Date: 2/13/2020 10:21:37 PM
Subject: Blog Posting

H A R L A N R I C H A R D S

February 13, 2020

The Democratic Primary

I listened to the results of the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire primary. Thus far, Joe Biden is not doing very well. Hopefully, he'll take the hint and drop out.

Bernie Sanders is doing very well. He has many ardent supporters and some great ideas. He is the one who can beat Trump (in my opinion).

Amy Klobishar (is that how it's spelled?) is good and she would be all right as the nominee, but there are better candidates in the race.

But my worst condemnation goes to Pete Buttigeig. Where does he get the idea that being an ex-mayor qualifies him to be president of the United States? I'll concede that he's a pleasant, likeable guy but since when does that qualify someone to be president? And what about all those people who are voting for him? What criteria could they possibly be using to evaluate him? Even Biden would be a better candidate.

What do I have against him? He is totally unsuited to represent the U.S. on the world stage. To put it in prison lingo, he's a punk. I see a soft, weak human being. Imagine him going head to head with Putin. He's liable to wet his hands if he gets locked in a room with Putin and can't get out. His weakness is tied to him being gay and the fact that he's gay is the only reason he's been well-funded enough to garner the support needed to be at the forefront. I believe that most of his monetary support came from other gay people who want to put a gay person in the White House just because he's gay. I don't care whether Buttigeig or anyone else is gay. But when someone is supported to fill a position just because he's gay in spite of his obvious unsuitability for the position, then I feel compelled to speak out. That is no different (in my opinion) than denying a qualified person a position because he's gay. Either one is wrong. Had he not been openly gay, he would have dropped out by now due to lack of money.

Maybe younger people are not homophobic, but many older people are. It has only been in the last 20 years that being gay has become socially acceptable. Nominating him would give Trump 4 more years. It would be like the 2016 election where voters were ashamed to admit they were Trump supporters but voted him into office.

Anyway, getting to Elizabeth Warren, she is doing nothing but siphoning off support from Bernie Sanders and making it less likely that he'll get the nomination. If she really believes in the policies she's espousing, she would withdraw and place her support behind Bernie. They need to make a deal where he names her as his Vice President now contingent on him winning the nomination. After one 4 year term, he supports her in the next election. It's a win for everyone. But egos get in the way. Hilary would have won in 2016 if she would have had Bernie for Vice President.

I hope that Elizabeth drops out soon and ex-New York Mayor Bloomberg takes the wind out of Buttigeig's campaign. That way we may have a chance to get a decent candidate to oust Trump.