Pete Buttigieg
[BACK TO THE GRIND....]
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| With spouse Chasten Glezmen |
It is with more than a smidgeon of trepidation that I throw myself into the tank for the candidacy of the mayor of my late mother's home town, Pete Buttigieg. My hesitation has nothing to do with the man's sexuality. Twelve years ago when Barack Obama announced that he was exploring a possible run for the presidency in 2008, I was reminded of the song from Man of La Mancha, The Impossible Dream. Although I conceded that he had a chance to take home the big prize, I knew that it would be an uphill battle. A black man with a Muslim middle name sandwiched between two African names was going to face a few unique hurdles to be sure. Following the two disastrous terms of George W. Bush anything was possible. Today the possibility of being an eye witness to President Pete's inauguration in less than two years is not half as preposterous to some as it would have seemed only a decade ago. Following the worst president since the founding of the republic, the American electorate (historically not the most enlightened lot) are liable to send a gay progressive to the Executive Mansion for no other reason than an act of mass desperation.
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My hesitation regarding the Buttigieg run has more to do with the man's appearance. Let's face some serious facts here, campers: the guy seems too good to be true. Although I have never regretted voting for Obama during the campaigns of 2008 and 2012, he turned out to be bit of a disappointment in more-than-a-few instances. I don't want to appear to be the fawning admirer today as I was then. I'm a bit older and (I hope) a heck of a lot wiser. You grow, you know?
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| Over There |
As impressed as I was with Barack's credentials eleven years ago, Pete's resume is something else indeed: Harvard graduate, Rhodes scholar, Afghanistan veteran, concert pianist - and he's able to read seven languages and is fluent in four of them. Compare that to the current occupant of the White House who barely makes himself understood in English. When watching him being interviewed on television, his thoughts are articulate and precise, which is somewhat of a rarity these days. It is obvious that Pete Buttigieg is brilliant. That is not an exaggeration on my part. Look him up on YouTube if you think that it is.
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It was my cousin, Margaret Clements, who first made me aware of this brilliant and innovative mayor about a year ago. She was on hand the other day when he threw his hat into the ring at South Bend's old Studebaker plant. My admiration for him has only increased in the ensuing months. Obviously the fact that Pete is gay is not going to go over too swimmingly in most (but not all) traditional red states. And yet I believe that when enough voters have a good look at the man, and listen to what he has to say, it's not to much of a stretch to think that enough of them will be able to put aside their pre-conceived notions to give him a chance at the presidency. On the surface, this Midwestern mayor is what can only be described as a "dream candidate". His devotion to Christianity is proof that the Religious left, as personified by people like Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton, is reawakening from a long and troubled slumber.
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"President Pete". It sounds good to me.
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Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
AFTERTHOUGHT:
This is the first thing I've posted in over a month. I broke my arm and could barely raise it to the keyboard for the longest time. We're getting better all the time.
SUGGESTED READING:
One-hundred and thirty years ago today, Charlie Chaplin came into the world. Here's a link to a piece I wrote five years ago on the 100th anniversary of his entrance into the movies:
https://tomdegan.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-century-of-charlie-chaplin.html
Smile though your heart is breaking....
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
AFTERTHOUGHT:
This is the first thing I've posted in over a month. I broke my arm and could barely raise it to the keyboard for the longest time. We're getting better all the time.
SUGGESTED READING:
One-hundred and thirty years ago today, Charlie Chaplin came into the world. Here's a link to a piece I wrote five years ago on the 100th anniversary of his entrance into the movies:
https://tomdegan.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-century-of-charlie-chaplin.html
Smile though your heart is breaking....
posted by Tom Degan @ 11:10 AM
33 comments
33 Comments:
Tom,
If elected president how will Mayor Buttigieg improve the current Obama economy?
great rant Tom. you nailed many of my thoughts... President Pete - love that, last name too hard to say....LOL.
I'm a reliably Democratic voter. I voted to give Jimmy Carter a second term during my very first vote. Mayor Pete gets my vote if he wins the nomination. That Buttigieg is brilliant and accomplished is a bonus.
...Pete's resume is something else indeed: Harvard graduate, Rhodes scholar, Afghanistan veteran, concert pianist - and he's able to read seven languages and is fluent in four of them. Compare that to the current occupant of the White House who barely makes himself understood in English." ~~ Tom Degan
Quite a dichotomy from the mobster-in-chief: Harvard plus Oxford graduate, versus questionable higher educational qualifications; Navy veteren who served in war zone, versus draft-dodger; fluent in several languages, versus less than proficiency in native-tongue.
It'll be nice, one day, to have a president who's up to the task of governing.
"Since there WAS obvious collusion and conspiracy with Russians"
Dave Dubya
Proving once again you can't fix stupid, but you can censor anything that disagrees with you, right dave?
Glad to hear your arm is healing. missed the blogs.
The father of Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg was a Marxist professor who spoke fondly of the Communist Manifesto and dedicated a significant portion of his academic career to the work of Italian Communist Party founder Antonio Gramsci, an associate of Vladimir Lenin.
Wanna bet the nut doesn't fall far from the tree?
Thanks, Mark. We're on the mend!
Sorry about your arm. I was getting concerned over your absence.
I am beginning to warm to Pete. It's still a very long way to the nomination. Our elections truly are a blood sport.
I love you, Tom! You always have great insights.
The building(Notre Dame Cathedral)was so overburdened with meaning that its burning feels like an act of liberation.” Rolling Stone Magazine.
Who disagrees with this comment?
In a CNN interview Pelosi demanded that Trump remove a tweet quoting Omar, but just admitted she doesn’t even know what Omar said...another great example the leadership of the left.
Bret Easton Ellis ends his career by telling 'spoiled children' liberals to deal with Trump: 'He was elected president. Get over it' in his latest book "White". Ellis mocks the "childlike fascism" and "demented narcissism" of American liberals that helped put President Trump in the White House and left them facing "mental and emotional collapse."
dave dubya claims censorship is only solution.
Jefferson Guardian blames the nationalism of whites, but not any other race.
Welcome back and sorry to hear about your arm Tom. Hope you heal quickly. Your absence was worrying.
I suppose, Vern, it's how I feel when I'm "under-burdened" by your constant inability to stay on topic. I've come to expect it, and I've learned to laugh about it.
So much so, I'm totally liberated of your trollish nonsense.
Who agrees with this comment?
Although, Vern, in your tepid defense I suppose it could be argued you confused the flying buttresses of Notre Dame Cathedral with the soaring popularity of Pete Buttigieg.
People do have difficulty pronouncing Mayor Pete's last name. Could it be you have challenges reading it? ;-)
With apologies to Elvis and his "Suspicious Minds":
"Liberal Minds"
They’re caught in a trap
They can't back out
Because they’re hate is too much, baby
Why can't they see
That they’re lying to me
When we don't believe a word they say?
We can't go on together With liberal minds
And we can't build our dreams
On liberal themes
A thorough, honest recap of the Mueller report and the reaction by Glenn Greenwald, who writes for Slate and The Guardian:
"The nature of our political discourse is that nobody ever needs to admit error because it is easy to confine oneself to strictly partisan precincts where people are far more interested in hearing what advances their agenda or affirms their beliefs than they are hearing the truth. For that reason, I doubt that anyone who spent the last three years pushing utterly concocted conspiracy theories will own up to it, let alone confront any accountability or consequences for it.
But certain facts will never go away no matter how much denial they embrace. The sweeping Mueller investigation ended with zero indictments of zero Americans for conspiring with Russia over the 2016 election. Both Donald Trump, Jr. and Jared Kushner – the key participants in the Trump Tower meeting – testified for hours and hours yet were never charged for perjury, lying or obstruction, even though Mueller proved how easily he would indict anyone who lied as part of the investigation. And this massive investigation simply did not establish any of the conspiracy theories that huge parts of the Democratic Party, the intelligence community and the U.S. media spent years encouraging the public to believe.
Those responsible for this can refuse to acknowledge wrongdoing. They can even claim vindication if they want and will likely be cheered for doing so.
But the contempt in which the media and political class is held by so much of the U.S. population – undoubtedly a leading factor that led to Trump’s election in the first place – will only continue to grow as a result, and deservedly so. People know they were scammed, that their politics was drowned for years by a hoax."
The Mueller report flatly states that Russia began interfering in American democracy in 2014. Over the next couple of years, the effort blossomed into a robust attempt to interfere in our 2016 presidential election. The Obama administration knew this was going on and yet did nothing.
When will this investigation begin?
Mueller report states Russians were trying to influence the 2016 election in 2014. Why didn't President Obama top them? That he didn't calls for a special investigation. We must know when Obama knew, what he knew, what he did to save our democracy from future Russian attacks.
Don't you agree Tom?
I like Pete, but I like him better for Vice-President. While he's got great background qualifications, he lacks experience in Federal government. (Yes, I know he was a great mayor, but that's a bit different.)
I'm still for Elizabeth Warren — old enough to be experienced, young enough that I won't worry she'll either have a stroke or go ga-ga in office, with a clearly defined program. I know what she stands for, beyond likability, and furthermore I like and want what she stands for.
Yours crankily,
The New York Crank
"On the surface, this Midwestern mayor is what can only be described as a 'dream candidate'." ~~ Tom Degan
At this very early point in the race to place competency and dignity in the executive branch again, I'm following Pete Buttigieg closely also. I'll make a determination once he starts talking about policy issues and vision.
He's the exact - and refreshing - opposite of the corrupt maniac occupying the White House.
Mayor Pete is Superman; Donald Trump is his counterpart from Bizarro World.
