February 5, 2020

"Pete Buttigieg is a liberal who makes people think he’s a moderate. Amid the 'Mayo Pete' and 'Pete is CIA' jeers of his left-wing critics, it can be easy to forget..."

"... what Buttigieg’s actual policy agenda is. That agenda would easily be the most progressive by any candidate for the general election in decades.... ... [H]e’s endorsed and promoted: A $15-an-hour minimum wage/A universal child allowance of at least $2,000 per child, and quadrupling of the earned income tax credit for single adults/'Affordable, universal full-day child care and pre-K for all children from infancy to age 5'/A path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants/A Medicare buy-in open to all meant to 'create a natural glide-path to Medicare for All'/A cap on all student loan payments as a share of income, forgiven in full after 20 years/... DC/Puerto Rico statehood, banning gerrymandering, ending the Electoral College, and ending the filibuster/Expanding and reforming the Supreme Court to curb partisan rulings/Sectoral union bargaining where agreements apply to whole industries, not just individual companies/A carbon tax rebated to taxpayers in cash, plus a quadrupling of research and development funding for clean energy...  Sanders and Warren have performed a valuable service by making the objectively quite ambitious agenda of Buttigieg appear, by comparison, incredibly mild, a centrist approach to expanding the safety net. A perception of relative moderation will most likely help, not hurt, the eventual nominee.... Sanders would terrify and turn out Trump’s base, whereas Buttigieg likely would not."

From "Pete Buttigieg is more electable than Bernie Sanders — and more progressive than you think/The fourth in a Vox series making the best case for each of the top Democratic contenders" (Vox).

132 comments:

Drago said...

Now THAT is an agenda every self-respecting "LLR"/Conservative Inc. member can get behind and support!

rehajm said...

Pete’s policies are just as bad as rest of the bunch but voters don’t always think with their heads or have shit for brains. I could see Pete packaged as an Obama style empty vessel that lefties fill with their hopes and dreams.

People sometimes get elected that way...

madAsHell said...

I'll make things more fair.

Can you imagine the tsunami of unintended consequences that would follow such an agenda?

Achilles said...

The machine has moved on from Biden.

Pete is now their great white hope.

It is fun to watch their little mouth pieces in the media guide the rubes.

Seeing Red said...

You voted for Obama partially because you don’t want “chaos.” You thought he could calm the waters/unite us.

There will be no uniting no matter who wins 2020.

We are in a civil war.

rcocean said...

He's also in favor of legalizing cocaine and heroin. No doubt making advertising it legal too - although he can't say in publicly. Really, his popularity astounds me. He's not even a great mayor! How do you go from Mayor of South Bend to POTUS. Its absurd!

madAsHell said...

Expanding and reforming the Supreme Court to curb partisan rulings

Aren't all rulings partisan??

Seeing Red said...

Legalizing those is a giveaway to the rich.

He probably then he’s going to raise taxes to pay for all “unintended consequences.”

Why didn’t he go for the trifecta of prostitution as well ?

rcocean said...

Obama in 2008 was able to pose as an agent of change. Oh sure, he was a little left-wing but peeps were tired of middle east wars and upset at Wall Street ripping us off during the financial crisis. So, it seemed OK. Plus, he wasn't a corrupt hag.

Buttigig is just a standard Liberal/leftist who's Gay. take that out and he'd be back in South Bend.

SDaly said...

JAC approves!

Seeing Red said...

This worked so well in Sweden.

DarkHelmet said...

Yeah, Pete's a socialist. No surprise there. As a red-diaper baby I wouldn't expect anything else. Does he mean it? Does he really, really believe in it? Not as much as Bernie does. Probably more than Warren does.

The Democrats are now the party of libertine totalitarianism. All the worst economic ideas of the Marxists, all the misunderstandings of human nature ushered in by Freud and all the affluenza decadence of the '60s rolled into one putrid package.

And Donald Trump, of all people, is the only person protecting us from it. Some days I simply can't wrap my head around it all.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

'create a natural glide-path to Medicare for All'

Spelled Astroglide wrong.

Seeing Red said...

PR statehood?

What’s stopping them? They can vote to join anytime they want.

