South Bend mayor Pete "Boat Shoes" Buttigieg has spent more money on private air travel—at least $300,000—than any other candidate in the Democratic primary.
When asked to defend his campaign's use of carbon-spewing private jets at CNN's "climate crisis town hall" on Wednesday, Boat Shoes showed little remorse for the planet. "This is a very big country and I'm running to be president of the whole country," he told Chris Cuomo, the CNN anchor sometimes referred to as "Fredo."
Pete Buttigieg defends use of private planes for campaigning #ClimateTownHall https://t.co/enEpvvcWcI pic.twitter.com/zs17zuZDw6
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 5, 2019
Buttigieg sits at 4.6 percent in the RealClearPolitics national polling average. If you're not already convinced his campaign is going nowhere, consider the fact that he failed to record a statistically significant level of support among black voters in an August Quinnipiac poll. Hawaii representative Tulsi Gabbard, who did not qualify for the third primary debate, managed to get 1 percent.
Speaking of black voters, Buttigieg represents a number of them in his capacity as mayor of South Bend, Ind. There have been calls for his resignation in response to his handling of the city's police department after a white sergeant fatally shot a black resident on Father's Day.
Some might argue that Buttigieg's time would be better spent meeting with voters in his own community rather than jetting around in a pointless effort to become "president of the whole country" at age 37. Instead, he appears on national television to suggest that people who could never afford private air travel but nevertheless insist on eating hamburgers and using plastic straws are "part of the problem."
Meanwhile, another Democratic candidate with absolutely no shot at winning the party's nomination, failed Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke, is desperately seeking attention by live-blogging his 4-hour bus ride from New York to Boston.
Beto O’Rourke spox says that he is indeed taking the Bolt bus from NY to Boston bc it pollutes less. Airport travel/security "takes nearly every bit of time as the 4 hr Bolt ride - so why not choose the lower carbon option?"
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) September 5, 2019
We left New Haven on time. pic.twitter.com/xDqCqhUN7g
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) September 5, 2019
Folks. Beto's on a bus. He's doing a town hall. It's a Bus Town Hall!https://t.co/8uJXRSauu0 pic.twitter.com/5zplgErzZO
— Team Beto (@TeamBeto) September 5, 2019