Rachel Maddow's infamously cunty interview with Mayor Pete

I remember that.

She didn't care for Saint Pete?

Burn her at the stake!

What, you mean gay people are not a monolithic group like communists during the cold war?

You mean we're not all one big, happy family who agree about everything and are never critical of each other.

I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked that she didn't simply support him for being gay.

I find his past choices on being closeted, well, cowardly and bewildering for his generation and situations. Rachel thinks something along those lines. Now I'm too old to care, really, so I won't hold it against him. He has a boilerplate tinge to everything, it's a bit stepford wifey. He's tightly produced.

Like Rachel could be closeted.

Rachel's a bitch.

She knows a fraud when she sees one.

Rachel wants everyone to think she’s the smartest one in the room. Pete made her uncomfortable.

You can sense the negative tension between them. Not just from her, but Pete as well. He seemed kind of pissed off from the beginning.

He always shows when he doesn't like someone.

They were basically comparing their Rhodes Scholar public intellectual "dick size".

It was especially jarring because Rachel is so obsequious and fake-humble toward every Democrat who appears on her show.

R5 Her high school picture.

Pete is on Chris Cuomo being interviewed now.

Check it out. He has improved his interviewing skills I think.

He didnt need the gimmick of being openly gay to get his Rhodes Scholarship. He got it on merit. Go Pete! Suck it Rachel!

It's fair to question his delays in coming out. Doesn't mean you judge him for it but he certainly isn't a gay pioneer.

I think it's a fair question she asked. I wonder why he was closeted for so long in this day and age but everyone has their own story. I don't see it as a real negative.

OP thinks Maddow should just bow down and suck Buttigieg's dick.

Nope.

Rachel Maddow is an Uncle Tom - betraying her own kind. She's done it before and she embarrasses herself.

It’s pretty obvious Pete comes from a religious family. His father is Maltese. There’s just nothing there to suggest it’s a gay friendly family, and he wanted a lot of schooling. Of course he kept his mouth shut.

Rachel comes from a very gay friendly family from the Bay Area. That’s totally different. She could be a lesbian and not have to wonder about whether she’d be thrown out of her family. Not everybody is so lucky.

That’s like someone from NYC calling someone from Alabama, who dreads telling their family about their interracial relationship, a coward.

It was such a good question. If someone waits so long to come out, you wonder if they were deceitful for convenience or just lacking in self-knowledge.

Either way it impacts how much you would trust him.

He’s running for President. Do you think he’s going to say on national television, my dad, the gay-hating bigot, who finally came around some years later...?

I don’t. He seems way too private for that. He’s not auditioning for The View.

Team Rachel maddow, love her.

Rachel is a one trick pony, or dyke if you please. Her schtick is way beyond its expiration date.

"I find his past choices on being closeted, well, cowardly and bewildering for his generation and situations. Rachel thinks something along those lines. "

It's bewildering that a politician from a red state would be closeted?!

Translation, the DNC is getting worried that Pete might get in the way of their designated candidates. And good soldier Rachel goes on the attack. Soon they'll be calling him a Russian stooge.

Wasn't Rachel an army brat?

Because when I think "gay friendly childhood," I certainly don't think of growing up on an army base.

R19, no, wrong. Her parents took her coming out very poorly and her relationship with her mother never recovered.

I haven't caught her show in a while. What page of the Mueller Report is she up to now? Any news on the significance of semicolons or ellipses in the text yet?

It's easier for women to come out, studies show lesbians and bi women are less likely to be closeted than gay and bi men

In what year did Pete come out to the general public?

If I was her and had gone to Oxford and had kicked open some doors for gay people and then this little worm followed me and closed the doors, I'd be pissed, too. She was right to be.

Has anyone asked Pete if he's on the spectrum?

R28 Chastina shut up girl. And your still not going to become the first gay first lady.

Pete came out in 2015, when he was 33

Has Corey Booker commented`

Pete kinda looks like Geb bush in the NYTs photo.

Could he be Pete's real father? Is pete really a bush?

R35, I am straight and deeply in love with my girlfriend, uh, whatshername.....

R35 Because of black homophobia Cory Booker is STILL in the closet!

R6 She reminds me of there late Nancy Kulp.

Nancy was nice but Rachel's a bitch.

Cory Booker is not gay. What proof do we have proving this?

R38 At age 50 - half a century old - Cory Booker is still deeply closeted. People this secretive are not fit for public office, especially being President.

Black homophobia? As if there aren't a shit-ton of white politicians in the closet. In politics guys like Pete are the exception, not the rule. Which is why I'm laughing at people criticizing him for coming out "too late" when most gay politicians don't come out ever.

