Pete Buttigieg 2020 campaign megathread

[This user has not been convicted of 34 felonies]

I think he should've responded to Swalwell's swipe instead of just giving him a glare he raised a salient point of holding the cop responsible. Pete looked weak not defending himself there.

I think he didn't want to prolong the exchange with more hostility. Swalwell was clearly baiting him, even if he made a perfectly valid point.

[libertpaulian]

I've been skeptical of Pete as just another Beto-lite (who himself is just Obama-lite), but it turns out it was the other way around. Pete is the real deal, although his issues with minority voters will probably doom him in the long run. At least he should have some staying power.

I haven't followed the Democratic campaign too closely, though there's something about Buttegieg I like. I'm surprised to find that you (perhaps) kind of like him. I'm curious, what do you mean by "the real deal"? I assume he's still beyond the pale for you in terms of your actual vote for a litany of reasons.

I do kind of like him. There are few things which stand out to me:

1) He's clearly intelligent and articulate, but not in an elitist or condescending way. Being both a veteran and from the small-town Midwest helps a lot with this, I think. Moreover, he seems to have clearly thought about a lot of issues at a deep level, and, most importantly, it feels like his thoughts are truly his. He just doesn't regurgitate the usual talking points about the usual issues. It feels like he actually is willing to think outside the box to come up with useful solutions which aren't simply exercises in creatively punishing the other party. We desperately need that in our politics.

1a) This is purely a visceral thing, but there's something about Buttigieg that seems animate in a way that most of the other candidates don't have. It's hard to explain, but he feels uniquely sentient, like there's life behind his eyes. Many of the others feel like robots trained to spew talking points. I don't know if anyone else feels this, but if so, maybe they could explain it better.

2) I was really taken aback by his answer about the South Bend shooting, or at least one part in particular: his answer of "I couldn't get it done" felt incredibly genuine and subtly pained-- it struck me as true emotion rather than the typical emotional melodrama most candidates throw on for show. Maybe it wasn't genuine, I don't know, but it sure felt real. His answer caused me to sit up and pay attention, and it's a rare day when someone actually lets the buck stop with them.

3) While he's a very liberal Christian, he's clearly a genuine Christian who respects faith and its teachings. I don't agree with his theology, but I respect it. Similarly, I don't agree with gay marriage or the fact that he's in one, but I respect that he seems committed and values marriage as a concept, whereas most Democrats seem to loathe the institution. And really, being in a gay marriage is not substantially worse than being in a third marriage, and it's not really more sinful than being a philandering womanizer like Trump.

I honestly think Buttigieg has a really good chance to be President someday, far more than most of the other candidates. I don't know if 2020 is his year, but I think it's going to happen at some point, if he plays his cards right. I think Governor of Indiana is his path forward, maybe after a cabinet post. What's more, I'd be mostly comfortable with him as President, which is not something I thought I'd say about a gay, socially liberal, Democrat any time soon. My main hesitation, beyond the typical left-wing social issue objections, is his support for court packing. That's a huge red line for me. I'm leaning toward supporting him in the primary, although I don't think I could pull the lever for him in the general.

If court-packing is your fear, I honestly don't think you have much to worry about.  Dems would be lucky to get 10% of their bold agendas passed, given they have a huge Senate problem.

[Confused Democrat]

I've been skeptical of Pete as just another Beto-lite (who himself is just Obama-lite), but it turns out it was the other way around. Pete is the real deal, although his issues with minority voters will probably doom him in the long run. At least he should have some staying power.

I haven't followed the Democratic campaign too closely, though there's something about Buttegieg I like. I'm surprised to find that you (perhaps) kind of like him. I'm curious, what do you mean by "the real deal"? I assume he's still beyond the pale for you in terms of your actual vote for a litany of reasons.

I do kind of like him. There are few things which stand out to me:

1) He's clearly intelligent and articulate, but not in an elitist or condescending way. Being both a veteran and from the small-town Midwest helps a lot with this, I think. Moreover, he seems to have clearly thought about a lot of issues at a deep level, and, most importantly, it feels like his thoughts are truly his. He just doesn't regurgitate the usual talking points about the usual issues. It feels like he actually is willing to think outside the box to come up with useful solutions which aren't simply exercises in creatively punishing the other party. We desperately need that in our politics.

1a) This is purely a visceral thing, but there's something about Buttigieg that seems animate in a way that most of the other candidates don't have. It's hard to explain, but he feels uniquely sentient, like there's life behind his eyes. Many of the others feel like robots trained to spew talking points. I don't know if anyone else feels this, but if so, maybe they could explain it better.

2) I was really taken aback by his answer about the South Bend shooting, or at least one part in particular: his answer of "I couldn't get it done" felt incredibly genuine and subtly pained-- it struck me as true emotion rather than the typical emotional melodrama most candidates throw on for show. Maybe it wasn't genuine, I don't know, but it sure felt real. His answer caused me to sit up and pay attention, and it's a rare day when someone actually lets the buck stop with them.

3) While he's a very liberal Christian, he's clearly a genuine Christian who respects faith and its teachings. I don't agree with his theology, but I respect it. Similarly, I don't agree with gay marriage or the fact that he's in one, but I respect that he seems committed and values marriage as a concept, whereas most Democrats seem to loathe the institution. And really, being in a gay marriage is not substantially worse than being in a third marriage, and it's not really more sinful than being a philandering womanizer like Trump.

I honestly think Buttigieg has a really good chance to be President someday, far more than most of the other candidates. I don't know if 2020 is his year, but I think it's going to happen at some point, if he plays his cards right. I think Governor of Indiana is his path forward, maybe after a cabinet post. What's more, I'd be mostly comfortable with him as President, which is not something I thought I'd say about a gay, socially liberal, Democrat any time soon. My main hesitation, beyond the typical left-wing social issue objections, is his support for court packing. That's a huge red line for me. I'm leaning toward supporting him in the primary, although I don't think I could pull the lever for him in the general.

If court-packing is your fear, I honestly don't think you have much to worry about.  Dems would be lucky to get 10% of their bold agendas passed, given they have a huge Senate problem.

He doesn’t support outright court packing though. He believes the court needs some kind of reform to depoliticized it, which I think most people agree with, but he doesn’t have a specific proposal for it. He just likes to bring up the 15 seat theory as an example of a potential reasonable proposal. What he specifically said in the debate is that we should bring together a panel of legal experts and scholars to come together on this issue to hash out some kind of reform that would depoliticized the court.

[MarkD]

He doesn’t support outright court packing though. He believes the court needs some kind of reform to depoliticized it, which I think most people agree with, but he doesn’t have a specific proposal for it. He just likes to bring up the 15 seat theory as an example of a potential reasonable proposal. What he specifically said in the debate is that we should bring together a panel of legal experts and scholars to come together on this issue to hash out some kind of reform that would depoliticized the court.

This is interesting to me. Depoliticizing the Supreme Court is the single most important issue to me -- in presidential politics -- and I like the direction Pete is heading in. I first read about Pete's views on this a little over two months ago in this article and it made me take his candidacy very seriously. The only thing about him and his idea that worried me was this quote in the article, "It's not a debate on how to make the court more progressive. Obviously, I'd like to see a court that is more in line with my values. So would everybody else." What I value most about the Supreme Court is that it should be made up of the nine most objective interpreters of law that we can find in the country.

I regret that I wasn't able to watch the debates, and I'm pleased to learn here that he talked about his Supreme Court plan during the debate, if that is what you are saying he did. If you could tell me, please, did any other candidates ever talk about their Supreme Court plans during the debates? The only other thing I've heard about it was someone told me Bernie Sanders rejected the idea of expanding the number of seats on the Court.

[This user has not been convicted of 34 felonies]

For those interested, here's a clip from an interview that Don Lemon did with Pete:

https://twitter.com/CNNTonight/status/1144813392735064064

The first ~2 minutes are pretty wonk-speak and beating around the bush from Pete but he gets on topic quickly and delivers some pretty great points about investing in African-American entrepreneurship, education, criminal justice reform, etc.

[This user has not been convicted of 34 felonies]

Pete raises nearly $25 million in Q2, has more than $22 mil on hand going in to Q3.

https://twitter.com/PeteButtigieg/status/1145630226837360640

[Reluctant Republican]

Impressive total. Interesting that he released it so early though. I think he should have waited a little bit, but maybe he wanted to stake out a position as one of the field's strongest fundraisers.

[Dr Oz Lost Party!]

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

[Progressive Pessimist]

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.

[henster]

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.

[John Dule]

D) Your ignorant

And ignorant me always thought it was "you're".

Attacking the grammar and not the substance of the argument. I rest my case lol.

To be fair, that was a hard one to pass up.

[walleye26]

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 like Pete a lot, but how can he not even get 1% with AAs??? Like, I’m from rural WI and have no experience with African American voting patterns, but if I was in this position I would be calling every member of the Congressional Black Caucus asking them to help point me in the right direction and meet with their constituents. Like I don’t know why Pete can’t get this done. Even if he was getting 10-20% he would be a lot better. Part of me is telling myself if he stays in as others drop out, he will get at least a few and if he wins both Iowa and NH convincingly that some will defect for him.

[NOVA Green]

Any updates from South Bend?

Seen a few brief clips of him spending time in the City trying to work on issues with his constituents....

Key item he will need to address on Debate #2 will be how he has addressed fundamental issues in his City, and if successful could help his numbers jump so long as it's authentic and not a media stunt....

He got hit with all this at the wrong time, vast majority of which was not directly on his head, but hard to see tons of DEMs jumping on the train to lead the charge against Trump until he resolves all of this in a way that looks Presidential and lasting.

Disagree with some of his policy positions, but guy seems likable enough with a decent resume overall, but standards of small town midwest mayors might even be harsher than NYC mayors, where you are basically a Governor of a large state (Not that this is always successful)......