Lincolntf said...

I find it interesting that the Iowa debacle has pretty much rendered the whole Caucus moot for 2020. Nobody gives a crap about who "won". We are entering what promises to be a very strange election season.

traditionalguy said...

This is recognition that Buttegeig wants to put the USA back on the Obama/Clinton 16 year Plan. That's why we see him as a CIA engineered fifth column plant. Not a Muslim and not a Communist, but all One World Government Globalist.

deepelemblues said...

Trump voters are turning out regardless of who the Dem sacrificial lamb turns out to be.

Vox does not seem to understand this. Republican enthusiasm actually outpaces Dem enthusiasm right now. These people are deluding themselves into a yuuuuuge election night shock again.

n.n said...

Progressive or monotonic.

Dave said...

Subsidizing children would be nice. It's part of the Althousian set of policy procedures designed to minimize abortion. I believe Santorum had similar ideas in that regard.

narciso said...

all of Obama's foreign policy advisors, endorsed him, what does that tell you, he's wired into the Truman project, which has connections with blue star strategies,

TJM said...

What the evil, corrupt national media will not tell you about Mayor Pete: 20% of adults in South Bend, Indiana, travel each day to Elkhart, Indiana (Republican controlled) for work. The media is scum

Dave said...

Not procedures...prescriptions...proscripitons? Sorry hard to write when you don't know any words.

Recommendations!

Seeing Red said...

all of Obama's foreign policy advisors, endorsed him, what does that tell you, he's wired into the Truman project, which has connections with blue star strategies,


Selling us down the river again.

Narr said...

I'm glad to see some details, not that I'd vote for Mayor Bend South under any circumstances.

That other people could find that menu appealing just confirms it: We.Are.Doomed.

Narr
But it could be fun on the way, so chins up!

chuck said...

Who knows what is dear to Buttigeig? He is far too flexible in his positions for me to say. But I wouldn't trust *any* red diaper baby who hadn't convincingly given up the dream. Communism was the delusional dream of smart people who couldn't live without religion.

Yancey Ward said...

"What’s stopping them? They can vote to join anytime they want."

It isn't just PR's decision- Congress has to agree.

Dave said...

We need to outbid planned parenthood. Also, what caused the fall of Rome? They ran out of Romans. How are Americans made?

stlcdr said...

Blogger madAsHell said...
...

Can you imagine the tsunami of unintended consequences that would follow such an agenda?

2/5/20, 11:14 AM


Rich peoples fault. Obviously.

mccullough said...

McKinsey Pete is the choice of Privileged Whites.

Tradguy is right. McKinsey Pete is Obama redux.

McKinsey Pete has no children. Americans will not elect a childless president.

Derve Swanson said...
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Yancey Ward said...

Appears to me that they have stopped counting in Iowa altogether.

Something corrupt happened Monday night, and I think the coverup is now in motion.

Howard said...

It's totally worth it and having mayor Pete run a failed campaign just for the laughs bet you people create by exposing your latent homophillia

stlcdr said...

Blogger Yancey Ward said...
"What’s stopping them? They can vote to join anytime they want."

It isn't just PR's decision- Congress has to agree.

2/5/20, 11:37 AM

So what's stopping them? Congress can make these things happen: why do we need to wait for someone in the presidential seat to come up with these ideas before they will be acted upon?

True, the president has veto power, but if (any of these things) are important, put a bill before the president for him to veto, then you can blame the president for the ills in the world.

Dave said...

Santorum proposed a $6000.00 tax credit per child.

Seeing Red said...

No working across the aisle, but the Iranians? Surrreeeee.

Derve Swanson said...
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Derve Swanson said...
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Dave said...

The childcare stuff is appealing to working families. But, it furthers dem goals of busting up the family unit. We need to coopt the idea of helping families, but in ways that make it easier for only one parent to work.

You may be a well informed conservative who understands the strategy of these money giveaways, but a two parent working family making 55K does not.

Dave said...

Ah well, keep giving them to planned parenthood I guess.

narciso said...

yes it's oikophobia, he's also the son of Gramsci's American translator, his thesis misunderstands the ugly Americanism, that's how he coasted on to oxford, he'a a mckinsey drone, who proposes the unworkable solutions like this app,

Achilles said...

