Thread by @PoFaith4Pete

.@PeteButtigieg's quotes from the debate, a long thread. Divided into differently lengthened segments for your reading delight. #DemDebates #DemDebate2 #TeamPete

"I'm running for president because our country is running out of time. It is even bigger than the emergency of the Trump presidency. Ask yourself how somebody like Donald Trump ever gets within cheating distance of the Oval Office in the first place. 1/5

"It doesn't happen unless America is already in a crisis -- an economy that's not working for everyone, endless war, climate change. We have lived this in my industrial Midwestern hometown. My generation has lived this as long as we have been alive. 2/5

"And it’s only accelerating. Science tells us we have 12 years before we reach the horizon of catastrophe when it comes to our climate. By 2030, the average house in this country will cost half a million bucks and a women’s right to choose may not even exist. 3/5

"We are not going to be able to meet this moment by recycling the same arguments, policies, and politicians that have dominated Washington for as long as I have been alive. We've got to summon the courage to walk away from the past and do something different." 4/5

"This is our shot. That is why I'm running for president." 5/5
@PeteButtigieg #DemDebates #DemDebate2 #TeamPete

"We don't have to stand up here speculating about whether the public option will be better or a Medicare for All environment will be better than the corporate options. We can put it to the test. 1/5

"That's the concept of my Medicare for All Who Want It proposal. That way, if people like me are right that the public alternative is going to be not only more comprehensive, but more affordable than any of the corporate options around there, 2/5

"we'll see Americans walk away from the corporate options into that Medicare option, and it will become Medicare for All without us having to kick anybody off their insurance. 3/5

"I think you can buy into it. That's the idea of Medicare for All Who Want It. Look, this is a distinction without a difference, whether you're paying the same money in the form of taxes or premiums. 4/5

"Look, in this country, if you have health coverage -- if you don't have health coverage, you're paying too much for care, and if you do have health coverage, you're paying too much for care." 5/5

"It is time to stop worrying about what the Republicans will say. 1/4

"Look, if we embrace a far-left agenda they're going to say we're a bunch of crazy socialists. If we embrace a conservative agenda, you know what they're going to do? They're going to say we're a bunch of crazy socialists. 2/4

"So let's just stand up for the right policy, go out there and defend it. That's the policy I'm putting forward, not because I think it's the right triangulation between Republicans here and Democrats there -- because I think it's the right answer for people 3/4

"like my mother-in-law who is here -- whose life was saved by the ACA, but who is still far too vulnerable to the fact that the insurance industry does not care about her." 4/4
#DemDebates #DemDebate2 #healthcare #TeamPete

"When I am president, illegally crossing the border will still be illegal. We can argue over the finer points of which parts of this ought to be handled by civil law and which parts ought to be handled by criminal law. 1/5

"But we've got a crisis on our hands. And it's not just a crisis of immigration; it's a crisis of cruelty and incompetence that has created a humanitarian disaster on our southern border. It is a stain on the United States of America. 2/5

"Americans want comprehensive immigration reform. And frankly, we've been talking about the same framework for my entire adult lifetime, protections for DREAMers; making sure that -- that we have a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented; cleaning up lawful immigration. 3/5

"We know what to do. We know that border security can be part of that package and we can still be a nation of laws. The problem is we haven't had the will to get it done in Washington. 4/5

"And now we have a president who could fix it in a month, because there is that bipartisan agreement, but he needs it to be a crisis rather than an achievement. That will end on my watch." 5/5 #DemDebates #DemDebate2 #TeamPete #ImmigrationReform

"So in my view, if fraud is involved, then that's suitable for the criminal statute. If not, then it should be handled under civil law. But these show of hands are exactly what is wrong with the way that this race is being covered." 1/2

BASH: "Well, we're not -- we're not doing that here."

Pete: "And we appreciate that." 2/2
#MidwesternCharm

"Well, this epidemic of gun violence has hit my community too, far too many times. It’s the worst part of being mayor, getting the phone call, consoling, grieving parents. And we have a mass shooting’s worth of killings everyday in this country. 1/6

"What we’re doing hasn’t worked because we haven’t had a system in Washington capable of delivering what the American people have told us they want. 2/6

"80-90 percent of Republicans want universal background checks, not to mention the common sense solutions like red flag laws that disarmed domestic abusers and flag mental health risks and an end to assault weapons, 3/6

"things like what I carried overseas in uniform, that have no business in American neighbors in peace time, let alone anywhere near a school. 4/6

"I was at an event a few days ago, and a 13-year-old asked me what we’re going to do about school safety, and then began shaking and then began crying. And we can talk about these policies, but we already know the policies. 5/6

