Pete called Michael Harriot about the scathing article & they actually had a productive conversation

[Celerity]

Link to tweet

Pete Buttigieg Called Me. Here's What Happened

https://www.theroot.com/pete-buttigieg-called-me-heres-what-happened-1840055464

The first thing you should know about me is that I absolutely hate talking on the phone. My friends, family and co-workers all know this about me. It’s not the talking that bothers me, it’s the anticipation angst from waiting for a phone call. Therapy and self-reflection have informed me that my subconscious anxiety is fueled by the fact that I’ve received news of personal and family tragedies via telephone. Also, talking bothers me. The second thing you should know about me is that I will fight.

I don’t enjoy fighting. I don’t even fight very well. In fact, if I combined my amateur fist-fighting record, my jiu-jitsu sparring, all of my slap-boxing exhibitions, and the time Zevalon Jackson slapped me for talking smack while running a Boston on her in spades, my winning percentage is well below .500. But I believe fisticuffs are a legitimate way to settle disputes while arguments are usually pointless exercises to get one party to proclaim why the other party is wrong. I’d rather you beat me up.

So when I received a text message from South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign about an article I wrote, I genuinely hoped that he was going to send four or five of his thugs over to rough me up and that would be it. (And if you don’t believe there are Pete Buttigieg supporters out there willing to throw hands, then you probably aren’t on Twitter. I think they should call themselves the “Pete Patrol.” Or the “Buttigang.”)

I figured one of his surrogates would argue with me for a few minutes and I could continue my day trying to be a thorn in the side of white supremacy (The third thing you should know is that I actually keep a small photo of the mouse from Pinky and the Brain beside my bed that says: “What are you going to do today, Michael?” The answer is always the same: “Fuck with white people.”)

Luckily, as soon as I agreed to take a phone call, the phone rang. The voice sounded vaguely familiar and I knew it wasn’t a surrogate or a campaign volunteer when the person said: “I don’t think I’ve ever been called a ‘lying motherfucker’ before.”

It was Pete Buttigieg.

Well, I thought. Maybe he does want to fight.........

snip

[Tipperary]

1. Not a fan of Harriot.

Good on Pete for stepping up.

[Celerity]

2. me neither, he is a bomb throwing sensationalist, here is his hit job on Biden as more proof

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287360088#post22

[Tipperary]

3. He spoke against Hillary too, if I remember correctly?

Ugh.

[Celerity]

5. yes.....Michael Harriot : I'm Not With Her Because I'm Petty

https://www.theroot.com/i-m-not-with-her-because-i-m-petty-1790856224

snip

I’ve always been this way. Whenever anyone does something objectionable to me or someone I love, I can’t f—k with them anymore. I can’t place my arm around them and smile in photographs. I can’t greet them with a Christian hug after church. I stay away from them forever. By default, I love everyone, but if I don’t love you, I want to fight you. Forever. I can forgive you. I can forget you. But not both. Nowadays they call that “petty,” so I guess I’m petty.

That’s why I’m not “with her.”

Whenever I state this, troglodyte thinkers automatically assume that I’m with Donald Trump. I’ve written more scathing condemnations of Trump than I have of any other human being (except maybe Kanye West). There is a prevailing school of shallow thought that if you’re not helping Hillary Clinton, you're helping Donald Trump. I am not that stupid. That’s not how math works. That’s not how the Electoral College works. But let me be clear: I am not with Donald Trump. I think he is a racist, entitled poster-boy-for-white-privilege half-wit capitalizing on white nationalism and Caucasian fear.

Is that clear enough for you?

I do not want Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump as president of the United States, but most of the people reading this already know the litany of reasons we should reject the thought of voting for Trump. Those people tell me they aren’t necessarily in love with Clinton, but they are faced with choosing the lesser of two evils.

Choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil. I will not choose evil.

snip

[LisaM]

7. So, would he have even TAKEN a call from Hillary Clinton?

Sounds as if the answer would have been no.

[Grokenstein]

9. Wypipo! Wypipo! Wypipo!

You have just read three complete articles by Michael Harriot.
Wypipo!
...Okay, four.

[Tipperary]

10. Ha.

Yes. He seems a bit of a prat.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Good if dense, article. Everyone should read it, esp. Pete's critics. n/t

[madaboutharry]

6. This is my takeaway from this article:

Pete Buttigieg is not afraid of stepping up. He listens. And he learns things.

I think that if Pete Buttigieg becomes the president he will reach out and bring Black leaders into his circle to forge a way forward to make real change. He is that kind of a man.

[Celerity]

8. +1

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. +2

[MBS]

12. + 1000 n/t

[IndyOp]

15. I think Pete would name Stacey Abrams as his VP -

His first priority is restoring democracy - voting rights, etc - and that is her passion. She is also an exceptional community organizer who has built strong coalitions. She can unite us and lead.

[highplainsdem]

13. I wish Michael Harriot was even half as mature as Pete Buttigieg is,

and half as willing to really listen to others.

I'm not surprised to read that Harriot hates phone calls, or to see him admit, "Talking bothers me."

Talking gives others a chance to react and respond.

As opposed to the insular safety of writing whatever the hell you want to say for a column, going on without interruption, without having to consider anyone else's opinion, or whatever facts anyone else might bring up.

I suspect Harriot sometimes gets pushback or even outright vetos from his editors. I'm guessing that's what happened when he wanted to mock Joe Biden and accuse him of lying when the Corn Pop story resurfaced -- that he'd originally written that as a column but had it rejected by his editors, probably because it wasn't true. (The magazine Harriot writes for had published an earlier pece alluding to that story years ago, and the editors would have known it was true.) So Harriot chopped the rejected column into tweets and "published" it on Twitter, where his followers could be counted on to drown out anyone trying to point out he had his facts wrong.

I think it would do Harriot, and the magazine he writes for, a lot of good if a lot of his columns were rejected. And if he tried talking more to people about what he says, and really listening to what they say in return.

Imagine, for instance, how much more worthwhile a column he could have written if, before he wrote the piece calling Mayor Pete a lying MFer, he'd actually contacted Buttigieg himself and told him about his reaction to what was said years ago, and had an actual dialog about it, where he actually listened and seriously considered what Buttigieg said.

Imagine that.

[BootinUp]

14. Does Pete ever have non-productive convos?

I look at all these less than honest attacks on Pete as the price of admission. Note to attackers: he doesn’t strike me as someone who is going to wilt under pressure.

[Tipperary]

16. K and r.