I think Mayor Pete answers an age old question.

[Funtatlaguy]

His very positive reception by many Dems and media members may answer a question that Ive debated before with other Dems and progressives.

Which will America elect first, someone who is openly gay or someone straight and openly atheist?
I think that a gay person like Mayor Pete, who has talked about his faith and being an Episcopalian, is “less scary” to the general public than an Atheist would be?

Your thoughts, DU Nation?

[DURHAM D]

1. Or a woman? nt

[Funtatlaguy]

4. Most people I know saw a woman much earlier.

I think if you asked most Americans which we would have first between LGBT, straight atheist, or straight woman that the vast majority would say a woman. I mean, hell, a woman already did win by 3 million votes.

[Socal31]

2. I keep forgetting he is LGBTQ until someone brings it up.

Last edited Fri Mar 22, 2019, 12:35 PM - Edit history (1)

He's a great candidate, period. If he wants to discuss his personal life, then I'd love to hear about it. I bet he wants to discuss policy as well.

[Tipperary]

13. It is not a "preference."

Common mistake, but words matter.

[Socal31]

14. Well I apologize for that, it's not malice

[Tipperary]

16. I know. I really did not think you were being malicious in the least.

That word used to be the one people always used; easy enough to do that. Just a bug-a-boo of mine.

[Socal31]

17. No I appreciate the correction.

[Jarqui]

3. For me, that stuff should have nothing to do with it

and I don't care what the answer is. It's a little like picking scabs - just leaves more scars.

[SFnomad]

6. It should have nothing to do with it ... but since it does, it becomes a relevant question

This country has been ruled by mostly old white men. And for a good percentage of the country, anything less "scares" them.

[Funtatlaguy]

7. People here don't care, of course.

We are all much more open minded than the general public. I’m talking about Americans as a whole. I guess my point is that there is less bigotry toward gays than atheists.

[Jarqui]

15. Maybe so

It just bothers me to think about it in these terms. Maybe I'm perpetually naive. I worry that we'll never get past it if we keep on slicing and dicing this way.

This is a stupid but true story. I watched some of the 2007 debates. I didn't know Obama but he grew on me more and more. In January, 2008, I believe it was Wolf Blitzer on CNN brought up a poll - I think for South Carolina - that showed Hillary had more support from blacks than Obama. Wolf asked "why aren't the blacks supporting the black candidate?" As bizarre as it sounds, that is when I found out Obama was "black". Up to that point in time, to me, he was a fine candidate I liked better than many of the others.

It angered me that CNN brought that up. I questioned whether it was racist - underscoring Obama's color and questioning why his own race wasn't supporting him. It bothered me.

Maybe I'm just blind and stupid about this stuff.

As for Obama, he remains the finest candidate I ever supported.

[Luvapottamus]

5. Time will Tell

But:

Will we elect a mayor?

No mayor of a major American city has become president.

http://www.citymayors.com/politics/usa-mayors-white-house.html

Calvin Collage made it to VP, maybe Pete can one-up?

[SFnomad]

8. As I mentioned elsewhere, he should become a US Representative next ... move up the ladder n/t

[dalton99a]

11. His congressional district is red.

https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/politics/jackie-walorski-cruises-to-a-fourth-term-in-nd-congressional/article_9a99cd86-c981-5afa-87fd-c64ce6c9de4d.html

[SFnomad]

18. That sucks then ... because he's not going to make the jump from mayor to President

It's just so very likely not to happen. That doesn't mean he can't run and make a difference.

[BlueStater]

23. Trump jumped from being absolutely nothing to president.

This isn't intended as a knock against Buttigieg, but that orange dipshit has drastically lowered the standards for presidential qualifications. It used to be that it was thought that one had to either become a senator or a governor before they could seriously be considered a legitimate candidate for the presidency, but the election of a fat loudmouth with no credentials other than that he had a lot of money seemed to completely obliterate that idea. A good number of people don't really care about qualifications.

[SFnomad]

24. tRump had absolutely no political experience, true ...

but to say tRump jumped from "being absolutely nothing" is just ludicrous. His TV show gave him name recognition that was clearly worth way more than experience and the Faux "News" propaganda network gave him billions of dollars of free publicity and pushed tRump from very early on.

As excellent a candidate as Buttigieg is ... he is nowhere in that league.

[BlueStater]

25. Nobody knew who Barack Obama was until they did.

Buttigieg is like Barack in many ways. He's a charismatic, intelligent guy who has an extremely similar ability to connect with people. Frankly, I think people like Biden are going to come across poorly if they share a debate stage with him. It wouldn't surprise me all if he's able to steal their thunder.

I don't know if he'll win the primary, but him being the VP candidate would not remotely come as a shock to me.

[SFnomad]

26. Come one ... Barack Obama had been a US Senator of Illinois and a US State Representative

He wasn't well known, but he was known.

[BlueStater]

30. Only people who closely followed politics knew who he was.

He was certainly not a household name in, say, 2006.

[Luvapottamus]

31. He can change the whole game if he takes my advice

I need to reply to more threads before I can begin that discussion....DU n00b initiation incomplete.



But mayors do have the basic skills a president needs and it should be possible for one to get the nomination.

It just hasn't happened yet.

Regarding religion and sexual orientation, that discrimination isn't completely repaired but it's trending better...

I'll be posting a "Golden Opportunity" thread as soon as I'm able to, outlining some ideas how we can improve the elections.

[Tikki]

9. Many in the younger generation identify as "nons"..

And few from their generation seem to care whether a person is gay or straight.

As for other generations..mixed reactions; remember education and smarts are looked down
at by many of the trumpers.

Tikki

[33taw]

10. Trump is an atheist and straight. He may not admit the atheist part, but he is not religious.

[Funtatlaguy]

12. Making my point about openly atheists

[33taw]

19. Sorry, I must have missed your point. I thought you asked a question. Maybe it was rhetorical.

[dsc]

20. openly as opposed to pretending (no matter how poorly) to be religious

[Funtatlaguy]

21. Yes, Trump has said he is a Christian.

[dsc]

22. I think LGBT is an easier sell than avowedly athiest

but I think for many he won't meet the qualified bar. His age, 37, and his political experience only being mayor of a moderate sized city, are going to be disqualifying for many. I won't go that far in my case but it puts him below people I likely otherwise would put him above.

[Blue_true]

28. You may be right. But I expect him to pull in a lot of people after they see how

calmly and completely he answers any policy question tossed his way. I expect him to be the star of the first debate and a pure revelation to a lot of people. The guy has that "It" and seem to have his feet squarely on the ground.

[Blue_true]

27. I agree. nt

[FM123]

29. Like so many of our Dems, Mayor Pete is fantastic and definitely presidential material!

That being said, should he become our veep candidate - he would wipe the floor with that idiot pence during the VP debates....