Pete Buttigieg 2020 campaign megathread

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Ocasio-Cortez accuses Buttigieg of pushing “GOP talking point” to vilify tuition-free college plans

Buttigieg, who has positioned himself as a centrist alternative to progressive candidates on issues like health care and education, launched a new campaign ad in Iowa taking aim at the tuition-free college proposals.

“I believe we should move to make college affordable for everybody,” Buttigieg says in the ad. “There are some voices saying, ‘Well, that doesn’t count unless you go even further, unless it’s free even for the kids of millionaires.’”

“But I only want to make promises that we can keep,” he added. “Look, what I’m proposing is plenty bold. I mean, these are big ideas. We can gather the majority to drive those big ideas through without turning off half the country before we even get into office.”

Left-wing demagogue attacks Buttigieg for telling the truth.  In other news, water still wet.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

He’s really trying too hard to be a moderate hero and has been using Republican talking points as of late. I’m coming around to Pete, but his campaign has got to chill on the radical centrist agenda.

[Cinemark]

Free community college and trade school seems like an easy sell for most voters. Hell, put free state college for local residents in there. But the free college for everybody everywhere just seems like a step too far.

[Mr. Smith]

Am I wrong for thinking his toxicity with black voters in the primary might not translate to the general election? I’m mean Hillary was great with black voters in the primary and that didn’t translate come November

Hillary Clinton matched her husband’s 1992 turnout with black voters. She did very well with the group so long as you’re comparing her performance to white Democrats. I believe only Kerry in 2004 surpassed her but that statistic is deceptive since turnout was considerably up with every group that year.

Honestly, I am surprised she did worse than Kerry and only matched Bill.

Worse than Gore, Mondale, and Dukakis too regarding the black vote. Also worse than Mondale with the Hispanic vote.

Sorry, but Hillary was quite pathetic in that regard.

[Senator Spark]

Pete is a sensible and pragmatic choice.

[Technocracy Timmy]

Am I wrong for thinking his toxicity with black voters in the primary might not translate to the general election? I’m mean Hillary was great with black voters in the primary and that didn’t translate come November

Hillary Clinton matched her husband’s 1992 turnout with black voters. She did very well with the group so long as you’re comparing her performance to white Democrats. I believe only Kerry in 2004 surpassed her but that statistic is deceptive since turnout was considerably up with every group that year.

Honestly, I am surprised she did worse than Kerry and only matched Bill.

Worse than Gore, Mondale, and Dukakis too regarding the black vote. Also worse than Mondale with the Hispanic vote.

Sorry, but Hillary was quite pathetic in that regard.

I was referring to turnout.

[Dr Oz Lost Party!]

Still not getting the hype.

[Dr Oz Lost Party!]

I think this is all BS. Mayor Pete’s lack of current appeal to minority communities probably has next to nothing to do with any of his actual political positions or statements he has made. These criticisms mostly comes from a few internet leftists, very few of whom are actually minorities themselves.

Then what is your explanation for it?

[Morning in Atlas]

Still not getting the hype.

His background outside politics is the perfect vision of what the establishment wants in a politician. It also helps that the other millennial candidate in the race is a literal right-wing plant.

[Calthrina950]

I think this is all BS. Mayor Pete’s lack of current appeal to minority communities probably has next to nothing to do with any of his actual political positions or statements he has made. These criticisms mostly comes from a few internet leftists, very few of whom are actually minorities themselves.

Not true. There was that Root columnist who was mentioned on this thread earlier. There is that South Bend councilman who endorsed Biden over Buttigieg, and criticized the latter for his lack of outreach to the community. There are the black leaders in South Carolina who were angered by Buttigieg's approporiation of their endorsements for his campaign. To say nothing of many of his own black constituents in South Bend, many of whom criticized him to his face regarding the police shooting there a few months ago. I remember seeing a CBS News report which discussed Buttigieg's problems with black voters, and they interviewed a black lady who came to one of his town halls. She said she supported Buttigieg as Mayor, but when they asked her whether or not she would support him in the primary, she effectively said "Hell no!" and was adamant about it.

I could probably find other examples, but this should be enough to dispel your argument.

[Tender Branson]

I think this is all BS. Mayor Pete’s lack of current appeal to minority communities probably has next to nothing to do with any of his actual political positions or statements he has made. These criticisms mostly comes from a few internet leftists, very few of whom are actually minorities themselves.