"The only thing I could think of, looking into the eyes of this child, is we’re supposed to be dealing with this so you don’t have to. High school is hard enough, without having to worry about whether you’re going to get shot." 6/6
#DemDebates #DemDebate2 #TeamPete #GunControl

"This is the exact same conversation we’ve been having since - since I was in high school. I was a junior when the Columbine shooting happened. I was part of the first generation that saw routine school shootings. 1/3

"We have now produced the second school shooting generation in this country. We better not allow there to be a third. 2/3

"Something is broken if it is even possible for the same debate around the same solutions that we all know are the right thing to do. They won’t prevent every incident. They won’t save every life. But we know what to do, and it has not happened." 3/3
#DemDebates #GunViolence

"Still the conversation that we've been having for the last 20 years. Of course we need to get money out of politics. But when I propose the actual structural democratic reforms that might make a difference: 1/4

"end the Electoral College, amend the Constitution, if necessary, to clear up Citizens United, have D.C. actually be a state, and depoliticize the Supreme Court with structural reform, people look at me funny, as if this country were incapable of structural reform. 2/4

"Does anybody really think we're going to overtake Citizens United without constitutional action? This is a country that once changed its Constitution so you couldn't drink and then changed it back because we changed our minds about that. 3/4

"And you're telling me we can't reform our democracy in our time? We have to or we'll be having the same argument 20 years from now." 4/4
#FixDemocracy #DemDebates #DemDebate2 #ElectoralReforms

"We have all put out highly similar visions on climate. It is all theoretical. We will deal with climate, if and only if we win the presidency, if and only if we beat Donald Trump. 1/4

"Nominate me, and you get to see the president of the United States stand next to an American war veteran and explain why he chose to pretend to be disabled when it was chance to serve. 2/4

"Nominate me, and we will have a different conversation with American voters about why the president of the United States thinks you're a sucker, when the problem in your life is your paycheck is not going up nearly as fast as the cost of housing or the cost of education, 3/4

"or the cost of prescription drugs. And he has done nothing about it except the tax cuts for the corporations." 4/4
#DemDebates #DemDebate2 #BestQuote #TeamPete

"As an urban mayor serving a diverse community, the racial divide lives within me. I'm not saying that I became mayor and racism or crime or poverty ended on my watch. 1/8

"But in our city, we have come together repeatedly to tackle challenges, like the fact that far too many people were not getting the help they needed in their housing and so we directed it to a historically underinvested African-American neighborhood. 2/8

Right now, in the wake of a police-involved shooting, our community is moving from hurting to healing by making sure that the community can participate in things like revising the use of force policy 3/8

"and making sure there are community voices on the board of safety that handles police matters. 4/8

"I've proposed a Douglass plan to tackle this issue nationally, because mayors have hit the limits of what you can do unless there is national action. 5/8

"Systemic racism has touched every part of American life, from housing to health to homeownership. If you walk into an emergency room and you are black, your reports of pain will be taken less seriously. 6/8

"If you apply for a job and you are black, you are less likely to be called just because of the name on the resume. 7/8

"It's why I've proposed that we do everything from investing in historically red-lined neighborhoods to build black wealth in homeownership to supporting entrepreneurship for black Americans." 8/8 #DemDebates
#DemDebate2
#DouglassPlan #TeamPete

"Well, this happened in my community 20 years before I was born. And when I was growing up, we were still picking up the pieces. Empty factories, empty houses, poverty. I know exactly what happens to a community when these closures take place. And there will be more. 1/4

"It's why we actually need to put the interests of workers first. Of course we need to do retraining. We're doing it now in South Bend. We should continue to do it. 2/4

"But this is so much bigger than a trade fight. This is about a moment when the economy is changing before our eyes. 3/4

"There are people in the gig economy who go through more jobs in a week than my parents went through in their lifetime. It's why I've proposed that we allow gig workers to unionize, because a gig is a job and a worker is a worker." 4/4
#unions #NewEra #DemDebates #TeamPete

"We have to respond to all of these changes. And, you know, in addition to confronting tech, in addition to supporting workers by double unionization, as I propose to do, some of this is low-tech, too, like the minimum wage is just too low. 1/2

"And so-called conservative Christian senators right now in the Senate are blocking a bill to raise the minimum wage, when scripture says that whoever oppresses the poor taunts their maker." 2/2
#FakeChristian #MinimumWage #DemDebates #TeamPete

"That would be great for us. And then the next day, there would be a student loan program and people would be out taking student loans wondering they weren't -- why they weren't lucky enough in timing to get theirs wiped away completely, too. 1/7