Howard said...
It's totally worth it and having mayor Pete run a failed campaign just for the laughs bet you people create by exposing your latent homophillia

Howard just wants to be accepted and loved for what he is it seems.

Dave said...

There were times one of us could have stayed at home with my son if we had that kind of credit. Also, we might have had more than one in that situation.

Unless you just don't like actually subsidizing conservative children.

CJinPA said...

Expanding and reforming the Supreme Court to curb partisan rulings

This is how the super serious totally not partisan website for young people, Vox, describes "packing the court."

Achilles said...

It looks like the great white hope is alive.

Mayor pete will get good turnout from the rich white kids.

And he will make many Black and hispanic people leave the dem party for good.

Please run mayor pete.

Bernie supporters will leave the party and form an actual progressive party. Minorities will leave teh party. All you will have left are soyboys and pampered upper middle class women.

Seeing Red said...

Congress won’t say no.

I once read an argument that if Canada wanted to become a state, it could because during the original articles of confederation that was an option and that might still stand.

If Alberta wants to join, I’m fine with that.

Derve Swanson said...
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Seeing Red said...

We have to expand the Supreme Court because you stupid rubes keep voting against your own self interest is not a compelling argument .


Besides you already have Roberts in your corner .

MayBee said...

The last time the Dems were concerned about electability, they settled on John Kerry, in part because he was a Vet (John Kerry, reporting for duty!!!!!!). So I think they are so unused to hearing what conservative leaners are actually interested in, they can't pick the person who would actually attract those voters.

Derve Swanson said...
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CJinPA said...

Motherhood is a full-time job. Stay home and don't take a second-job unless you absolutely have to. That child is your job, full time, now.

Feminists won the right of women to work. They don't appreciate it when some stubborn women refuse to part with their children.

Dave said...

Maybe I misunderstand tax credits. If I have a tax credit of 6k and I don't owe any taxes, what happens?

Dave said...

We subsidize mothers staying at home. Or fathers either way.

Yancey Ward said...

Dave, you are missing the "refundable" part of the description. You get it even if you don't pay taxes, just like the EITC and the ACA credits.

Yancey Ward said...

And that comment of mine should have made the distinction of "income taxes"- every worker, of course, pays payroll taxes of 15+%

Dave said...

Right! When my wife and I had our son, some years a credit would allow one of us to homeschool. Since my son was disabled, that was a boon to us. Rick Santorum was all over subsidizing families to allow one parent to work. Althouse has talked about some of this as a way to reduce the number of abortions.

Derve Swanson said...
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Seeing Red said...

Bullshit Howard.

I didn’t vote against Obama because he was black. I voted against him because his friend is Bill Ayres and he has a thing for Marxists. Buttigeig is also a red diaper baby therefore I wouldn’t vote for him ever. That ideology is deprivation and death. Period. Full stop.

Shouting Thomas said...

So, he's a communist.

Why are the "spokespeople" for identity politics groups always communists?

Dave said...

Every worker pays the payroll tax of 7.5 + employer match. Unless you were an illiterate painter like my dad who made below poverty some years. 15% for that poor dumb bastard.

Howard said...

Seeing Red doth proteth tooth muth.

narciso said...

because Gramsci realized like lenin, that was the way to seize control of institutions,

Dave said...

There are ways to structure the credits so it goes into the preferred pockets. Obama and Mayor Pete understand that well.

Conservatives can do the same thing. That's why the left went crazy on partial privatization of social security and Bushes push for "compassionate conservatism" with regards to moving moneys back to charity and away from the government.

Trump can coopt the issue, send the funds to his base, and produce more conservative children.

But you are saying that if the rich benefit in some way, forget any of those goals?

hstad said...


