Senator Kennedy’s Takedown of Pete Buttigieg

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Here is a summary of the transcript focusing on Senator John Kennedy’s response to Pete Buttigieg:

🎙️ Senator Kennedy’s Takedown of Pete Buttigieg

The speakers discuss an on-air exchange where Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) delivered a sharp critique of Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg after Buttigieg had reportedly called the Senator “old and out of touch.”

• Setting the Scene: The segment, likely on a Sunday news show with Jake Tapper, featured Kennedy responding to Buttigieg’s prior criticisms. The speaker describes Kennedy’s delivery as having a “Louisiana draw,” slow, methodical, and dryly humorous.
• The South Bend Critique: Kennedy focused on Buttigieg’s prior experience as Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, which has only 103,000 residents. The Senator famously quipped, “That’s not as many toys as we have in our toy box.”
• Pothole Math: Kennedy presented a specific, statistical critique of Buttigieg’s performance as mayor, stating Buttigieg filled 1,031 potholes over four years. Kennedy did the math (excluding weekends), concluding this amounted to filling only three potholes a week, mocking this as a lack of “great deal of accomplishment.”
• Lack of National Experience: Kennedy argued that Buttigieg was unprepared for a job at the national level, pointing to his prior work for the prestigious but “not real world” consulting firm McKinsey, followed by the relatively small mayoral post.
• Paternity Leave Criticism: Kennedy also highlighted Buttigieg’s two-month paternity leave during a period when the U.S. was experiencing significant supply chain issues at docks, wharves, and highways, which are under the Secretary of Transportation’s purview.
• Reaction and Conclusion: The speaker claims Kennedy “won that argument,” noting that after the Senator finished his critique, there was a dramatic silence of 10-15 seconds on the set, suggesting the co-hosts were overwhelmed or speechless by the force of the attack.

The speakers conclude by mocking Buttigieg’s mayoral experience, comparing the city of South Bend to the fictional “South Park” and noting that Notre Dame University is likely more complex than the entire city.

0:00So, what’s the the latest on uh Pete

0:02Buddhajedge and Senator Kennedy’s

0:05response to Pete Buddhajed’s criticisms?

0:08You know, Mike, there’s a hilarious

0:10piece on the internet. You can go Google

0:11it and search for it. Um, basically,

0:14it’s it’s something along the lines of

0:17do your homework, Pete, is like the

0:19tagline that goes along with it. But

0:21recently, um, Pete Buddha Judge was on

0:25television, you know, that Sunday show

0:27that they have, I think, with Jake

0:28Tapper, and, uh, Jake Tapper had, uh,

0:32Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana on,

0:35and he kind of leans towards, um, uh,

0:39Senator Kennedy kind of conspiratorally

0:41and he says, you know, Senator, we had

0:44Pete Buddha Judge on, and and Pete says,

0:46you’re old and out of touch and don’t

0:48know what you’re talking about. And uh

0:53Don Kenny, you know how he speaks,

0:55right? With that Louisiana draw and that

0:58kind of slow kind of methodical way of

1:00talking and dry humor. And he and he

1:03pulls out this sheet of paper and he

1:04starts talking about Pete Buddha Judge.

1:06He says, you know, Pete Buddha Judge was

1:07mayor of Southbend, Indiana, which has a

1:10total of 103,000

1:12residents. He said, that’s not as many

1:14toys as we have in our toy box. you

1:16know, and then he goes on to say, you

1:18know, Pete Buddha Judge, um, while he

1:21was mayor, he filled in 1,031 potholes

1:24during the four years he was mayor of

1:26the city. He said, if you do the math,

1:28he said, and you don’t count weekends,

1:30he said, that’s filling three potholes a

1:32week. that doesn’t sound like that’s a

1:33great deal of uh of you know

1:36accomplishment you know and he keeps

1:38rattling on these various facts about

1:40Pete Buddha Judge and his lack of

1:43seriousness and his lack of preparation

1:45for any kind of job at the national

1:48level. um you know he he he had never

1:52worked he worked for um government he

1:56worked for McKenzie which is a obviously

1:58a prestigious

2:01consulting organization but not really

2:03what I would call real world you know

2:05not not a real kind of hard job making

2:09pay you know filling paying somebody

2:12else’s signing the front of the paycheck

2:14so he worked at McKenzie then he became

2:16you know the mayor of Southbend,

2:20Indiana. And then he then he became

2:21what? Secretary of Transportation. One

2:23of the things he touched on was the fact

2:26that um Pete Buddha Judge was on a

2:28two-month paternity leave while, you

2:31know, uh truck uh people hauling

2:36necessary

2:37um you know, formula for babies were not

2:41able to unload because of all the

2:43problems we had at the docks and the and

2:45loading docks and the and the warves and

2:47the and the highways and the byways, all

2:50the things that Pete Pete Buddha Judge

2:51was responsible for. So he does a he

2:54does an absolute great job of putting pe

2:56put a judge down as a complete fool and

2:58idiot. And when when John Kennedy was

3:01done talking,

3:03there was silence around the table.

3:05Nobody had a there I’ve never in my life

3:08seen

3:10those kinds of quote, you know, they

3:12deem themselves as being air quotes

3:14experts.

3:15Yeah. When John Kennedy was done

3:18shoveling dirt

3:20booty judge, there was complete silence.

3:22And it wasn’t like, you know, one or two

3:24beats. It was complete silence for 10 or

3:2615 seconds. And I can imagine the

3:29producer or the, uh, you know, the

3:31person who’s in the back room, uh,

3:34director or producer talking into the

3:37earbuds of these guys. Go to go to

3:39commercial. Go to commercial. Go to

3:41commercial. Say something.

3:43put down was just so dramatic and so so

3:47uh overwhelming to Pete Buddha Judge.

3:51There’s no doubt that John Kennedy won

3:53that argument, albeit an argument in

3:56abstentia.

3:58Yeah. Can you believe they were actually

3:59going to put a mayor of Southbend, which

4:02I always when I hear mayor of Southbend,

4:04I keep in my mind hearing mayor of South

4:06Park. I mean, it’s about what it boils

4:09down to. And you know, go ahead.

4:13No, no, I was gonna say Southbend is

4:15famous for Notre Dame University and

4:17Notre Dame University is probably more

4:19complex than the entire city of South

4:21Bend.

4:22Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I can I was just

4:25going to say that’s about the only thing

4:26I can think of. And if you look at Pete

4:28Buddha Judge, I hate to, you know, pick

4:31on somebody’s looks, but he looks like a

4:33character from South Park. I’m I’m

4:35sorry. He just does.