)

(Photo credit by BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images)

(CNSNews.com) - Joy Behar, co-host of “The View,” expressed her support of Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg on Monday, saying that the mayor of South Bend, Ind., is “in a very traditional marriage.”



Traditional marriage is defined as the union between one man and one woman.









Buttigieg, who is openly gay, married his husband, Chasten in June 2018.



During Monday’s show, co-host Whoopi Goldberg talked about Buttigieg’s recent rise compared to his fellow Democratic presidential contenders in the latest Iowa poll. Goldberg asked why Buttigieg is pulling ahead all of a sudden.



Co-host Meghan McCain said it’s because Buttigieg was campaigning extremely left similar to former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, but he “saw the tea leaves on that, and now has run extremely moderate.“



“People are excited about Buttigieg. He's fresh, he's new. He's gay,” Behar said. “He's a serviceman. He served in Afghanistan. He's married, and a very, I mean unless you are a homophobe, he's married in a very traditional marriage, you know? Totally monogamous, and that should appeal to the silent majority, whoever they are.



“I think it's great, and then also he's openly religious, which is another positive in this country. So unless people are going to not vote for someone like him because he's gay, I think he's got a shot,” she said.



McCain pointed out a stock photo that was used to roll out his Douglass plan over the weekend, which featured Kenyan woman and child. Co-host Sunny Hostin chimed in and noted that his support among African-Americans is at one percent – lower than President Donald Trump’s support among blacks. Trump received about eight percent of the black vote in the 2016 election.

MCCAIN: Well, I'm not going to try to burst the bubble here, but I -- there's always a sparkly, shiny object in primary politics. I can remember when, like, Herman Caine was polling really high. Newt Gingrich at one point. I think he actually, he won south Carolina during primary politics, so there's always a bright, shiny candidate. Howard Dean and then infamously like yelled whatever.



My problem with Mayor Pete for a few different reasons is I don't know if we would be talking about a candidate who is polling with 0% or 1% with white voters the way we're talking about candidate with 1% with black voters. He has a serious problem and blind spot for the African American community.



He came out with his Douglass plan over the weekend, and some black leaders that were on the menu never actually supported the plan. Others weren’t black at all, and a stock photo used featured a Kenyan woman and her child right here. This is very sloppy and very disrespectful. So again, he may be doing very well in Iowa. It doesn't really matter until you get to New Hampshire and South Carolina.



BEHAR: What was wrong with that picture exactly?



MCCAIN: Those aren't real people that supported him.



WHOOPI: They're real people, but they’re not American.



HOSTIN: They're not African-American. They're African. They’re Kenyan.



BEHAR: It's a stock photo, so I understand that-- It was done by a low level staffer, not him.



HOSTIN: I have said this so often about Mayor Pete. I like him. I like some of the things that he has to say, but he has had a problem historically in South Bend where he is the mayor with the African-American community. I went to law school in South Bend, have gone back there several times, spent a lot of time in that community. He is not embraced by the black community. He’s had as much as he should because he is somewhat popular there.



BEHAR: But is that the open and shut case?



MCCAIN: 1% is very bad. It's much lower than Trump for whatever that's worth.



BEHAR: Wow.



HOSTIN: I think if you’re polling at 1% at this point anywhere, it’s problematic, and I asked him some questions when he was on our show via satellite about the gentrification issue that was going on in South Bend. I don’t think he had a great answer for it, and he really didn’t have a great answer for reparations when I asked him. He didn't have great answers for a lot of issues that face the African-American community, and with this roll-out of the Douglass plan. which was supposed to be addressing the African-American community, he rolled it out in a very sloppy way.



BEHAR: But he didn't do it. A low level staffer did it.



MCCAIN: But your staff is—they’re proxies of you.



BEHAR I get it.



HOSTIN: How can you say that people are endorsing you, and they're not?



MCCAIN: The one thing that's positive for me is that governor John Bel Edwards just won re-election in Louisiana and he's a pro-gun anti-abortion Democrat. So the idea there's not a lane for Democrats has shown at least in this election that's not true. There is a lane for moderate Democrats is shown at least in this election that that’s not true, that there is lane for moderate Democrats across the country. Do I think mayor Pete is going to be the Democratic nominee? Absolutely not.



BEHAR: Didn’t this guy in Louisiana --



MCCAIN: Because you can't become president with no black support across the country. It's ridiculous.



BEHAR: I know that. That's right. That's why Biden is ahead. This other guy in Louisiana, the Republican. He hooked his star on Trump, and that's why he lost. That's a really more important point, is when you hook up with the devil, they're not going to vote for you.



HOSTIN: The Midas touch doesn't work anymore with Trump.



MCCAIN: But a pro-gun anti-abortion Democrat just got elected in Louisiana. So I think it's a good think it’s very interesting. I do think he's campaigning very well in Iowa. Iowa is a different place for Republicans than it is for Democrats running. It always has been as you made the point several times.



HOSTIN: Especially because of the lower African-American population there. I think it’s at 3.4%.



MCCAIN: That being said -- It's not a king making state in the way it once was.



GOLDBERG: No, it isn't, but let's not discount anyone.



MCCAIN: I'm not. GOLDBERG: I'm just saying just as a general thing, because I think people hear things the way they want to hear them, and we're not discounting anyone. We're making you aware that this is what's happening in the broader picture.



MCCAIN: I love Iowa, but I also think that the caucus, I have always had a problem with the caucus in general, because I don't think it's the same as primary, and I do believe that once you get the momentum rolling in new Hampshire, historically, it always makes a difference, and again, there are many candidates that have won Iowa handily, and never come close to the presidency, like Santorum.



HOSTIN: Buttigieg's campaign confirmed to the Washington Post hat the photo of the Kenyan woman was no longer on the website, noting it had been taken down in September during an update to the page. A contracting firm had chosen the stock image while building the site without knowing that it was taken in Africa. One thing that you just mentioned about the lane for moderates, I thought it was interesting that President Obama came out this weekend and said -- I think it was Friday – and he basically said, listen, you know, if you go too far to the left if you’re a Democrat, you are going to alienate those folks that are in the middle, and you have got to think about that if you are running.



BEHAR: Elizabeth Warren has moved slightly to the right in her health care plan by the way just FYI. She’s not as much to the left anymore, because the message is loud and clear to Democrats.

Goldberg summed up the conversation by saying that politicians who want to reach out to black voters should take a close look at what they’re putting out there.



“There is something to be said, and I'm going to say it because I don't think we hit on this, and then I'll go to break. If you can't, and the people around you don't take enough time to look and see what is being put out when you are trying to reach out to black folks, if your people can't take the time to recognize and find out if this image that you are utilizing has anything to do with what you are putting out, you have much more -- your problems are bigger than you think,” she said.



“This should never, you know, if you are talking to the black community, find some actual, real American black folks who you can respond -- There is a lot of pictures of us. Just saying. You have got to -- you have to be more thoughtful and pay better attention. You want this gig, you better pull your stuff up, and do it right. Stop saying you're the only one that's a little bit sloppy, but that was sloppy unnecessarily,” Goldberg concluded.