Mueller, a Republican, appointed almost all non-Republican lawyers; among them many donors to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign; among them lawyers of the former Obama Justice Department who had been briefed by Bruce Ohr on the contents of the Steele dossier at a time when Fusion GPS and members of Obama Administration were doing their best to seed the gossip mill among the media; and among them a few lawyers who variously had either represented the Clinton Foundation or former Clinton aides or former Obama Administration officials; and among them Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, who earlier had sent each other hundreds of text messages, many of them expressing not just loathing of the object of their investigation, but also vows to ensure that Trump would not become president.
Eventually, Brennan, Clapper, Comey, and McCabe, along with others, will feel what it is like to have a federal prosecutor leveraging them, but this time about real, not made-up, crimes.
The hard Left, “Impeach Trump!” Democratic presidential field will no longer have an excuse to avoid explaining to the American people their weird agenda: a fundamental transformation of the country antithetical to the visions of the American Founders and likely on every issue opposed by a majority of Americans.
TB3 how about reading the attack on my religion by dave, BEFORE I responded to him. Please understand, sock puppet, dave is not posting all of what I offer, on purpose I might add, as he is a coward, and will not publish this for his own sick reason. He is afraid. He is a traitor..He is a racist...He is a liar.
JG how about not bearing false witness, you seem to be on that. Along with the DNC and their false paid for by HRC Steele Dossier which they used to get FISA warrants. Is that something your god in the AZ sweat hogan would approve of?
dave, where's the Trump indictment from Mueller for collusion? You seem very frightened that TB3 might read ALL of what I've said, why is that dave?
Name some socialist dictators
STALIN
HITLER
dave DUBYA
Wow, collusion to effect the 2016 election because a real estate developer was looking into developing Russian real estate. Sounds like a crime
dave, who was in the White House in 2014 when as the Mueller report states, Russia started to interfere with the 2016 election?
Why didn't the President in 2104 stop the Russian efforts?
You see TB3 these are other questions I've asked that dave is afraid to post, guess I'll have to post them somewhere else. Reason dave didn't post, he said they were hateful. racist and supported white nationalism. Pretty big lie.
Bob Woodward: FBI And CIA Handling Of Steele Dossier ‘Needs To Be Investigated’
while Obama was President.
One of the few people on the left asking the right questions.
"And yet I believe that when enough voters have a good look at the man, and listen to what he has to say, it's not to [sic] much of a stretch to think that enough of them will be able to put aside their pre-conceived notions to give him a chance at the presidency." ~~ Tom Degan
Mayor Pete, in the words of Joe Scarborough on Morning Joe (April 23rd), "hit it out of the park" during last night's CNN Town Hall.
I'm liking Buttigieg more and more each time I see him. It's still early, but he may be the real deal.
It's really nice to have an INTELLIGENT EDUCATED person running for POTUS. Trumpf has always been a failed businessman and he cannot think. He's a disgrace.
"TB3 how about reading the attack on my religion by dave, BEFORE I responded to him. Please understand, sock puppet, dave is not posting all of what I offer, on purpose I might add, as he is a coward, and will not publish this for his own sick reason. He is afraid. He is a traitor..He is a racist...He is a liar." - JTF
Oh. He's all of those things, is he? Not publishing something you wanted to post to the comment section on his own personal blog thus forcing you to respond to me on someone else's blog which isn't even relevent to this blog post's topic? Yeah. DD sounds like a monster. I am sorry that you feel it necessary to act like you feel attacked. I am also sorry that your faith isn't strong enough to hold up to the imaginary criticism you think your faith endures.
"Is that something your god in the AZ sweat hogan would approve of?" ~~ Timothy L. Trueblood V, or simply "Vern"
Vern, please put down the bottle and rewrite this when you're sober and coherent.
Still waiting for Rashida Tlaib & Ilhan Abdullahi Omar to tell us their views on the beheading of men for being gay in Saudi Arabia. Will any media person even ask them a question about this? Will Pete say anything?
"Still waiting for Rashida Tlaib & Ilhan Abdullahi Omar to tell us their views on the beheading of men for being gay..." ~~ Timothy L. Trueblood V (or simply, "Vern")
Why do you think you're owed an explanation? Is it because they're Islamic? Because they're Islamic, do you believe they owe the world an explanation for the reckless and atrocious justice system of an outlaw nation?
Do you expect viewpoints be expressed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also? How about Donald Trump?...or Mike Pompeo?
Does anyone expect you to provide an explanation for the thousands sexually molested by Christian priests and pastors?
Do you feel obligated to answer for the sins of other Christians? If you do, why haven't you?
"Will Pete [Buttigieg] say anything? ~~ Timothy L. Trueblood V (or simply, "Vern")
Do you think Buttigieg is obligated to comment on Saudi Arabia's brutal and perverted system of justice? If yes, why?
If no, do you expect Bernie Sanders to express his viewpoints? How about Joe Biden?
"Still waiting for Rashida Tlaib & Ilhan Abdullahi Omar to tell us their views on the beheading of men for being gay in Saudi Arabia. Will any media person even ask them a question about this? Will Pete say anything?" - JTF
So many questions for something you care so little about.
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