Pete Buttigieg’s advisor says he will talk to EVERYONE including CNN and Fox.
It sounds like a new and original idea from a very smart person. Oh my goodness, mayor Pete is a RHODES scholar. He speaks NORWEGIAN. He’s got a HUSBAND. He lives in Indiana where women are women, men are men and sheep are scared.
🙄
I’m sure it would surprise him to know that back in 2008, Hillary Clinton was already taking on Fox News. She subjected herself to a couple brutal interviews on Fox.
And if Hoosiers were less than excited about a Clinton rally in 2016, maybe it’s because the most exciting things to come out of Indiana are basketball and John Mellencamp.
Mike Pence is from Indiana.
I rest my case.
I was in Pittsburgh for a Clinton rally in 2016. Some little girls couldn’t make it into the venue. They stared at me glumly through the barrier while I gloated about my exalted standing room only piece of turf.
Them’s the breaks, kid.
Speaking of kids, mayor Pete is all of 37 years old. He was 26 when Hillary ran the first time. That’s younger than AOC is now and, to be honest, I don’t think he’s at AOC’s level. She’s smart, she’s got vision, can speak SPANISH, which, given the ratio of Spanish speakers to Norwegians, is much more significant. Yeah, yeah, Mayor Pete speaks other languages too. So does my youngest daughter. She taught herself to speak 5 languages pretty fluently before she left high school. Sure it’s awesome to the rest of us but if I’m not mistaken, Lincoln only spoke English. Who is Pete trying to impress? Chris Cillizza or Tractor Dude? The journalists seem to think he’s trying to impress them while Pete is simultaneously dissing Hillary Clinton and all her voters so he can pick up the rural and working class guy voter.
Am I the only one who sees an image problem here that the right wing nut jobs are going to jump on as soon as Pete gets a little bit ahead of the rest of the crowd?
Look, all I’m trying to say is that there seem to be a lot of male journalists, pundits and strategists who want Pete or Beto or Biden. I know why they’re doing it. THEY were unenthusiastic about Hillary in 2008 and 2016. They told us constantly about their unenthusiasm. It was an annoying steady drone like some kid whining for candy in the checkout aisle. They wouldn’t shut up about it. And when her poll numbers took a hit about how unenthusiastic we were all supposed to be, the success of their self fulfilling prophecy spurred them on to more piling on. They want a guy, like them, who went to the right schools and can bullshit his way through microeconomics authoritatively. Or let him be aspirational. Gosh, wouldn’t we all like to speak extemporaneously like Beto? He’s better than Obama who spoke in endless run on sentences with half a dozen prepositional phrases that left us all wondering if we were too stupid to truly understand the wisdom of his sayings.
Oh please.
Enough, guys. And ENOUGH. GUYS. I promised to vote for whoever the nominee is but until that time I’m going to fight like hell against and white male Democrat who thinks he can win by appealing to other white guys. That’s how we got Obama and Trump.
I heard last night that Elizabeth Warren hasn’t racked up as much cash as mayor Pete for the first quarter. Well, no wonder. Pete is getting fluffed pretty heavily by the punditry and the same damn thing that happened with Obama and trump is happening to Pete. We hear lots of breathless hype about how enthralled we are.
Well, here’s news to you, Chuck Todd. We aren’t enthralled. We’re offended. Yep, we’re not on Pete’s bandwagon or Beto’s or Biden’s. But you’ll find out when the first primaries happen and the power of pissed off women blow little Pete all the way back to South Bend.
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Waaaay back in 2008, we had a series of online fundraisers for Hillary. One night, we raised $10000.00. I’m motivated to try that again. Who’s with me? Let’s have a Cherish the Ladies fundraiser for our women candidates. Who’s first?
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Filed under: General |
The Confluence 
RD, I too find it ridiculous that Buttigieg is getting this kind of coverage, when he is essentially blasting Hillary and the Democratic Party. I find him to be supercilious, full of himself, thinking that he is much smarter than he is. He is, deliberately or not, doing Trump’s and Fox’ s work for them. He is in that sense a younger Sanders with better hair. Everything he says seems to be a criticism of the Democratic Party. And he is completely ignorant of history, if he actually thinks that going on Fox will help. I don’t know if he actually thinks it, is is just his niche marketing strategy. “Hilllary didn’t do this,” “She should have done that.” “We’re doing it wrong.” What are this person’s credentials to make those kinds of blithely stupid comments?
