Tag: Pete Buttigieg

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Report: Pete Buttigieg To Endorse Joe Biden For President

L-R Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg
Reuters is reporting that former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg plans to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden today for president. This comes a day after Buttigieg ended his historic campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Sen. Amy Klobuchar also announced she is ending her campaign as well and is reportedly traveling to Texas to campaign with and endorse Biden tonight.

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Pete Buttigieg Ends His Historic Bid For Democratic Nominee For President

Pete Buttigieg (image via Instagram)

Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., who rose from virtual anonymity to become the first openly gay candidate to make a high-profile run for the Democratic presidential nomination, has announced he is ending his bid for the White House.

From the Washington Post:

The development marks an abrupt end to what was briefly an ascendant candidacy, as Buttigieg won the Iowa caucuses and came in second in New Hampshire. But despite attracting enormous attention, significant support and sometimes enthusiastic crowds, there was no clear path forward toward the nomination.

Buttigieg’s decision comes shortly before Super Tuesday, the biggest primary day of the year, at a time when the Democratic race shows signs of becoming a race between Sen. Bernie Sanders and former vice president Joe Biden, with Biden occupying a centrist position that Buttigieg had hoped to make his own.

If there was one vulnerability that felled him, it was his inability to win trust or support from black voters, a key pillar of the Democratic coalition.

After a fourth-place finish in South Carolina Saturday — and results that showed he achieved abysmal levels of support with black voters–Buttigieg consulted with his team Saturday night before flying to Georgia to meet with former President Jimmy Carter Sunday. His campaign scheduled a Sunday night call for donors and did not provide a subject.

By the time all the votes were counted in South Carolina, Buttigieg had only garnered 3 percent of the Black vote in the Palmetto State, according to the Washington Post. Buttigieg is to be lauded that, in looking forward, he saw no path for winning the nomination and understood his leaving the race could benefit former Vice President Joe Biden – another candidate with which Buttigieg shared the ‘moderate’ lane. MSNBC is reporting Buttigieg decided he didn’t want to be the guy to keep a stronger nominee who the Democratic party could rally around from getting the nomination. Many of the talking heads on TV are speculating as to whether the vote-counting debacle in Iowa, which caused the results to be delayed for days, might have muddied his historic achievement and perhaps hurt his candidacy to some extent. Had he gotten the ‘clean win’ would that perhaps have propelled him to besting Sanders in New Hampshire where, instead, he came in second? We’ll never know. Watch an emotional Chasten Buttigieg introduce his husband Pete for his speech to supporters last night.

As an openly gay man, I have to say the Harvard educated/Rhodes scholar has been a more-than-worthy candidate to represent the LGBTQ community in his historic run. Initially seen as a longshot candidate, he ultimately found himself running with the big dogs, going toe-to-toe with U.S. senators with much higher name recognition and decades of experience in Washington, D.C. The “left-handed, Maltese-American, Episcopalian, gay millennial-war veteran” has presented himself well with dignity, poise, and grace. When asked by a nine-year-old supporter for advice on coming out, Pete said “when I was trying to figure out who I was, I was afraid that who I was might mean that I could never make a difference. And what wound up happening instead is that it’s a huge part of the difference I get to make.” I certainly see a bright future for Buttigieg – hopefully in Joe Biden’s administration. On the day of his announcement, I shared this photo on social media writing, “If I tried I could never fully express what THIS really means to me. Every day I celebrate possibilities…” I still feel the same way.

Pete and Chasten Buttigieg

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Sanders Staffer Fired For Homophobic, Misogynistic Twitter Attacks On Opponents

Photo of Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Mayor Pete Buttigieg