Blogger rcocean said..."How do you go from Mayor of South Bend to POTUS. Its absurd!.."/5/20, 11:19 AM

You're 100% correct! But when you have the "Gay thing" going for you - the MSM pushes billions of $$s in free publicity. Hell look at what he's for? Most of which would require Herculean efforts, like: change in Constitution; PR Statehood-not under his control; Medicare change - most polls don't show people in favor of everyone having Medicare; etc. Am tired of MSM and/or Activist pushing failed candidates who've done nothing in real life from Bush to Obama. Hell if Butt..... can run why not AOC?

narciso said...

we hated howard 'yeargh' dean, who was whiter then casper, and stupider, which even iowa saw through as they put him in 3rd place,

Dave said...

Mary do you think that reducing the number of abortions is a worthy goal? If so, do you think banning abortion is the only way to do it?

Dave said...

Also, are you a conservative? If so, are you interested in winning elections?

narciso said...

social security, is a pittance, because it relies on a ridiculous low rate of return,

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

The thing is, most women don’t want to work full time and put their kids into daycare.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

They definitely don’t want to have to work and put their kids into daycare to pay increased taxes to find daycare.

Childless gay man doesn’t know that though.

Wilbur said...

I've said for months that the most formidable opponent in the general election for Trump would be Mayor Pete. The reason is not his position on issues - he is a hardcore Leftist - but that he projects an image much different from President Trump, an image of reasonableness, speaking softly yet articulately. And youthfulness and reasonable good looks are things which sets him apart.

Like him or not, these factors appeal to a lot of voters who are sick of the political discord in this country.

Seeing Red said...

The younger ones think they’re smart enough to build utopia. Just like the boomers before them.

You’re going to wake up in Lord of the Flies.

Every time. Venezuela is just the latest. 4 college men went to Cuba and talked to Turning Point about their experience.
It’s on YT for now.

Derve Swanson said...
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mccullough said...

Parents know not to take advice from the childless

Lurker21 said...

Ridiculous. Overlook the fact that Buttigieg can't get his policies through Congress because he can get around that with procedural changes (that he also can't get through Congress). You can't make that argument and expect to be taken seriously.

The article is reminiscent of how we got Jimmy Carter - unrealistic expectations about outsiders and how they can fix things. It's similar to the enthusiasm for Clinton and Obama, but neither was as inexperienced or as overconfident as Buttigieg. He's has all the smarmy unlikability of John Edwards, too.

Dave said...

Most women dont want to work and put their children in childcare! And sometimes...a lot of times...that credit can be enough to stop that.

Pete wants to create more democrats so his system revolves are free childcare and and preK. More people whose jobs depend on governent.

I want the opposite. I want those working class families to be able to get by with one parent working or even one parent at home.

Trump should push for more telecommute as well. Steal some of that cool millenium tech vibe.

Francisco D said...

Pete's primary asset is that he appears to be a blank slate with limited negatives.

That will change as his candidacy progresses. If it progresses.

Before Warren imploded, he was the right VP candidate for her just as Klobuchar is the right VP candidate for Bloomberg.

Iman said...

Hey, hey P-Spot Pete
Still on top when Caucus completes
Out the gate Yer stock is zoomin’
“What... me worry?“ Alfred E. Neuman

Laslo Spatula said...

Buttigieg smiles, but every once-in-awhile his eyes show you that, inside, he is laughing about you not knowing what he REALLY is thinking.

He has a bad-seed/school-shooter-kid vibe to me. Seriously.

Whatever you do, don't touch his dirty pillows.

I am Laslo.

Curious George said...

"How do you go from Mayor of South Bend to POTUS. Its absurd!"

Just ask Althouse's eldest: Marry a dude.

Rick said...

The best friends of the far left are the farther left.

Derve Swanson said...
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n.n said...

I want those working class families to be able to get by with one parent working or even one parent at home

Yes, the goal is affordable and available, not subsidy of the needy and privileged minority. It helps when women and men no longer act like children, recognize that they are equal and complementary, and reach a reconciliation of interests in time and space.

Dave said...

Mary is a democrat operative.

You guys have a great day.

Yancey Ward said...

I agree, strangely it will seem, with both Wilbur and Laslo here. Wilbur is correct- Buttuvwxyz had the right comportment for facing Trump, but then I think Laslo is spot on with the observation that all of this is just a veneer, and not a particularly thick one at that. Not everyone can see through that veneer, however, and I suspect that a majority can't see through it. I rated Buttuvwxyz's electability in the middle of the pack- his weakness in the general election is going to be minority men- there are probably no more anti-homosexual voters than hispanic and black males. The only pro-homosexual voters are going to be gays and white, upperclass, urban women, which already lean heavily to the Democrats, so there isn't much to gain there in either the primaries or general election.