Not true. There was that Root columnist who was mentioned on this thread earlier. There is that South Bend councilman who endorsed Biden over Buttigieg, and criticized the latter for his lack of outreach to the community. There are the black leaders in South Carolina who were angered by Buttigieg's approporiation of their endorsements for his campaign. To say nothing of many of his own black constituents in South Bend, many of whom criticized him to his face regarding the police shooting there a few months ago. I remember seeing a CBS News report which discussed Buttigieg's problems with black voters, and they interviewed a black lady who came to one of his town halls. She said she supported Buttigieg as Mayor, but when they asked her whether or not she would support him in the primary, she effectively said "Hell no!" and was adamant about it.

I could probably find other examples, but this should be enough to dispel your argument.

Those are just a few random whiny people, complaining about meaningless whiny issues.

There are many Blacks on the other hand posing with Pete on his social media pictures during numerous events and they are happy about him and his campaign.

People like this councilwoman have a problem with his success and maybe with his gayness, that’s why they are after him ...

[Tender Branson]

He has been using Republican talking points as of late. I’m coming around to Pete, but his campaign has got to chill on the radical centrist agenda.

You need some talking points that appeal to Rs and R-leaning Indys in the primaries and the GE to win.

Hillary alienated a lot of R-leaning Indys in the Rust Belt ... and lost.

Pete is working those people right now. He’s the candidate with the highest net favourability among Independents.

How else do you guys think Beshear won a Trump+30 state or McCready came close to winning in a solid Trump district ?

You cannot win in the 2020 US of A with far leftist Democratic purity.

[Calthrina950]

I think this is all BS. Mayor Pete’s lack of current appeal to minority communities probably has next to nothing to do with any of his actual political positions or statements he has made. These criticisms mostly comes from a few internet leftists, very few of whom are actually minorities themselves.

Not true. There was that Root columnist who was mentioned on this thread earlier. There is that South Bend councilman who endorsed Biden over Buttigieg, and criticized the latter for his lack of outreach to the community. There are the black leaders in South Carolina who were angered by Buttigieg's approporiation of their endorsements for his campaign. To say nothing of many of his own black constituents in South Bend, many of whom criticized him to his face regarding the police shooting there a few months ago. I remember seeing a CBS News report which discussed Buttigieg's problems with black voters, and they interviewed a black lady who came to one of his town halls. She said she supported Buttigieg as Mayor, but when they asked her whether or not she would support him in the primary, she effectively said "Hell no!" and was adamant about it.

I could probably find other examples, but this should be enough to dispel your argument.

Those are just a few random whiny people, complaining about meaningless whiny issues.

There are many Blacks on the other hand posing with Pete on his social media pictures during numerous events and they are happy about him and his campaign.

People like this councilwoman have a problem with his success and maybe with his gayness, that’s why they are after him ...

Well, if it were just a few "whiny people", then why has he continued to struggle in the polls among black voters? Moreover, the vast majority of Buttigieg's support is among upper and middle class white voters, and he has designed a platform which caters to their needs, and less so to those of minorities.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Wow, Brian Boitano coming in with the CLUTCH endorsement. Now the millions of Americans wondering WWBBD no longer have to guess. Look for a big beautiful lavenous triple lutz up the polls for Pete!

[Morning in Atlas]

I think this is all BS. Mayor Pete’s lack of current appeal to minority communities probably has next to nothing to do with any of his actual political positions or statements he has made. These criticisms mostly comes from a few internet leftists, very few of whom are actually minorities themselves.

Not true. There was that Root columnist who was mentioned on this thread earlier. There is that South Bend councilman who endorsed Biden over Buttigieg, and criticized the latter for his lack of outreach to the community. There are the black leaders in South Carolina who were angered by Buttigieg's approporiation of their endorsements for his campaign. To say nothing of many of his own black constituents in South Bend, many of whom criticized him to his face regarding the police shooting there a few months ago. I remember seeing a CBS News report which discussed Buttigieg's problems with black voters, and they interviewed a black lady who came to one of his town halls. She said she supported Buttigieg as Mayor, but when they asked her whether or not she would support him in the primary, she effectively said "Hell no!" and was adamant about it.

I could probably find other examples, but this should be enough to dispel your argument.

Those are just a few random whiny people, complaining about meaningless whiny issues.

There are many Blacks on the other hand posing with Pete on his social media pictures during numerous events and they are happy about him and his campaign.

People like this councilwoman have a problem with his success and maybe with his gayness, that’s why they are after him ...

Of course you say this.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

He has been using Republican talking points as of late. I’m coming around to Pete, but his campaign has got to chill on the radical centrist agenda.

You need some talking points that appeal to Rs and R-leaning Indys in the primaries and the GE to win.