As to the male-female thing, I am a male, of course, so I might be inclined to see it differently. I like Beto pretty well, for his enthusiasm, for what does seem to be sincerity, and an earnest wish to help the country be better. I cannot stand Sanders. I do not like Buttigieg, and wish he would go away. Biden I have never liked that much, but I do think that much too much is being made of this sexual misconduct stuff.
I loved HIllary as a potential President, still do. I am not too excited about the women in the race. If I had to bet on who will get the nomination, I would say Biden or Harris. I think that Harris is much like Obama in being a wishful projection candidate, whose policy substance might be much less than the image. Warren still irks me because she played coy with Hillary in ’16, then said, “of course the primary was rigged.” So I don’t have a candidate to be excited about, the way I was with Hillary in ’08 and ’16. I wish I did. I really have no one to root for. If I had to vote in a primary now, I’d likely vote for Beto: and I like Swallwell if he runs, but he wouldn’t win. I’d enthusiastically vote for Adam Schiff. I like Stacey Abrams pretty well. I like Katie Hill, too, but she’s quite a ways from running. I will predict that Harris gets the nomination. And I would of course vote for her, but I will not follow the campaign the way I did last time. None of these have close to the depth of knowledge and the ability to tie all issues together in a grand vision, that Hillary has. That the public did not, or was not given the opportunity to, appreciate such a gift, is something that will haunt us forever.
Nice to see someone else not taken in by all the hype about Mayor Pete. Beyond that, I’m one of those socialists you’ve been hearing about. My ideal ticket would be Sanders/Warren. Looking for somebody who will break the momentum of neoliberal economics. I don’t find any of the other candidates trustworthy. If AOC were old enough to run I would dance around the campfire celebrating with you if we got her into the WH.
You have every right to be a socialist, it is an honorable philosophy, at least among its best people, like the Fabians in England, and someone like Eugene Debs or Upton Sinclair. I might even be a socialist on some aspects of economic theory. But no socialist is going to get elected President here. The biggest reason is that people will always conflate the term with communists. The second biggest reason is that America is not Europe, and they don’t want free markets taken away. So it’s a losing game, and all it does is get more Republicans elected. They will run their whole campaign against AOC, a fledgling Congresswoman. The surest way to keep the Republicans in power, is for Democrats to run around with policies which would cost middle class taxpayers far too much. Taxing the ultra wealthy to pay for all of it, and keep the middle class from paying any of it? A great idea, but it will never get through Congress, so it again is a futile effort.
As to “neoliberal economics,” I don’t even know what that means. I see Hillary as a Keynesian, and her policies were bold yet reasonable. Making college tuition free for anyone whose family does not earn $125,000. Raising minimum wage to at least $12.50, moving up to $15. I could run and say I’m for a $40 an hour minimum wage, and free college and graduate school tuition for all, and I’d get supporters. But who would pay for it? I could say, a 95% marginal tax rate on everyone earning more than a million dollars, and people would cheer wildly, and chant my name. But I would not win an election, and the fascist Republicans would win, instead. If you truly think that Hillary Clinton supports “neoliiberal economics,” you are in the wrong country, or else you do not care if we end up with a fascist theocracy, because that’s what will happen if a bunch of otherwise Democrats keep calling liberal FDR-type Democrats like Hillary, “neoliberals.” As for AOC, she is bold. But she could easily keep the Democrats out of power for the half century she holds that blue district of hers, by imagining that she is Jeanne D’Arc. There is no way on earth, outside of full “Mad Max” dystopia, that she is ever getting elected President. But the socialists voted for Nader just enough to give us G.W. Bush and Cheney, and they stayed home or voted for Stein just enough to give us Trump. What else do they have cooked up for us this time?
I’m not including Sanders in my list of candidates that I will support. Why? Because he refuses to join the party. He’s taking advantage of a lot of state funding for primaries and caucuses. Seems to me you ought to dance with the one what brung ya.
Period. Your persuasive skills will be lost to me here.
Also, I REJECT any ticket where the female candidate is automatically relegated to VP. Nope. Don’t even. I’m supporting a female candidate in the primaries for President.