Photo of Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Mayor Pete Buttigieg
L-R Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Mayor Pete Buttigieg
If you follow politics on Twitter, you know folks can be absolutely brutal lobbing shade about this or that political candidate. For some time now, some have noted that a cadre of supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) can be rather vicious in their comments. While Sanders has attempted to tamp down accusations that his supporters are any more sharp-tongued than other candidates’ followers, The Daily Beast reports one Twitter account that has spent months smearing Sanders’ opponents in a particularly ugly vein. It turns out the account was being run by Sanders’ regional field director in Michigan, Ben Mora. As The Daily Beast’sScott Bixby wrote, “At least some of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ most toxic support is coming from inside the house.” Using the Twitter handle @perma_ben, Mora was particularly ugly in going after openly gay Pete Buttigieg tweeting the former mayor of South Bend “is what happens when the therapist botches the conversion.” He also called Buttigieg “psychotic” for deploying to Afghanistan. In another tweet, Mora told his followers he could “never trust Buttigieg because he combined the natural devious disposition inherent in gay men with a bloodthirsty careerist drive.” The Sanders staffer also went after Buttigieg’s husband, Chasten, tweeting, “Chasten Buttigieg has the vibes of a housewife whose slow burning repression is leading to an inevitable psychotic break, mark my words in 10 years he will go missing and then resurface in Ft Lauderdale after getting busted for running a meth racket w a bunch of Guatemalan twinks.” Mora dragged Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) writing, “When [Sen. Elizabeth] Warren talks about how she knows she’s Native American because of her ‘high cheekbones’ where sis? Another lie. You look like shit.” He also accused her of being “an adult diaper fetishist.” He mocked Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) comparing her face to “that optical illusion where it’s an old lady but also a young woman depending on how you look at it but with her it’s just two different old ladies.” Mora also said Klobuchar “looks like her name: pained, chunky, [and] confused origin/purpose.” Mora didn’t keep his attacks limited to just his boss’s opponents. He trolled the cast of Netflix’s Queer Eye as “neoliberals,” and said openly gay statistician Nate Silver “starts to make a lot more sense when you realize he is probably the ugliest gay man to ever live.” Another tweet about Buttigieg seemed to allude that Mora might have been running a Twitter account with the username @FagsAgainstPete, which has since been shut down. According to Bixby, screenshots of the tweets were shared with The Daily Beast by one of Mora’s followers hoping their publication would help Sanders to understand how ugly folks on his team can be. Mora apparently joined the Sanders campaign last fall. He locked his Twitter account nearly six months ago so only folks who were already following him could see his tweets. But the avatar for the account clearly shows his face and links to his personal Instagram account. Prior to the publication of the story, Bixby reports the Sanders campaign did not respond to requests for comment on the report. The Sanders campaign has since announced Mora has been fired. A statement from Mike Casca, Sanders’ communications director, read, “We are running a multiracial, multigenerational campaign for justice where disgusting behavior and ugly personal attacks by our staff will not be tolerated.” Sanders was asked about the tone of some of his supporters on Twitter last week during the Democratic debate in Las Vegas. “I’m not going to tell you we don’t have some jerks out there,” Sanders said. “I do want to say to those folks: We do not want your support. If you think that what our campaign is about is making ugly attacks on other candidates, we don’t want you.” Since the report went up on The Daily Beast, Bixby has tweeted he’s been on the receiving end of thousands of attacks.

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9-Year-Old To Buttigieg: ‘Would You Help Me Tell The World I Am Gay? I Want To Be Brave Like You’

L-R Secretary of State Jena Griswold, Zachary Ro, Pete Buttigieg
Addressing supporters at a rally in Aurora, Colorado, on Saturday night, Pete Buttigieg got a question from a 9-year-old boy in Aurora, Colorado, asking for advice on coming out as gay. “Thank you for being so brave,” said Zachary Ro in a question read by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold. “Would you help me tell the world I am gay too? I want to be brave like you.” “Well, I don’t think you need a lot of advice from me on bravery,” said Buttigieg as the crowd roared its approval. “You seem pretty strong. It took me a long time to figure out how to tell even my best friend that I was gay let alone to go out there and tell the world. To see you willing to come to terms with who you are in a room full of a thousand people, thousands of people you’ve never met, that’s really something.” Amid the cheers for Ro, Mayor Pete did offer a couple of thoughts to young Zachary. “The first thing is that it won’t always be easy, but that’s OK because you know who you are,” shared the 38-year-old candidate. “And that’s really important because when you know who you are, you have a center of gravity that can hold you together when all kinds of chaos is happening around you.” “The second thing I want you to know is that you’ll never know who’s taking their lead from you, who’s watching you and deciding that they can be a little braver because you have been brave.” “When I was trying to figure out who I was, I was afraid that who I was might mean that I could never make a difference, and what wound up happening instead is it’s a huge part of the difference I get to make,” added Buttigieg. “I never could have seen that coming, and you’ll never know whose life you might be affecting right now just by standing here. There’s a lot of power in that.” Buttigieg closed the moment with the one thing every young LGBTQ kid needs to hear: “The last thing I want you to know is that even if I can’t promise it’s going to be easy, I’m going to promise that I’m going to be rooting for you.” The 9-year-old also gave Mayor Pete with a friendship bracelet, which the candidate proudly put on. #BravoPeteButtigieg

