, there are about fifty identical white males running for the Democratic nomination right now, none of whom are gaining any traction whatsoever. Being a white guy is hardly a guarantor of success in the DNC these days.

This post doesn’t make sense considering he is also gay and that was noted in the post you quoted.

So he's successful because he's gay, not because he's a white guy. So just say that.

A gay white male.

A black lesbian would not get this attention. Marginalized groups are not interchangeable.

Individual human beings aren't fungible to begin with, so I have no idea how much attention your hypothetical black lesbian would get.

None.

There is literally no evidence to support that, quite the contrary. I know that a black lesbian has it even harder than a white gay (in many ways, though not all). But we've seen again and again marginalized groups gaining attention in the Democratic party, for example Danica Roem or Sharice Davids. Pete Buttigigeg was also an extremely successful Mayor, and that is another way he gained attention. You cannot take this from him.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Now the God Emperor is at his name, lol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqNSO_ZCpiY (starting at about 45 sec)

Ok that's either what a bully with issues or a plain maddened person or both look like lol.

[America Needs R'hllor]

To be honest, I think what really draws me to Pete has to be how weak all of the arguments against him are. All of the attacks I've seen really stretch the actual facts of the matter if they aren't outright fabrications or deranged.

Tbh, a lot of this primary session we've seen "activist types" do that to all candidates. Whether if it's people bashing Buttigieg for being an overachieving nerd (ignoring the fact that this is something LGBTQs and other marginalized minorities, like Jews in Eastern Europe, are well-documented doing), or Berniebros calling Warren "a liberal Republican", the amount of dishonesty and hate when most candidates aren't that different is really astounding. Case in point:

Biden/Buttigieg would be an awesome ticket, I would be very happy about that.

That is possibly the blandest and most unexciting ticket the Democrats could possibly throw up.

Nah, you're thinking of Kamala/anyone.

Obviously you've never heard her speak... but I should've already known you'd prefer the white male conservatives.

Calm down lol

[America Needs R'hllor]

Pete has released a page on his website detailing specific policy proposals and goals for a variety of issues.

This is a great step towards him solidifying himself as a serious contender.

He's just paraphrasing the ideas of other candidates.

You've shown a pretty consistent inability to think impartially or critically on anything relating to Pete Buttigieg so perhaps you should respectfully never post in this thread again, lad.

This. There are quite a lot of ideas there to which he gave his own unique twist, like the SC, Voting Rights and expanding national service, and I love his healthcare position which has to be one of the most feasible and reasonable in the field. But even so, in the end of the day, we need someone who needs to communicate progressive ideas and get them passed, not someone who can wringle his big brain to find increasingly creative solutions just to look creative and smart. The solutions are out there- getting them passed and popular is the problem. I love Kamala, but her private healthcare gaffe worried me on this front.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Pete has released a page on his website detailing specific policy proposals and goals for a variety of issues.

This is a great step towards him solidifying himself as a serious contender.

He's just paraphrasing the ideas of other candidates.

You've shown a pretty consistent inability to think impartially or critically on anything relating to Pete Buttigieg so perhaps you should respectfully never post in this thread again, lad.

Ya know, nothing I said in my comment was even remotely untrue, but ok. By all means, live in this fantasy that Peter is somehow the white male savior us democrats need. It won't end well for you.

Ya know, when you make a point of calling a politician with a different name it doesn't own him, you just sound petty. I know you want to make the point he's "just another white dude" by calling him Peter, but the LGBTQ identity erasure doesn't do any favors to you, just like calling Beto "Robert Francis" doesn't do any favors to racist Republicans. Just stop and relax, both Buttigieg and Harris are great people who would be good Presidents and disagreeing on who's better should be done in a polite and mutually respectful manner. But hey, if you want to burn your party down and reelect Trump by petty infighting, that's gonna be your problem. Keep spreading hate.

[America Needs R'hllor]

You can think he's boring, you can dislike him, but if he was boring, he'd not catch on. It's as simple as that. No small city Mayor can become one of the leading candidates in a field of over 20 without being interesting, and the credit for that already astounding accomplishment is his and his team's. Also:

Pete (Redacted by mod)

Thanks for revealing why you're particularly sour about him.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Let's move this thread from a toxic wastedump to more substance, shall we:

https://twitter.com/TimesofIsrael/status/1138523309782364160

“The current state of affairs cannot endure. The pressure of history and the mathematics of demography mean that well before 2054, Israelis and Palestinians will have come to see either peace or catastrophe,” said Buttigieg.

“A two-state solution that achieves legitimate Palestinian aspirations and meets Israel’s security needs remains the only viable way forward and it will be our policy to support such a solution actively. And if Prime Minister Netanyahu makes good on his promise to annex West Bank settlements, he should know that a President Buttigieg would take steps to ensure that American taxpayers won’t help foot the bill,” he said.

I'll just say this- the quote shows he's done much more research on the issue than Sanders did.

[America Needs R'hllor]

https://twitter.com/DJJudd/status/1142197418005540864

This is a better thread, if you all want to get over obsessing about a soundbite. Buttigieg has literally done nothing wrong concerning this shooting, he's doing all he can within the constraints of the law. There are other things to attack him on- using this shows the attacks are just disingenuous (which, of course, they often are). And worse, it's using a police shooting to score sick burns against someone you decided you don't like.

I can't get over him wanting to leapfrog from Mayor to President despite doing nothing remarkable during his tenure. And I hate how the media acts like he revitalized the city or something when all he did was govern during the recovery.

Glad to hear that all cities in the rust belt are doing as well as South Bend, and are actually rising in population for the first time in a long while!
Seriously lol. People in Atlas seem to pick who they hate and who they like based on arbitrary personal factors and then just roll with it stubbornly. You don't have to support Buttigieg to admit he was a good Mayor.

