As many of you know, I am fueled creatively by my massive hatred of David Brooks. And that’s why I’ve grown to dislike Pete Buttigieg so much. The fucker’s running to be the president of David Brooks. I’d like to say I wonder why totebaggers love him so much but I don’t: the seven languages, the rhetoric about unity, the praise from David Brooks…it hits all the NPR erogenous zones.
Ok, now that that’s off my chest, let’s raise some money for the Senate. I think that’s the place where it makes the most sense to raise money right now. The Balloon Juice Senate fund is split between the eventual Dem nominees in CO, NC, GA, IA, and ME. (Update: Also AZ.) You can divvy it up however you like.
natem
Shorter Bobo: “Will the Democrats never learn that the only group of people you cannot turn your base against is billionaires?”
Major Major Major Major
Well-known totebaggers, the butter-frying Iowa caucusers
DougJ
I’m curious if anyone will get this title without googling. I just learned that the Pete in the song is Peter Green from Fleetwood Mac
piratedan
I would also humbly suggest that you throw some dosh at Mr. Kelly running in AZ to dethrone McSally, while his fundraising is going well and his prospects look good, I would really enjoy seeing that calculating harridan kicked to the political sidelines….
The Dangerman
@piratedan:
Harridan Hack?
It’s gotta suck having to run against an Astronaut with a hero wife.
ETA: I just looked at the polls. No wonder McSally is cranky. She’s puppy chow. Not the good stuff. The cheap stuff you get at the discount store.
natem
@The Dangerman: Fully expecting the obligatory “Ground Control to Major Tom!” from McSally at some point
arrieve
Just kicked in — thanks for doing this, Doug. I tend to delete all the campaign emails I get without reading so appreciate the reminders to contribute.
Kay
I just can’t figure out why Pete thinks he’s new, other than chronological age. As a person who is older than him and has been watching this a long time, Pete is a 1990’s Democrat.
He’s the opposite of what he says he is :)
Does he not know this? Anything sound familiar to him? Like his entire platform and approach?
I don’t know- maybe if you let a coupla decades come in between people don’t remember and it’s “new”, again.
Baud
As a rule, we don’t look down on multilingualism or education in general.
Hasn’t every candidate advocated in some form about unity?
The last item is semi-valid, although the rule we apply to Bernie is that you can’t judge a candidate by his supporters.
Thanks for raising money for the Senate. That will be the hardest lift for Dems in November, I think.
Kent
For me it was what I call his “Dwight Schrute Moment” for all you Office fans out there. As reported by the TPM Debate Blog
“Assistant TO THE Regional Manager” and not “Assistant Regional Manager” was the 10 year running gag on the Office: https://youtu.be/6tQG15iM1UI
Kay
@Kent:
I don’t know of course but I think the older Democrats on the stage resent him because nothing he says is new and all of it has been endlessly discussed in the Democratic Party for decades, so to present it as new devalues their real work. Klobachur is the most cranky about this (I like that about her) but it’s really annoying even to me. The delivery is always like “I have discovered that health care is complicated…”
No shit, Pete. Amy knows all about that. It’s patronizing and sometimes it veers even into a sort of scolding that would drive me fucking crazy if I were them.
Aleta
Fcking Ken Starr
He and Dershow
Cameras over country
Kay
@Aleta:
How perfect is it that Trump chose Epstein’s legal team, though? Good fit.
Fair Economist
@Kay: Can I hope for a similar outcome to that of Epstein? Or is that in bad taste?
WaterGirl
PSA:
Political Fundraising is one of the 32 top-level categories that can be found at any time under View by Topic in the sidebar.
Political Fundraising has just been added to Featuring in the sidebar. So even if you miss one of Doug’s fundraising posts in real time, it will be simple for you to find them under Featuring.
You may notice that Anderson on Health Insurance is no longer listed under Featuring – that’s because Open Enrollment is over, so it’s time to feature something else for awhile.
Never fear, Anderson on Health Insurance is one of the 32 top-level categories that can be found at any time under View by Topic in the sidebar.
Kay
@Fair Economist:
Lawyers for wealthy degenerates. I think it says that on their business card.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I have a friend in Iowa City who campaigned tirelessly in 2018 and is now campaigning for Pete. Truthfully, I haven’t given him much thought. If he’s the nominee, I’ll vote for him. Otherwise, I have other things to do.