Zachary said he didn’t come to the event planning to ask the question. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing written down on a piece of paper and handed to volunteers collecting questions as he entered the rally Saturday night. Griswold told the Colorado Sun Zachary’s came up randomly. She was pulling questions gathered in a bowl and didn’t know whose questions she was grabbing. Afterwards, a reporter asked young Ro why he sought out Mayor Pete’s advice. “I feel inspired by seeing Pete being openly gay and running for president at the same time, and someday I want to be like him,” said young Zachary. “I feel like he gave me some really good advice.”

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San Diego Union-Tribune Endorses Pete Buttigieg For President

(image via Instagram)
The San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board endorsed Mayor Pete Buttigieg for president this week.

It’s close, but in the view of The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board, Buttigieg is best suited to beat Trump because of his centrist policies, his military experience, his (admittedly small-scale) executive experience and the enthusiasm he’s inspired, with better fundraising and national polling, bigger campaign crowds and more news coverage than Klobuchar.

He has shown he can manage a national campaign successfully. And in a nation that only legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, his message of generational change could actually inspire change.

Of the six strong Democratic candidates left, half are 77- or 78-year-old men, two are women, one of whom is 70, and then there is Buttigieg. He may have only been mayor of the fourth-largest city in Indiana, but his fresh approach is transformational.

[sic]

The New York Times Editorial Board asked Buttigieg how he would balance his devout Episcopalian faith with his duties as commander in chief, and he showed both his wisdom and his eloquence: “I think you have to accept the reality that you are living and working in a broken world just as we are all broken human beings and try to order your steps in a way that brings greater good than harm.”

That resonated with us, for its lofty rhetoric and grounding in humanity and hope: “greater good.”

It’s time for a generational change. It’s time to make America good again.

Vote Pete Buttigieg for president of the United States.

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#BeardedButtigieg Pics Go Viral

(images via Jim Fall)
Bearded pics of openly gay White House hopeful Pete Buttigieg hit the internet on Thursday and immediately went viral along with the hashtags #Bearded Buttigieg and #DaddyPete. A quartet of photos was shared by longtime New York City gay blogger kenneth-in-the-212 with the headline “Mayor Woof for President.” Kenneth added the caption, “I’ll bet the gays wouldn’t be complaining about this candidate.” Kenneth was referencing that, even though Buttigieg is the first openly gay viable candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, he hasn’t been universally embraced by the entire LGBTQ community.

Kenneth revealed they were the creative genius of Jim Fall, film director best known for the classic gay movie romp Trick and the upcoming Trick 2.

Fall told The Advocate he was inspired to beard-up Buttigieg after being “impressed with [Buttigieg’s] ability to stay cool and smart” during Wednesday night’s “fiery debate in Las Vegas.” After coming across a pic of Buttigieg with a mustache Thursday morning, Fall decided to get creative with FaceApp on his own with the former South Bend mayor’s pics. “And damn, he looks good with a full-on beard!” he told The Advocate. Falls says he doesn’t have a favorite in the Democratic primary race just yet, although he admits “both Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren have stayed at the top of my list.” There was no FaceApp time for Warren though. “Elizabeth doesn’t look so good in a beard or mustache, so I didn’t post those,” Fall added.

Fall does hope, though, that perhaps the bearded images might help some folks take a fresh look at the 38-year-old candidate. “It’s like, dang, he’s smart and sexy,” says Fall. “That’s an intoxicating combination.” “It’s amazing to me that we are living in a time where an out gay married man is a serious contender for the presidency,” explained Fall. “No matter what you feel about his specific politics, the LGBTQ community should be celebrating. I see so many gay men on social media knocking him down, and it’s disheartening.” “You don’t have to love him or even support him, but don’t disrespect him,” added the director. “Don’t eat your own.”

(source: The Advocate)

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Thoughts On Democratic Debate In Las Vegas

I’m late getting to this but I wanted to put out a few thoughts about last night’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas. First, welcome to the debate stage billionaire and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. After spending nearly half a billion on campaign ads, he finally got on the debate stage and had to face some heat. And boy did he. Within seconds of the beginning of the date, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (who really, really needed a good night) ripped Bloomberg a new one.