Seeing Red said...

Pete Buttigieg is a liberal who makes people think he's a moderate.

In short, he's lying.

Not the first time dems have done that. Run as a moderate, then vote progressive. See the last 20 years. As I recall, Rahm was a huge supporter of this when he ran the party and it worked. Then they voted.

Sebastian said...

"what Buttigieg’s actual policy agenda is"

So, Althouse, do you agree with that agenda? Or do you still prefer to rationalize your vote on the basis of your feelings about competence and seriousness and "chaos"?

Rabel said...

"He has a bad-seed/school-shooter-kid vibe to me. Seriously."

Maybe not a shooter but I don't think he is the dispassionate nice guy many people think he is. The death stares during two of the debates over minor sleights were revealing. A man who lives a lie for most of his life can build up a considerable amount of hate and I see a lot of submerged hatred in the Mayor.

Rick said...

Sanders and Warren have performed a valuable service by making the objectively quite ambitious agenda of Buttigieg appear, by comparison, incredibly mild, a centrist approach to expanding the safety net.

The big difference between Pete and Sanders/Warren is not their agenda, but how open they are about their agenda. Sanders/Warren/AOC believe they now have enough institutional control they no longer need to hide their endgame. On the other hand Pete believes he can most effectively achieve leftism through incrementalism, i.e, by hiding the end game.

Consider Obamacare. Was Obamacare a moderate position? Or was it the most a left winger could achieve accepted as a step toward an even further left policy? Obviously it's the latter since every Obamacare supporter immediately pivoted to supporting changes to Obamacare or even outright replacement. Amusingly these changes were often exactly what critics predicted who supporters attacked as crazy for such insane beliefs. Then the left proved those critics right (again).

mccullough said...

The childless are free to give parenting advice.

Parents know to ignore it. But advice on taking care of cats might be useful.

wild chicken said...

"every worker, of course, pays payroll taxes of 15+%"


Money is fungible. If a worker makes $25k and pays 3750 in payroll tax, but gets back $7000+ refundable credit because she has three kids, how does that help fund SS and Medicare?

We carry them. Esp single childless workers making $40k and up.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Pete is the gay Obama. The media will hide his communist backgrounds and ideas and try to drag him across the finish line like it did for Obama [remember Rev. Jeremiah Obama's minister?]

mccullough said...

Bernie’s the Communist.

Mayor Pete is the McKinsey Consultant. The epitome of Crony Capitalism

narciso said...

Steyer and pelosi were investors in acronym as well,

buwaya said...

Persons rarely matter.
Any given politician or dignitary is more likely than anything else to be an emergent phenomenon, created by larger forces, not a creator. They are the spume off white-capped waves.

There are very rare exceptions. Trump seems to be one.

What you have is a conflict between powers and masses on every front, on every aspect of life.

Codevilla explains, again.
https://amgreatness.com/2020/02/04/facing-up-to-the-revolution/

narciso said...


Well we agree up to a point


https://mobile.twitter.com/Project_Veritas/status/1225100344394506240

narciso said...

https://freebeacon.com/politics/steyer-pelosi-pacs-funded-shadowy-group-behind-botched-iowa-app/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Rosalyn C. said...

Sounds like someone running for high school president. Here's a list of things people would want and policies that would sound good to someone with no knowledge or experience in running anything.

ThunderChick said...

IMO, Buttigeig is the wolf in sheep's clothing. He doesn't come across as card carrying socialist and appears moderate. Exactly the type of appeal to Dem voters like my white, upper middle class Iowa in-laws - they don't like the extreme positions of AOC, Warren and Sanders, but gee, he seems like such a nice guy, served in the military and it would be great to have our 1st gay President. If he gets the DEM nomination or selected as VP, Trump needs to expose him for who he truly is. Also agree with Dave at 12:29pm: Trump should push for telecommuting. Take out every one of Buttigeig's policy stances with an alternative that is even more desirable than the one Buttigeig is advocating.

ThunderChick said...

Sounds like someone running for high school president. Here's a list of things people would want and policies that would sound good to someone with no knowledge or experience in running anything.

That worked for Obama, didn't it?

Yancey Ward said...

Iowa Democrats still stuck at 71% reporting of the caucus results, with no announcements that I have seen from party officials as to when they will report the last 29%. Just wow.

Wilbur said...

I'm Full of Soup said...
Pete is the gay Obama.

This. Don't underestimate him. If he is the candidate, he'll get the Obama kid glove treatment from the MSM. Like Obama, he's easy to elevate.

Yancey Ward said...

What is striking to me about the Iowa count is this- it appears to the same 70% that Buttuvwxyz's campaign staff reported having on Monday night when Buttuvwxyz claimed victory- nothing more and nothing less.

Matt said...

Pete is a fag who actually has the word 'butt' in his name. How perfect is that? It's absolutely glorious!

It is also THE ONLY F'NG REASON anyone is listening to the blatherings of a hick mayor from a podunk, flyover town (which is exactly how he'd be treated if he didn't suck c*ck).

Gusty Winds said...

Did Pete win Iowa yet? The cart is a little ahead of the horse here. Bernie will win NH primary again. Biden will win SC, and I would expect Biden to win on Super Tuesday. Warren will be 0-3.

I'm fully expecting the Democrat convention in Milwaukee this summer to be a complete shit show.

buwaya said...

South Bend was once famous as the home of South Bend Lathe, the largest machine tool maker in the world at one time. South Bend was a byword. I myself learned what I know of lathes (enough to be dangerous) on an old South Bend.

But the mighty fell, sic transit gloria. And it seems the city fell with it.

Yancey Ward said...

Biden will have to win South Carolina- it is do or die for Biden at that point. Polls from the states of Super Tuesday have started to get recent updates, and the data suggests that Sanders is dangerously close to getting ahead of Biden. He is within the margin of error of Biden in SC and TX, and has a good lead in California. You will get better updates after NH next week, but if Sanders wins NH and NV, a real possibility, then he may well take the nomination before the convention, upending my opinion that he won't be the nominee.

The other thing about the recent Super Tuesday polls is this- Bloomberg is still well under the 15% threshold, despite dropping $200 million dollars on ad buys. I think he badly underestimated the value of contesting the first 4 states with active campaigns, even on a shoestring budget.

mtrobertslaw said...

Mayor Pete's father, Joseph Buttigieg, was professor an Notre Dame who became enamored with the political thought of Antonio Gramsci. Buttigieg was a founder of the International Gramsci Society.
Gransci was a committed communist. His contribution to political thought was his view that the culture and institutions of a capitalist state are "produced and reproduced" by the ruling class. And this culture is designed to allows the capitalist class to maintain power. Given this, the establishment of a communist society will never come to fruition by resorting to revolutionary violence. The only way a communist society and culture can come into existence is to get the masses to reject the traditional values, beliefs and culture that keep the capitalists in power. Just how this is to be accomplished is the fundamental question for Gramsci's followers.
It is highly likely that Mayor Pete was influenced by his father's world view and consequently, influenced by Gransci's thought. This puts Mayor Pete's actual agenda in an entirely different light. It may well be that Mayor Pete, a clever fellow, believes that he has come up with the solution to the question of how to get the masses to lose their belief in the old, worn out culture and institutions

Nonapod said...

I honestly find Pete Buttigieg pretty uninteresting. Every postion he advoactes for screams that he's a full on socialist, which means I want him nowhere near the levers of power. But beyond that, his personality is dull. Honestly, if he wasn't gay I can't imagine he would have ascended as far as he has in the party being that he's just a mayor from a medium sized town in a flyover state.

So what else is their to say about him? He did better than perhaps most people thought he would in Iowa, but I'd be surprised if he continues to do so for very long. That he's a wolf in sheep's clothing is obvious to anyone who bothers to actually look at his policy positions. But specific policy positions general don't seem to matter as much to Democrat voters as they do to Republican voters.

In general, Democrat voters seem far more likely to judge candidates on their personality, on how they make them feel rather than specific stated policy positions. Dems look for "Rock Stars", people who seem cool, or at least very nice. They also prefer candidates who they can project their hopes and dreams on. Mayor Pete could fit some of those descriptors perhaps, but I think he lacks a certain magnetism and charm. He's definitely no Obama in 2008 or Bill Clinton in 1992. As such I don't imagine he'll last much longer, especially against Sanders and Biden who have a bit more going for them in the personality department I believe.

mtrobertslaw said...

Mayor Pete's father, Joseph Buttigieg, was professor an Notre Dame who became enamored with the political thought of Antonio Gramsci. Buttigieg was a founder of the International Gramsci Society.
Gransci was a committed communist. His contribution to political thought was his view that the culture and institutions of a capitalist state are "produced and reproduced" by the ruling class. And this culture is designed to allows the capitalist class to maintain power. Given this, the establishment of a communist society will never come to fruition by resorting to revolutionary violence. The only way a communist society and culture can come into existence is to get the masses to reject the traditional values, beliefs and culture that keep the capitalists in power. Just how this is to be accomplished is the fundamental question for Gramsci's followers.
It is highly likely that Mayor Pete was influenced by his father's world view and consequently, influenced by Gransci's thought. This puts Mayor Pete's actual agenda in an entirely different light. It may well be that Mayor Pete, a clever fellow, believes that he has come up with the solution to the question of how to get the masses to lose their belief in the old, worn out culture and institutions

Achilles said...

Yancey Ward said...
Iowa Democrats still stuck at 71% reporting of the caucus results, with no announcements that I have seen from party officials as to when they will report the last 29%. Just wow.


Not even Bernie supporters are stupid enough to miss what is going on here.

buwaya said...

It is heresy of course, but I think there is something holy about a lathe, or any engine of creation. These are things touched by God.

Losing the ability to make tools, as has happened in South Bend, is like falling away from God. We are what we do after all. Its no surprise that a victim of moral confusion is their mayor now.

Anonymous said...

If immigrants making nothing, and with NO gubmint subsidies, can feed, shelter, clothe and raise their own, at home, why can't you conservatives?

Immigrants have higher rates of using gummint programs than native born.

ConradBibby said...

The left delude themselves that Buttigieg's articulateness and calm demeanor means the "rubes" won't object to his program -- a wolf in sheep's clothing. Sanders supposedly is less electable because he's a wolf in wolf's clothing. They don't give the voters much credit either for voting on the basis of a candidate's policies (versus appearance/ personality /biography) or for being able to weigh the relative merits of policy alternatives. The idea that Buttigieg could win with that program simply because he looks and sounds like the senior class president is preposterous.

buwaya said...

Gramsci, irrespective of being a communist, was perceptive.
What you now face is what Gramsci faced when he was in prison.
That the shoe is on the other foot just goes to show that Gramsci's analysis is universal.

Jim at said...

As posted in the least-electable thread:

Americans aren't going to vote for a guy whose name they can't pronounce.
And blacks most certainly aren't going to vote for a gay white guy.

Anonymous said...

Wilbur: The reason is not his position on issues - he is a hardcore Leftist - but that he projects an image much different from President Trump, an image of reasonableness, speaking softly yet articulately. And youthfulness and reasonable good looks are things which sets him apart.

Like him or not, these factors appeal to a lot of voters who are sick of the political discord in this country.


Those (false) factors appeal to people who haven't actually listened to him yet with any attention.

If he runs, he will be exposed for what he is - just another prog with a hate hard-on for half the population. There aren't enough daffy white ladies who can blank all that out to get him elected.

narciso said...

Iglesias seems to be in the driver seat in madrid, like june 36 redux

Gusty Winds said...

How does Pete plan on Amending the Constitution to abolish the Electoral College? He would need ratification by 3/4 of State Legislatures (38 of 50), correct? I believe the GOP controls 30 of the 50. Good luck Pete.

Vance said...

To me, the most interesting thing about Pete Buttigieg is watching Commenter Chuck squirm. What's he to do? He hates Trump. But the only thing he's been consistently conservative on over the past 5 years is the whole gay marriage thing. He actually opposes it.