William,
I agree with you that any candidate touting that they are a “socialist” is not going to be elected president for the reasons you posted. The sad irony is because of their unwillingness to see this reality, they actually end up helping the antithises of socialism, the right wing nut jobs, get elected. Being right about the rich no longer having all of the loopholes that spare them from paying their fair share, while the rest of us pay more than our fair share is not going to win the day. You have to approach it like Hillary tried to and actually have the smarts to succeed which she had. It is because of Hillary’s brilliance, I am convinced that the power elite were NEVER going to allow Hillary to be president. She had the brains to outwit them at their own game on behalf of the people and the power elite never wanted the people to believe in their own power. The one advantage we, the peopple, have over the rich is that there are more of us than there are of them. Soooo….they create a media that is pure propaganda to slowly condition the people how to think a certain way and most of all, to remain divided. How else could the media have allowed someone like trump to get by with no vetting whatsoever?
Hillary was our best hope to have greater equity in the country amongst all of the people and slowly but surely bring about real change that benefitted the rise of the people to a better life and a fairer system of government. However, our millenials are too steadfast in pursuing immediate gratification to see the forest for the trees. They never did appreciate who Hillary really was and is, and chose to believe the lies the media was spewing daily about her and put their support behind the likes of sanders and stein instead. When will people ever realize when people seeking power promise to deliver such mamoths like healthcare and education free for all is the biggest lie of all! Hitler would have been proud of sanders, stein and trump.
Here’s the catch…we still need the bold voices of reps like AOC who are absolutely right on about climate change and expecting more from the ultra rich to help turn this Titanic issue around because there is no time left to just talk about climate change. We must act now! Otherwise, there will no longer be a planet for dems, repubs, independents, socialists or libertarians to live, so elections will be pointless and chaos will ensue and bring on the survival of the fittest. I believe the rich have been working overtime to amasse as much wealth as they possible in anticipation of what’s to come if we continue to ignore our planet.
There has to be a balance of those voices like Hillary and AOC. The question is will we find it in time before it’s too late? Mayor Pete is certainly not the answer to this dillema because anyone who can disparage Hillary about how she ran her campaign (considering what really happened throughout that campaign which was beyond her control) is not as smart as he thinks he is and does not have my vote.
Wynne05, I totally agree that Hillary was the greatest threat to the oligarchs, the Right Wing, and ironically, as well as to the Far Left. I remember my father telling me about how the Communists in America hated FDR, because they thought he was mollifying people with his policies, and that this would take away their incentive for the Revolution. Now, Socialists are not Communists, but the Left hates the Clintons, for a similar reason. However, the Right very much perceived her as a threat, because she knows how to deal with them, whereas Obama wanted to be friends with them. So Hillary has no friends on the Right, and none of the Left, which of course accounts for the “unfavorable” numbers that get quoted.
Hillary is the best candidate that I have ever seen, except maybe for Bill, who always said that she would make a better President than he. That enough people could not appreciate that, is a tragedy. I don’t know what causes that. Misogyny is some of the reason, but I’ve heard plenty of female pundits carp at her, too. It maybe be something about her not being to the manor born ( I just looked up that phrase, as I have never been sure if it should be “manner” or “manor,” and apparently no one else knows, either!); the hard-trying middle-class young lady who married a man from Arkansas; who did not want to go to the Washington parties and hobnob. Whatever the complex reasons, and one could easily write three books about it, it is a great tragedy for this country. But now we have to find another candidate, and it is hard, because they are not Hillary. I agree that voices on the reasonable Left can be important; trying to arrest climate change must be an absolute priority, and we need bold measures. I’m just afraid that AOC is so taken with herself, that she doesn’t think these policies through, and just is so excited to be out front, and having everyone talk about her. And threatening to primary moderate Democrats is awful. We need some moderate Democrats in office, because the rest of the country is not NYC. All she’ll do is lose the seats for Democrats. I really wish she would go away, as I think she is more a negative than positive, but she won’t, of course.