And please stop rehashing the fake "assault" claim which was probably made up by some Jacob Wohl wannabe

R40 It's simple minded homophobes like you that keep Cory in the closet.

Does it matter whether his family is religious or he is from a red state or whatever?

Some one may live in circumstances in which it is harder to display integrity, but even so having integrity is something you hope to find in a presidential candidate.

I never got a gay vibe from Booker.

"but he certainly isn't a gay pioneer."

Because of all those other openly gay politicians who've run for president?

He should have said well good for you but this is about me. I lived in Brokeback Territory and was worried about other people killing me. I am totally fine being gay myself.

Because bitch, some are just trying to survive in rural areas with out getting Matthew Sheparded, you fuck. You wouldn't understand being from the fucking Bay Area of California, the most accepting gay capital of America! Of course anyone could come out there! Try it in the backwaters, bitch!

R34 looks like a serial killer's photo.

It's scary as Hell.

Pete's opponents should use it in ads against him.

She has no self-awareness whatsoever.

And duh, lesbians don't suffer the same stigma from straight women as gay men suffer from straight men.

What a cheap shot she took.

Honey, I was out in high school in 1972, in a tiny town in PA with more cows than people. I marched in the parades in Philly and DC when I was in my mid-teens. My parents knew, and they weren't liberal or particularly happy with me. But my best friends were college students and included me in their protest plans, letting me ride in the back of the Volkswagen bus and sleep on the floor in their hotel rooms. They used to say I was their "mascot." BTW, many years later, I became a political science professor -- and yes, I've been out at every job since 1972.

So if you have a problem coming out in this day and age, shame on you.

When a women comes out she risks losing her friends and family, when a man comes out he risks losing his life.

r48, he's more attractive than most of his competitors. You think he's worse looking than Bernie Sanders?!!!!

r50, I'm guessing you were so flaming that you couldn't hide it. No offense, but guys who are "straight-acting" are less likely to be out because they don't want to "lose face" with the straight men around them. Nelly guys have less to lose.

That's a troll post, right R52? No one seriously thinks that way.

R52 I'm not talking looks, I'm talking facial expressions.

Do you know the difference?

[quote] She could be a lesbian and not have to wonder about whether she’d be thrown out of her family. Not everybody is so lucky.

Oh please. He was never going to be thrown out of his family. His father was a secular academic, hardly some close minded Evangelical.

Before you blather on about how good lesbians have it, just remember: Men are afraid women will laugh at them; women are afraid men will kill them.

R55 There are plenty of nonreligious bigots against the LGBT community.

It's a shame you haven't run into any at this stage in your life.

Maybe she can ask Matthew Shepard of Laramie, Wyoming how he feels about coming out?

r56, gay men are more likely to be murdered by homophobic men than lesbians

[quote] [R55] There are plenty of nonreligious bigots against the LGBT community.

Yeah, and that person was saying his father was religious and that's why he didn't come out. Not that he was a "nonreligious bigot". And where is the evidence that his father was homophobic? I've never heard this. And the idea that he lived in "Brokeback territory" is also laughable. He is a fucking Harvard educated millennial.

Did Pete stay in the closet because he feared for his life given where he lived?

[quote]It was such a good question. If someone waits so long to come out, you wonder if they were deceitful for convenience or just lacking in self-knowledge. Either way it impacts how much you would trust him.

What a load of crap. I've met openly gay scam artists and I've met closeted men who are upstanding citizens. We all deal in our own way how we live our lives. Just because you come out doesn't mean you're a saint. Yes, it'd be awesome if everyone could come out in their teens without having to deal with any kind of shit but we all know the situation is not that rosy even today.

r47 and r49 summed it up nicely.

I don't think she was that cunty and Mayor Pete answers were perfect. He went on to say all the right things about foreign policy.

She was being unkind. He plainly pissed her off.

And Rachel never asked a question in ten words when she could throw 3750 other words in front of it.

Chasten, go to bed. You’re never going to be first lady and your husband is a smug, duplicitous, opportunistic, unqualified corporate whore and a coward.

[quote] Pete wrote that his dad was supportive when he came out as gay. He and his husband bought a house in South Bend around the corner from his parents, which gave the couple “a good support network despite our work and travel schedules” when they decided to get a dog.

Yes, clearly his father was a raging homophobic bigot!

R66 I guess every election needs a "corporate whore" target.... Pete's been strung up this cycle for the slings and arrows of the righteous. Maybe Bloomberg might take a turn. But one hopes that the righteous understand that that tingle they have from attacking is ok, ONLY if Trump gets defeated. Everything, fucking everything on the Left needs to focus on that.