“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said. “And no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg.”

Warren followed that up later when the issue of women who had sued Bloomberg were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements. Warren was unrelenting.

Needless to say, Warren had that ‘good night’ she was shooting for. Over the next 24 hours, she reportedly raised over $5 million for her campaign. Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg landed some blows on both Bloomberg and Sen. Bernie Sanders for their ‘polarizing’ personas as well as not really being Democrats.

The other ‘big’ clashes of the evening were between Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Buttigieg. When Klobuchar was asked about a recent ‘oopsie’ in an interview when she couldn’t name the president of Mexico, Buttigieg pointed out she sits on important Senate committees that deal with Mexico. And, then Klobuchar started to unravel. I’ll admit I was surprised to see Amy get so rattled, so unnerved. In the video below, her body language and voice really hyper-up as Buttigieg remains calm. At one point, Amy offered a snarky, “I wish everyone was as perfect as you, Pete.” At another turn, she informed him that he hasn’t ‘been in the arena,’ apparently inferring the work mayors do isn’t important.

In reading other outlets today, I came to realize Klobuchar has a particular distaste for Buttigieg. She sees the attention he’s received and his rise in the polls as unfounded, and the result of white, male privilege. I actually have my own idea as to why Buttigieg garnered the attention he did from the start of the race. He was the new unknown. An openly gay, Rhodes scholar, Afghanistan veteran unknown who not only is well-spoken but speaks seven languages. He was a new story for folks to lean in to. Buttigieg turned in good debate performances. And did well in Iowa and New Hampshire. In any case, I think Klobuchar didn’t handle the moment well last night. She could have chosen to take a breath before responding. But, instead, she went on a rant that looked frantic. As an alternative, she could have just stated, in regard to the name of the Mexican president, “I was tired and the name slipped my mind. It happens to everyone.” And then, STOPPED TALKING. She would have served herself better, in my opinion. Along the way, as no one was attacking former Vice President Joe Biden, he had one of his best debates of the primary season. It may help him do fairly well in Nevada and then next week in South Carolina. If Biden comes in second in Nevada, then wins South Carolina, he may recover some of his momentum.

Sanders entered the debate as the newly-anointed front-runner for the nomination and nothing in the debate changed that. It’s worth noting that NBC News sent out a press release announcing the event was the most-watched Democratic debate ever, averaging nearly 20 million total viewers across the two networks, according to Nielsen Fast National Data. The one take-away I have from last night that I think is important is about ‘big-picture.’ There are four moderate Democrats currently competing for the same moderate Democratic voters. And as such, they are getting only about 12-15 percent support each. Meanwhile, Warren kind of faded after her poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire leaving the progressive lane to just Sanders. Thus, his rise in the polls. Each state’s contests divide up delegates proportionately according to the votes received. BUT – delegates are proportionately allocated to candidates getting 15% or more in a primary or caucus. If you don’t get to at least 15% you get nothing. If only one candidate gets 15%, the allocation is effectively winner-take-all. If no candidate meets the 15% threshold, Democratic Party rules state the minimum to receive delegates will be 50% of the vote received by the front-runner. Check out the delegate count below after two states’ contests. Only five candidates have earned delegates to date. Buttigieg and Sanders have nearly 3x the number of Warren or Klobuchar. According to reports, Klobuchar’s surprise third-place finish in New Hampshire was great news for her campaign, but she apparently hadn’t invested in any campaign infrastructure in Nevada having focused on Iowa and New Hampshire. So, many don’t expect her to do well this week. MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki looked at the polling in upcoming states and it looks pretty grim for many of the remaining candidates other than Bloomberg (who’s literally spending millions and millions), Biden, and Sanders. Notice that Harris and Klobuchar aren’t even registering in double-digits. And Buttigieg seems stuck at the 11-12 percent level. That means no delegates from those states if these numbers are even in the ballpark. Take a look at the California numbers. If Sanders walks away with 32% of the delegates, and Warren, Buttigieg, and Bloomberg fail to even be viable gaining zero delegates – Sanders begins to amass a delegate count that could be insurmountable. Meanwhile, Bloomberg has been spending in other states like North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Arkansas – and it’s paying off for him. Now, after last night, we’ll have to see how those numbers stack up on Super Tuesday. Finally, check this last graphic – Bloomberg is virtually the only Democrat with ads up in Virginia.   Needless to say, when you don’t win delegates, the campaign donations dry up. The next two weeks could very well boil this race down to two or three candidates. We shall see.