One of the many fascinating questions, is whether we want our Democratic nominee and potential president to want to conciliate with Republicans, or battle them like they do us? I would prefer the latter, but the media certainly doesn’t. I’ve already lost much interest in Booker, because while he’s a good man, he keep talking about working together. WIth Mark Meadows? Biden does that, too. Obama always did. One good thing about Kamala is that I sense that she would battle, but I’m not sure which issues are most important to her, and if this isn’t more of a vanity project. We will see more as the long campaign progresses. But I certainly agree that anyone who bases their campaign on attacking Hillary, or lecturing us on what she should or shouldn’t have done or said, is not worthy of support.
Ack, the comment below was from me, and I inadvertently typed in a password to a sports site! No big deal, but I wish i did not now have to type in my email and name every time.
I have soured on Harris who had been my first choice, never had any use for Sanders WAPO may think he may become the nominee, I don’t, same Warren. Never a Biden fan the creepy Joe attacks remind me of the Clinton’s are racist campaign his ticket waged to attack Hillary in 2008, effective huh. Beto, no opinion yet. I’m still good with Amy, she handles the buy everyone a pony cavalcade well, needs a more robust news driven communication strategy, doesn’t appear to use racist dog whistles and fog horns, and appears to be a strong, smart, competent capable women who IMV could win my State that regrettably went with the unfit illegitimate orange grifter last time. Of course I’m a women, a Midwest moderate probably with the exception of social issues their I’m left . I’m hoping more candidates join the race this just doesn’t feel like the best Democrats have to offer yet or I’m just not into the everyone’s a racist or privileged so start the Revolution train wreck again.
The unfit orange grifter voters I know are not poor, are educated, hard working, family church going types, pragmatic, not losers but not driven achiever’s or change the world types Sander’s, Warren, Harris, the Mayor maybe Beto aren’t going to win their votes if they are needed, I’m not sure about Biden his Obama baggage I think harms him with this crowd, .
I lost a comment somewhere, wordpress is scolding me that it’s been posted. Anyway, agree with all you say.
I am going to give this another go, here’s my original comment.
How difficult is it, really, for a Dem POTUS candidate to give respect and props to HRC?
We didn’t see this kind of piling on with Gore or Kerry, neither of whom garnered the vote numbers she did. It is very awful and frustrating, especially in the light of the subtle/sometimes not so subtle misogyny.
The left is every bit as bad about this as the RW side. Sometimes I even prefer the blatant anti -woman rants from the GOP loons, at least I know exactly what they believe.
The supposedly objective TV pundits and male candidates on the Dem side provide just the right flavor of chauvinism, even as they speak “woke” words.
It brings to mind the song, “Smiling Faces Sometimes” by the Undisputed Truth. Enemies are to be feared far less than fake allies.
Obama was blatantly sexist in the primary campaign in 2008. He rolled it back during his time in office, but I saw and experienced the condescension and nastiness first hand from his convention delegates.
And, I will contribute to help female candidates.
HerstoryRepeating,
You are so right about the lack of respect being shown to Hillary while the pundits and the public leave Gore and Kerry alone.
Clearly, we still have a major problem with the hatred/fear of women in this country that overrides the ability to think rationally and causes men in particular to make some really stupid judgment calls about who is best suited to be president.
I agree totally with RD. I refuse to assume any female candidate will automatically be related to the VP spot. I still have faith in Harris, Klobuchar and Warren and don’t want to jump to conclusions about any of them until we get into the debates.
Beto has no record or experience to give me confidence that he can handle the job. Like Obama, he just wants to leap frog over everyone to get to the top because he is starting to believe his own press, which is a big mistake. He should show a little humility and should have run for the senate against Cornyn and learned more before deciding “he was born to run…”
Biden is way past his time and is not equipped to take on the mess that will be left by trump. Has everyone forgotten that the last 2 times he ran, he didn’t make even a descent showing in the primary, so what makes him so spectacular now that he can take on a corrupt, mean spirited thug like trump? Again, the lack of rational thinking when measuring the men vs. the women.
swordie,
Excellent points.
AOC is young and with that comes impulsive actions that is a result of lack of experience. We’ve all been there. She has a sense of urgency because of the dragging of the feet of those other reps who chose to take the easy way out in bringing our country into the future before it’s too late. Her ideas just need to be paired down and made more palleatble for the majority of people and “lead” them to understanding why this change is absolutely needed if we want a viable life on this planet. Change does not come immediately, it comes incrementally because most people don’t like change, and this is the No. 1 lesson she and others must learn.