[America Needs R'hllor]

https://twitter.com/DJJudd/status/1142197418005540864

This is a better thread, if you all want to get over obsessing about a soundbite. Buttigieg has literally done nothing wrong concerning this shooting, he's doing all he can within the constraints of the law. There are other things to attack him on- using this shows the attacks are just disingenuous (which, of course, they often are). And worse, it's using a police shooting to score sick burns against someone you decided you don't like.

I can't get over him wanting to leapfrog from Mayor to President despite doing nothing remarkable during his tenure. And I hate how the media acts like he revitalized the city or something when all he did was govern during the recovery.

Glad to hear that all cities in the rust belt are doing as well as South Bend, and are actually rising in population for the first time in a long while!
Seriously lol. People in Atlas seem to pick who they hate and who they like based on arbitrary personal factors and then just roll with it stubbornly. You don't have to support Buttigieg to admit he was a good Mayor.

Not what we've been hearing from his constituents so far lol

That's just not true but ok. Passionately hating Democratic candidates for no real substantive reasons will definitely help you defeat Trump.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Lol, three posters are making this thread a steaming pile of their anger and frustrations. Way to cynically use a police shooting.

Just watching some of the live footage on MSNBC of the Town Hall in South Bend today and for many Democratic Primary voters who don't know much about Pete, these optics are just devastating.

The obvious question even many of his supporters might have looking at this, is how can he lead the United States as President if he can't even address issues in the small Midwestern factory town as Mayor, on arguably one of the biggest political lightning rods in US History since the late '50s.

I would imagine a significant chunk of his support in South Bend came from the 25% Black population of the City (Although I haven't looked into precinct numbers from an historical perspective to see the voting patterns within the City).

I don't have strong opinions on Pete either way, but I would suspect that if he *can't* prove to be successful in addressing this issue within his own community heads-on, he will quickly dribble support to other candidates, and have just been another "flavor of the Month".

If he *can appear to be successful* addressing these issues and show leadership and resolution, he does have an opportunity to expand his base of support.

Right now the jury is out, and not all events are directly under the control of a Political Candidate, but he does have a chance to create a favorable political opportunity structure if he pulls a rabbit out of his hat on this one....

Since this is the only substansive post in this page- yes, I think you're right. The preception of this event will be important. However, it's important to note that I think none of the other candidates, or at least most of them, would be able to handle this better. Race relations and police brutality, whether in a small city or a big one, are a very delicate and tense issue and there really isn't that much he'd be able to do better than now when it comes to actions. I haven't watched the townhall, though, so it's possible that he's not doing well rhetorically and I'd hope he can improve on that.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Buttigieg is polling 0% with AAs in the new CNN poll. Stick a fork in him.

Yeah, I like the guy, but this is an untenable position in a Democratic primary or even in the general election.

I think it'd be noble of him to drop out and start a PAC using the $20M he has to help elect down ballot candidates. Because at this point its nothing but a vanity run for him.

Tell that to the millions of gay teenagers who are being encouraged by his candidacy, and the millions of Democrats who are supporting him in the polls. He adds more than most other candidates.

Seriously, if you don't have anything interesting to add other than your hate boner for a candidate just stop polluting this thread with it. Some people are trying to have a substansive discussion.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Buttigieg is polling 0% with AAs in the new CNN poll. Stick a fork in him.

Yeah, I like the guy, but this is an untenable position in a Democratic primary or even in the general election.

I think it'd be noble of him to drop out and start a PAC using the $20M he has to help elect down ballot candidates. Because at this point its nothing but a vanity run for him.

Tell that to the millions of gay teenagers who are being encouraged by his candidacy, and the millions of Democrats who are supporting him in the polls. He adds more than most other candidates.

Seriously, if you don't have anything interesting to add other than your hate boner for a candidate just stop polluting this thread with it. Some people are trying to have a substansive discussion.

Funny enough his support isn't especially high among LGBTQ.

Sanders 22
Biden 21
Warren 15
Buttigieg 15
Harris 8


https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6175837/Withman-Insight-Strategies-LGBTQ-in-America.pdf

I mean, that's pretty high. And it doesn't discount the positive impact that he's having on the country by being the first serious openly LGBTQ candidate. People living in liberal bubbles see this as some sort of a given at this point, a gay man is no longer an oppressed minority for many of them. But huge amounts of LGBTQ youths are living outside these bubbles too, and this is an extremely important step for them. In any case, I realize that he's not going to win. I'll be very happy to take Warren or Harris as the nominee. What I take issue with is saying that it's a vanity run or that he doesn't add anything to the race.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Pete Buttigieg hires former Goldman Sachs executive as national policy director

Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg has hired a former Goldman Sachs vice president and Google executive to run his policy shop, his campaign announced Thursday.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/18/buttigieg-hires-former-goldman-sachs-executive-as-policy-director.html

That is a major Red Flag. Why would he make such a stupid decision?

She had an environmental job in Goldman Sachs more than a decade ago and then worked on global development for Google. No one will actually care other than Twitter. But, you know, the media loves their headlines.

[America Needs R'hllor]

I think he would be a great vp (I would actually argue the best option) but a terrible top of the ticket

He would be great as VP of Warren, which would boost his chances to run for president a second time and win.

I find it hard to imagine Warren picking a white VP with the structure of the modern Democratic party.

I don't think people would attack her for choosing him considering he'd be very historical in another, just as important way.

[America Needs R'hllor]

https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1184616229723672581?s=19

Remember when earlier this year, before the 1st debate, Kamala Harris came out in support of eliminating private insurance, caused some outrage, and backtracked? Apparently, M4A wasn't synonymous with eliminating private insurance even this entire year.