February 8, 2020

Biden Mocked Buttigieg’s Record as Mayor in a New Video. Then Buttigieg Hit Back.

South Bends residents “don’t think their lives are a Washington politician’s punchline,” Buttigieg’s campaign responded.

Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg shakes hands with former Vice President Joe Biden before the start of Friday's debate. Charles Krupa/AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Three days before the New Hampshire primary, things are getting prickly: former Vice President Joe Biden is out with a new video mocking Pete Buttigieg’s record as mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Buttigieg’s campaign is responding by calling Biden a Washington politician who trivializes the lives of people in communities like South Bend.

“Let’s compare,” a narrator states in the new video. “Joe Biden helped lead the passage of the Affordable Care Act, which gave health care to 20 million people.”

“And when park-goers called on Pete Buttigieg,” she continues, deadpan, “he installed decorative lights under bridges giving citizens of South Bend colorfully illuminated rivers.”

The compare-and-contrast continues in a similar vein: Biden helps negotiate the Iran Deal, Buttigieg tackles pet chip scanner regulations; Biden works to save the auto industry, Buttigieg revitalizes South Bend sidewalks with “decorative brick.” It ends on a more serious note, attacking Buttigieg for firing a black police chief and pushing out a black fire chief. 

“[T]he American people are crying out for something completely different from this classic Washington style of politics,” Chris Meagher, Buttigieg’s national press secretary, responded in a statement. “While Washington politics trivializes what goes in communities like South Bend, South Bend residents who have better jobs, rising income, and new life in their city don’t think their lives are a Washington politician’s punchline.”

After finishing in fourth place in the Iowa caucuses, Biden suggested during a Friday debate that he may be on the verge of another disappointing loss in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday. “The Vice President’s decision to run this ad,” Buttigieg’s press secretary said, “speaks more to where he currently stands in this race than it does about Pete’s perspective as a mayor and veteran.”

Dueling polls out Friday and Saturday showed Sen. Bernie Sanders and Buttigieg continuing to battle it out at the top after Iowa’s photo finish.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate