He should have waited four years. He’s too early for 2020, but could have been waaaaaaaay ahead of the 2024 game.
“Gay”. That’s what he’s established so far. That’s not going to be the strongest start in as many places and with as many people as you’re hoping, GCB.
I am literally laughing at your dragging Pete's experience while touting Trump as the greatest president of all time at every opportunity. Come on now.
His sexuality is the very least part of his appeal and I find this take offensive as hell. That you only see him as a gay candidate is telling. You have zero interest in understanding anything more about him.
I don’t doubt his substance. Being intelligent doesn’t win elections, but being smart does. You’re happy with him thus far. I get it, but I’m not. He could be much better positioned than he now is. His margin for error is so much thinner and less than you may now believe. He cannot waste any momentum, if he’s going to have ant chance.
And I appreciate you stating your opinion. My opinion is your take on Pete is hypocritical at best/fraudulent at worst given your feelings on POTUS.
Quit acting like everything I’m saying is simply a personal conversation between the two of us, or that I’m commenting purely from my own personal preferences. I give two shits if he’s gay. But if you asked 100 random people to summarize him and his candidacy in a single word - 90% would say “gay”. That’s not what I think is most important, but a statement of fact for most voters. That’s my point in saying that’s an incredibly steep hill to climb, and he needs to be more - much more! - than just that if he’s going climb it. Hence my other point in the importance of his getting his policies and positions out there.
You have zero interest in holding him accountable for his tenure. Blaming it on the decades of Dems that came before him.
Because you keep failing to see that Trump won on positions, and which were so strongly popular that even his own personal and repeated gaffes / stupidity / pettiness could not overcome. Trump didn’t get elected because he’s likable any more than it was “because” he was not experienced in government - he won in spite of those things. In. Spite. And how? By inelegantly addressing illegal immigration, and which both parties had blindly ignored for 30+ years. Or, another way to say it - POSITIONING. He assumed a superior POSITION on an issue of significant importance, refused to either abandon or apologize for it, and won. Pete needs to do the same, if he intends to win, or even hang around.
False. You're focusing exclusively on the negative aspects of South Bend under his tenure (real and perceived) while I'm looking at it holistically. I've said multiple times in this thread there is good and bad and South Bend has a long way to go. But heaven forbid I even mention there were positives during his tenure because it means I'm ignoring what a horrific mayor he's been.
I wouldn't know he was gay if it wasn't for conservative commentary... or his immunity to being diminished/dismissed by shreikers as a white cis male. it's not really pertinent to his candidacy otherwise.
Great. But you're dragging Pete for lack of experience when the guy you feel is doing a fabulous job had much less than Pete has now. So why should experience disqualify Mayor Pete again? Is it only important for Democratic candidates while the GOP gets an out? Your point on messaging is valid and I agree. If this is your major contention with Pete I'm good with it and agree messaging is critically important. So why not just drop the whole experience argument? Let's be honest with each other and dispense with the clutter.
It absolutely is. He's made sure of that and rightfully so. If he were a straight white male he would already be hanging with the Eric Swalwells of the world. At the bottom, with no hope at all.
Considering he’s the Mayor of South Bend, he’s doing phenomenally well. But it won’t matter one whit where he started any more than how far he arose - but where he finishes. He’s like a 16-seeded Cinderella with a #1 on the ropes - he needs to play to win. Not have a good showing, or to “not lose” - but play to win. And then he’s at least got a chance, however small and unlikely. I’m agreeing with you that he’s more than “gay” - but he has to get beyond that as the single, or even a primary, characteristic. Has to.
or like Biden... or Bernie Sanders... no one ever gave a shit about Beto... Nah, it's just lazy to claim his orientation is why he has gotten attention.
It isn't why he got the attention, it is why he can keep attention. Him being gay is sort of a buffer for also being a white male, which is almost a sin these days.
Biden and Sanders have been around forever. People know them. People do not know Mayor Pete or Eric Swalwell or Robert O'Rourke. Him being a gay man running for POTUS is a big deal and will play to his favor under the left. As far as the rest of the country is concerned, it is either a non-factor or a hard no. To the left it's just enough "suffering" to escape the white man priviledge he has been burdened with. That immediately puts him in front of the Swalwell's and O'Rourke's of the world.
