Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg Take the Gloves Off: ‘Are You Trying to Say That I’m Dumb?’
It was a Midwestern Melee in the middle of Wednesday’s Democratic presidential primary debate, as Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg traded sharp verbal blows.
Both Klobuchar and Buttigieg have exceeded expectations for how well they’ve performed in the primary contest so far, outlasting competitors who had far better name recognition and funding. But with both candidates from Midwestern states and trying to work their way into the top tier, it makes sense that they might have sharp elbows for each other at this point in the race.
It all started when the debate moderator Vanessa Hauc of Telemundo asked Klobuchar about her flubbing the name of the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in a recent interview. Klobuchar responded that in the moment, she hadn’t known that detail, but that her policies were prudent and sound, and that was far more important than one piece of trivia.
“I don’t think that that momentary forgetfulness actually reflects what I know about Mexico and how much I care about it,” said Klobuchar. “I said that I made an error. I think having a president that maybe is humble and is able to admit that here and there, maybe wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
Buttigieg then interjected, “You’re staking your candidacy on your Washington experience. You’re on the committee that oversees border security. You’re on the committee that does trade. You’re literally part of the committee that’s overseeing these things. And were not able to speak to literally the first thing about the politics of the country to our south?”
Klobuchar took clear offense to Buttigieg’s comments. “Are you trying to say that I’m dumb? Or are you mocking me here, Pete?”
“I’m saying you shouldn’t trivialize that knowledge,” he replied.
“I’m saying I made an error,” she said, “People sometimes forget names.”
The debate moderator attempted to move on, thanking Klobuchar, but she continued, taking issue with Buttigieg “basically saying that I don’t have the experience to be president of the United States.” Klobuchar noted that she had passed over 100 bills in the U.S. Senate, and had won multiple elections, in congressional districts and now statewide races as a senator, remarking that Buttigieg had lost his attempt at a statewide race to “my friend Joe Donnelly,” the former Indiana Senator.
“So don’t tell me about experience,” she continued. “What unites us here is we want to win and I think we should put a proven winner in charge of the ticket.”
Buttigieg smacked right back. “This is a race for president. If winning a race for senate in Minnesota translated directly to becoming president, I would have grown up under the presidency of Walter Mondale. This is different.”
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren came to Klobuchar’s defense, saying that “missing a name all by itself does not indicate that you do not understand what is going on,” making a similar point as her Minnesotan colleague had earlier, that the more important factor was understanding the issues and policies, and the candidates should be questioned about all of it.
Watch the video above, via MSNBC.