Hillary alienated a lot of R-leaning Indys in the Rust Belt ... and lost.

Pete is working those people right now. He’s the candidate with the highest net favourability among Independents.

How else do you guys think Beshear won a Trump+30 state or McCready came close to winning in a solid Trump district ?

You cannot win in the 2020 US of A with far leftist Democratic purity.

You can’t rely on R voters at the expense of your own. Hillary’s strategy in 2016 was to reach out to them, and look what happened: she underperformed Obama in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, allowing Trump to win.

Those voters are unreliable. You don’t win elections by straddling the middle, you win by giving voters something they can believe in and someone they can vote for. Pete’s been listening too much to the Morning Joe crowd as of late, and it’s gonna hurt his campaign in the long run.

[BlueSwan]

I think this is all BS. Mayor Pete’s lack of current appeal to minority communities probably has next to nothing to do with any of his actual political positions or statements he has made. These criticisms mostly comes from a few internet leftists, very few of whom are actually minorities themselves.

Then what is your explanation for it?

A few things.

First up, white liberals tend to be much more socially liberal and economically moderate than minority democrats who tend to be more economically left-leaning, but socially moderate or even conservative.

Second, the gay "issue" in itself is no problem with white liberals - might even be seen as an advantage - but it could pose problems with more socially conservative minority democrats.

Third, minority democrats historically tend to support well-known mainstream candidates that are deemed highly electable. Hence their great support for Biden currently, and for Clinton over even "their own" Barack Obama in 2008 until Obama proved that he could win over white voters.

Fourth, at an identity level, Buttigieg oozes intellectual elite, which is absolutely fine with white college educated liberals, but could be a problem with people with less education, and the segment of minority democrats tend to have less education than white liberals.

[BlueSwan]

I think this is all BS. Mayor Pete’s lack of current appeal to minority communities probably has next to nothing to do with any of his actual political positions or statements he has made. These criticisms mostly comes from a few internet leftists, very few of whom are actually minorities themselves.

Not true. There was that Root columnist who was mentioned on this thread earlier. There is that South Bend councilman who endorsed Biden over Buttigieg, and criticized the latter for his lack of outreach to the community. There are the black leaders in South Carolina who were angered by Buttigieg's approporiation of their endorsements for his campaign. To say nothing of many of his own black constituents in South Bend, many of whom criticized him to his face regarding the police shooting there a few months ago. I remember seeing a CBS News report which discussed Buttigieg's problems with black voters, and they interviewed a black lady who came to one of his town halls. She said she supported Buttigieg as Mayor, but when they asked her whether or not she would support him in the primary, she effectively said "Hell no!" and was adamant about it.

I could probably find other examples, but this should be enough to dispel your argument.

There are more than 300 million americans. Picking a few loud-mouthed professional debaters is no proof of any trend whatsoever. But even looking at the loud-mouthed professional debaters, most of the criticism of Buttigieg seems to come from white leftists.

[Tender Branson]

Buttigieg went deer hunting in MI with his father in law:

https://eu.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/07/29/buttigieg-michigan-husband-connections-democratic-race/1702875001/

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/11/29/pete-buttigieg-goes-deer-hunting-in-michigan/

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Buttigieg went deer hunting in MI with his father in law:

https://eu.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/07/29/buttigieg-michigan-husband-connections-democratic-race/1702875001/

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/11/29/pete-buttigieg-goes-deer-hunting-in-michigan/

Ahhh!! he's just like us! 😍

When is the last time Democrats ran someone so relatable!

[Donerail]

Ocasio-Cortez accuses Buttigieg of pushing “GOP talking point” to vilify tuition-free college plans

Buttigieg, who has positioned himself as a centrist alternative to progressive candidates on issues like health care and education, launched a new campaign ad in Iowa taking aim at the tuition-free college proposals.

“I believe we should move to make college affordable for everybody,” Buttigieg says in the ad. “There are some voices saying, ‘Well, that doesn’t count unless you go even further, unless it’s free even for the kids of millionaires.’”

“But I only want to make promises that we can keep,” he added. “Look, what I’m proposing is plenty bold. I mean, these are big ideas. We can gather the majority to drive those big ideas through without turning off half the country before we even get into office.”

Left-wing demagogue attacks Buttigieg for telling the truth.  In other news, water still wet.

What on earth is the truth claim in what Buttigieg said? "We should do XYZ" is not a statement of fact.

[American2020]

A warning from AOC

AOC's warning to Pete Buttigieg

Similarly, in 2004 Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry went after Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who had been doing well in the race, speaking about his opposition to the disastrous war in Iraq. Kerry warned that Dean would be weak on defense after 9/11 and that his candidacy would ensure President George W. Bush's re-election.
Referring to Dean's statement that the US was not safer after Saddam Hussein had been captured, Kerry said: "Someone who talks like this is going to have a hard time convincing the American people that he can keep them safe. This election is too vital for us to lose ... because voters refuse to take a gamble on national security and the steadiness of our leadership." Although Kerry won the nomination, that became the centerpiece of GOP attacks against him.
Democrats who attack from the center don't always think through the potential impact of their words. They operate from a mythical position that they will be able to insulate themselves from the same such attacks if their turn comes in the crossfire. But we have seen from history it doesn't work that way.
The better strategy would be to shore up support for Democratic ideas and policies during the caucuses and primaries, insisting on a debate that centers on those terms rather than Republican points, and not offering the GOP more material going into the fall campaign.
For if they are not careful, the moderates might end up doing exactly what Republicans are hoping for, thereby helping to set up the conditions for President Trump's reelection.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/29/opinions/aoc-warning-to-buttigieg-zelizer/index.html

[Tintrlvr]

A warning from AOC

AOC's warning to Pete Buttigieg

Similarly, in 2004 Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry went after Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who had been doing well in the race, speaking about his opposition to the disastrous war in Iraq. Kerry warned that Dean would be weak on defense after 9/11 and that his candidacy would ensure President George W. Bush's re-election.
Referring to Dean's statement that the US was not safer after Saddam Hussein had been captured, Kerry said: "Someone who talks like this is going to have a hard time convincing the American people that he can keep them safe. This election is too vital for us to lose ... because voters refuse to take a gamble on national security and the steadiness of our leadership." Although Kerry won the nomination, that became the centerpiece of GOP attacks against him.
Democrats who attack from the center don't always think through the potential impact of their words. They operate from a mythical position that they will be able to insulate themselves from the same such attacks if their turn comes in the crossfire. But we have seen from history it doesn't work that way.
The better strategy would be to shore up support for Democratic ideas and policies during the caucuses and primaries, insisting on a debate that centers on those terms rather than Republican points, and not offering the GOP more material going into the fall campaign.
For if they are not careful, the moderates might end up doing exactly what Republicans are hoping for, thereby helping to set up the conditions for President Trump's reelection.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/29/opinions/aoc-warning-to-buttigieg-zelizer/index.html

This seems like a foolish criticism given that Buttigieg is criticizing AOC's policies from the left, not the center. The criticism isn't "your plan for free college costs too much" but rather "by offering free college to everyone, you're giving things away for free to the rich, which is bad optics and therefore challenging to implement and easy to attack".

Now, arguments for and against means-tested benefits don't break down evenly on a left-right axis, and there are decent arguments for both sides that don't require identifying with the right, the left or the center. But it is totally misleading to equate this to Kerry-Dean debates where the position Kerry was taking was clearly the center position against a position clearly from the "left" (or at least anti-interventionist) perspective. In fact, trying to make an argument about whether to means-test or not an argument about being insufficiently purely left is the real problem.

[Tender Branson]

LOL.

[libertpaulian]

A warning from AOC

AOC's warning to Pete Buttigieg

Similarly, in 2004 Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry went after Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who had been doing well in the race, speaking about his opposition to the disastrous war in Iraq. Kerry warned that Dean would be weak on defense after 9/11 and that his candidacy would ensure President George W. Bush's re-election.
Referring to Dean's statement that the US was not safer after Saddam Hussein had been captured, Kerry said: "Someone who talks like this is going to have a hard time convincing the American people that he can keep them safe. This election is too vital for us to lose ... because voters refuse to take a gamble on national security and the steadiness of our leadership." Although Kerry won the nomination, that became the centerpiece of GOP attacks against him.
Democrats who attack from the center don't always think through the potential impact of their words. They operate from a mythical position that they will be able to insulate themselves from the same such attacks if their turn comes in the crossfire. But we have seen from history it doesn't work that way.
The better strategy would be to shore up support for Democratic ideas and policies during the caucuses and primaries, insisting on a debate that centers on those terms rather than Republican points, and not offering the GOP more material going into the fall campaign.
For if they are not careful, the moderates might end up doing exactly what Republicans are hoping for, thereby helping to set up the conditions for President Trump's reelection.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/29/opinions/aoc-warning-to-buttigieg-zelizer/index.html

If College Communist AOC is Pete's biggest threat...lol.