Pete Buttigieg 2020 campaign megathread

[Confused Democrat]

Why do people think it is a good idea to have another unqualified President?

The issue isn't that he's "unqualified". If that was an issue, Hillary would be president.

The issue is that his mayoral record leaves a lot to be desired, especially if you're progressive.

I don't think Hillary-level qualifications are essential. Many of the senators, eg Warren, are probably qualified. Obama may have been slightly inexperienced but overall was qualified for the presidency. I don't think Buttigieg is ready for the tremendous responsibility of the US presidency though, I don't see him as presidential right now.

I just find the "is he qualified" discussion around Mayor Pete bizarre. I mean, I understand why we're having it. He's young and his only political experience is that of being a Mayor of a relatively small city, but I completely buy the argument Pete's making around experience. He's just as qualified as any Senator who doesn't have executive experience. I'd argue he's on par with Obama when it comes to experience.

Obama was a state legislator for 8 years who served 1 term in the Senate. Pete is a veteran who served as mayor for 8 years.

I feel like this is just a case of Senators who feel like it's "their turn" and are upset that someone more politically talented than them is "cutting in line." We never had this discussion around Castro when he was still relevant, is it because he served as HUD Secretary? What about Gabbard or Steyer? I mean we also had this whole "is he qualified" discussion about Sanders in 2016, which doesn't seem to be an issue with the media now. This whole discussion around experience seems rather arbitrary to me.

[Tintrlvr]

538 has an interesting article on Buttigieg and black support that I mostly agree with out today: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/whats-really-behind-pete-buttigiegs-lack-of-support-among-black-voters/

I do think it understates the key aspect of all of this, though, which is that black voters very strongly value familiarity and experience, making Biden a particularly good candidate for black voters and Buttigieg a particularly poor one (and explains, particularly on the familiarity point, why Sanders and Warren, while doing better than Buttigieg with black voters, are not able to eat more into Biden's black support).

[Morning in Atlas]

https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1201923657209196544

Just as I started coming around to him, he pulls this ****.

Yeah, I think I'm back off the Buttigieg train.

[Confused Democrat]

https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1201923657209196544

Just as I started coming around to him, he pulls this ****.

Yeah, I think I'm back off the Buttigieg train.

Pete has another stance that is popular with the majority of the American electorate. The horror!

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1201923657209196544

Just as I started coming around to him, he pulls this ****.

Yeah, I think I'm back off the Buttigieg train.

Pete has another stance that is popular with the majority of the American electorate. The horror!

It’d be different if these were convictions he truly held. But a lot of these centrist positions he’s taken as of late seem to be purely based on polling and political posturing. I don’t think anyone questions whether a Klobuchar would genuinely be opposed to non-citizens receiving subsidies, just like no one would question Sanders being for it.

Buttigieg came out of the gate as a lefty champion of generational and political change. And after listening to his consultants and panelists on CNN/MSNBC, he decided that his lane is that of “midwestern moderate”.

[Shadows]

It is kind of sad that Harris has dropped out & so will Castro & Booker given their standing. The media has created Pete into what he is with glorious reviews & no scrutiny about his qualifications or terrible record. Harris gets criticism for her prosecutor padt or Booker for being on the lap of big Pharma but Pete gets no criticism on handling racial issues or about losing statewide races & flip-flopping on big issues.

[GeneralMacArthur]

https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1201923657209196544

Just as I started coming around to him, he pulls this ****.

Yeah, I think I'm back off the Buttigieg train.

Pete has another stance that is popular with the majority of the American electorate. The horror!

It’d be different if these were convictions he truly held. But a lot of these centrist positions he’s taken as of late seem to be purely based on polling and political posturing. I don’t think anyone questions whether a Klobuchar would genuinely be opposed to non-citizens receiving subsidies, just like no one would question Sanders being for it.

Buttigieg came out of the gate as a lefty champion of generational and political change. And after listening to his consultants and panelists on CNN/MSNBC, he decided that his lane is that of “midwestern moderate”.

I keep seeing the Bernie Bros on Twitter insisting that Pete is an empty-suit corporate tool with no convictions.  I guess the Sanders campaign sent out some new talking points this week because now all the rose avatars are up in arms with the whole "he just takes the positions that poll best" attack line.  And it's crept onto Atlas.

