I had last night’s Democratic presidential candidates debate on in the background while I focused on something-or-other on my laptop. For the most part it sounded like a cacophony of voices, with moderators constantly interrupting everybody for exceeding what seemed a far too short span of time in which to deliver a coherent sentence. And of course the candidates were constantly talking or shouting over each other, too.
But in the midst of the chaos, one moment stood out for me. South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg looked directly into the camera and addressed Republican lawmakers:
Consider the fact that when the sun sets on your career … the thing you will be remembered for is whether in this moment, with this president, you found the courage to stand up to him or continued to put party over country.
I’ve yet to find a video of the moment. Maybe I was the only one impressed by it. But it was refreshing to see someone take the higher road and longterm view instead of attacking or arguing with one of the other candidates.
Buttigieg strikes me as bright, well-spoken, thoughtful, and knowledgeable. Some of his positions may be too liberal for my tastes and he seems awfully young to be president, but I can’t help really liking the guy. For now, anyway.
Thanks for this. I didn’t think I could stand to listen until the crowd thins a bit. Have you figured out how to pronounce his name yet? I came across this hint somewhere by some linguist… “Buddha Judge”. They played a clip of him saying it and that comes really close. 😀
I’ve seen t-shirts that say BOOT EDGE EDGE. That sounds pretty close to what I’ve heard on newscasts. But there’s a difference between udge and edge, so I still don’t really know.
Shoot wish I could point you to the clip of the linguist discussing it and then running a bit of him actually saying it. But that’s where I got the “udge” sound. They’re still pretty close… closer than what I’d come up with just looking at the spelling. 😀
If a linguist said it’s “udge,” that works for me. “Buddha Judge” is as easy to remember as anything else.
I swear “Buddha Judge” is the only one who seems to have consistently thought about what he is going to say before he opens his mouth.
But… if my voting preference history is any indicator, he hasn’t a chance in Hades of getting the nomination.
I think he’s somewhere in the middle of the pack. Not one of the also-rans, but not one of the leaders, either.
I would vote for almost any of the 24 over the incumbent, but so far I am most impressed with Bennet, Buttiieig and Ryan. They are relatively fresh faces and all seem to have gravitas, even Mayor Pete whose cv is remarkable despite his youth. Marianne Williamson is the odd duck in the gaggle. Be kinda like when Nancy Reagan was calling some of the shots.
Bennet is a smart guy, very ethical, honest. Too bad he’s such a terrible speaker. I doubt he’ll make it to the next round of debates (in September?), although he certainly looked better last night than Tues. night. Williamson is a nut job; don’t know how she ended up in the debates. I liked Gov. Inslee last night, just because he’s bright enough to grasp the danger of global warming and the urgency with which it must be addressed. And Gillibrand suddenly loomed large on my radar. Overall, however, last night’s debate looked like a circular firing squad.
“Overall, however, last night’s debate looked like a circular firing squad.”
Amen.
If Democrats think that dredging up questionable past actions, endorsements and allies of their DEMOCRAT challengers makes them look better, they are strategically ignorant. They are illuminating heretofore unknown (to me anyway) weakness in the eventual nominee. Trump campaign fodder.
What they ought to be focusing on is their collective similarity in opposition to the idiot incumbent and his appointed band of fellow idiots.
The assumption is that they all want to beat Trump, so they won’t waste time focusing on that right now. That’s for the eventual Dem nominee to do. Right now they are fighting for the right to be that nominee. Unfortunately that involves trying to take each other down and does do a lot of groundwork for Trump’s campaign. An ugly process. But as one reporter noted last night, it’s at least giving the candidates a lot of experience debating and countering all the negativity — experience Trump is not getting (and won’t get if no one challenges him for the GOP nomination).