Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg shot back at Rush Limbaugh's claim America is "still not ready to elect" an openly gay president, rejecting a lecture on "family values" from the conservative radio host.
"I'm not going to take lectures on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh," Buttigieg told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.
Limbaugh, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's top civilian honor, at President Donald Trump's State of the Union address this month, had said Buttigieg "loves to kiss his husband on the debate stage" and "America's still not ready to elect a gay guy kissing his husband on the debate stage," that "despite all the great progress."
Buttigieg responded Sunday to CNN host Dana Bash.
"Well, I love my husband," Buttigieg told Bash. "I'm faithful to my husband. On stage, we usually just go for a hug, but I love him very much."
Despite the rejection, Limbaugh's claim might be borne out in polling.
While Buttigieg is leading the delegate count after Iowa and New Hampshire, he is polling at just 10.6% nationally, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. That is fifth in the Democratic presidential primary field behind Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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