You guys don't know anything about Pete or what he truly believes.  You're just pretending to.  You're making things up to attack him.  It's politics at its worst.

The only basis for this is a brazen misinterpretation of Pete's previous stance on M4A.  Whenever I ask Sanders supporters (and it's only Sanders supporters -- no other candidate has supporters executing bad-faith attacks at anything close to this level) what Pete has flip-flopped on, they unanimously point to his M4A tweet.  Is there a single other thing anyone has or is that really it?

[Morning in Atlas]

https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1201923657209196544

Just as I started coming around to him, he pulls this ****.

Yeah, I think I'm back off the Buttigieg train.

Pete has another stance that is popular with the majority of the American electorate. The horror!

It's not about what's popular. It's about denying healthcare to those who need it.

I keep seeing the Bernie Bros on Twitter insisting that Pete is an empty-suit corporate tool with no convictions. [snip]

The only basis for this is a brazen misinterpretation of Pete's previous stance on M4A.  Whenever I ask Sanders supporters (and it's only Sanders supporters -- no other candidate has supporters executing bad-faith attacks at anything close to this level) what Pete has flip-flopped on, they unanimously point to his M4A tweet.  Is there a single other thing anyone has or is that really it?

There's the issue of criminal justice reform as well. The main officer who the Boykins scandal was centered around was an ally of Buttigieg's. He reached to the FOP head, who also was a close Buttigieg ally while mayor. He did nothing to deal with the corrupt, brutal cops in his city until the recent police shooting. South Bend's most corrupt officer, Aaron Kenepper (who has a history of brutality incidents and actually drove Eric Logan's body to the police station) is an FOP executive as well. Instead of taking corrupt cops off the street, he's allowed them to become entrenched in the system.

If you want me to be blunt, Buttigieg was close with the police lobby until he set his sights on the Presidency.

[GeneralMacArthur]

https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1201923657209196544

Just as I started coming around to him, he pulls this ****.

Yeah, I think I'm back off the Buttigieg train.

Pete has another stance that is popular with the majority of the American electorate. The horror!

It's not about what's popular. It's about denying healthcare to those who need it.

I keep seeing the Bernie Bros on Twitter insisting that Pete is an empty-suit corporate tool with no convictions. [snip]

The only basis for this is a brazen misinterpretation of Pete's previous stance on M4A.  Whenever I ask Sanders supporters (and it's only Sanders supporters -- no other candidate has supporters executing bad-faith attacks at anything close to this level) what Pete has flip-flopped on, they unanimously point to his M4A tweet.  Is there a single other thing anyone has or is that really it?

There's the issue of criminal justice reform as well. The main officer who the Boykins scandal was centered around was an ally of Buttigieg's. He reached to the FOP head, who also was a close Buttigieg ally while mayor. He did nothing to deal with the corrupt, brutal cops in his city until the recent police shooting. South Bend's most corrupt officer (who has a history of brutality incidents and actually drove the body to the police station) is an FOP executive as well.

If you want me to be blunt, Buttigieg was close with the police lobby until he set his sights on the Presidency.

Thank god we at Atlas have our local expert on the inner workings of the South Bend Police Department.

[Morning in Atlas]

Thank god we at Atlas have our local expert on the inner workings of the South Bend Police Department.

>yells at me for not giving a proper rebuttal in the conversation
>after you ask for clarificaiton in this post, I offer a rebuttal to your post with specific incidents/names
>responds with name-calling

And you wonder why nobody here takes you seriously.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1201923657209196544

Just as I started coming around to him, he pulls this ****.

Yeah, I think I'm back off the Buttigieg train.

Pete has another stance that is popular with the majority of the American electorate. The horror!

It’d be different if these were convictions he truly held. But a lot of these centrist positions he’s taken as of late seem to be purely based on polling and political posturing. I don’t think anyone questions whether a Klobuchar would genuinely be opposed to non-citizens receiving subsidies, just like no one would question Sanders being for it.

