# Who is Pete Buttigieg? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 12, 2019, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032 "2019-03-12T21:59:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 32
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/621 "2019-12-31T16:28:00Z")
[Buttigieg has just announced support for decriminalization of all drugs.](https://reason.com/2019/12/30/pete-buttigieg-says-we-should-decriminalize-all-the-drugs/) This is not the same thing as legalization, but nonetheless it would be a big step in the right direction. So he deserves credit for taking a clear stance on a big, bold policy proposal. I’m still not voting for him, though. ---
**Author:** ![Unreconstructed\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/76d3ee/32.png) [@Unreconstructed\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unreconstructed_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/622 "2019-12-31T17:11:36Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > [Buttigieg has just announced support for decriminalization of all drugs.](https://reason.com/2019/12/30/pete-buttigieg-says-we-should-decriminalize-all-the-drugs/) This is not the same thing as legalization, but nonetheless it would be a big step in the right direction. So he deserves credit for taking a clear stance on a big, bold policy proposal. > > I’m still not voting for him, though. Just out of curiosity, who’s your preferred candidate? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/623 "2020-01-01T14:59:10Z")
This is Pete Buttigieg: raised 24.7 million dollars in Q4. > **[Pete Buttigieg’s Campaign Says It Raised $24.7 Million in the Fourth Quarter...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/01/us/politics/pete-buttigieg-fundraising.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share)** > > Mr. Buttigieg, who appears in strong position in Iowa with a month until the caucuses, continues to show fund-raising strength. NYT, probably paywalled. ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/624 "2020-01-01T15:36:50Z")
**Why Pete Buttigieg Enrages the Young Left** > [@](#): > > Normally the first candidate of a generation can expect to ride a wave of youth enthusiasm, as John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton once did. For the 37-year-old Buttigieg, it’s been quite the opposite. The newly radicalized Teen Vogue invoked a cringeworthy class-warfare pun to declare his campaign a “Lesson in ‘Petey’ Bourgeois Politics.” Jacobin, tribune of the socialist wing of the Democratic Party, has developed seemingly an entire vertical focused on slamming Mayor Pete. A writer for Out magazine, putting it in starker terms, tweeted that if he “had balls he’d run as the republican he is against trump in the primary.” > Why is the enmity from young, left-wing activists toward Buttigieg so visceral? It’s true that they favor Bernie Sanders, but Buttigieg comes in for a type of loathing that surpasses even that they hold for Sanders’ older rivals, Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren. > > The Los Angeles Times’ Matt Pearce compiled a list of potential explanations on Twitter, including that the left may perceive him as a traitor to his generation, a stark opportunist, or the representative of a shadowy and discredited D.C. professional class. The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson also surveyed the theories, ultimately concluding that the continuity with the Obama era that Buttigieg promises might be too much for progressives to stomach. The answer, of course, is likely “all of the above.” > > But those explanations are still too general to explain the fury inspired by a fourth-place presidential contender and Midwestern college-town mayor. And it’s not his ideology: The resentment he inspires runs much deeper than that earned by the Amy Klobuchars and Michael Bennets of the world—both of whom have more politically moderate tendencies than Buttigieg, who has, among other positions, argued for raising the minimum wage to $15, introducing a public health care option, expanding the size of the Supreme Court and abolishing the Electoral College. (Asked for comment for this article, a representative from the Buttigieg campaign told Politico that staffers are occasionally vexed by the cold reception to a platform that’s well to the left of any recent Democratic presidential nominee.) > > The unspoken truth about the furor Buttigieg arouses is that his success threatens a core belief of young progressives: that their ideology owns the future, and that the rise of millennials into Democratic politics is going to bring an inevitable demographic triumph for the party’s far left wing. > > The left believes the youth are on its side—and as shown by Bernie Sanders’ popularity among the under-30 set, as shown in a recent Quinnipiac poll, they’re apparently right. In a primary debate with the incumbent former Rep. Joe Crowley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, “I represent not just my campaign, but a movement.” Mobilized young Democratic Socialists of America members have raved to the New York Times about how the DSA is “what the Democratic Party should be.” Waleed Shahid, spokesman for the Ocasio-Cortez-aligned Justice Democrats, has dramatized the generational struggle by interpolating a famous Gramsci quote with his pinned tweet: “The old America is dying. A new America is struggling to be born. Now is a time of monsters.” > > So it’s especially galling that the first millennial to take a serious run at the presidency is nothing like the left’s imagined savior. Buttigieg is a veteran, an outspoken Christian, a former McKinsey consultant, and, frankly, closer to Mitt Romney than Sanders or generational peer AOC in his aw shucks personal affect. In the eyes of radicalized young leftists, Buttigieg isn’t just an ideological foe, he’s worse than that: He’s a square. [https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/01/01/pete-buttigieg-enrages-left-liberals-2020-091479](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/01/01/pete-buttigieg-enrages-left-liberals-2020-091479) ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/625 "2020-01-01T17:55:31Z")
> [@Boycott](#): > > **Why Pete Buttigieg Enrages the Young Left** > > [https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/01/01/pete-buttigieg-enrages-left-liberals-2020-091479](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/01/01/pete-buttigieg-enrages-left-liberals-2020-091479) I’ve seen a bunch of these type of articles. I think some of the authors need to realize that Twitter isn’t real life. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/626 "2020-01-01T23:46:03Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > promoting his PAC that supposedly raised money for other Dem candidates but actually it paid twice as much to his comms person than the sum total it contributed to candidates [Link](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pete-buttigiegs-pac-was-supposed-to-help-elect-democrats-it-mostly-promoted-him_n_5ddd6cbde4b0913e6f74ff7e?aw) for this. > [@dalej42](#): > > This is Pete Buttigieg: raised 24.7 million dollars in Q4. > [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/01/us/politics/pete-buttigieg-fundraising.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/01/us/politics/pete-buttigieg-fundraising.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share) > NYT, probably paywalled. Hey, the Wine Cave candidate _should_ be able to raise big bucks. > [@Boycott](#): > > **Why Pete Buttigieg Enrages the Young Left** > > [https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/01/01/pete-buttigieg-enrages-left-liberals-2020-091479](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/01/01/pete-buttigieg-enrages-left-liberals-2020-091479) Empty editorializing, and about what you’d expect from _TBOTP_. That’s _Tiger Beat on the Potomac_, per Charles P. Pierce. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/627 "2020-01-02T01:39:23Z")
It may be empty editorializing but something here is weird. You Warren people are scrutinizing, with laughable bias, the merest facial tic in the PB camp. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/628 "2020-01-02T02:45:22Z")
I must expand on how I don’t get it. Buttigieg and Warren are seemingly taking very different lanes, why go hard on someone with so little overlap? I know her internet strike force doesn’t report to her campaign manager but even still… Some well informed intelligent Warren boosters seem to think hyperbolic nitpicks are going to win back the people who got nervous a month and a half ago when she began her ~7% decline. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/629 "2020-01-02T03:24:46Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > I must expand on how I don’t get it. Buttigieg and Warren are seemingly taking very different lanes, why go hard on someone with so little overlap? I know her internet strike force doesn’t report to her campaign manager but even still… Some well informed intelligent Warren boosters seem to think hyperbolic nitpicks are going to win back the people who got nervous a month and a half ago when she began her ~7% decline. To be honest, I think her campaign staff is scared of engaging Bernie’s army of trolls and nasty supporters , both online and in person. She and her staff don’t want videos of protesters at her rallies. That video of the ‘Black lives matter’ white Bernie Bro yanking the microphone away from the black woman speaking in favor of Pete should be a reminder that when she has to turn her attention to Sanders, she’d better be prepared for the absolute worst from Bernie’s trolls. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/630 "2020-01-02T04:29:27Z")
I like Buttigieg reasonably well, don’t know if I’ll vote for him or not when my state’s primary comes up this spring. I’ll certainly consider him, but it’s by no means a done deal. I’m also a little baffled at the degree of hostility I’m seeing toward him in various places on the internet. The things being referenced in this thread–well, I don’t think I would describe them as “merest facial tic[s]” (sorry, CarnalK), but they don’t seem like big issues and certainly don’t seem like disqualifying ones. From the time he threw his hat into the ring my main concern about him has been his lack of political/governmental experience, and the last couple pages of this thread don’t do anything to add more concerns on top of that. I’ve seen anti-Buttigieg screeds from fans of several different candidates, I think, but since Warren’s fans have been mentioned I’ll just add that [Jezebel.com](http://Jezebel.com), a site which generally supports Warren, also seems to have it in for Buttigieg in a way that it doesn’t for Biden, or Sanders, or Yang, or Klobuchar. The level of anger at his campaign seems out of proportion to the things he’s doing and saying. YMM of course V. I thought **Boycott’s** link was interesting, and it brings to my mind the question of how Buttigieg is actually doing among people under, say, 40. Is it just that he’s not polling as well as we might expect among folks in that demographic (because as a young guy he “ought” to be getting 50% and he isn;t), or is he really doing much better among other age groups? Anybody know the numbers? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/631 "2020-01-02T04:48:13Z")
Yes, well “merest facial tic” was simple hyperbolic exaggeration. I’m speaking to my audience. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/632 "2020-01-02T05:05:16Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Yes, well “merest facial tic” was simple hyperbolic exaggeration. I’m speaking to my audience. 😉 Fair enough! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/633 "2020-01-03T04:48:44Z")