Aleta
@Major Major Major Major: Iowans listen to NPR. Not clear if butter is supposed to mean the Midwest or the East Coast. or the Indian-American communities in Iowa?
Aleta
@Kay: perfect
Major Major Major Major
@Aleta: Deep-fried butter on a stick is a notorious offering at the Iowa State Fair. Truly the sort of thing we associate with out-of-touch coastal elites.
Capri
@Major Major Major Major: They’ve got everything at the State Fair. A favorite of republicans is Butter Emails.
Hoodie
@Aleta: Probably deep fried butter at the state fair, one of those indicia of Real America.
Jay
@Kay:
Progressives are also pissed at him for advocating and supporting all the late stage Capitalism that “got us here”.
pissing off many of the Centerists and almost all of the Progressives isn’t a great electoral strategy, but Billionaire fetes in the Bat Cave does wonders for the Campaign War Chest.
Jay
@Capri:
internet is won for the day.
send our Blogmeister an all caps email to claim your prize.
MisterForkbeard
I had a lot more interest in Buttigieg in the beginning of his run, when he was running basically as a liberal who could connect with the religious and explain liberal positions well. He can still do that, but he’s shifted his lane quite a bit :/
Kent
@Kay: It isn’t just the age. It’s a naivete about Washington and the Federal government in general. Like Trump showing up and saying ‘Wow, healthcare is complicated’
No fucking shit. You don’t think very smart people have been working very hard on every one of these topics from health care to the environment? Lack of new ideas has never been the cause of any gridlock in Washington. It’s money and vested interests who control votes. And the fact that our system of government is deliberately designed with more veto points than in most other western democracies.
There are bright new ideas everywhere, many of them published in government reports sitting on shelves. A few of them even authored by yours truly. It is insulting to those who have dedicated their lives to public service to have these types like Buttigieg (and Trump, Steyer, and Yang) show up with the notion that all we are missing is their brains and new ideas.
Aleta
@Major Major Major Major: Your sentence sounds like you mean people who fry things in butter. (Deep fried butter is a Texas gimmick I thought.) So, you mean a state fair gimmick. Btw some of my Japanese friends love to eat small cubes of butter on toothpicks with their evening Suntory.
Aleta
@Capri: best
Barbara
I have been meaning to make Senate donations so thanks for this.
Betty Cracker
@MisterForkbeard: Same. I didn’t know much about him until I heard an interview on Pod Save America early in the primary season. He talked a lot about reclaiming patriotism and Christianity from right-wingers. He talked about people feeling disconnected from their communities, making them susceptible to demagoguery. On policy, he sounded pretty progressive. But swerving to the center was the smart political play, I guess. Even though it caused him to lose the crucial Betty Cracker primary vote, he’s done a lot better than expected so far.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kent:
I’ve seen that comment, but not audio or video. I’ve been hoping it was some kind of eye-rolling snark back at Steyer.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Major Major Major Major:
I want to go to there
Mr. Longform
I have to say, I don’t really understand the Pete hatred I see at this and other of my favorite political sites. I am hoping for Warren, but I like Pete. And I don’t think he has changed his positions as much as he is given credit for and/or accused of – they have been pretty consistent. If he got any or all of his proposed programs through (a hard pull for anyone) then he’d be considered pretty damn progressive. He doesn’t have DC connections, but that’s the easiest thing to acquire as a new president – I suppose he could actively eschew those connections ala Jimmy Carter, but I don’t see signs that he would. As I said, I think Warren is the clear choice, but I’m OK with Pete.
karensky
@arrieve: Ditto, especially for CO where I worked and lived for 10 years. My son still lives there and has for 30 years. I moved back to Philly because the rent got too steep.
Loved the Brooks diss so much.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: Early Pete had a lot of potential; that’s exactly when he lost me, too.
edit: I would still choose him over Tulsi, Bernie, any of the rich white guys, and Amy K. But inspired and hopeful, not so much.
Jay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
it was, and it wasn’t.
it was a perfect example of MBA “snark”,
and another reason why people who actually work for a living want to take MBA “Consultants” out into the alley,….
Kent
@Jay: I have never personally dealt with MBA Consultants. But I promise you that most teachers feel EXACTLY the same way about 99% of the “Education Consultants” that we encounter. Especially those high priced ones hired by school districts to come tell us how to do our jobs during in-service days.
jonas
So the guy who led the bullshit investigation of the last president to get impeached is now going to lead the bullshit defense of the most recent president to get impeached. The universe is in balance.
