I just saw the rather astounding news that heretofore tenacious Pete Buttigieg (pronounce the surname "Buddha-jedge" or "boot-edge-edge") is dropping out of the presidential race. I have mixed feelings on this score. While I don't agree with Mayor Pete on most issues, I see what Styx is saying when he asserts that Buttigieg was probably the most viable candidate to run against Donald Trump. Mayor Pete has a milquetoasty, aim-for-the-middle appeal; he could have rallied millions behind him, despite his apparent trouble garnering African-American support. Styx also contends that Mayor Pete is the only candidate—aside from maybe Tulsi Gabbard—with the wit to debate circles around Donald Trump. Even when Buttigieg is wrong, he sounds plausibly correct—a trait that Bill Clinton also possessed. I see Buttigieg's dropping out, though, as reason for cynicism: Mayor Pete is smart enough to see that the contest is narrowing down to a cluster of rich, crusty white people, most of whom have, in some way or another, bought their way to the front of the pack.*
This election cycle is mirroring 2016 so closely that it's not even funny. The DNC—and I'm on record saying that that organization needs to be burned to the ground—is once again rigging things, and you can bet your ass this will mean another attempt to knock Bernie Sanders off his perch. Styx, meanwhile, contends that Buttigieg had been on an upward trajectory until Bloomberg—the so-called "chaos candidate"—suddenly popped up and ruined things for Mayor Pete. There's apparently no arguing with money, and Michael Bloomberg is several times the billionaire that Donald Trump is (net worth of $56.2 billion, according to Google). As the goofily named Krystal Ball—commentator at The Hill—says, a candidate is in as long as he or she has the money to stay in, and midgety Bloomberg is self-funding his run.
Mayor Pete's dropping out is the only such move likely to surprise me or to produce anything other than a bored belch. Aside from Tulsi Gabbard, I can't say I give a fuck about anyone else on the Democrat side of the election. This really does come as a surprise, although I imagine that pundits like Styx have seen this day coming for a while.
ADDENDUM: lots of reactions to Mayor Pete's departure here. While the piece itself is an interesting and often hilarious compilation, the comments below the piece are pretty rife with homophobic humor. No, the left isn't paranoid about rightie bigotry. It's real, and unfortunately, it's not just a lunatic fringe. Amazing to go through those comments and see how some people just can't help themselves.
*Bernie Sanders might be an exception, but he has a huge war chest thanks to a scary amount of pro-socialist grassroots support. Mike Bloomberg has definitely bought his way to the top three or four, and the news recently came out that Elizabeth Warren, who had loudly proclaimed she was beholden to no super-PACs, now enjoys the benefits of the largest Democrat super-PAC. What about Joe Biden? Well, even with his big win in South Cackalacky, Creepy Uncle Joe knows his campaign is waning and withering, and Biden hasn't proven to be much of a fundraising guy, anyway. As Tim Pool contends, the former veep probably doesn't want to campaign at all. Increasingly, he seems more like an object of pity than an equal of the other people on stage with him. The man has lost his marbles.
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