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babylonsister

(170,928 posts)
Fri Mar 22, 2019, 09:37 AM Mar 2019

Twenty Things You Probably Didn't Know About Pete Buttigieg

I learned a few things, and this conservative source didn't diss him a bit.

Twenty Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Pete Buttigieg
By Jim Geraghty
March 22, 2019 6:30 AM


One: South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg’s father, Joseph Buttigieg, immigrated to the United States from Malta and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1979. He was a professor of European literature who taught at New Mexico State and then Notre Dame. The elder Buttigieg was a fan of Manchester United soccer and easily transitioned to become a fan of Notre Dame football. Buttigieg’s mother, Anne Montgomery Buttigieg, was also a professor at Notre Dame for nearly three decades. Joseph Buttigieg passed away in January. Mayor Buttigieg now lives on the same block as his mother and says his mortgage payment on a “large old house facing the river” is $450.

Two: Buttigieg is the youngest candidate in the large Democratic field, born in 1982. He was a child or young man for events that might seem “not that long ago” to many older voters. He remembers an elementary-school teacher explaining that the maps and globes with the label “Soviet Union” were now obsolete. He was ten when Bill Clinton was elected president, a college freshman when George W. Bush was elected president, and a sophomore on 9/11. One of his first jobs out of college was doing research and press work for John Kerry’s presidential campaign; he turned down an offer to work for Barack Obama’s Senate campaign.

Three: In high school, Buttigieg was senior-class president, valedictorian, and president of the school’s chapter of Amnesty International. In his autobiography, Shortest Way Home, he describes his high-school gym teacher as objecting to the group’s focus on “Ay-rabs.” He won an essay contest sponsored by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library as part of the organization’s annual Profile in Courage Award. Buttigieg wrote an essay saluting the courage of then-congressman Bernie Sanders, declaring that the congressman’s “real impact has been a reaction to the cynical climate which threatens the effectiveness of the democratic system.” Invited to the JFK library, Buttigieg met Senator Ted Kennedy, and the senator offered him an internship.

His thoughts of running for office started quite early. In Shortest Way Home, Buttigieg writes of his high-school years, “I had begun to wonder what it would be like to be involved in public service directly, instead of reading or watching movies about it. Could political action be a calling, not just the stuff of dinner table talk?”

Four: Buttigieg was accepted to Harvard University and found that his dorm room had previously housed Ulysses Grant Jr., Cornel West, and Horatio Alger. He describes college life in his autobiography like something out of the X-Men: “It began to feel like the academy of X-Men: everyone had some concealed special power: Cate, on the second floor, could read books at four or five times the normal pace. Andrew, on the ground floor, could do a Rubik’s Cube from any starting point in about a minute. Steve, my roommate, was like a science-fiction telepath; he could dissect social interactions and predict with remarkable accuracy how relationships among other freshmen we knew would play out with time.”

Five: Buttigieg became the student president at Harvard’s Institute of Politics, a role described by The New Yorker as being “sought by the most ambitious of the exceptionally ambitious.” At the time the institute was headed by retired senator David Pryor — who is credited with being one of Bill Clinton’s key political mentors. Buttigieg thanks Pryor for providing “the political education we really needed.”

He was a board member of the Harvard College Democrats and protested the war in Iraq. He wrote a regular column for the Harvard Crimson, and in one mocked George W. Bush for his Ivy League elitism in poetry form:

more...

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/03/pete-buttigieg-biography-views-democratic-presidential-candidate/