On his first campaign event as former mayor, Buttigieg eschews his trademark white shirt and blue tie and wears a full suit like he does for the debates and did in his position as mayor. He’s also updated his post mayoral a twitter profile with a new profile pic. > ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2020, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/634 "2020-01-04T04:35:23Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > We’ve had good polls in NH as well and that’s great being in the backyard of both Warren and Sanders… Okay, that “we” was disturbing. You and Pete, polling like mofos… but this?: > [@dalej42](#): > > On his first campaign event as former mayor, Buttigieg eschews his trademark white shirt and blue tie and wears a full suit like he does for the debates and did in his position as mayor. He’s also updated his post mayoral a twitter profile with a new profile pic. You’re now keeping us posted on what he’s wearing? And that he took a new photo of himself? Just, whoa… ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2020, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/635 "2020-01-04T13:07:04Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Okay, that “we” was disturbing. You and Pete, polling like mofos… but this?: > You’re now keeping us posted on what he’s wearing? And that he took a new photo of himself? > > Just, whoa… You don’t think what a candidate wears is part of the campaign? What if Andrew Yang started wearing a necktie during his appearances? So, yes, I do think his recent appearances wearing a suit is noteworthy since he was so well known for the white shirt, blue tie, and slacks in 2019. And yes, I notice when someone I follow on Twitter changes their profile pic. Pete’s new profile pic looks far more Presidential as he’s now no longer mayor. > ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2020, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/636 "2020-01-04T17:28:28Z")
Pete continues to be my favored candidate. Here’s how I described my initial reaction to him last year: “Expected Pete Campbell; got Don Draper.” The instant he starts talking, all of the other candidates sound like “grade-school tee-ball vs. the New York Yankees”, to use another AMC-series metaphor. He has confidence. He has authority. The fact that he has this and is still only in his 30s speaks volumes, but then again, you don’t get to be both a Navy officer AND a Harvard graduate by being an underachiever. Peoples’ cynical, blase attitude about this very gifted individual is disconcerting to me. Here we have another JFK in the making, and people are just dismissing him as “that gay white dude.” ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/637 "2020-02-28T15:27:57Z")
Washington Post has an article on Buttigiegs in Malta: It’s a common name there. 2,850 of them – mostly unrelated to Mayor Pete of South Bend. There are mayors, ambassadors, a bishop, and a past president named Buttigieg. And the article confirms: The name means chicken farmer. [In Malta, a land of 2,850 Buttigiegs, they’re rooting for Mayor Pete](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/in-malta-a-land-of-2850-buttigiegs-theyre-rooting-for-mayor-pete/2020/02/28/f906134e-58e1-11ea-8efd-0f904bdd8057_story.html) > [@](#): > > The surname has Arabic roots, dating at least to the Middle Ages, a time when some names were derived from occupations. Literally, it means father or master of chickens, so Buttigiegs would have been in the poultry business going a long way back. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/638 "2020-03-02T00:21:27Z")
[Mayor Pete has dropped out](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/01/buttigieg-dropping-out-of-presidential-race-118489) and so can now aspire to better things. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/639 "2020-03-02T10:34:12Z")
If this run was really about brand-building, this is the perfect time to drop out - he’s kept a solid level of support and funding throughout, he’s got a couple of “wins” under his belt but also enough of an excuse to drop out before Super Tuesday so he’s not tainted by material losses, everybody knows (and mostly can pronounce) his name, he’s given the Overton window on the whole “gay president” thing a shove in the right direction, he’s identified his weak areas with the public (mostly around experience and the need to gain the confidence of black voters), and he’s positioned to become somewhat of a power player in the party. I’m guessing his next step is a House run in 2022; going for the Indiana governorship would probably put him in better stead for the next run but the timing is off and it’d be a harder lift for him anyway. Maybe a House run and _then_ the governorship? And a keynote speech at the DNC either this year or in 2022. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/640 "2020-03-02T14:36:51Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > If this run was really about brand-building, this is the perfect time to drop out - he’s kept a solid level of support and funding throughout, he’s got a couple of “wins” under his belt but also enough of an excuse to drop out before Super Tuesday so he’s not tainted by material losses, everybody knows (and mostly can pronounce) his name, he’s given the Overton window on the whole “gay president” thing a shove in the right direction, he’s identified his weak areas with the public (mostly around experience and the need to gain the confidence of black voters), and he’s positioned to become somewhat of a power player in the party. > > I’m guessing his next step is a House run in 2022; going for the Indiana governorship would probably put him in better stead for the next run but the timing is off and it’d be a harder lift for him anyway. Maybe a House run and _then_ the governorship? And a keynote speech at the DNC either this year or in 2022. Also he looks like a party team player, to drop out and allow ‘anybody but Sanders’ support to coalesce around somebody else. Party ‘establishment’ types will be grateful to him for doing that, or at least would have tended to get pissed off at him for remaining in the race when he has no real chance of winning. Which Warren and Klobuchar both risk doing I think. Although that probably matters less to Warren, who’d be viewed as too old to try again in 2024 or 2028 by conventional standards. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032.md?page=31) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032.md?page=33)