Free Republic

And so to me, the best use of that big blue-and-white airplane that comes with the Oval Office that the president uses mostly for the purpose of traveling among golf courses with his name on them -- I don't even golf so that's not going to be how I use that airplane. I'm going to use that airplane to go directly into the backyard of senators who are not just defying my White House but defying their own voters, their own constituents, and require them to explain to the people who sent them to Washington why they refuse to enact...

Hoping to fan racial flames in his direction before the South Carolina primary, Pete Buttigieg tweeted out his support for Trayvon Martin on the occasion of what would have been Martin's 25th birthday, February 5. "Trayvon Martin would have been 25 today," Mayor Pete tweeted. "How many 25th birthdays have been stolen from us by white supremacy, gun violence, prejudice, and fear?" Buttigieg threw in a Black Lives Matter hashtag just to make sure black voters knew he was down for the struggle. This tweet would have been unfortunate six months ago. Today, it is unforgivable. In December, attorney Larry...

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are in a dead heat for first place in Iowa on Thursday with 100 percent of the caucus results in. Buttigieg leads by a narrow margin with 26. 2 percent among Iowa State Delegate Equivalents, while Sanders is on his heels at 26.1 percent. Buttigieg, receiving the news during a CNN town hall in New Hampshire on Thursday evening, said it was "fantastic news to hear that we won." "I want to say that Senator Sanders had a great night too, and I want to...

DES MOINES, Iowa—The thing about a victory speech, generally, is that it requires a victory. But when this year’s Iowa caucus didn’t quickly produce one, Pete Buttigieg claimed the win as his anyway. The other candidates who spoke last night mumbled about the mess, proclaimed “on to New Hampshire!,” and said all the other things you’re supposed to say when results are up in the air. Buttigieg strutted onstage, smiling confidently as his well-prepped supporters chanted “BOOT-EDGE-EDGE” behind him, and in his very first sentence declared that “an improbable hope became an undeniable reality. “We don’t know all the results,”...

Nikki van den Heever, a caucus precinct captain for former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, tried to talk down an Iowa woman who was incensed to find out — in real-time during a caucus after she’d signed a card supporting him — that the candidate is openly gay. “Are you saying that he has the same-sex partner? Pete?” the woman says in the clip, which was posted to both Twitter and Reddit early Tuesday morning. “Yes,” van den Heever responds. “Are you kidding?” the woman says, and upon being told Mayor Pete is married, says “Then I don’t want anybody...

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg declared himself the winner in Iowa after technical glitches and snafus prevented the state party from announcing any caucus results Monday night. Buttigieg, who was hoping to get a boost out of the nation's first caucus state to drive past more seasoned rivals, went beyond any of the other Democratic presidential contenders his his caucus-night speech. 'We don't know all of the results. But we do know that by the time it's all said and done, Iowa: you have shocked the nation. Because by all indications we are going on to New Hampshire victorious,' Buttigieg...

DES MOINES, Iowa — A technical meltdown in Iowa Monday night set off bedlam in the critical first contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, triggering competing claims of victory and stoking doubts about the legitimacy of the eventual outcome. No results had been reported by midnight Eastern, and two campaigns told POLITICO that after a conference call with the Iowa Democratic Party, they didn’t expect any returns until Tuesday morning at the earliest.Candidates stepped into the void. Pete Buttigieg went first by claiming victory — misleadingly, in the view of Sanders, whose campaign responded by releasing unofficial figures showing his...

Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg has repeatedly said those who support President Donald Trump are racist. CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday asked Buttigieg if he regretted making those comments. "Republicans have been seizing, including in a new Trump ad, a statement you made that 'Anyone who supported this president is, at best, looking the other way on racism.' You've also said that on my show," Tapper explained. "That's almost 63 million Americans who you're painting with a pretty broad brush. Do you regret saying that at all?" Buttigieg didn't hesitate before he responded. "No. I'm very concerned about...

[Barf Alert] Pete Buttigieg: Pope Francis Endorsement ‘Most Coveted’ in Primary Race Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg said Thursday that he wanted the endorsement of Pope Francis over all others in the Democrat primary race. Buttigieg commented on political endorsements during a podcast interview with CEO of IMPACT Strategies Angela Rye at Claflin University.“Your most coveted endorsement in the race is who?” Rye asked.Buttigieg paused, but ultimately said, “The Pope, I want the endorsement of the Pope.”

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said Saturday the Oval Office requires a wartime veteran, a niche he occupies exclusively among top-tier candidates in his party’s race for the 2020 nomination. During an interview on Iowa PBS in suburban Des Moines, Buttigieg was asked if there’s value in a president who had faced hostile fire. Buttigieg, a Naval intelligence officer in Afghanistan in 2014, noted he had been present for rocket attacks while stationed at Bagram Airfield, and later faced potential danger as an armed driver in Kabul. Another presidential candidate, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, served...