Buttigieg came out of the gate as a lefty champion of generational and political change. And after listening to his consultants and panelists on CNN/MSNBC, he decided that his lane is that of “midwestern moderate”.

I keep seeing the Bernie Bros on Twitter insisting that Pete is an empty-suit corporate tool with no convictions.  I guess the Sanders campaign sent out some new talking points this week because now all the rose avatars are up in arms with the whole "he just takes the positions that poll best" attack line.  And it's crept onto Atlas.

You guys don't know anything about Pete or what he truly believes.  You're just pretending to.  You're making things up to attack him.  It's politics at its worst.

The only basis for this is a brazen misinterpretation of Pete's previous stance on M4A.  Whenever I ask Sanders supporters (and it's only Sanders supporters -- no other candidate has supporters executing bad-faith attacks at anything close to this level) what Pete has flip-flopped on, they unanimously point to his M4A tweet.  Is there a single other thing anyone has or is that really it?

Dawg... a couple things real quick.

I’m a Democrat. I have now, and have had for the entirety of my 7 year Atlas tenure, a red avatar. I supported Clinton in the primary last cycle, and have been pretty anti-Bernie Bro on here. I went from being a Beto to a Warren supporter for the same issue I pointed out in Buttigieg.

Nice straw-man argument though.

[libertpaulian]

If we want to throw the "flip-flopper" label around, Beto and Kamala have done the same thing.  Both endorsed Bernie's plan until they jumped in.

[Illini Moderate]

https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1201923657209196544

Just as I started coming around to him, he pulls this ****.

Yeah, I think I'm back off the Buttigieg train.

So because he doesn't want to subsidize noncitizen with taxpayer money he's somehow wrong? At least he's allowing undocumented immigrants to purchase it? Why should they receive a discount?

[GeneralMacArthur]

Thank god we at Atlas have our local expert on the inner workings of the South Bend Police Department.

>yells at me for not giving a proper rebuttal in the conversation
>after you ask for clarificaiton in this post, I offer a rebuttal to your post with specific incidents/names
>responds with name-calling

And you wonder why nobody here takes you seriously.

That’s because your post wasn't a response to me at all.

I asked what issue Pete has flip-flopped on and you start talking about some events in the South Bend police department.

What's the point in engaging?  You're not arguing in good faith.

[Morning in Atlas]

Thank god we at Atlas have our local expert on the inner workings of the South Bend Police Department.

>yells at me for not giving a proper rebuttal in the conversation
>after you ask for clarificaiton in this post, I offer a rebuttal to your post with specific incidents/names
>responds with name-calling

And you wonder why nobody here takes you seriously.

That’s because your post wasn't a response to me at all.

I asked what issue Pete has flip-flopped on and you start talking about some events in the South Bend police department.

What's the point in engaging?  You're not arguing in good faith.

Yes, to illustrate his previous stances on criminal justice reform/policing before he ran for President. You can't really be this dense, can you?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

good comment here (at 5min.) by Mark Shields on Pete B.'s appeal as the temperamental opposite of Trump

[GeneralMacArthur]

Thank god we at Atlas have our local expert on the inner workings of the South Bend Police Department.

>yells at me for not giving a proper rebuttal in the conversation
>after you ask for clarificaiton in this post, I offer a rebuttal to your post with specific incidents/names
>responds with name-calling

And you wonder why nobody here takes you seriously.

That’s because your post wasn't a response to me at all.

I asked what issue Pete has flip-flopped on and you start talking about some events in the South Bend police department.

What's the point in engaging?  You're not arguing in good faith.

Yes, to illustrate his previous stances on criminal justice reform/policing before he ran for President. You can't really be this dense, can you?

Not making Twitter-approved staffing decisions for the SBPD isn't a policy position.

By the way I think it's really weird that these random nobodies minding their own business in South Bend are suddenly the targets of aggressive smear campaigns on the internet purely so they can be characterized as awful people and tied to Buttigieg.  I feel like I say this every day but it's only Sanders supporters who do this and it's a really terrible and bizarre way to do politics.  Can't wait for this phase to die.

[OSR stands with Israel]

https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1201923657209196544

Just as I started coming around to him, he pulls this ****.

