As an anti-gay “news” organization, CNSNews.com is more than a little bothered by the fact that Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is not a heterosexual. The latest instance of that came in an April 5 article by Madajian under a headline that refers to “Gay ‘Mayor Pete'”:
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, an openly gay Democrat who is running for the Democratic nomination for president, said that President Donald Trump’s actions indicate he is not “somebody who believes in God.” Buttigieg, however, has been criticized for backing away from his view that “all lives matter,” and for stopping a pro-life group from opening an office.
First, Madajian offers no evidence that Buttigieg’s views of Trump have any connection with the other views he cites. Second, like managing editor Michael W. Chapman before him, Madajian wanted to make sure we knew that Buttigieg was gay and didn’t want to talk about the fact that Buttigieg is also a military veteran and a Rhodes Scholar, which are arguably more pertinent qualifications for the presidency.
CNS also ran its Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez strategy against Buttigieg, in which it puts out-of-context quotes in the headline to make him look ridiculous. A March 20 article by Susan Jones carried the headline “2020 Democrat Pete Buttigieg: ‘My Face Is the Message'” — an apparent attempt to portray Buttigieg as a narcissist. But as Jones eventually concedes (albeit after mockingly claiming that he was talking about his “physiognomy”), Buttigieg was pointing out that his youth is an asset in running for president.
Jones did also tried to downplay the idea there was anything special about Buttigieg, sneering that “Buttigieg, like many other Democrats running for president, wants to change the Supreme Court and abolish the Electoral College, among other liberal policy positions.” While Jones did not single out the fact that Buttigieg is gay, she also failed to mention that he’s also a military veteran and Rhodes Scholar.