I actually really like buttigieg, but he’s wrong. A woman of color AND a gay man? I wish we lived in that country but we don’t live in that country.
Yep, maybe after boomers and gen x have died off sure, but this country is still battling itself on lgbtq rights.
I think this is a common misconception about how electability works in a first-past-the-post voting system. There is no benefit to going with a compromise position or reaching out to moderates. The number of people who can be persuaded to vote one way or another is miniscule. The number of people who can be persuaded to vote or not to vote is massive.
If people are excited or scared, they come out to vote. With disenfranchisement primarily focused on progressive and minority voters, there’s not much left to gain in scaring regressive conservatives more, they already vote at high numbers.
While the last part about voting (being persuaded to vote or not vote) is true I think you overestimate the ven diagram of people who are both homophobic and racist. There are plenty who are one and not the other.
Sure. Not him though.
Yep. Who the fuck cares about the right. They want the most morally represhisble person to be their king. Could give two shit what they think about it.
Edit: for all the nay sayer in this thread you are obviously oblivious to the type of pull Pete has. We need to double down on progress. Yes an aging astronaut might look good on paper but the most progressive ticket America has ever seen is also good.
I’m a member of the queer community and absolutely do not think this is a wise idea for this cycle. Maybe next time around Pete.
Pete is 100% but he is not the correct gay candidate. He needs time to grow.
100
No, 100 times from this one seems excessive.
I mean this sincerely. Who the fuck cares if he’s gay…but… he’s doing an amazing job where he is. He’s going after shitty airlines and shitty corporations that are screwing people over. Give him 4 more years dunking on delta please !
Who the fuck cares if he’s gay
A subset of voters that we want to win over
Do we though?
Considering our election system is fundamentally broken and a few thousand voters in a handful of states control our outcome, yes.
Btw, I’ve noticed nearly every positive dem post on Lemmy today has the top comment being a bot generated negative comment… it’s so obvious it’s standing out.
I’d be fine with a gay VP. We shouldn’t be choosing our candidates based on what bigots want.
Though I’m not sure Pete is it. He has documented animosity from Black voters because of his time as mayor of South Bend during a period of disparate enforcement of cannabis prohibition. Since Harris is trying to distance herself from her time enforcing cannabis prohibition when she was DA, I think appointing Buttigieg runs the risk of reinforcing the “she’s a cop” narrative and increasing the likelihood that it will become an effective attack against her.
But, are they ready for a VP that has only been mayor of a small town and a cabinet member four years?
They were ready for a President who had only been a failed businessman and a game show host, so probably yes?
Different they. You two are talking about different groups of people. Kamalas path to victory isn’t doing what Trump voters approve of, it’s doing what people who don’t like Trump approve of.
Sharice Davids?
That would be a fun ticket.
Buttigieg is quite ambitious
They aren’t. Play it safe please. Moderate white male. Trump needs to be crushed.
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Honestly, I’d settle for a good one. Gay or not. Because a person’s sexuality and preferences are entirely irrelevant to one’s ability to be a fair and hard working representative.
Let’s not pretend that people would refuse to vote for a gay candidate.
Whether we personally consider it an issue it has likely massively hurt their prospects as a politician.
Also representation is really important. Especially for younger people.
it has likely massively hurt their prospects as a politician
Or, the complete opposite.
Do you think there’s any way Pete, the mayor of a town of 100,000 people, would have become a national presidential candidate if he wasn’t gay?
Absolutely. Hes one of the best communicators in the party. Dude is a fantastic surrogate. Especially when you send him into unfriendly territory. I’m not going to say he’s the right pick for VP (I have some problems with his policy background), but acting like he’s only where he is because of his sexuality is fucking stupid.
I’ve never in my life voted for someone because they were a heterosexual. I vote based on their track record. When we stop giving a shit about what people do with their genitals, we will be better off. We don’t need gender identity representation in our politics- we just need someone that will treat all people as equals- and enact policy that reflects this.
When we stop giving a shit about what people do with their genitals, we will be better off.
(From the people who brought you “JD Vance fucks couches”.)
Unless he himself has been saying that, you’re painting with too broad a brush. We aren’t all accountable for what our political allies do. Thank fuck. There are plenty of people on the left with more enthusiasm than ability to reason and communicate in public.
And I say that appreciating the irony that I will hold republicans accountable for allowing Nazis in their midst. But the difference to me is they don’t speak out. Some of us will call out the left on bullshit (e.g. Gaza) even if we share similar ultimate goals. I see very few on the right ever do that.
Also, Vance fucks furniture is sort of obvious humor that no one takes really seriously, anyway, so probably not worth tackling that as a serious subject.
Again you might not but plenty of people would. I would say it’s a pretty large crowd as well.
Also sexuality has nothing to do with gender.
We’re not talking about gender, we’re talking about homosexuality. That has everything to do with genital preference.
They said gender identity.
When we stop giving a shit about what people do with their genitals,
This is not how international politics work. Can you think for a second of the optics on the world stage? The us isn’t some international flyover state equivalent like Iceland. If Harris steps down and Buttigeg needs to meet with someone in the Middle East how do you think that meeting is going to go over? The US is a big fish and this is like, unprecedented for a world power this huge.
I imagine it would go something like this:
Hello Mr President welcome to my country.
Exactly. It would be an incredible way to push forward lgbt+ rights. I’d prefer a candidate with good politics, but I’d be lying if I didn’t like the idea of how it would ruffle bigots… But Harris’s main goal is to get elected.
Ok, fine I’ll give you that totally unlikely outcome. Pete then follows up with the question: Your nation executes homosexuals but decided to let me live, are you going to reconsider your policy on executing them?
How do you think that response will blow over? This is an unstable region with extreme hatred towards anything lgtbq. Very unlikely they’d even invite him to discuss any oil deals.
Ooh! Is it Fantastic Fiction Story Time?! Ok, my turn!
Then, President Buttigieg produces flowers from thin air with a “Tah-Dah!”, handing them to the foreign leader. The leader then embraces the president and everyone cheers!
Fiction is fun!
…that’s kinda what he’s saying. He’s saying there’s enough people who agree with this now that the political backlash to it will be a drop of hate in a huge bucket of sensible sentiments.
Is america ready for a competent president? Will voters accept an adequate candidate? Its hard to say, without knowing first which divisive and inflammatory categories they can be sorted into.
Can any of you buttigeg naysayers elaborate?
Just guessing from the replies, (I’m personally not that critical of Pete)
He used to be more left wing, had a deep appreciation for Bernie Sanders growing up, then he had a more right-ward turn. He worked as a consultant for a very unpopular and influential company (Mckinsey) for a few years, then he joined the Navy and was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Lastly the shenanigans around him very narrowly beating Bernie in the Iowa primary of 2020 probably all contribute to the negative sentiment.
None of these really make him worse than even more corporate Dems like Pritzker or Shapiro, so I’m guessing the antipathy is almost entirely because of 2020.
Not you, Gay Nixon.
I think we could be, but not that one
What’s wrong with Buttigieg?
Maybe reversing that question would be a good starting point–what’s good about Buttigieg?
He’s far more milquetoast than Harvey Milk if you catch my drift
Such a disingenuous title. He never said voters were ready for a gay VP, his quotes were in response to a question if he thought voters were ready for a black woman. But I guess nobody reads the article and just throws in their 2 cents on what they think of Pete as a VP.
his quotes were in response to a question if he thought voters were ready for a black woman
This somehow makes the article even worse.
Surprisingly, he’s not already thanking Kamala for the nomination.
Has his favorability with Black voters improved since 2020?
Out of the loop, what has he done to alienate the black community?
Disparate cannabis enforcement while he was mayor of South Bend. Pretty much tanked his 2020 run.
Why was the mayor involved with how laws got enforced??
I’m not saying it was fair. I’m saying that it is.
Yeah I’m not questioning whether it happened I was just questioning what circumstances led to that
Fuck if I know.