Judging from some of the rabid haters, I wouldn’t be surprised if some were paid trolls.

Yeah, let's call him a "coward" , r66, because we all know that so many gay politicians come out....

It is so different for women. It is much easier for lesbians to come out. For all this talk about patriarchy it is very difficult for men, who want to attain success, to come out especially in a military environment. In fact, in any patriarchal society being a gay male will always be seen as more subversive than being a gay woman.

"Translation, the DNC is getting worried that Pete might get in the way of their designated candidates. And good soldier Rachel goes on the attack. Soon they'll be calling him a Russian stooge."

R25, wasn't this interview from way back in April?

Project much? Pete’s had his team astroturfing this place since before he even announced his run. In fact, the sycophantic tone of his relentless PR machine here is what initially turned me off about him, even before I’d found out about his problems as a human and a candidate.

I doubt they are astroturfing. Just people who need to get a life. Like the Beto idiots before and the Hillary cult most of all.

Lesbians are jealous of gays and dislike us.

You’re either woefully naive or a moron if you genuinely believe a gay presidential candidate doesn’t have his team pay for posting on gay interest sites.

And r75 must’ve gotten her notes mixed up about which groups were good targets for sowing division between.

He came out four years ago lol

Oh, dykes.

R4 each of us approaches our coming out differently. The guy is an only child in a hick state raised catholic.... plenty of things to wrestle with. What’s the line about walking a mile on someone else’s shoes?

Whoever his journey, he’s a grounded, articulate and thoughtful man who at least has some sort of vision for the USA.

I note his raising of the issue of what section of American society joins the military- the working class for the most part, not the privileged self promoting and would be leaders.

The guy is a breath of fresh air.

[quote] He came out four years ago lol

To his constituents.

If his father is still working maybe he doesn't have the freedom to travel but I have noticed Pete's mother at his events but not his father

All the same lunatic:

[quote]In what year did Pete come out to the general public?

[quote]Pete came out in 2015, when he was 33

[quote]Did Pete stay in the closet because he feared for his life given where he lived?

[quote]He came out four years ago lol

He waited until the coast was clear to come out. Now that's an OK quality in my accountant or barber. But not in the first openly gay president. That cowardice should cost him. I actually think that Farrow kid will get to the white house in my lifetime. Maybe as a VP or chief of staff but I'm pretty sure he will be the first to normalise us politically.

R82 is triggered by the truth.

His nomination is inevitable. His numbers are just so great.

How dare she use facts in her interview with the precious Mayor Pete! He deserves so much MORE than that. It makes me want to cry when I see evil people trying to tear him down. Blacks and women just don't understand all that Pete has to offer. Well FUCk THEM!

Why in the world would he pick the military, Indiana and politics- knowing he jacked-off to images of guys? How do you not 'know' you have same-sex attraction? What did he say when people asked if he had a girlfriend, wife or kids?

He seems like an intrinsically devious person, and we already have that in the White House. I predict more lying scandals in the future for our Pete.

Pete dated girls in college and his close friends and dorm room mate claim they did not know he was gay.

Well I learned something. I had no idea "Mayor Aw Shucks Pete" 's dad was a critical theory professor and Gramsci to boot! And now Pete is a "corporate whore".

Love it!

CULTURAL HEGEMONY!

[quote]Why in the world would he pick the military, Indiana and politics- knowing he jacked-off to images of guys?

Who said he jacked off to images of guys?

Golly I speak 11 languages and entertained myself reading Rousseau upside down, back to front, using 1/8 of my brain, but didn't realize I was gay.

Some people don’t. Sex isn’t on everyone’s mind, you whore.

[quote] I actually think that Farrow kid will get to the white house in my lifetime.

I very much doubt that, mostly because he destroyed his credibility by supporting Mia Farrow's lunatic vendetta against Woody Allen. Then again Trump is in the White House so anything is possible.

[quote] Lesbians are jealous of gays and dislike us.

If I'm going to be jealous of anyone, it's not going to be another marginalized group.

She’s such a snob.

[quote] If his father is still working maybe he doesn't have the freedom to travel but I have noticed Pete's mother at his events but not his father

I think he's a little busy being dead.

It's so funny how users here are understanding when it comes to Pete's hiding in the closet for most of his adult life and then mock so-called closet cases like Cory Booker relentlessly. I also find it funny how you think Indiana or the midwest in general is some huge backwater, and then call Elizabeth Warren an elitist. He is a very smart politician, I will give him that much.

Yeah r97, not to mention the way you jerks treat Aaron Schock.

Anybody who can be in the same room with Maddow and not fall asleep within ten minutes is OK in my book.

Why does this woman continue to suck the life force out of every person, place or thing with whom she comes into contact?

