February 20, 2025

"What do we mean when we talk about diversity? Is it caring for people’s different experiences and making sure no one is mistreated because of them..."

"... which I will always fight for? Or is it making people sit through a training that looks like something out of Portlandia, which I have also experienced. And it is how Trump Republicans are made."

Said Pete Buttigieg, at a "Future of the Democratic Party" forum, responding to a question from David Axelrod about the "spectacle of the Democratic National Committee chair election," quoted in "Pete Buttigieg slams Democrats' 'Portlandia' approach to pushing diversity" (Yahoo! News).

51 comments:

rehajm said...

They’re all going to Hell

Skeptical Voter said...

Like 99 and 44/100ths % of politicians Booty Boy's default position is "weasel". I don't know how much actual harm he did as Secretary of Transportation. He was a somewhat failed mayor of South Bend Indiana, a small city. Is he "Presidential timber"? Only if you are in to MDF.

Earnest Prole said...

As noted previously, made in a laboratory from parts of lesser McKinsey consultants. He’s exactly what highly educated white liberals think a presidential candidate should sound like.

n.n said...

Diversity is an umbrella ideology for class-disordered ideologies. That said, diversity of individuals, minority of one. #HateLovesAbortion

Paul said...

So now Buttplug tries to not be what he has been for four years... are we shocked?? Or just amused?

pacwest said...

The jockeying for 2028 has begun!

Leland said...

I guess I need to give Pete credit for speaking truth to those that need to hear it. Except the majority of people of Americans (and some people around the world that have experienced WEF pushed DEI) have been saying this for years. Welcome to the party, but the party ended late in the night of 20 January.

BTW, congratulations Dems for making it through one whole month of the Trump 2.0 Presidency. Only 47 months to go until 2.1 is installed.

mikeski said...

As noted previously, made in a laboratory from parts of lesser McKinsey consultants. He’s exactly what highly educated white liberals think a presidential candidate should sound like.

He's useful as a weather vane. Discarded his pronouns, now moderating on DEI.

Balfegor said...

There's another option, which is basically my view: being open to workers from a diverse range of backgrounds is an advantage in the sense that it means you can pick up talent without being limited to candidates from only one background or source. But because diversity in the workplace creates myriads of new problems -- miscommunication and hostility due to differing cultural expectations, plain old interethnic and interclass resentments, etc. -- you need plans and policies in place to manage the problems created by a diverse workforce. Otherwise you won't be able to realise the theoretical advantage that diversity could provide. And once you recognise that diversity itself creates problems to be managed, I think it becomes clearer that the diversity policy can't just be "Diversity is great! Don't commit microaggressions! White people are racist!" That won't solve anything.

Iman said...

Buttedgeedge should do us all a big favor and go on a permanent maternity leave.

Disparity of Cult said...

The oh so eager shapeshifter. Don't ask him about Daddy.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Perhaps Stacie will forego her ecology gig and give Pete a run for his money in 2028. The jokes write themselves.

Prof. M. Drout said...

Such a squirrely little shit

Christopher said...

FFS he pushed DEI when he was running DOT! He didn't just "experience it," he made his department experience it!

BUMBLE BEE said...

Diversity, thy name is "Unmanned Flight".

Jupiter said...

Another Buttplug heard from.

Jupiter said...

So what grift is the filthy little pervert trying to put over now?

Enigma said...

Portlandia and Reno 911 were closer to documentaries than satires. The snobby, competitive, elitist McKinsey consulting firm has appeared next to every evil figure in the history of mankind, a la Evil Burt.

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

Kate said...

His political acumen is sharper than I expected. He knows that in order to have a chance in '28 he's got to swing more centrist.

Ugh.

Jupiter said...

It's almost more than I can bear, that our depraved legal system allowed this sick puppy and his equally deranged "husband" to buy a child to play with. Every time I see his cherubic little face I want to bash his teeth against a curb.

Rabel said...

"What do we mean when we talk about diversity? Is it caring for people’s different experiences and making sure no one is mistreated because of them, which I will always fight for? Or is it making people sit through a training that looks like something out of ‘Portlandia,"

This another version of Obama's "some say" routine.

YoungHegelian said...

The Left needs to internalize the truth that if you believe race or ethnicity determines consciousness, you're a racist. Full stop.

The only difference between Nathan Bedford Forrest and Ibrahim X. Kendi is what race ends out on top.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Kate said...

His political acumen is sharper than I expected. He knows that in order to have a chance in '28 he's got to swing more centrist.

Ugh.


I wouldn't worry too much about it. He's got other problems. As has been said; the only reason most people know he was the SecTrans was because he did such an awful job.

Mason G said...

If diversity was beneficial, you wouldn't have to force it on people.

Lazarus said...

This is like one of those movies with idiot plots, where you learn halfway through the picture that the main character could have said or done something simple and reasonable at the beginning that would have prevented everything that happened later.

I wouldn't credit Pete with great political acumen, though.
You don't need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

Good advice for Dems:
"Don’t follow leaders
Watch the parkin’ meters"

Good advice for Peter Popinjay:
"Don’t wear sandals
Try to avoid the scandals"

Dave Begley said...

Pete needs to take full responsibility for the DC jet-helicopter crash. We have a shortage of air traffic controllers and he didn't fix it. A large groups of *white* and qualified ATC people weren't hired because they weren't diverse.

And our FAA's safety equipment is very outdated. Pete did nothing.

He's trying to change the subject.

BTW, the Dem party has no future. The Trump Blitz has overwhelmed the Dems. The Dems are dead enders now.

Wilbur said...

I thought it was an effective presentation. He is an able speaker. Do not underestimate him.

Of course, it sounded very practiced, and crafted from focus-group sessions. It could possibly even reflect his sincere beliefs.