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Buttigieg To Limbaugh: My Marriage Has Never Involved “Hush Money” To Porn Stars

During last night’s CNN Town Hall event, Pete Buttigieg’s response to recent comments by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh about his sexual orientation earned him the biggest applause of the night. Last week, Limbaugh asked his listeners if they could imagine Donald Trump “having fun” with the idea of Buttigieg kissing his husband, Chasten, after a debate. He added that “America’s still not ready to elect a gay guy kissing his husband on the debate stage.” Rushbo’s stance seemed to be that Democrats were uncomfortable with the idea of Pete and Chasten exchanging PDAs. Note – it’s very common for candidates to hug/kiss their spouses after a debate event. Why a hug between the Buttigiegs would be ‘too much’ isn’t quite clear. Limbaugh also wondered aloud how parents would “explain” Buttigieg kissing his husband to their children. This point became an instant meme with folks referencing Donald Trump’s infamous Access Hollywood statement: “How do you explain ‘Grab’em by the p*ssy’ to your children?” The next day, Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera asked Trump about Limbaugh’s comments. Trump said that he could see Americans voting for an openly gay candidate. “There would be a group that probably wouldn’t, but you or I wouldn’t be in that group.” On Sunday, during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Dana Bash asked Buttigieg to respond to Limbaugh’s remarks. “Well, I love my husband. I’m faithful to my husband. Onstage, we usually just go for a hug, but I love him very much,” Buttigieg said. “And I’m not going to take lectures on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh.”

Fast forward to last night’s event on CNN, Erin Burnett asked Buttigieg about the comments from Limbaugh (who’s been married four times) and Trump (who’s been married three times): “Publicly, Trump says he would not have a problem supporting a gay candidate? Do you take him at his word?” “Not if he’s sending out his supporters to talk in this way,” answered Buttigieg. “The idea of the likes of Rush Limbaugh or Donald Trump lecturing anybody on family values?” “I’m sorry, but one thing about my marriage is it’s never involved me having to send hush money to a porn star after cheating on my spouse.” #BOOM #HugeApplause “So if they want to debate family values, let’s debate family values, I’m ready,” added the former mayor.

Six of the Democratic candidates, including Buttigieg, will take to the debate stage tonight in Las Vegas in advance of Saturday’s Nevada caucuses. The debate will be broadcast live on NBC News, MSNBC and Universo (in Spanish) beginning at 9 p.m. ET.

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Podcast: Shooting In Miami, Gay Marriages Experience Less Stress, New Music From Bridesmen

The Randy Report podcast

The Randy Report podcast delivers the week's top stories in a quick, convenient podcast - 'the 60 Minutes of gay news - only shorter' In this week’s podcast: • Two gay men were shot in Miami for kissing goodnight • A new study shows men in same-sex marriages experience less stress than their straight peers • Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh went after Pete Buttigieg’s marriage but Pete clapped back • New report shows LGBTQ youth consider suicide even more than we thought • And new music from Bridesmen All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report

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Buttigieg: ‘I’m Not Going To Be Lectured On Family Values From The Likes Of Rush Limbaugh’

During appearances on Sunday morning talk shows, Democratic White House hopeful Pete Buttigieg was asked about comments made this week by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh asked listeners if they could see Donald Trump having homophobic “fun” with Buttigieg kissing his husband on stage. He also wondered aloud how parents would explain Buttigieg kissing his husband to their children. Buttigieg responded to Chris Wallace on FOX News Sunday: “I’m in a faithful, loving, committed marriage. I’m proud of my marriage. I’m proud of my husband. I’m not going to be lectured on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh or anybody who supports Donald J. Trump as the moral as well as political leader of the United States. America has moved on and we should have politics of belonging that welcomes everybody. That’s what the American people are for. I’m saddened for what the GOP has become if they embrace that kind of homophobic rhetoric.”

The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, expressed similar sentiments when speaking to CNN’s Dana Bash on State of the Nation: “I love my husband, I am faithful to my husband. On stage, we usually just go for a hug, but I love him very much. And I am not going to take lectures on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh.”