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
17 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Twenty Things You Probably Didn't Know About Pete Buttigieg (Original Post) babylonsister Mar 2019 OP
👀 underpants Mar 2019 #1
Interesting! Thanks for posting this, babylonsister True Dough Mar 2019 #2
I know. I'm very much leaning that way. nt babylonsister Mar 2019 #4
I really like Mayor Pete a lot. lark Mar 2019 #3
21. 90 percent of the American population cannot dewsgirl Mar 2019 #5
It will be much easier True Dough Mar 2019 #9
+1, I've noticed this morning many are saying, Buti-judge this morning. So maybe dewsgirl Mar 2019 #10
This message was self-deleted by its author littlemissmartypants Mar 2019 #16
He keeps rising in DU. Now 4%. Tied with Beto California_Republic Mar 2019 #6
If Biden runs and wins, Pete will be perfect VP pick AlexSFCA Mar 2019 #7
He is very impressive katmondoo Mar 2019 #8
A Rhodes Scholarship took Buttigieg to Oxford Botany Mar 2019 #11
K and r. Tipperary Mar 2019 #12
Thanks for this really great post. I've read it and am still bookmarking to patricia92243 Mar 2019 #13
I've been out of touch - no papers, e-mail, cell phone.... LAS14 Mar 2019 #14
He's been getting media play. He was just on The View. Autumn Mar 2019 #15
Thanks, I keep liking Buttigieg more and more. dgauss Mar 2019 #17
 

True Dough

(17,038 posts)
2. Interesting! Thanks for posting this, babylonsister
Fri Mar 22, 2019, 09:42 AM
Mar 2019

You're welcome to insert Pete's photo at the bottom of your profile anytime!

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Undecided
 

babylonsister

(170,928 posts)
4. I know. I'm very much leaning that way. nt
Fri Mar 22, 2019, 09:47 AM
Mar 2019
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

lark

(22,941 posts)
3. I really like Mayor Pete a lot.
Fri Mar 22, 2019, 09:44 AM
Mar 2019

So many good-great candidates to beat Cheetolini.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

dewsgirl

(14,961 posts)
5. 21. 90 percent of the American population cannot
Fri Mar 22, 2019, 09:55 AM
Mar 2019

pronounce his name. Including many anchors/pundits.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

True Dough

(17,038 posts)
9. It will be much easier
Fri Mar 22, 2019, 10:33 AM
Mar 2019

when they can all just refer to him as "Mr. President"!!!

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Undecided
 

dewsgirl

(14,961 posts)
10. +1, I've noticed this morning many are saying, Buti-judge this morning. So maybe
Fri Mar 22, 2019, 10:51 AM
Mar 2019

they got the memo. Looking forward to Jeannie Moos segment on this.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden

Response to dewsgirl (Reply #5)

 

California_Republic

(1,826 posts)
6. He keeps rising in DU. Now 4%. Tied with Beto
Fri Mar 22, 2019, 10:03 AM
Mar 2019
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Undecided
 

AlexSFCA

(6,137 posts)
7. If Biden runs and wins, Pete will be perfect VP pick
Fri Mar 22, 2019, 10:05 AM
Mar 2019

Better than Beto, IMO. Pete us a rising star but his last name is hard spell.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

katmondoo

(6,452 posts)
8. He is very impressive
Fri Mar 22, 2019, 10:31 AM
Mar 2019
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

Botany

(70,219 posts)
11. A Rhodes Scholarship took Buttigieg to Oxford
Fri Mar 22, 2019, 12:01 PM
Mar 2019
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

Tipperary

(6,930 posts)
12. K and r.
Fri Mar 22, 2019, 12:29 PM
Mar 2019

Liking this guy more with everything I learn about him.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Undecided
 

patricia92243

(12,585 posts)
13. Thanks for this really great post. I've read it and am still bookmarking to
Fri Mar 22, 2019, 12:49 PM
Mar 2019

read again later - like when he is POTUS.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

LAS14

(13,741 posts)
14. I've been out of touch - no papers, e-mail, cell phone....
Fri Mar 22, 2019, 01:10 PM
Mar 2019

... for four days. What happened to cause so much Buttigieg activity on DU?

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

Autumn

(44,686 posts)
15. He's been getting media play. He was just on The View.
Fri Mar 22, 2019, 01:12 PM
Mar 2019

Not to mention the man is brilliant.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Undecided
 

dgauss

(878 posts)
17. Thanks, I keep liking Buttigieg more and more.
Sat Mar 23, 2019, 12:35 AM
Mar 2019
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
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