Buttiegieg backs NFL players' right to protest during anthem: I 'put my life on the line to defend'

[babylonsister]

Buttiegieg backs NFL players' right to protest during anthem: I 'put my life on the line to defend' that
By Justin Wise - 05/23/19 07:24 PM EDT


South Bend, Ind., mayor and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg (D) on Thursday voiced support for NFL players who have kneeled during the national anthem, saying he risked his life in Afghanistan to defend the right to protest.

Asked during a live interview with The Washington Post's Robert Costa about his reaction to the demonstrations, the Navy veteran said that he "felt that I was watching Americans exercise a right that I had put my life on the line to defend."

He added that “the point of defending free speech is not that you expect to be perfectly aligned with every speech act that is protected."

“That’s a fundamental American freedom," Buttigieg said. "It’s a huge part of what makes America, America. And when that same flag was on my shoulder, I didn’t think of the flag as something that itself as an image was sacred. I thought of it as something that was sacred because of what it represented. One of the very things it represented is the freedom of speech, and that’s one of the reasons I served.”

Link to tweet

more...

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/445339-buttiegieg-supports-nfl-players-right-to-protest-during-anthem-i-put-my

[Blue Owl]

1. Hear that, Pence?

n/t

[Volaris]

2. Damn.

Im still in the undecided column, but EVERY DAMN TIME that man opens his mouth , I'm more and more convinced he should be, AT LEAST, Liz Warren's running mate...

[pangaia]

3. I am more and more impressed with this dude every few days.

He almost always has the right answers.. not because he has studied what to say,..he just knows, as a Thai Buddhist monk once said, "what is what.'

[a kennedy]

4. Ditto, ditto, ditto,

[Nuggets]

5. I wish he'd have mentioned what the protests

were for. He kind of makes it seem like kneeling is about Kapernick protesting troops.

I think it needs to be said in no uncertain terms like he did with Trump’s faking his bone spurs to avoid service.

[Celerity]

6. did you listen or read the OP at all?

Pete Buttigieg says when he saw NFL players protest police brutality by kneeling during the National Anthem, he saw Americans using a right that he fought to defend.

It was right there in the specific question, not implied, it was bluntly stated.

[Indygram]

7. You mean like this...

It's brave to speak up when an issue is raw directly to someone who disagrees with you.

[DesertRat]

8. Why not start on OP about Beto's comments

Instead of adding a post about him in a Buttigieg thread?

[Tipperary]

9. No kidding.

[Politicub]

13. It's like the person who does a handstand in a public pool

Look at me!! Look at me!!

Why isn't anyone looking at me .

[Peacetrain]

10. I absolutely love that man!!

[USALiberal]

11. Same thing my WWII dad said about flag burning in the 70s! Nt

[Politicub]

12. Mayor Pete always knows the perfect thing to say

And, it's not just fluff. It's always substantive.

Love.

[SKKY]

14. I genuinely think his campaign manager has the easiest job in the world...

...just get him in front of a camera, and then get out of the way.

[Paladin]

15. Bravo, Mayor Pete. And thanks. (nt)