"We can have debt-free college for low and middle-income students by expanding Pell Grants and compelling states to pick up more of the burden. 2/7

"And on the back end, for those of us who do have a lot of debt, we can make it more affordable and we can expand a public service loan forgiveness program, which is an excellent program that is almost impossible to actually get access to right now. 3/7

"We can take these steps and have an approach that is actually fair. If we want to start wiping away student debt, here's where I would start. I would start with the for-profit colleges that took advantage of people, especially veterans, by the way. 4/7

"The moment I redeployed, my Facebook add feed started filling with ads from these for-profit colleges. Under President Obama, they were held accountable for whether they delivered results. 5/7

"President Trump, under a secretary of education who regrettably is from this state, did away with those rules. There's no accountability. 6/7

"On my watch, those colleges that turned the Department of Education into a predatory lender, that's where we would begin when it came to getting rid of loans." 7/7
#DemDebates #DemDebate2 #StudentDebt #TeamPete

"We will withdraw. We have to."

TAPPER: "In your first year?"

Pete: "Yes. Look, around the world, we will do whatever it takes to keep America safe. But I thought I was one of the last troops leaving Afghanistan when I thought I was turning out the lights years ago. 1/6

"Every time I see news about somebody being killed in Afghanistan, I think about what it was like to hear an explosion over there and wonder whether it was somebody that I served with, somebody that I knew, a friend, roommate, colleague. 2/6

"We're pretty close to the day when we will wake up to the news of a casualty in Afghanistan who was not born on 9/11. 3/6

"I was sent into that war by a congressional authorization, as well as a president. And we need to talk not only about the need for a president committed to ending endless war, but the fact that Congress has been asleep at the switch. 4/6

"And on my watch, I will propose that any authorization for the use of military force have a three-year sunset and have to be renewed, 5/6

"because if men and women in the military have the courage to go serve, members of Congress ought to have to summon the courage to vote on whether they ought to be there." 6/6
#DemDebates #DemDebate2 #ForeignPolicy #Afghanistan #TeamPete

"I don't care how old you are. I care about your vision. But I do think it matters that we have a new generation of leaders stepping up around the world. 1/8

"I actually think it's good that the prime minister of New Zealand's gotten a lot of attention in Democratic debates. She's masterful. She is younger than I would be when I take office. 2/8

"This is the kind of trend America might be leading, instead of following, but only if it's actually backed by the right vision. And we can have great presidents at any age. What I will say is we need the kind of vision that's going to win. 3/8

"We cannot have a vision that amounts to back to normal. Because the only reason we got this president is that normal didn't work. 4/8

"We have to be ready to take on this president and, by the way, something that hasn't been talked about as much tonight, take on his enablers in Congress. 5/8

"When David Duke ran for Congress or ran for governor, the Republican Party, 20 years ago, ran away from him. Today they are supporting naked racism in the White House, or are at best silent about it. 6/8

"And if you are watching this at home and you are a Republican member of Congress, consider the fact that, when the sun sets on your career and they are writing your story, of all the good and bad things you did in your life, 7/8

"the thing you will be remembered for is whether, in this moment, with this president, you found the courage to stand up to him or you continued to put party over country." 8/8
#DemDebates #DemDebate2 #TeamPete #Resist

"There's good news and bad news. I'm going to start with the bad news. Our country is in trouble. GDP is going up and life expectancy is going down. Think about what that means. And it's only getting tougher. 1/7

"By 2030, we will have passed the point of no return on climate, there are going to be 130 million more guns on our streets. I'll be in my forties then. If you have kids, think about how old they will be then. 2/7

"But here's the good news: It's not too late. We can tell our kids that before we ran out of time, just before we ran out of time, in 2020, we did what it took to deliver a climate that we didn't have to wonder if it could support us, 3/7

"to deliver a society where race has no bearing on your health or your wealth or your relationship with law enforcement, that we did what it took to deliver an economy where a rising tide actually does lift all boats. 4/7

"We can do this, if and only if we are ready to walk away from what hasn't worked with bold action and win, 5/7

"not only defeat this president, but defeat his congressional allies with a defeat so big that it reunites the Republican Party with its conscience as well as bringing Democrats to office. 6/7

"Join me, and let's make it happen." 7/7
With you, President Pete, 💯.
#TeamPete #DemDebates #DemDebate2 #LetsWin

Okay, that's it, everything Pete said in the second debate. Borrowed largely from @washingtonpost, with a few corrections.
Please tweet, retweet, link, and do what you do with this! google.com/amp/s/beta.was…