Pete Buttigieg would be Kamala Harris's smartest pick for vice-president

[phoenix_rising]

JD Vance would not like to face the transportation secretary in a vice-presidential debate

Financial Times
Edward Luce
July 26, 2024

A confident presidential nominee should pick someone they trust and like rather than parse through questionable polling data to divine which name might nudge the numbers. Buttigieg and his husband Chasten are close to Harris and the second gentleman Doug Emhoff. This would be a happy partnership.

US history is littered with running mates who lost their value the moment the polling stations closed. Buttigieg would also be an invaluable proxy on the campaign trail. Not only is he already vetted, having been a presidential candidate in 2020, and a cabinet secretary since then; he is also the most effective bar none at fact checking Republicans in real time. His congressional testimonies and Fox News appearances go deservedly viral almost every time. If you could pick who Vance would least like to face in a vice-presidential debate, Buttigieg would be the one.

Swampians will not need reminding that Vance has been highly disparaging of people who don’t have children. He has even suggested that the childless should have less of a say over democracy than those with offspring — a move straight out of Benito Mussolini’s “bachelor tax”. Buttigieg has already skewered Vance’s disparagement of “childless cat ladies”. Vance’s initial remarks made to Tucker Carlson (who else?) cited Harris, Buttigieg and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as examples of childless leaders who have no stake in America’s future. The first is a stepmother, the second has two adopted children, the third is 34.

https://www.ft.com/content/16be4ce2-db9a-484f-bc97-1a090d69fb00