short, smart, intellectual, "nice guy," kind of wonky, not REDACTED (think the Duke in a tank) . . . I just think Mayor Pete would get destroyed in the general election.
Pete military police=not masculine. Seems legit. Pete has much more personality than Dukakis and he would run laps around Trump. He has handled all of the in-fire so far with aplomb. He would have several viral moments in a debate with Trump making him look incompetent.
in trumps america POWs are not heroic, gold star mothers deserve to be insulted, purple heart recipients should have their patriotism questioned and combat veterans are "not masculine". "not masculine"... but this guy is???
Both Dukakis and George Bush Sr. served in the military. Easier for the war hawk Bush to paint Dukakis as soft vs. Captain bone spurs trying to land that attack on Pete. I wasn't alive when Dukakis ran for president, but from what I read, he lost because of "Dukakis in a tank", coming off as nervous during debates, and a poorly managed campaign. Pete is a veteran while Trump avoided military service, commands the stage during debates, and has run his campaign with surgical precision (media blitzes, declaring himself the winner of Iowa and getting the media bump, etc.). I don't believe the Dukakis comp is apt at all, but feel free to elaborate
I haven't noticed Mayor Pete being effeminate any more so than any of the other candidates and certainly not more than our current president. What has he done that is not masculine? I'm curious.
I watched Buttigieg's interview on Meet the Press and they played him the clip of the women in IA retracting here vote for him when she found out he was married to a man. He handled it very well and calmly. While he acknowledged that bigotry still exist he didn't attack the women and just said he was sad that she felt that way but that he was still running to be President of even people who felt that way.
Imagine having a President who feels their job is to serve as leader to even those that disagree with him.
Buttigieg should've said "Those people are so bad.. So evil.. and many people are saying something should happen to them. "
Healthcare: “as I do favor any measure that would help get all Americans covered” - a comprehensive public option for uninsured and underinsured Americans would achieve this outcome as well Border crossings: Decriminalization is a loosening of criminal penalties imposed. In that first debate, Pete was arguing that crossing the border itself (except in cases of fraud) should no longer be classified as a felony. Because it is currently classified as a felony, the current administration is able to separate families at the border. By changing the statute so that border crossing is dealt with via civil law, the government is no longer legally able to separate families. Pete has a pretty substantive platform to modernize our immigration policy that would be a meaningful improvement from where we are currently Institutional reform: Pete is the strongest candidate in his proposals to change the gridlock and partisanship in our institutions. Bernie Sanders: Bernie is an admirable and principled candidate that truly cares about moving our country forward through a populist revolution. Pete is proposing radical structural reform to our institutions. Two different mechanisms to get the same end - meaningful progressive change to healthcare, immigration policy, and more
We can debate all day long about whether all these really were "flip-flops" but its pretty undeniable that Buttigieg changed his campaign priorities midway through the election to shave off BIden voters since progressives were solidly behind Warren/Sanders. The change also happened to coincide the moment he started succesfully fundraising from big donors, so not exactly great timing to say the least. Some people may call that shrewd but I (along with many in my age bracket) perceive it as not having any real key principles. I would have a lot more respect for him if he had just been consistently in the moderate lane this whole election cycle. That's not asking for much considering Bernie has been saying the same damn thing for 30+ years.
This is basically it. Whether fair or not - elections aren't always fair - it's going to be the single determining factor in his candidacy. If can accomplish this, he could win this running away. If he can't, he's done in a few weeks.
Amy, Biden, Warren and others have all changed their campaigns as the cycle has gone on - that's just what politicians do as they adjust their message. Kudos to Bernie for not falling into that trap - though it probably hasn't helped him win anything - but the 30 year thing is a bit crazy. I don't know your age bracket, but I sincerely hope your worldview in 30 years is not the same as it is now - because regardless of what you believe now, the world will be very different in 30 years, and hopefully your views will change with it.
I am skeptical he will or if he is even capable of it. So far he comes across as tone deaf. He has handled the criticism very poorly. He has spoken to what he has done positively to combat it either. While arrests for mar1juana did increase under his watch there were some years it was below average as well. And he needs to say it was an aberration and not a result of his policies. Instead talk about the policies he did enact that align with what he is saying. And he needs to do it quickly. He needs to make a case as to why AA's should trust him. How do they know he will fight for them or even represent their interests?
Here are some of the racial justice policies Pete implemented while he was mayor. He wasn't ignorant to the issues of race in South Bend and made an honest effort to address them, but the results were mixed. I agree he needs to do better in highlighting the effort he put in