Pete Buttigieg said Sunday that terrorist Qasem Soleimani deserved death, but insisted Donald Trump does not deserve the credit for taking out the Iranian leader. 'You called Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian general who was killed, you called him a threat to the safety and security of the United States. So are you saying that President Trump deserves some credit for the strike?' CNN's Jake Tapper asked the presidential hopeful on Sunday morning. 'No, not until we know whether this was a good decision and how this decision was made. And the president has failed to demonstrate that,' Buttigieg responded.

Pete Buttigieg is not nearly as smart as he thinks he is.  Yesterday, Senator Ted Cruz devastatingly humiliated him for shooting his mouth off when he doesn't know what he's talking about. In case you missed it, Buttigieg recently instructed a group of youngsters, "The people who wrote the Constitution did not understand that slavery was a bad thing." That sort of criticism and condescension is part of the larger progressive project to disparage and eventually reject the United States Constitution — because it limits the power of government and affirm that our rights come from God. Here is Buttigieg...

The South Bend Mayor stopped by the KCCI studios Saturday afternoon to spend time with our panel of undecided Caucus-goers. Buttigieg answered their questions, including this one from Ivette Muhammad, a mother of eight. “I've heard you are wanting to start a family. Is that something you hope to do soon, perhaps in the White House?” Muhammad asked. “It is. This year the campaign is not conducive to it, but we are looking forward to it. Chasten will make an amazing dad. I'll try to hold my own and it is something we're looking forward to. I can't imagine raising...

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg faced a flurry of criticism on Christmas day after he suggested that Jesus Christ entered into the world as a refugee. “Today I join millions around the world in celebrating the arrival of divinity on earth, who came into this world not in riches but in poverty, not as a citizen but as a refugee,” he tweeted. His tweet came just days after the 2020 presidential candidate released his plan calling for a significant increase in refugee admissions and setting an admissions minimum of 95,000. Buttigieg’s policy paper specifically recalls Biblical language to support...

On Monday, during an interview with the Des Moines Register, 2020 presidential hopeful mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg said drug possession should not result in jail time. Buttigieg said, “Incarceration should not even be a response to drug possession. What I have seen is while there continues to be all kinds of harms associated with drug possession and use, it is also the case that we have created in an effort to deal with a public health problem, we have created an even bigger problem — a justice problem, and it’s own form of a health problem when...

Actor-director Kevin Costner will endorse South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg as the Democratic nominee for president on Sunday, adding to the candidate’s growing list of Hollywood backers. The Field of Dreams star is scheduled to appear with Buttigieg in Indianola, Iowa, Sunday afternoon for a town hall gathering of supporters, according to a tweet from Buttigieg’s official campaign. The Des Moines Register reported that Costner will introduce and endorse Buttigieg before the event at Indianola High School at 12:30

This week, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has risen to the top of the heap in early Democratic presidential primary polling in Iowa and New Hampshire, came under serious sustained attack for the first time in his candidacy. Buttigieg's early candidacy gained credibility thanks to the moderation he displayed compared with other Democrats. He quickly lost steam when he tacked to the left. Now Buttigieg has swiveled back toward the center, launching a series of assaults on the radical plans of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and stealing her momentum in the largely white early primary states. Normally, such...

Perhaps what Democrats really want is a presidential temperament He’s the least qualified of the top-tier Democratic presidential candidates, and the one who most clearly lacks a compelling reason for running. Yet Pete Buttigieg has somehow maintained his hold on fourth place in the 2020 nomination contest while other more heralded candidates have faded or folded altogether. And now that he has surged to the top of the polls in Iowa, it may be time to start taking his unlikely campaign seriously — and asking what exactly it is about the mild-mannered mayor of South Bend, Ind., that has endeared...

Mayor Pete Buttigieg has surged to the head of the Democratic presidential field in first-in-nation primary state New Hampshire, according to a new poll of likely primary voters released Tuesday. The Saint Anselm College Survey Center poll of 255 likely Democratic primary voters shows that Buttigieg, supported by 25 percent, now holds a 10 percentage point lead over former Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who are tied for second at 15 percent. Buttigieg is substantially ahead of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is in fourth place at 9 percent.

IOWA (WTHR) — South Bend Mayor and presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is gaining ground with voters in Iowa. A new Monmouth University Poll found Buttigieg leading among voters in Iowa. Here are the standings: Buttigieg - 22% Biden - 19% Warren - 18% Sanders - 13% Buttigieg has gained 14 points since August.