Tripwires for Mayors are everywhere and even from larger cities it doesn't mean a translation from Mayor to SEN or GOV, let alone POTUS.

[henster]

Any updates from South Bend?

Seen a few brief clips of him spending time in the City trying to work on issues with his constituents....

Key item he will need to address on Debate #2 will be how he has addressed fundamental issues in his City, and if successful could help his numbers jump so long as it's authentic and not a media stunt....

He got hit with all this at the wrong time, vast majority of which was not directly on his head, but hard to see tons of DEMs jumping on the train to lead the charge against Trump until he resolves all of this in a way that looks Presidential and lasting.

Disagree with some of his policy positions, but guy seems likable enough with a decent resume overall, but standards of small town midwest mayors might even be harsher than NYC mayors, where you are basically a Governor of a large state (Not that this is always successful)......

Tripwires for Mayors are everywhere and even from larger cities it doesn't mean a translation from Mayor to SEN or GOV, let alone POTUS.

I would like to see Pete handling sustained attacks from other candidate, I'm a bit doubtful he'd fare well. Swalwell seemed to rattle him and he even gave him a death stare just for criticizing him. It wouldn't be hard to deliver a damaging blow, 'You can't manage a city of 100K people how can you manage the country...etc.'  Any of the 0-1%ers could do this.

[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.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

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

[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.

[NOVA Green]

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.

Agreed that he has the potential of introducing a variety of important discussions to the Democratic Primary debate, not only just on LGBTQ issues, just a few days after the largest Pride event ever the World. (Although getting a contrast message through in a crowded field where so many DEMs now agree on the fundamentals of certain policy concepts, but instead wrangle about how to implement--)

Personally, being a a Gen-X going to College in SW OH in the early '90s, with many student activists friends involved in the LGBTQ rights/equality movement, this was a pretty rough part of the country to organize in.

A year or two after I went off to college in Ohio, the first LGB organization (As it was named) was formed at the small town "liberal" downstate Oregon High School I went to where bullying and harassment of those perceived as Gay was not completely uncommon, although being a fairly small town and many of us had gone to school together from Elementary to High School, that was somewhat unusual, compared to the college "frat boy jocks" that would shout hate speech from their brand new pickup trucks at the "townies" that their daddies had bought them.

I am sure that for Pete growing up in South Bend and graduating St. Joseph High School, he likely saw at minimum the level of homophobia that existed in the socially liberal town where I went to High School.

Interestingly enough, one of Pete's first political related speeches while in High School earned him a trip to MA to meet part of the Kennedy family as part of the annual "JFK Profiles in Courage Essay Contest" was a winning essay on the integrity and political courage demonstrated by Independent US Congressman Bernie Sanders".

This is obviously just a wiki article, but certainly worth a read for anyone interested in a sliver of the life experience of the candidate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Buttigieg

Small donor haul is impressive, and something tells me he'll be around for awhile in the campaign, and if not this time, quite possibly another time in the future for Presidency or national office.

[Crumpets]

Even if Buttigieg doesn't have a path to the presidency without the black vote, he has no reason to drop out yet, and I think he'd make a fine VP for any of the candidates polling above him.

[Eraserhead]

He raised more dough than Biden or Sanders this quarter. He's not going anywhere for a while.

[Rookie Yinzer]

👀

https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1146874406876176385

[Some of My Best Friends Are Gay]

👀

https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1146874406876176385

Surprisingly decent response from someone who's pretty tone deaf on racial issues.

[This user has not been convicted of 34 felonies]

https://twitter.com/reganburkeregan/status/1146481940658343936

[This user has not been convicted of 34 felonies]

Also, the meme that Pete is somehow racist or condones racism is dead and completely false. Pete released a comprehensive policy proposal to invest in black communities, black-owned businesses, and cut incarceration rates.

From his website:

Freedom means racial justice, and reversing the damage of past and present racism to our communities, policies, and politics.

Create a commission to propose reparations policies for Black Americans and close the racial wealth gap.

Black Americans were enslaved and then systematically excluded from full citizenship through laws and policies that purposely relegated Black Americans into second-class personhood and that sanctioned racial discrimination. The effects are ongoing, and exclusionary policies linger. America must enter a new era that promotes political, economic, social, and racial equity in part by specifically reversing the harms of racist policies and practices.
 
Only by remedying the vestiges of slavery and confronting our nation’s shameful history of racism can we move to a place where full freedom is attainable for Black communities.

ADDITIONAL POLICIES

Invest in entrepreneurship and home ownership
Eliminate health disparities, including in maternal and infant health
Defend affirmative action and combat the opportunity gap
Protect and expand voting rights
Support self-determination of Indigenous populations
Redress inequality in our criminal justice system
Dismantle the prison-industrial complex to end the crisis of mass incarceration

[QAnonKelly]

Obviously, he's not gonna win but there's no reason for him to drop out probably till the first of the year. He's raising money like crazy and he's pretty much guaranteed himself a job in the next administration imo