Buttigieg stirs Dem hornets’ nest ahead of debate, AOC butts in and gets stung

Screengrab – Pete for America

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is making an aggressive move he surely hopes will put him on par with fellow Democratic presidential contenders Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Ahead of Tuesday night’s debate, Buttigieg released an ad attacking the “Medicare for All” proposals favored by Sanders and Warren, which is a surefire way to get the hard-left progressive faction of the party stirred.

This is precisely what was seen when former Bronx bartender and self-described socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez directed her ire at Buttigieg.

The timing of the ad, titled “Makes More Sense,” is certain to impact Tuesday night’s Democratic debate in Westerville, Ohio, likely ensuring more face time for the openly gay mayor as his rivals push back.

The digital ad features television personalities talking about Buttigieg’s plan for health care, comparing it to the “Medicare for All” proposal.

 

 

Joe Lockhart, a CNN political analyst and former press secretary to President Clinton, is seen in a clip saying, “Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren believe that we have to force ourselves into Medicare for All, where private insurance is abolished.”

“Mayor Pete said, ‘Medicare for all who want it.’ That’s a much better formulation,” CNN political commentator Van Jones said in another clip.

Sanders and Warren’s plans essentially eliminate private health insurance, while the mayor’s plan provided both options.

“The ad highlights Pete’s bold approach to health care would not kick millions of people off their private health care, and would give them the option to choose the plan that’s right for them,” his campaign said in a released statement.

You know, that infamous promise that if you like your current plan you can keep it?

Buttigieg also went at Warren over her small-donor strategy.

“We’re not going to beat Trump with pocket change,” he said, potentially to defend his own acceptance of big-money donations.

Ocasio-Cortez responded to a tweet on this issue and on Buttigieg disagreeing with Beto O’Rourke, another radical progressive, on a mandatory gun buyback program, essentially sticking up for Warren and O’Rourke.

“Small-dollar grassroots campaigns, aka what Buttegieg insults here as “pocket change,” out-fundraise him by millions. Our nation’s leaders should be working to end the era of big money politics, not protect it. & Beto’s gun policy isn’t ‘picking a fight,’ it’s taking a stand,” she tweeted.

As usual, Ocasio-Cortez steps into a quagmire of her own making, getting hit for reacting to sound bytes AND for misspelling Buttigieg’s name.

Here’s a sampling of the responses from Twitter:

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