[quote]Project much? Pete’s had his team astroturfing this place since before he even announced his run. In fact, the sycophantic tone of his relentless PR machine here is what initially turned me off about him, even before I’d found out about his problems as a human and a candidate.

Now, now, don't underestimate the influence of your obvious paranoia in reaching this position.

Well it wasn't really cunty. It's just that she's spent her whole live in the ivory tower. She doesn't get how the world works.

Well it wasn't really cunty. It's just that she's spent her whole live in the ivory tower. She doesn't get how the world works.

Funny, I never got a gay vibe from Rachel.

[quote]Anybody who can be in the same room with Maddow and not fall asleep within ten minutes is OK in my book.

She sometimes has some good info but I find her so boring I can never make it through her whole show

Anyone who works for network TV is not living in an ivory tower.

I just wanted to point out she grew up near San Francisco, where people don't really give a shit and gay or straight.

Not everyone has that. For me to come out would've been very scary in my small hick town. This is a place that still used the n word behind closed doors and had meth houses. One man came out in the 70s and had Elton John glasses and everyone talked about it and not in a kind way. No one else was really out. So there was nothing to come out for unless you wanted a bunch of shit.

That's why people leave small hick towns for the more accepting big cities so they don't have to go through that shit.

If you have never been in one than you can't imagine the horror it can be. Coming out is like sending an invitation to a lunch mob, or felt that way even 20 years ago. No one should ever have to go through that. Shame on questioning WHY a person would stay in. You KNOW why. That's what you're seeking to change!

[quote]Anyone who works for network TV is not living in an ivory tower.

LOL. What would you call it? The real world?

I need more information on Rachel before I can form an opinion. Does she do her own grocery shopping? Does she write the check for her monthly condo fees herself or does one of her handlers do that?

^ What problems as a human? The ones you made up?

R104 Related - Maddow beat Hannity this week in the ratings (he was broadcasting the Trump LA rally). Not the first time it's happened. It's some comfort that an authentically progressive commentator is sometimes the top cable news/comment show in the country. Beating Fox. She is smart and articulate and does surface information no one else does. That being said, she has this speech pattern, where she will state a point, and then restate it 10 times in different ways, before continuing to the next point. It's like theme and variations. For me it's incredibly annoying... I can't watch her.

Ari Melber and Chris Matthews always have numerous guests on their programs.

Maddow rarely has guests, and as a result, one must listen to her droning on and bloviating about the universe for a solid hour packed with tedium.

[quote] Anybody who can be in the same room with Maddow and not fall asleep within ten minutes is OK in my book.

There is no shortage of bread and circus for you, dear.

She talks too much.

When you get to puberty and you're masturbating, you know what gets you off.

He dated girls to pass, and he deceived people for decades- reaping the benefits of appearing straight.

Clever? Yes. Honorable... not really.

It's not that simple for anyone. And you know it.

R93, the lunatic is Woody.

R114 ..but according to your pretzel logic, there should be no more "benefit of appearing straight" in this new, post-phobic world. You cant have it both ways. Its either still risky and damaging to come out or its not.

Mayor Pete appears straight???

You can see that gayface from outer space.

R118, maybe to you, but I guarantee most straight people probably couldn't guess that he was gay

That's not a guarantee you can issue, R119. First of all, it's not under your purview to do so and secondly, the man looks gay, gay, gay!

Pete looks like the boy next door.

He looks like a Tab Hunter, Richard Chamberlain, Tom Tryon gay.

Shorter, but acceptably straight looking and acting.

"Cunty"? I thought Rachel was very understanding, and her question was thoughtful and appropriate. And Pete answered honestly. I see no hostility whatsoever between them.

^ There was a question? I nodded off after she got into hour two.

R122, it can be seen from space. I’m mildly on the spectrum, and I miss visual cues and dirty looks all the time. Even I saw it.

R93 incase you hadn't noticed, public opinion is with Mia. Woody is a dweeby Jewish liberal, he simply doesn't appeal to the manosphere as a mascot against feminazis. Even if he did, it wouldn't matter for Ronans politics. Angry manboys were never going to vote for the gay guy who broke MeToo. No great loss.

Didn't Woody get stripped of all awards from the Academy recently?

R27 Is absolutely correct in response to R19. I recall Rachel saying it fundamentally changed her relationship with her mum, and how she perceives her. Rachel was raised Catholic, and apparently her mum is quite steeped in it. I don't for a minute see Irish (bit of English as well) Catholics any less religious than Maltese Catholics. Rachel was in no way out of line, in fact one would expect questions such as hers, considering who she is. I like Pete, but I think it's wrong to feel his coming out story inviolate for any reason. Rachel never disappoints as far as I'm concerned. I wonder if she has ever thought of public office... Maddow would make an excellent presidential candidate IMHO.

