I will be honestly shocked if Buttigieg is polling anywhere near the top 3 months from now. He seems like an articulate decent young man but there’s no way he is going to keep up on that alone. I can’t imagine him being able to build up a real national campaign organization compared to other names in the field.
Well, now that Trump has levied tariffs on Chinese-made bravos to pay for the wall, I wouldn’t be so sure about their availability.
[fingers crossed someone takes the bait on one of those hijacks…]
You’re on Ravenman! Just change the word “steel” to “bravos” and you have my stand on the issue!
Do you use Jacob Wohl for much of your information?
I’m baffled Wohl and his pal Bruckman (isn’t he the guy with the unzipped fly?) haven’t managed to land in jail or at least been slapped with a civil suit yet. How far do they have to go with their bullshit before they cross a legal line?
Also, I want to give Larry Borgia a hearty BRAVO! for ending that hijack.
(I refrained from using any of the “left leaning” media for this information, although many of them have published this news.)
Pretending this is a serious question for a moment: no.
I think he’s a stupid bullshitter, who has committed the cardinal sin of bullshit: he’s believed his own bullshit.
That is, they really do believe that all the sexual assault claims levied against Republicans in the last few years are themselves made up, deliberate smears by Democratic Operatives to destroy these Fine Upstanding Men. And they believe that creating such a fake is just as easy as getting someone to say “He touched me!”, and like magic, everyone will believe it, and the person will be destroyed.
But what they’ve actually done is prove how easy it is for a stupid hoax to come crashing down in literally hours, when even the most rudimentary fact checking shows that it’s all bullshit.
Too bad they’re too stupid to realize that, though. So expect more of the same from these clowns.
You going to give him a laurel, too? 
Ok, since we’re still bravoing.
“Kelly said he was under the impression he would spend a few days helping research Buttigieg’s background and trying to find dirt that might trip him up. But after he arrived, Kelly said, Wohl showed him the Medium post under Kelly’s name and claimed it was just a draft. Kelly said he was unsure whether he wanted to move forward before he went to bed.At 4:30 a.m., he said that he sent Wohl a message on the encrypted messaging app Signal saying that he was incredibly uncomfortable and not on board with the plan. But by the time he got out of bed at 11 a.m., Kelly said, the post had been published and was spreading across the internet with the help of…”
Ditka.
Gotta love it:
“Believe the victim! Until he starts naming me!”
Mayor Pete, anti-vaxxer?
"In particular, Buttigieg believes exemptions are appropriate for people who can’t be vaccinated for medical reasons. Personal belief and religious exemptions should only be allowed in states that aren’t facing a public health crisis and where herd immunity rates of vaccination are maintained.
“These exemptions include medical exemptions in all cases (as in cases where it is unsafe for the individual to get vaccinated), and personal/religious exemptions if states can maintain local herd immunity and there is no public health crisis,” the spokesperson said."
How do you get anti-vaxer from that? There really are medical reasons why some people can’t get vaccinated. That’s part of the reason why it’s so important for everyone else.
The “personal/religious exemptions blah blah herd immunity” is a sop to the anti-vaxxers. Fuck that.
That’s not an anti-vaxxer position. It’s not my preferred policy–I liked Booker’s answer better–but it’s reasonably nuanced. He’s doing two things here, I think, with respect to non-medical exemptions (he’s 100% correct on the medical ones). First, he’s putting the responsibility squarely on individual states, which should make people suspicious of the Federal government feel at ease. Second, he’s setting a reasonably high bar for those states: keep your herd immunity, or make the vaccinations mandatory.
Maybe with the actual Bully Pulpit, he’d be more forceful in pushing mandatory vaccination, but he’s just a low-probability candidate now. This seems like a generally pro-vaccine middle ground that could get him some votes without really losing any.
That said, my answer would’ve been: “Not vaccinating your (not immune-compromised) kids is basically equivalent to driving them around without seat belts, in a school zone, after a couple of drinks, and you should be arrested for child-endangerment.” That’s why I’ll never be a politician.
I care about one thing only. ONE thing only. Can the candidate defeat Donald Trump in the election?
I believe Pete can do it. I also believe Biden can do it. Anyone else, I am doubtful of.
The article JohnT quoted appears to have been updated that Pete only supports medical exemptions:
Which is good, since “maintaining levels of herd immunity” doesn’t seem particularly measurable/scientific to me.
Thanks for the update, muldoonthief.
I agree that this is the crucial criterion (as long as someone is not too far “off the reservation” in terms of policy). But I don’t agree at all that those two are the only ones, or even the best ones to do it. (Just for starters: why would we experiment now, of all moments, with a nominee who is either younger or older than anyone before, ever?) I believe that almost any Democratic nominee would be a favorite against Trump, but there’s a huge difference between having a 40% chance of losing and a 10% chance.
Obama was the youngest ever, and that worked. I really do not believe age is the issue that SO many other people seem to perceive it, either with being “too old” or “too young.” People appreciate youthful energy and they appreciate elder wisdom, and I think they appreciate them both equally. What matters is if the candidate can sell them.