Buttigieg is canvassing w Tina Belge, a young state senate candidate here. A group of girls just walked by and asked why cameras were following: “Oh, we thought it was a prom-posal video.” pic.twitter.com/Z9mEIC0WPi
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) March 23, 2019
Mayor Pete seems to have, among other assets, the priceless politician’s gift of timing in his gaffes. The gopbots and cosplay socialists who’d otherwise be laboring all night to gin up internet dissension over Buttigieg’s unfortunate remarks are too busy huzzahing their idiot king to make things worse, and it’s still a long year until the first primary votes are actually cast. Here’s the ever youth-romantic Dave Weigel at the Washington Post:
… Buttigieg, who was elected mayor of South Bend, Ind., before he turned 30, is used to the double-takes. As his dark horse candidacy has gotten more attention, he’s leaned into his age, declaring himself a member of the “school shooting generation” that will live through the “business end of climate change.” The people who come to see him, sometimes clutching copies of his memoir, marvel at how he graduated from Harvard, attained a Rhodes scholarship and fought in Afghanistan — all before he combed gray hair.
“He’s the smartest guy I’ve ever met,” said Eric Schronce, 43, an Indiana-based attorney who left his family vacation in Myrtle Beach to drive to a Buttigieg event in Columbia, 150 miles away. “The last election was about emails and porn stars and whatever. I want an election about issues, and Pete knows the issues inside and out.”
The Indiana Democrat, who is expected to officially launch his candidacy next month, has turned years of “next big thing” coverage into a genuine presidential boomlet. He raised more than $1 million after a CNN town hall and appeared to have met the standard for entering the first Democratic debates. He’s adding to a skeletal staff, expanding his campaign headquarters and beginning to build the sort of operation that could compete in early states…
My emphasis; I for one had forgotten that Mayor Pete is not officially a candidate, just yet, under the arcane rules of our quadrennial political circus. Which is more reason to weight how much the current outrage will actually hurt Buttigieg, assuming he can avoid repeating his mistakes.
Long story short, for those of you who are not Extremely Online, at least during the weekends: Tweets from last July where Buttigieg ‘defended’ Mike Pence resurfaced, leading to some heated discussion over whether a mayor refusing to whole-throatedly attack his state’s former governor was permanently disqualifying or merely a mistake that his enemies would weaponize.
Then came The Interview:
WATCH: Mayor Buttigieg on AG Barr’s report: To end Trump presidency, Democrats need to focus on the kinds of conditions that allowed President Trump to get into the Oval Office, and I fear if we’re not paying attention to those causes, he may succeed in 2020. pic.twitter.com/6MRjlt1sNv
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 24, 2019
If only he’d stopped there:
Interesting @PeteButtigieg answer on whether Mueller findings could end the Trump presidency. Short answer: Not really! pic.twitter.com/bWehHeq1GS
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) March 23, 2019