The queens bitching about Pete not coming out on a schedule they deem appropriate are always ones who were screaming nellies from the day they popped out of their mother's cunts and could never pass for straight if their lives depended on it.

I despise closeted gay people unless there is true physical risk (jail, execution, homelessness for teens). I grew up in the bible belt in the 80s and early 90s. I didn't come out as a teenager because it would have been a threat to my life in the bible belt deep south. But I turned 18, moved out and came out. Why did I do this? Because I'm not a selfish, homophobic piece of garbage. The people like Pete, who try to hide and pass, are anti-gay cowards. We don't excuse homophobia in straights and we shouldn't in gays either. There is nothing that has advanced gay equality more than people from all walks of life coming out so it's not just a "personal, private choice"; coming out was (and to a lesser extent still is) a necessary response to a lack of equality. I am completely in support speaking openly about sexuality, for both me and others; some people refer to this as "outing". Do we worry about "outing" straight people as straight? "Outing" someone for having green eyes? For going to Kansas State University? No, because there is no such thing as "outing" unless you think that being gay is a bad thing.

r128 everybody's situation is different.

Rachel needs to stop making every story about herself.

She’s quickly becoming a Meghan McCain-level embarrassment.

R128, if he were a "coward" he would still be closeted. He's not. It's easy to come out for shop bottoms like yourself but harder for politicians

What a wearying world its become. Righteous, unassailable opinions about who people should be, how they should act, how their experience is only credible and valid if it matches one's own. People don't even listen much to another's experience anymore, preparing a critique and challenge and admonition and prescription even as they are listening. I think all the digital contexts and platforms only increase this. Digital realities were going to spread goodwill, solve the world's problems, lift everyone up (1998). Instead they are incubators for self-aggrandizing righteous indignation. Hence Trump. Hence a not-so-Brave World whose psycho-spiritual destructiveness might only be limited by the failure of the actual physical world. Imagine...

Right, R131. It's sooooo hard. But so is being the President of the United States. And the callow way Buttigieg concealed his sexuality shows us the poor way he handles difficult things which he calculates may be against his own interest.

Clearly he has had major political ambitions from an early age and maybe he thought he was bi for a while and could get away with marriage and kids. We don't know him personally. The guy still took a big chance with his career coming out in a red state city with a large black population (blacks often being homophobic). And he won his second mayoral election with something like 80% of the vote. Rachel probably never had similar ambitions where being out would potentially wreck her career. I have the impression she fell into her career and was already out before she even had one. She was a grad student who just did the next thing that came along. But some people are more cautious by nature. I still give Pete a lot of credit for being the pioneer that he is. I thought he handled himself well in the interview despite her attitude of barely veiled superiority.

He also wanted to join the service, which is a tradition in his family. At the time, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was still on. So if he’d come out earlier, he could not serve.

This idea that every person should come out at the first possible moment, no matter what their circumstances, is not realistic.

Would it be better if he was a service dodger from a long line of draft dodgers, like Trump?

That Maddow woman is a scold.

I always think it's a shame when people who found the huge courage to come out early and young turn that experience back against other people, like a weapon. I always admire those people who damned the torpedoes, until they seem so bitter. Then I'm left to wonder how happy they really are and why.

R134, Buttigieg won re-election and THEN he came out. That certainly does not make him a pioneer.

What would Gramsci say about the closet as performing consent of hegemony, and the late coming out, only after power ideology has been assigned to the cock-sucking golden boy of meritocractic capitalism?

r138, your timeline is wrong.

I can’t stand this bitch. So bitchy and disrespectful to another gay person. And lesbians wonder why gay men don’t bother with them.

I can’t fucking stand this insufferable CUNT or her awful show.

It's easier for lesbians than it is for gay men. Male homosexuality is seen a radical departure from the norm, in a way that female homosexuality is not.

[quote] Didn't Woody get stripped of all awards from the Academy recently?

Nope.

[quote] [R93] incase you hadn't noticed, public opinion is with Mia.

Is it really? We certainly have die-hard Mia Farrow defenders here but people tend to start question things when a stepson recounts memories of her mama coaching her kids to lie about sexual abuse, on top of being a total and violent cunt to her stepkids. Mia Farrow's reputation would've been destroyed had Ronan not managed to become an esteemed journalist. Still, he'll find the whole mess in front of him one day, and without concrete proof of Woody Allen's guilt Ronan's judgment will always be questioned.

R106, Boston and Oxford are hardly the small homophobic towns you think.