I am hoping that Pelosi can be an influence AOC in how she promotes her ideas without causing fear amongst the masses! Let us not forget how extremely well she did when questioning Cohen and others. She did not grandstand as many of her more senior peers did and her questions were pointed, concise and illicited the kind of information that would lead the investigations into trump’s money issues much more successful in getting to the truth. We have to make room and embrace these young and bold representatives who will inherit the future of this country. I believe she is reasonable and would be open to mentoring by Pelosi and other more experienced representatives. I just wish she had the benefit of Hillary’s influence and guidance. However, there is something to look forward to…Hillary’s group “Onward Together” are supporting the “National Democratic Training Committee” stating, in part:
“…what makes a leader is a passion for solving the problems that face our country and our communities, and a willingness to listen. We saw that earlier this year, when the most diverse freshman class yet was sworn into the House of Representatives — something that would have been unimaginable even a few decades ago.
“It may not ever be easy. But our country was founded on the promise that it would change — that our union would have to be made more perfect…”
The key to continued success “onward” is for our freshman representatives is to “listen” and learn!
Why aren’t our female candidates getting the amount of coverage that the males are? Beto isn’t impressive to me. Cory Booker is the only man I can get behind in the race & gives proper respect to Hillary. He worked tirelessly for her during the campaign. Warren is being overlooked and it’s a crying shame… she’s so much more effective and clearer than Bernie ever will be yet he’ll get the glory and the glossy marketing campaign. She is laser focused and whip smart. Watch her CNN townhall!
Seagrl,
You hit the nail on the head. I agree that the women are being dismissed while the mediocre male candidates are being treated like they are the second coming without having to offer any specifics on how they plan to achieve all of the great things they are promising us (sanders is the leader on this). Warren deserves so much more respect than she has been given, but I believe the reason she isn’t getting it is because she is a threat to the patriarchys solid hold on Wall Street, the banks and money, in general, which supports the power they are so obsessed over. They can’t let this damn woman break up their fraternity fiefdom and actually compete on a level playing field, now can they?
Clearly, the media is run by men, for men and nothing has changed since Hillary was the lone female who was willing to walk the gauntlet of these misognyists. Now is the time for women to stand firmly together and hold the men to the same standards that the media and the 2 parties are holding the women. If we stand together on that basis, women will see that the women running will offer specifics on their policy proposals, will answer the questions without filling them up with bullshit in order to confuse and confound and for certain will not fall back on bravado to cover for a lack of specifics. The women will rise to the top when it comes down to actually offering real solutions instead of pie in the sky fairy tales. The days of just taking a man at face value in what they intend to do for the American people are over.
Stacey Abrams was on Morning Joe this a.m. She, too, said women are being treated differently than the men who are running…i.e., a man can look in the mirror and have a good hair day and that’s reason enough for him to decide to run for the presidency, whereas a woman has to have a Ph.D in everything in order to be considered a viable candidate for the presidency… of course, even if she does have such credentials, the media will still find some reason to disparage her anyway — they didn’t care that Hillary blew sanders and trump out of the water in every regard.
The time for women doubting themselves and their own power must end in the 2020 election because so much is at stake and we can’t afford another mediocre or compromised male in the WH. WE ALL KNOW THAT A WOMAN WILL BE EXPECTED TO ACTUALLY DO THE JOB WITHOUT ANY EXCUSES OR FREE PASSES GIVEN WHEN THEY FALL SHORT. THAT IS PRECISELY WHY WE NEED A WOMAN IN THE WH, NOW MORE THAN EVER.
Yes! And also let’s stop holding our female candidates to higher standards! The sexism being leveled especially at Harris and Warren is STAGGERING. Holding up minor gaffes from them as if they are comparable to the daily numerous lies and broken laws by this administration. Bots and trolls are out in full force… I really feel the dumbed down masses are going to fall for it again like they did in 2016. I’m not sure what it’s going to take for people to wake up?
Seagrl,
The key to breaking this misogynistic trend is for women to stop fighting each other and start standing together. As Hillary said throughout her campaign and it applies now – STRONGER TOGETHER!
Everyday that slogan becomes more and more relevant! It’s actually a brilliant slogan & makes you THINK. It’s a rallying cry for all of us…