Biden, Bernie's App, and Buttigieg's Suspicious Rise

The Iowa caucus is a debacle that leaves many questions. One thing it cleared up, though, is that Joe Biden is a loser this election cycle, too. 

He took on the persona of a tough guy who wished he could meet Trump 'out behind the gym.' He backed off of those sentiments when he was confronted about whether or not he really meant he would punch Trump given the chance. Of course, he wouldn't; it was just, you know, locker room talk. He just wanted to make it clear that he doesn't speak clearly, but it wasn't clear what he meant except that he clearly didn't mean what he said.

He probably also regrets walking around Iowa telling people to not vote for him. He ended up with less than 15% of the count, and will likely leave Iowa with few, if any, delegates. His best days are behind him, and they were wasted being on the wrong side of history quite often. 

From defending the segregationists who still remained in the party in the 1970s, through allowing the nomination of Clarence Thomas out of committee after belittling the testimony of Anita Hill, and up to still not getting the message about being creepy around women, he has little to offer the party or the nation. 

If it wasn't clear before Iowa, it is clear now: Joe Biden is a loser even among other Democratic candidates. His campaign has no purpose now, and his continued campaigning is taking from him what little dignity he has left. He is probably a really nice person, and he is likely loved by his family. He should go to them if only because nobody else seems to like him. What he should do, and what he will do because he is oblivious, are two different things. He is on his way to losing in New Hampshire, too.

We can say that Bernie did as well as expected. In fact, they had to move other candidates' delegates to shared areas to make room for the people who showed up for him. The polls were showing the establishment nemesis was far more popular than the DNC had expected such that they didn't even release the final poll! 

There was a lot of scrambling behind the scenes at the DNC. They set off some distractions like changing the rules for the debates and letting a Republican billionaire join the race, but those were likely part of a bigger plan that seems to have been uncovered.

As the caucuses progressed, it appeared everything was on pace for the normal celebrations once the numbers were released. When about 40% of the precincts were counted, Pete Buttigieg went public with the information that he had received word that he was the winner. 

Nobody expected what happened next. Bernie said that the numbers the Iowa Democratic Party were releasing were not consistent with the numbers his precinct chairmen were phoning in and photographing to run through the app his campaign had developed. 

Suddenly, all of the official numbers disappeared. What has normally been an evening of celebrations for the winners was swept away with the realization that the Democratic party had been caught red-handed changing the results of the caucuses. The party did not know that Bernie had taken steps to ensure the results were calculated accurately after losing in Iowa in 2016 to Hillary by .2% and amid controversy about how the results were calculated.

The corruption within the party had already been noticeably on the surface, but it popped like a zit with Tom Perez splatting against the mirror with that revelation. Even some of his most loyal supporters are calling for his resignation, and those of us who didn't trust him in the first place don't trust him even more now. I want the entire committee to resign and to be reconstructed with more resemblance to the people the party represents, but I'll take Perez's head on a pike for now.

As the information about the calculations came out through various sources, it turns out that the app designed to calculate the results was created and funded by supporters of Pete Buttigieg. Yes, the same Pete Buttigieg who somehow knew with 40% of the vote counted that he was going to be declared the winner despite not leading with the 40% that had been counted.

Now, I don't want to accuse Mayor Pete of anything, so I will clearly state that it is my opinion that he was in on a plan to rig the election results so it would appear he won when he didn't really win. 

There is no doubt that Buttigieg left Iowa as the clear frontrunner among the establishment candidates, but it isn't so clear that the ties between him and the people who funded and developed the app that the Democratic party used to calculate the results are something to overlook. Depending on what he knew and when he knew it, he might even be implicated in a crime if it reaches the level of racketeering or conspiracy. Those, of course, require higher standards of evidence than do suspicions and ponderings about following the money back to him and his people.

What I am hearing mostly from his supporters defending him has to do with his intelligence, his military service, and his electability. I will grant to them that he is likely the most intelligent candidate if measured by the quotient, but that also means that he is the most calculating of the candidates. An ability to calculate abnormally well is only a positive attribute if it is used to calculate for good. If the ability to calculate is used to manipulate false results by understanding equations and variables abnormally well, high intelligence can be evil.

I respect his military service, but I don't believe that he has displayed an extraordinary understanding of its uses and purposes so much as he has learned to say what people want to hear. Tulsi Gabbard famously chastised him for saying he would consider using the military in Mexico to help its government fight drug cartels. Relatively speaking, if Buttigieg's military career is what is important, Tulsi Gabbard has that and worldly experience that he doesn't have. Her experience includes sitting on House committees that deal with defense and world problems. Tulsi Gabbard is also a smart person, but she adds a lot of wisdom that Buttigieg seems to overlook when calculating what to say to whom.

When it comes to electability, he will need to maintain the establishment votes and draw from the Republicans because it appears he will not land much of Bernie's support. Young and pretty will not draw them in, and he has already made it clear that he is an establishment candidate. If any part of the electability is based on the results in Iowa, I would suggest they be interpreted to he is as likely to go to jail as he is to beat Trump. If there was manipulation in the program, he will be struggling to distance himself from his largest contributors and most avid supporters who also just happened to design a flaw that favors him into a system that counted the votes.

I feel bad that Mayor Pete chose the path he did in turning his back on his generation in exchange for political prominence. His poise and quick wit could be used to support health care as a human right, as a check on the military industrial complex, and for healing the racial tensions that still remain unresolved. Instead, he chose to soar with the vultures who run the party.

The whole Iowa caucus debacle stinks like rotten eggs, and some of that egg is on Pete Buttigieg's face.