But where's this been the last few years? Like somebody said above, man, you're too late to the party to be taken seriously now. And now, actions are what count.

n.n said...

'diversity' should refer to individuals and integration where it is not disqualified. Diversity (e.g. DEI), however, is an unveiled effort to divide people by race, sex, ancestry, economics, and other classes.

n.n said...

Elective abortion, Planned Parenthood, the wicked solution, is processed under Diversity and political congruence. So, are modern families, womb farms, etc.

Josephbleau said...

Another pusillanimous pole cat. But he is the first one to abandon the holed hulk of the DNC. I bet he becomes a trend setter.

Wilbur said...

He reminds me a lot of Dukakis.

Both projected themselves as cool and collected if not bloodless. You'd like to see at least a little emotion from a candidate.

Big Mike said...

I see that Pete Buttigieg is now also weighing in on transportation-related issues. If only he’s had a job anytime in the past four years where he he had the leverage to do something about things related to transportation.

Howard said...

Oh my, the DNC is finally got the memo. Of course they don't believe any of it but they have changed their messaging which is really their only substance.

john mosby said...

He probably means “we’ll stop insulting your intelligence with mandatory DEI training, but we’ll continue hiring and promoting everyone but you, straight white cis man.”

JSM

The Godfather said...

Reminds me of Alan Jackson's song, "Gone Country" about failing performers of several musical genres who think the secret of success for them is to go country. E.g.:

Well, the folk scene's dead, but he's holdin' out in the Village
He's been writin' songs, speakin' out against wealth and privilege
He says, "I don't believe in money, but a man could make him a killin'
'Cause some of that stuff don't sound much different than Dylan
I hear down there it's changed, you see
Well, they're not as backward as they used to be
He's gone country, look at them boots
He's gone country, back to his roots
He's gone country, a new kind of suit
He's gone country, here he comes

If you aren't into country, look it up and listen.

(If Pete can sing, he should try it.)

Hassayamper said...

That's actually a perceptive and pithy quote.

The very first thing he has done since I first heard of him that made me respect him more than the chewing gum stuck to my shoe.

boatbuilder said...

There's a man with his finger in the political wind. You don't have to be a weatherman...

Rocco said...

YoungHegelian said...
The only difference between Nathan Bedford Forrest and Ibrahim X. Kendi is what race ends out on top.

Evergreen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev373c7wSRg

Randomizer said...

Pete makes sense unless you listen to what he said.

"I also think that we believe in the values that we care about for a reason."

Don't think about it, just feel about it.

When Pete says, "the opposite of diversity, is uniformity", he is pulling the old switcheroo. His statement is true in a different context.

In practice, the opposite of diversity, is straight, White men.

KellyM said...

It's merely self-preservation, pure and simple. He has no true personal convictions, merely platitudes that will ensure he's allowed to sit at the cool kids' table. Oh, and to keep himself from being placed in the figurative stocks and pelted with rotten tomatoes. Those of us would-be pelters will not forget.

MadTownGuy said...

He's dissembling. It's a feint, a tactic to give the appearance of moderation.

wildswan said...

Everyone who changed in their politics over the last eight years had an uphill climb against the force of all the entrenched lefties in all the major formerly respected institutions. But millions did it, a majority moving to vote for Trump and a very sizable group moving toward a center (which they are having trouble finding but that's another story.) The change was such an effort and required so much understanding of the deceit being practiced in the media, in Hollywood, at major universities, and by politicians that those who penetrated the fog aren't going to be easily fooled by a few words from a man like Buttigedge. see above.
And besides most of those trying to deceive are still trying to trick people into supporting waste, fraud and abuse by bureaucrats in DC. It is the default position of almost all Americans that government and wasteful are synonyms so when The Blob keeps shouting that DOGE is slicing into the government, The Blob is just recruiting political converts for Trump.

Martin said...

"Or is it making people sit through a training that looks like something out of Portlandia"

Diversity is always about this.

Lawrence Person said...

Remember that Buttigieg's father was America's most prominent professor of communist revolutionary theorist Antonio Gramsci. I would say that him distancing himself from social justice/cultural; Marxism is disingenuous at best...

holdfast said...

Those who us who have experienced corporate DEI "training" know exactly what it is. I can only wish it was like Portlandia - which is at least funny. Real DEI training is tragic, discriminatory and just vile.

JIM said...

DEI is 2 + 2 = 5.

Rocco said...

JIM said...
"DEI is 2 + 2 = 5."

Alternatively, DEI is "There are five lights". Every DEI instructor has an inner Gul Madred.

mikee said...

I, for one, applaud the sudden acceptance on the Left of color blind government as a manifestation not only of how far they have fallen in recent months, but of how wrong they were with their DEI-labeled racism.

PB said...

Message to Democrats. Don't hire McKinsey or it's alums. They talk a lot but produce little positive value, often causing damage.

Jake said...

Liberal pretending to be a conservative. I've seen this one before. Where were you back when Petey?

Lazarus said...

The comparison between Buttigieg and Dukakis was insightful. They both have a glibness. It was like they always came up with an answer for everything even though they didn't have one. They were good with words and quick with them but not deep thinkers (or in touch with their emotions).

I have the impression that Dukakis was that way in spite of himself. He'd lived a little -- military service, long marriage, years hosting television debates, governorship. Perhaps he had potential depths that he hadn't bothered to explore.

Buttigieg is a less substantial figure. He's even less in touch with real people and the real world than Dukakis was. It seems like the glibness goes all the way down to his core -- or maybe he pushed himself onto the national scene too early and before he was fully grown.

Post a Comment

Comments older than 2 days are always moderated. Newer comments may be unmoderated, but are still subject to a spam filter and may take a few hours to get released. Thanks for your contributions and your patience.