Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg says renaming dinner with Thomas Jefferson's name is the 'right thing to do'
Buttigieg calls out media "noise machine" for response to his comments
South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg called out the media "noise machine" for the reaction to his comments about renaming a political dinner bearing Thomas Jefferson's name.
"You would have thought I had proposed blowing up the Jefferson Memorial in D.C.," Buttigieg told moderator Chris Wallace during a Fox News town hall in New Hampshire Sunday night.
On Friday, Buttigieg discussed the Indiana Democratic Party's decision to change the name of the traditional Jefferson-Jackson Dinner during a radio interview on "The Hugh Hewitt Show."
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"I think it's the right thing to do," said Buttigieg, who added: "There's a lot, of course, to admire in his [Jefferson's] thinking and his philosophy, but then again if you plunge into his writings, especially the notes on the state of Virginia, you know that he knew slavery was wrong."
Asked about his views by Wallace, Buttigieg pointed out that his campaign office in South Bend is on Jefferson Boulevard. He called on people to "listen to each other" and move beyond the "Twittersphere."
Responding on "Fox & Friends," author James Robbins, who wrote "Erasing America," said Buttigieg is "pandering" to the Democratic base on the issue.
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"When it was originally reported, it was as though he wanted to have Jefferson stricken from the history books, so it is better that that's not what he wants. Nevertheless, it shows how radical the Democratic base has become, that this is what constitutes pandering to them," he said.
Robbins said it is "ahistorical" to ignore the positive aspects of American history and only focus on the negative factors and the "danger" is that some people could begin to question why they should love or be loyal to America.
Fox News' Samuel Chamberlain contribute to this report.
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