Kent
@jonas: Don’t forget, he’s also the guy who presided over one of the biggest university rape scandals and cover-ups in the history of college football during his time at Baylor.
Trump is both a mirror and a magnet for these sorts of Republican scum.
Marcopolo
So, Gary Peters in MI is a hold not a flip but his campaign, alas, could also use folks throwing him a few spare bucks. He’s a solid middle of the road D, seems to be bereft of charisma or pizzazz, and is currently being out-raised by his young, somewhat charismatic AA opponent. I’d hate to see R’s sneak a win in on us in an overlooked race in a contested state.
Kent
@Jay: It also reminded me of the many school administrators I have known over the years who have picked up online edD degrees from places like University of Phoenix mainly to get the pay differential and who walk around schools insisting on being addressed as Dr. _______.
Jay
@Kent:
yup. Some MBA’s work for a living. Some just add the initials to their Business Cards, Linked in Profile, Facebook wall, etc.
the big diss about McKinsey is that they hire wet eared “name” MBA’s, contract them out as “consultants” for the big bucks, who then advise their Clients the standard BS, ( cut hours, cut benifits, cut expenses, bust the union, two teir the Union, price fix with your compeditors, collude with your compeditors, sell off a subDivision to a owned LLC, that way you can get 20% more profit at every stage of the supply chain, etc)
If the Consultant’s don’t produce, (for McKinsey) they are gone.
Few of the Companies that hire these “guys”, ever profit ( morally, legally, fiscally in the long term ) from their advise, but it does let the CEO and Board boast to the Shareholders, ( who are in many cases, being ripped off by the CEO and Board) in exchange for short term stock gains, ( sometimes).
99.9% of the time, what a Company is paying for at $10,000 per billable hour, can be found in a basic Business and Marketing textbook for $125, and has already been considered and rejected by the people inside the Company, who actually make the Company run, know the business, know the market, and be profitable.
I had the “joy” of experiencing MBA’s take over and run a 500 person Fortune 100 Company, (175 years old, that I considered family and a joy to work for and with) into the ground in less than 3 years. They couldn’t even sell the shell, the 198 Tech Patents went to China for pennies.
The Shareholders got ripped off, the former employees got ripped off, the pensioners got ripped off, the communities got ripped off, the Exec, the Board and the Consultants made out like Dumphs at Mara Go Fuck Yourself Lego.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay:
interesting, I hadn’t thought of it that way
smintheus
@Mr. Longform: Consistent? Tell us where Buttigieg stands *today* with regard to Medicare for All.
As to Doug’s post, Buttigieg plainly does not speak 7 languages. He lets reporters tell you he speaks 7 languages without correcting them. I’ve seen him stumble badly for a few seconds in several of those languages and then say “Can we speak in English?” He’s a bullshitter about his supposed linguistic brilliance, so what else is he bullshitting about? I think that’s a reasonably question to have.
smintheus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think a better comparison for Buttigieg is to a 1970s game show prize: Door Number Three. We know virtually nothing about him, he’s incredibly vague, and there’s no way of knowing with any degree of certainty what he might end up trying to do as president. He’s the candidate of ‘why not give me a try, I’m none of the others’.
Aleta
@Kent: (photo)
Marcopolo
@smintheus: Oh come one, next you’ll be telling us that even though Buttigieg likes to talk about how him being mayor of South Bend, Indiana shows that he knows how to win elections in the red midwest that the last time a Republican was the mayor of South Bend was in 1972. I mean, really.
laura
Doug your disgust with Brooks is shared by many, but for sheer metric-shit tons of defining david Brooks Driftglass has years and years and years of receipts. I hope that you are no stranger to either Driftglass of the Professional Left pod he and wife Blue Gal have been posting every Friday for the last 10 years.
Richard Guhl
bystander
Oh, good. Another “let’s bash Buttigieg” thread.
brantl
I listen to NPR, and I don’t buy a thing about Pete.
Another Scott
Donated.
I get the feeling that the intensity that gave us the Women’s March, and 10-15% swings in special elections, and flipped the House, and flipped the Virginia HoD and Senate, that that intensity isn’t dissipating. But campaigns need resources.
Please keep reminding us periodically to donate when we can.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.