I Didn't Say It ...

Pete Buttigieg, Democratic presidential hopeful, on standing out in a crowded Democratic field: 

“The way you survive the Flavor of the Month period, or with 20 of us it’s probably a Flavor of the Week period… But the way that you do it is through substance. You gotta make sure that you’re putting forward something that others aren’t, or at least that you’ve got a fresh and different vocabulary that can reach people who maybe have tuned us out.”

He’s right, because right now he’s new, he’s different, he’s got a lot of people talking. But will that translate to the primaries which are many months away?

Personally, I think Pete has the staying power.

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democratic Congressperson, on Jared Kushner’s use of WhatsApp to communicate with Saudi officials and lax security at the White House:

“Reports are suggesting that we are conducting foreign relations by people with security clearances via WhatsApp! Every day that we go on without getting to the bottom of this matter is a day that we are putting hundreds if not potentially thousands of Americans at risk. I mean, really, what is next, putting nuclear codes in Instagram DMs? This is ridiculous.”

It’s been reported that _____ overruled security clearance denials by career employees for 25 individuals in his administration, but, hey, it’s only national security.

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George Clooney, actor and activist, to the critics who say his call for a boycott of the Dorchester Collection, hotels owned by the government of Brunei, after Brunei announced it would implement a “death by stoning” punishment for gay sex, would hurt hotel staff:

“I share those concerns, but to equate their situation with the fact that this week the 5th richest country in the world would take a young woman who is found to be gay, bury her up to her neck and have 25 men throw stones at her head until she is dead seems unfathomable. This exact argument was used during the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955. And yes, a lot of hard working, presumably innocent bus drivers were hurt… but no one would argue that the boycott was for the far greater good. These are very expensive hotels, but the bulk of their business isn’t individuals but companies. I’ve been to these hotels when I was doing press events set up by the studios. I don’t know any companies that want to put money in the pocket of a murderer once they know.”

He’s right; while it may hurt the employees, I think trying to stop the death by stoning of gay people is worth that.

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Hogan Gidley, White House spokes-tool, on cutting aid to Puerto Rico …though he cannot be bothered to say “Puerto Rico”:

 “With all they’ve done in that country, they’ve had a systematic mismanagement of the goods and services we’ve sent to them. You’ve seen food just rotting in the ports. Their governor has done a horrible job. He’s trying to make political hay in a political year, and he’s trying to find someone to take the blame off of him for not having a grid and not having a good system in that country at all.”

Oh, and he repeats Trump’s “$91 billion” lie cuz he’s a pandering asshat.

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Sarah Palin, complaining that she was not invited to John McCain’s funeral:

“I was kind of surprised to be publicly disinvited to the funeral.”

She is thirsty for attention because you cannot be disinvited if you were never invited in the first place. And, since you were a stain on McCain’s legacy, why let you sit in a pew?

Back to the trailer, Meth-head Barbie.

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Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican, argued against transgender rights at a hearing on the Equality Act:

“Consider this possibility — if President Trump were to say, I am now the first female president? Who would celebrate that? Would those who support the legislation think that’s a good thing, or would they be dismayed? Bad actors have already weaponized some ostensible equality laws for their own benefit.”

Seriously, Republicans? You elected this kind of stupid? Are you ashamed of yourselves at all?

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Pramila Jayapal, Democratic Congresswoman, at that same Equality Act hearing:

“My beautiful, now-22-year-old child told me last year that they were gender non-conforming. And over the last year, I have come to understand from a deeply personal mother’s perspective. I came to understand what their newfound freedom—it is the only way I can describe what has happened to my beautiful child — what their newfound freedom to wear a dress, to rid themselves of some conformist stereotype of who they are, to be able to express who they are at their real core. Since this deeply impactful moment last year, my child’s embracing of their non-conforming gender identity and all it allows in their brilliance, their self-expression, the only thought I wake up with every day is, ‘My child is free. My child is free to be who they are.’ And in that freedom comes a responsibility for us as legislators to protect that freedom to be who they area.”

And there you have the fundamental difference between most Republicans and most Democrats; Republicans trade in fear and hate and lies, and Democrats work with acceptance and understanding.

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