South Carolina voters should not be fooled: Pete Buttigieg is not a ‘moderate’

Prior to the Democratic Party primary voting, numerous pundits began referring to presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg as a “moderate.” At the time I contemplated writing to dispute that characterization, since to me it was a not-so-veiled attempt to encourage voters to move away from Sen. Bernie Sanders’ candidacy.

But after listening to the pundits continue to ramp up the preposterous “Buttigieg is a moderate” talk — especially after his better-than-expected performances in Iowa and New Hampshire — I am now very concerned that uninformed voters could start to believe that Buttigieg actually is a moderate.

Pete Buttigieg isn’t a moderate. And here is just some of the evidence that proves that Buttigieg isn’t a moderate:

▪ Buttigieg believes in abortion, and he is unbothered by partial birth abortion (in other words, infanticide).

▪ Buttigieg doesn’t support building a wall along our southern border — and if he’s elected, he would not view entering the U.S. illegally as a crime.

▪ Buttigieg intends to decriminalize the use of drugs.

▪ Buttigieg has evolved from “studying” reparations for descendants of slavery to pretty much agreeing to offer full-blown reparations in an attempt to pander to African American voters.

▪ Buttigieg supports the extreme Green New Deal, and he would quickly reverse America’s status as an energy independent nation that doesn’t rely on Middle East oil.

▪ Buttigieg supports a national $15 per hour minimum wage — notwithstanding the negative effects of reduced work hours, loss of health insurance, layoffs, increased prices for consumers and even business closures.

▪ Buttigieg wants to increase corporate tax rates and reverse President Donald Trump’s tax cuts, which would hinder our economy.

▪ Buttigieg wants to dramatically increase the national debt by offering “Medicare for all who want it,” making college education free and canceling some if not all student loan debt.

▪ Buttigieg supports expanding the number of jurists on the Supreme Court and eliminating the Electoral College — two moves that would leave the coastal elites permanently in control.

Buttigieg hides his extreme leftist views very well.

He is glib.

He is silver-tongued.

He is a fraud.

When Buttigieg talks about his positions, he is the epitome of the word “specious” — which is also a good way to describe Saint Pete’s tendency to cherry-pick passages from the Bible.

He is not a moderate, and one Iowa caucus voter unfortunately learned that lesson a bit too late. It was only after she cast her vote for Buttigieg that she learned the full story about the candidate — a discovery that led the woman to say, “I don’t want somebody like that in the White House.”

Any right-thinking person should reach the same conclusion about Buttigieg, the “moderate” who is anything but a moderate.

Paul Gilbert resides in Batesburg.

This story was originally published February 26, 2020 at 3:43 PM.