[quote] It's easier for lesbians than it is for gay men.

Oh please. Lesbians have friends and family who have rejected them after coming out, so don't try that.

Society as a whole, r146. Not just family.

Her show was a bore tonight. Inexcusable, after a day of breaking news. She read someone's transcript for 20 minutes.

She needs a producer to infuse her show with some bells and whistles.

r148: Totally agree. Her egotism is making her think everyone loves listening to her read transcripts at great length....uh no. I fast forward since I DVR her show.)

Pete wasn't raised in conservative family. In fact, his parents were liberal professors (his dad recently died). But he grew up in a conservative state, went to a Catholic high school and had political ambitions from early on. Pretty obvious why he wasn't dying to come out. Oh, and he was re-elected after he came out.

So how many other out gay men have run for president and are running third in major polls, R138?

Given that Rachel was one of those who completely bungled her "reporting" of the 2016 election, why anyone would still be taking anything she said seriously is baffling.

Those reporters who were soooo wrong should have been fired for incompetence because they did not do their jobs.

I lost so much respect for Maddow after this interview.

Sure, OK, just because Pete's gay, it doesn't mean you need to lick his boots. (Although she licks the boots of her guests Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Eric Swalwell, Sherrod Brown, Claire McCaskill, Hillary, et. al. et. al. every night.)

But the question she asked Pete (about his coming out) was not about what's good for progressives or the country in 2020, or what's good for gay people in 2020, or the courage it takes to be out and run — it was all about HER, what HER experience was as a teen (as a non-politician) and what she judged to be outside the norm for the age of coming out.

Just gross and transparent. We really will eat our own, at the earliest opportunity.

R138, false. Buttigieg came out in 2015, then won re-election with 80 percent of the vote.

Here is his coming out editorial from the South Bend Tribune. He mentions two interesting facts: that when he graduated, he didn't know a single out person in school, and the Religious Freedom Act in SB. Look it up on Wikipedia, the first thing that comes up is a picture of Mike Pence.

From Wikipedia:

Indiana Senate Bill 101, titled the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), is a law in the U.S. state of Indiana, which allows individuals and companies to assert as a defense in legal proceedings that their exercise of religion has been, or is likely to be, substantially burdened.

It was signed by Mike Pence on March 26, 2015.

The bill was approved by a vote of 40–10 and on March 26, 2015, Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed SB 101 into law.

Here’s an interesting article on the effects of Pence’s bill on the local LGBTQ community: people literally got sick:

In the first quarter of 2015, over 24% of LGBQ Hoosiers reported that they had 14 or more “unhealthy days” each month. By the end of the year, that number had jumped to nearly 60%. Heterosexual people in Indiana did not report any significant increase in the number of unhealthy days, and surrounding regions experienced no similar spikes among LGBQ or straight populations. That suggests that something insidious in Indiana was impacting LGBQ people.

Of course, anyone who followed the RFRA debacle in Indiana won’t be surprised by these results. The national outcry in the wake of the law’s passage made Mike Pence a household name—as a deceptively milquetoast villain in LGBTQ circles, and a pious defender of right-wing Christianity in others. Less than a year after the law was passed, the Indianapolis tourism bureau “Visit Indy” reported a statewide loss of an estimated $60 million in revenue from tourism, conventions, and sporting events that took their business elsewhere. The law is still officially in force.

For many, a physical and psychological toll on those targeted feels like a natural side effect of so-called religious freedom legislation, which targets LGBTQ people and allows employers, healthcare providers, adoption agencies, and businesses to deny service and access to those whose existence allegedly offends their “sincerely held religious beliefs.”

But the hard data pointing to the tangible detrimental health impacts such discrimination induces serve as a sobering reminder that the suggestion that LGBTQ people “just go to another baker” doesn’t begin to solve the problem. Seeing your life, your family, and your very existence vilified, debated, and boiled down to a few overly broad talking points on the national stage has a real cost—and it’s one that many in the LGBTQ community, who already experience disproportionately high rates of depression, suicide, addiction, and homelessness, simply can’t afford to pay.

Not shocking as all lesbians hate gay men.

There’s an important context about Pete’s re-election that people who are not from Indiana might not be familiar with. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was a huge controversy in Indiana. It was a very depressing, frightening event for Indiana gays.

Putting Buttigieg’s coming out in that context would be more accurate than having Rachel just imply, “why are you such a coward, when I came out in San Francisco it was so easy for me.”

R19 Another thing to mention is that lesbians always have and always will be more accepted in society. There's a lot more bigotry towards gay men. Gay men are more often the victims of hate crimes than any of the LBTs. Of course the SJWs never mention this, they all hate gay men.