So faced with Buttigieg vs. Trump, which principle will he sell out first? Expect lots of anguishing... before he concludes, of course, that he'd rather have a gay guy who promises to force Christian churches to marry gays than have Trump. We all know how that battle will end.

Still, should be entertaining along the way. And watching the Democrats destroy their grasp on the black vote will be fun too.

Gusty Winds said...

Jim said "And blacks most certainly aren't going to vote for a gay white guy."

The known truth that dare not speak its name..., or maybe libs are just that out of touch with a community they completely take for granted.

Bilwick said...

"more progressive than you think. . . " Like Statism is progress.

Drago said...

Vance: "But the only thing he's been consistently conservative on over the past 5 years is the whole gay marriage thing. He actually opposes it."

LLR-lefty Chuck staked out a couple of issues that he needed to try and establish "conservative" bona fides in order to undermine actual conservatism from within.

He has been completely exposed as an operational lefty so there is no question the "anguished" internal "struggle" LLR-lefty Chuck will go thru on these threads before he "reluctantly" decides he must support the dem, any dem, in November is absolutely guaranteed.

Butkus51 said...

His campaign manager should be Leslie Knopes from Pawnee.

Unknown said...

I'd vote for him is he delivers SOTU in Norwegian.

that is SO FUCKING COOL he knows a useless language like that.

Bruce Hayden said...

“We carry them. Esp single childless workers making $40k and up.”

I actually. Support that, but only if the woman is married to the guy living in her house. The problem is that we, along with much of the rest of the world, are facing demographic collapse. Too many old people, and not enough young people to support the old people in their dotage. Esp in 30-40 years of retirement. Sure, there plenty of people working into their 70s (e.g. Trump, Sanders, Biden, Warren, Bloomberg, Crooked Hillary, Palsi, etc). Some of them really are too old, with obvious health issues, like Slo Joe and Crooked, maybe even Sanders and Palsi. But probably shouldn’t be. Better than a half decade retired, and I have almost no interest in going back to work in a real job. And that is without any real health issues. Friends of mine at the septuagenarian divide who haven’t retired yet, who do face health issues (as more and more of us do) , are all working hard to retire. Someone has to pay into our Medicare and Social Security to support our retirement, and we are quickly running out of enough young people to do that. Obama tried Death Panels. That was a non starter for many retired people (after paying into SS and Medicare for half a century, the last people we wanted determining whether we lived or died would be bureaucrats like those working in the DMV). Much better, in my mind, supporting more people who will soon be supporting us.

Carol said...

Like Obama, he's easy to elevate.

Already happening. a CBS guy called Buttigieg a "governor of a small town" today LOL.

(Sorry if I repeat myself but I think Blogger ate it last time.)

Narr said...

Gramsci Schmamsci. Maybe Trotsky had it half right: he just didn't realize that the US of A would BE the permanent revolution.

Narr
Trump/Trotsky 2020 has a nice ring . . .

Iman said...

“ I'd vote for him is he delivers SOTU in Norwegian.

that is SO FUCKING COOL he knows a useless language like that.”

Uff da!!!

Bunkypotatohead said...

Free shit for everyone except those of us who will have to pay for it.
I'm certain the unwed other of three living in the taxpayer subsidized house across the street from me will appreciate getting another $6k for her future prison inmates.

Dave said...

No child credits for the poor, say the operatives.
No child credits for the rich, say the operatives.
No more American children, say the enemies of America.

Santorom on family.
https://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Rick_Santorum_Families_+_Children.htm

Lurker21 said...

Pete is hard to figure out. He's saying to Middle America, "Hey, I'm just like you: Midwestern, small town, veteran, religious," but he ends up being the most alien of all the candidates, including the billionaires, and the ones who seem like they are from other planets.

I don't think it's the gay thing. It's more that he doesn't seem to connect much with real life. Also, he's young, but without any of the characteristics of an ordinary young person. Sort of like Greta Thunberg

Kassaar said...

Iglesias seems to be in the driver seat in madrid, like june 36 redux

People never learn. But they don’t assassinate nuns and priests anymore, do they? And the army won’t intervene this time around.