Yeah, I think I'm back off the Buttigieg train.

That just increased my opinion of Mayor Pete

[Morning in Atlas]

Not making Twitter-approved staffing decisions for the SBPD isn't a policy position.

By the way I think it's really weird that these random nobodies minding their own business in South Bend are suddenly the targets of aggressive smear campaigns on the internet purely so they can be characterized as awful people and tied to Buttigieg.  I feel like I say this every day but it's only Sanders supporters who do this and it's a really terrible and bizarre way to do politics.  Can't wait for this phase to die.

>Twitter-approved
>Twitter-approved
>Twitter-approved

HE'S LITERALLY BEEN FOUND LIABLE IN COURT FOR IT

zusidfopjsuvbdiahjsaudaosidaiusgahifudwa

i can't believe i have to explain to someone why it's reasonable to think a cop with a 7-year history of misconduct should be fired

[Diabolical Materialism]

Why do people think it is a good idea to have another unqualified President?

Lol, how is he unqualified? He’s probably the most intelligent person in the entire field.

Speaking broken Norwegian and claiming that Ulysses (LMAO) is your favorite book is intellectual posturing. Buttigieg is high school AP student smart but he peaked around there.

[libertpaulian]

VoteVets endorses Pete:

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/472968-buttigieg-wins-endorsement-from-votevets-group

VoteVets, the nation’s largest political action committee that supports liberal veterans for public office, announced its presidential endorsement for South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg Wednesday.  

The endorsement, the first in the progressive group’s history, could serve as another boost for Buttigieg, a former Navy officer who served in Afghanistan. The announcement comes as polling shows a fluid race in early voting states with the Indiana Democrat at or near the top in Iowa and New Hampshire.  

“The number one priority has to be beating Donald Trump. In the 13 years VoteVets has been in existence, we have come to see one thing repeated time after time: Veterans can win voters in the purple and red areas of the country that other Democrats cannot,” said Jon Soltz, an  Iraq War veteran and chairman of VoteVets, referring to several veterans who won tight races in the 2018 midterms.

Makes sense, given that he'd be the first post-9/11 war veteran to serve as President.

[Morning in Atlas]

VoteVets endorses Pete:

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/472968-buttigieg-wins-endorsement-from-votevets-group

VoteVets, the nation’s largest political action committee that supports liberal veterans for public office, announced its presidential endorsement for South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg Wednesday. 

The endorsement, the first in the progressive group’s history, could serve as another boost for Buttigieg, a former Navy officer who served in Afghanistan. The announcement comes as polling shows a fluid race in early voting states with the Indiana Democrat at or near the top in Iowa and New Hampshire. 

“The number one priority has to be beating Donald Trump. In the 13 years VoteVets has been in existence, we have come to see one thing repeated time after time: Veterans can win voters in the purple and red areas of the country that other Democrats cannot,” said Jon Soltz, an  Iraq War veteran and chairman of VoteVets, referring to several veterans who won tight races in the 2018 midterms.

Makes sense, given that he'd be the first post-9/11 veteran to serve as President.

He's also the only Democratic veteran in the race.

[Libertas Vel Mors]

https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1201923657209196544

Just as I started coming around to him, he pulls this ****.

Yeah, I think I'm back off the Buttigieg train.

That just increased my opinion of Mayor Pete

Imagine being so batty you get upset he doesn't support providing subsidies for free healthcare to illegal immigrants. Not even blocking them from using it - just not giving them free subsidies to do so. Lmao.

[BlueSwan]

Why do people think it is a good idea to have another unqualified President?

Lol, how is he unqualified? He’s probably the most intelligent person in the entire field.

Speaking broken Norwegian and claiming that Ulysses (LMAO) is your favorite book is intellectual posturing. Buttigieg is high school AP student smart but he peaked around there.

Speaking of intellectual posturing...

I'm a psychologist. I have administered loads of IQ-tests back when I still worked in the field. There is absolutely zero doubt that Pete Buttigieg is highly intelligent and it has nothing to do with speaking a bit of Norwegian or what his favourite book is.

[Tender Branson]

Buttipete calls 60+ million Trump voters deplorable racists:

https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1201947327596048389