NO NUTLOAF FOR YOU!

In that context, Pete came out three months after the Religious Freedom Restoration Act was signed into law by Mike Pence. In his editorial he said:

“...It’s clear to me that at a moment like this, being more open about it could do some good. For a local student struggling with her sexuality, it might be helpful for an openly gay mayor to send the message that her community will always have a place for her. And for a conservative resident from a different generation, whose unease with social change is partly rooted in the impression that he doesn’t know anyone gay, perhaps a familiar face can be a reminder that we’re all in this together as a community.“

R132 W&W for you. We've all become cruel and empty these days.

Pete looks like his dad so probably why people didn't see the gay

R144 The right wing nightmare is a rich jew dating the barely legal daughter Asian daughter of his partner of ten years who is also a sister to his biological children and who he met as a child. It combines everything their base hate. Jews, interracial romance, New York, Hollywood and sexual immorality by liberals. Woody will never be Ronans political hurdle. Invoking Woody actually makes the base sympathise with Ronan, not that they'll vote for him of course.

Also the rogue adopted brothers credibility is easily torn to shreds. Large families with adopted kids are teaming with attachment issues. They take on a Lord of The Flies element where the kids with the most unhealthy attachment styles basically go to war to secure a place of importance somewhere. That's what the whore daughter did. And that's what the rogue son did too. Adoption is great but adopting older damaged kids from 3rd world countries was folly. They don't attach, its all about their best hope for survival. If she turns 18 and fears that she's going to be faded out of support, she marries your boyfriend. If endearing himself to the wealthier more powerful ex boyfriend makes him set for life, say goodbye. Get them younger than 5 years old or prepare to pay for years of psychologists.

I am really sad that people complain that Maddow is boring as if she were some stand up comic. Boring should not really an issue when we are talking about news.

Maddow is willing to spend a long time giving complete context. The problem is not that she read trascripts last night---it is that no one else is reading those transcripts.

She likes to hear herself talk, R164. She could supply substance with far less talk on her own. It's like a lecture hall.

Maybe she likes to hear herself talk, but as long as she draws attention to important stories and finds connections that are enlightening, why does that matter?

I think you have to have a bit of an ego to do the kind of work she does, often going against the current of most media.

[quote]often going against the current of most media.

LOL

R165 Name one cable news commentator that "doesn't like" to hear him/herself talk? Hannity never talks too much? O'Donnell never talks too much? Cuomo never talks too much? The hate for Maddow is, at least in part, misogynistic. However, as I said upthread, she has this quirky speaking style where she'll make a statement.... and then restate it 8-10 times. Her analysis is deep, she does investigative reporting that is hugely valuable, she can be an insightful interviewer.... I prefer clips of her that summarize something on her show, don't have the patience for the whole show (I can't sustain listening, I have difficulty hanging in with her discourse, I get restless while watching her show, so her speaking patterns make me agitated, her rhetorical repetitions annoy me and make me anxious, I become restive.... etc.)

R168 is wearing on XXL men's plaid shirt and eating nutloaf as she types.

When push comes to shove lesbians always side with straight women over gay men.

[quote]...she does investigative reporting that is hugely valuable

Hogwash.

She and too many others completely missed and failed in reporting one of the biggest stories of her career - the 2016 election.

She failed. She blew it. Got it all wrong. Drank the Kool Aid. Saw what she wanted to see. And reported what she wanted to see.

If she was so superior at investigative reporting, she would have done a better job.

She is not the only one, of course, but this thread is about her, so commenting on her HUGE failure in such a vital story is worthwhile.

And should remind her viewers to take what she says with a huge dose of skepticism.

R170 This is a choice? Really? Straight women and gay men are so at odds that lesbians need to take sides?

Maddow is one of the best in the business, but she has a vagina, so of course the DL hates her and wants to give a free pass to Mayor Pete.

TBH, I kind of hate her. My mom used to be Ye Basic Democratic Voter until she discovered Rachel, then she converted to fangirl. She'd get all happy about whatever bullshit Rachel had been peddling the night before only to be wildly disappointed when reality came crashing down. Again and again. The cycle got pretty wearing. Thanks a bunch, Rachel.

r170, Cis-vaginal superiority.

Bump

You make a farce of your argument and do a disservice to a serious concern by invoking misogyny as the basis for not liking a long winded talking head. So give yours a shake because the world just isn't a dark as you seem to imagine. Tool.

R177 Straw man argument. It's certainly intellectually honest to suggest that some of the criticism of Maddow is misogynistic (as exemplified by a number of posts on this thread), while then sharing an additional criticism of her. We fall so easily into an essentialist.. "all this" or "all that"....

^ Hey, Rachel's here.

