Too bad. My favorability for Buttigieg just went down about 2 notches.
And a classic example of a sleazy media hit job trying to obscure the issues by appealing to emotions. It’s like when that guy asked Dukakis, “Well, how would you feel about the death penalty if YOUR DAUGHTER HAD BEEN VIOLENTLY RAPED AND MURDERED???”
It was his wife, not his daughter.
I support enfranchisement of felons who have been released from prison. The idea of bringing absentee ballots (or maybe a voting machine?!?) to prison so hardened murderers and rapists can cast ballots, strikes me as (1) questionable on the merits and (2) insane on the politics. :smack:
What do we expect the polling on this would be? Maybe 80-20 against?
Why are people willing to take a flyer on philosophically extreme positions with no base of support, no chance of actually occurring, when we have a national emergency called HELLO TRUMP IS IN THE WHITE HOUSE AND WE HAVE TO GET HIM OUT?
Nitpick, it was his wife that Dukakis was asked about. According to the excellent book on the 1988 campaign, Whose Broad Stripes and Bright Stars, Dukakis had an excellent answer rehearsed but totally flubbed it due to being sick with the flu.
Isn’t the Boston marathon bomber a non-citizen? He can’t vote even if he weren’t in prison.
I mentioned in the Biden thread that I’m glad Biden is going to suck up all the oxygen for a bit. I’m damn impressed with Mayor Pete but I think it’s time for the momentum to cool. Here’s his time to start building an infrastructure to campaign in the early states, roll out some more details on policy positions, and talk things over with some political consultants.
I think his policy on inmates voting is the right one. But, there was certainly a backlash on Twitter by some. A bit of time out of the intense spotlight of the previous month will be good for Mayor Pete. Staying out of the firing line of the so-called progressives for a while sounds perfect, they’ve unleashed their ire on Biden.
Which is a great illustration of what Obama was talking about (the “circular firing squad” thread) in terms of how that wing of the party (if they can really even be said to be in the party) damages our electoral chances.
IMHO both Beto’s and Mayor Pete’s base seems to be shaping up to be the upper middle class urban folks. In the race for this demographic, and based on how they’ve done so far, my prediction is that Mayor Pete is going to end up outlasting Beto.
As for his overall chances, I give him a fair shot, but by no means a favorite yet, of passing Biden, Sanders, and Harris. IIRC 538 has him with the 3rd or 4th best odds of winning the nomination.
ETA. The week Beto declared he was running I was a Beto supporter and donated to his campaign. Since then I’ve changed my mind and I’m a Buttigieg supporter.
Indeed.
My personal theory is this: in recent state referenda (Florida et al) the people have voted to reinstate the franchise to at least some former felons and Republicans, aware that this is a population heavily skewed toward black people convicted of drug offenses who are unlikely to vote GOP, have been doing everything in their power to prevent the results of those referenda from being implemented in time for next year’s elections. They have raised this issue in its most emotive form in order to aid those efforts, prevent further similar referenda from succeeding and generally smear Democrats.
IOW it’s bullshit as usual.
Buttigieg’s claim, quoted in this Politifact article, is/was
Politifact rates this as “Mostly false”, based on the fact that it doesn’t count Pence’s time as VP or his time as an executive in the private sector. They do note that if you only count time as the top elected official of a government body, it is true, but discounts the wider scope of the governor’s responsibilities. The headline of the article calls the claim “misleading,” which I’d concede. On the other hand, I personally find Pence to be a poor excuse for a human being, and think Buttigieg is more qualified than he just based on not seeming like someone who thinks The Handmaid’s Tale is a utopian novel.
So why take the bait, when there’s a simple answer (that, again, Pete did understand–to his credit). “People in prison have many rights taken away from them, including basic ones like being able to walk around freely outside. Once they are out of prison, they have that right back and should get the right to vote back as well”. The end. Simple. No “slippery slope” as Bernie claimed (unless he agrees with his buddies in the DSA that prisons should be abolished altogether).
Bad news for Pete:
“In the days and weeks ahead, I will share my full story with the nation.”
Anyone who takes this at face value is a fool.
Mayor Pete is also not in favor of free college tuition. He believes that those people who don’t go to college shouldn’t have to subsidize those who do, since the latter will earn more money. This seems like a reasoned stance to me.
I think ignoring it would be foolish, but I agree, just believing whatever accuser comes out of the woodwork is foolish. I, for one, will be interested in hearing what comes of this in the days / weeks to come.
So, this guy says Pete sexually assaulted him in February? The month *after *Pete launched his presidential exploratory committee?
I’m not saying it absolutely positively didn’t happen, but why, in the time of #MeToo, would a person actively running for president do anything that came anywhere close to being viewed as sexually improper? It just seems a little off and too convenient right when Pete is taking off in the polls.
And this guy’s going to drag his story out over the coming days and weeks? Yeaaah…
If this were a woman accusing Biden? The press would swarm all over that story. They’d hound him out of the race within a few weeks.
Buttigieg can’t be given a pass because it involves an alleged sexual assault on a man.
It has to be taken seriously. If the allegations are proven false, then the appropriate charges need to be filed against the accuser.
Anyone care to click that link? What’s the rest of that website look like?
Google Buttigieg assault
The story is slowly spreading. So far the major news sources are ignoring it.
Hopefully they’ll be able to verify the story’s plausibility before publishing.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH…
[cough] excuse me…
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA