How the World Has Changed

9 Comments for “How the World Has Changed”

  1. posted by Tom Scharbach on

    I’ve supported Mayor Buttigieg financially every month since he began his run, not because I expected him to secure the Democratic nomination, but because he, like President Obama, is intelligent, well-educated and thoughtful, and, contrary to the standard attack lines from Republican shills (see, for example, “Another Extremist” by Stephen H. Miller on February 17, 2019) he is a center-left moderate, not a wild-eyed “extremist”.

    I will continue to support him as long as he remains in the race. Mayor Buttigieg is a Midwestern Democratic right up my alley, as is Senator KLobuchar. I prefer both to the other candidates now running.

    I do not expect a repeat of 2008 (when Iowa opened the door for President Obama), and I do not expect Mayor Buttigieg to win the nomination. But Iowa was not a surprise. Mayor Buttigieg has been working hard in the state, and his polling numbers reflected that effort in recent weeks.

    The most interesting thing about Iowa’s result and the surrounding mainstream press coverage is that Mayor Buttigieg is no longer (and hasn’t been for a long time) treated as a “novelty” candidate making a quixotic run as a “homosexual activist”, in the way that Fred Karger was treated when he ran some years ago, and still is to a large extent.

    Instead, Mayor Buttigieg is being treated by Democrats in Iowa and elsewhere as a serious candidate who will rise or fall on his own merits. That is progress.

    Incidentally, Mayor Buttigieg as not “robbed”. Robbery requires intent. Massive incompetence doesn’t count as “robbery”.

  2. posted by JohnInCA on

    Meanwhile, the Texas GOP once again refused to let the Log Cabin Republicans a booth at the state convention.

    The contrast in the stories coming out of each party is pretty stark.

  3. posted by Kosh III on

    I’m still waiting for the homocons to support Mayor Pete just like they urged us to support Carl Demaio just because he was gay.

  4. posted by Jorge on

    That airbrushed halo in that photograph…

    Incidentally, Mayor Buttigieg as not “robbed”. Robbery requires intent. Massive incompetence doesn’t count as “robbery”.

    Fine. Mayor Pete “wuz” robbed.

    I’m still waiting for the homocons to support Mayor Pete just like they urged us to support Carl Demaio just because he was gay.

    Not happening. Pete Buttigieg is a wild-eyed extremist. We’ll just get Trump another upside down rainbow flag.

    But he is a kind of extremism that might make the Democrats sane again. It kinda reminds me of the contest between Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, and Ron Paul in 2012.

    This time, the religious conservative may knock out the slick haired salesman outright while the rabid nutcases are running strong. But Buttigieg’s only chance is to knock out the other moderates first.

    • posted by Kosh III on

      How the frak do you consider Mayor Pete to be a “wild-eyed extremist.” His positions are moderate, comparable to Klobuchar(my choice) or Biden.
      I’ll vote from whomever has the D after the name just to rid us of the Pussy-grabber-in-Chief.

  5. posted by Tom Scharbach on

    The contrast in the stories coming out of each party is pretty stark.

    I’m interested in how the 2020 Republican National Platform shapes up this year. The 2016 Platform was, in the words of LCR, “the most anti-LGBT Platform in the Party’s 162-year history“. As LCR put it:

    Moments ago, the Republican Party passed the most anti-LGBT Platform in the Party’s 162-year history. Opposition to marriage equality, nonsense about bathrooms, an endorsement of the debunked psychological practice of “pray the gay away” — it’s all in there.

    .

    I don’t expect the Party to make any substantive changes in policy — the base is the base, after all — but I’m hoping that the Party will at least tone it down a bit.

    The President is already mocking Mayor Buttigieg about his name (e.g. “I think it was boot-edge-edge, boot-edge-edge. They said ‘think of it as boot, and then edge, edge’ because nobody can pronounce this guy’s name.“), and the Republican base will lap it up if he starts making “butt” jibes. So I’m hoping for the President to restraint the obvious middle-school jibes, but not expecting it.

    • posted by JohnInCA on

      Given how hard conservative gays have turned into the trans-panic nonsense, I’m hoping -but not expecting- that LCR will at least hold the line on what it finds acceptable. But I suspect the LCR of 2020 will fall in line where the LCR of 2016 was willing to stand up and denounce.

    • posted by Tom Scharbach on

      Given how hard conservative gays have turned into the trans-panic nonsense, I’m hoping -but not expecting- that LCR will at least hold the line on what it finds acceptable. But I suspect the LCR of 2020 will fall in line where the LCR of 2016 was willing to stand up and denounce.

      I don’t expect much from LCR this election cycle. LCR “reluctantly” endorsed President Trump in the general election in 2016 and has since turned into yet another Trump mouthpiece, more or less indistinguishable from the rest of the Republican establishment.

      Along those lines, I’ll make a prediction: If Mayor Buttigieg is on the ticket, Republican campaign ads at all levels will prominently feature this picture or something similar (the message to the base will be loud and clear), and LCR will not raise a word of criticism.

  6. posted by Tom Scharbach on

    As an aside, the Washington Post has an interesting article this morning: “Buttigieg’s Iowa success unleashes emotion and commentary on his gay identity“.

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