R158, the conservatives who whine about SJWs are the ones who hate gay men

Sometimes a bore is just a bore...(and of course sometimes she's very interesting) but her penchant for reading transcripts (while appropriate to the "read the transcripts" current moment) is getting very old.

Taking this in a bit of a different direction: for all of you declaring that she is an insufferable bore, why, several times this past year, has her program been the highest rated cable news/commenter show? Seriously would like to know how you rationalize this?

I love watching Dr. Maddow and a day isn't a day without watching her on MSNBC AND I think she was cunty to Pete.

See, both things can be held opinions.

She averages slightly more than 3 million viewers a night.

The population of the United States is 329,784,700.

That's .09%.

So she's sometimes the best of a barely measurable lot. She's Miss Butcher Hollow. Not a big win.

I know we had at least two threads on this when it happened so why is it being brought up again? Everything said here was said before. Is it just to keep people agitated? I don't know why more people don't tune this all out, I'm tired of trolls and the excitable always wanting me to get all riled up for them on the internet.

R184 Not only that, but I bet probably a third of her “viewers” are really just CNN randomly playing in hospital waiting rooms, on a TV screen at the gym, in airport lounges, on a TV for sale at a store, etc. I see it on in those places all the time.

r114, Thats not true because I was not interested in men during puberty. I was only attracted to females until my late teens. I am still attracted to many women. I am technically bisexual but way more attracted to men, especially emotionally. I know I will cause an uproar but I think I was probably bi-leaning straight that trauma made me gay.

R186 Trolling faux pas. She's on MSNBC.

R155 Pence is a bastard. Where’s the gun when it’s really needed?

R171, do you have even one fact or specific instance to back up your conclusory screed?

I'd rather watch Don Lemon, I love his snarkiness of some of his regulars.

She’s the embodiment of everything that average people hate about “coastal liberal elites”.

She loves to lecture and point out that she knows more about everything than you do, including how you should live your own life (or Pete’s in this case).

Don Lemon is on at 10 PM, not even the same time as Rachel.

[quote] She loves to lecture and point out that she knows more about everything than you do, including how you should live your own life (or Pete’s in this case).

I doubt she cares what he does. He can live his life anyway he wants. And people are free to judge him anyway they want. He can stay in the closet as long as he likes, it's his life. It's just funny how someone who screams "I don't need lessons on courage!" at other candidates, hid his identity until he was 33.

Lesbians HATE gay men.

CLANG! We have a winner at R195!!!

I will never bash anyone for coming out on their own terms. Don't care if their running for president or working at walmart. Do you how entrenched homophobia is in society still. How as recent as four years one would dishonorably discharged from the US military for being a homosexual. It is a beautiful thing to live your own truth and come out early, but for others it is not that easy and for many it could cost them their lives. Someone could very well be living out and proud while not publicly out in the work setting.

The flaming shopbottoms in large urban areas just don't get it.

[quote] Do you how entrenched homophobia is in society still.

Yes, you pontificating dumbass. We all do. Everyone posting here knows exactly how hard it is. That so many have done it speaks to their courage. That Buttigieg waited until he was 33 speaks to his lack of integrity.

None of us come out just once. There is a polite presumption of heterosexuality that Buttigieg dishonestly played in his favor for years and years. That just makes it a bit harder for all the rest who chose to live honestly.

Again...she needs to focus on commenting on the news, not passing judgment on her guests.

It is one thing not to bash someone or be judgemental, but there a are a lot of things I do not judge people for in ordinary life but that I would consider if if evaluating their fitness for the presidency.

If someone cannot deal with the homophobia in American society as a private citizen, how are they going to deal with it as president?

If his solution to dealing with people hating him is to hide information about himself, what other things is he going to hide as president when they threaten to lower his approval rating?

Oh, it was probably more than a 'polite presumption', #200. I bet he went full-tilt with "smell my finger"/that pussy was good/nice tits. Many of his brahs no doubt feel betrayed.

I'm convinced paid Biden trolls have come to this thread. This is going to be Hillary 2016 all over again.

This is the gay community at its best. So supportive, understanding, tolerant of different experience, accepting.

THOU SHALT - wait, sorry. Different martinets.

[quote] If his solution to dealing with people hating him is to hide information about himself, what other things is he going to hide as president when they threaten to lower his approval rating?

How ridiculous is this? Very.

R184, these days most shows are lucky to get a few million viewers. The audience is more splintered than ever.

Only olds watch cable news.

I'd be pleased to again be able to watch cable news, IF it was about cable news. But news has been crowded out in favor of cheerleading and tantrums.

Rachel never had to come out. Her whole demeanor screams field hockey player.