民主的总统候选人皮特·巴蒂吉格在2010年他在印第安纳州茶党活动中讲话的视频本周重新出现后，他在网上遭到了一些强烈的批评，南本德市长的批评者指责他“向种族主义者靠拢”，并说他“绝对完蛋了”

在他2010年竞选印第安纳州财政部长失败时对该组织的讲话中，巴蒂格讨论了他如何理解茶党选民和候选人的经济担忧。

“有些人，尤其是在我的党内，认为茶党是共和党的全资子公司，”巴蒂吉当时说。“但也有许多人认为，茶党的动机是真正关心我们政府的方向和政府对公民的反应——最重要的是，对一切照旧的失望。这就是我跑步的动力，”他继续说道。“因此，虽然我们可能来自不同的角度，但我相信我们在这方面可能有很多共同点。”

编辑兼分析师朱迪·雅各布森回应重新露面的剪辑，称该剪辑“不真实”

“@彼得·迪吉格真的悄悄走近种族主义茶党。他搞错了:“共和党是茶党的全资子公司，”她在推特上写道。

支持民主党总统候选人乔·拜登的田纳西州县专员克里斯·杰克逊也批评了巴蒂吉的言论。

“但你知道吗，就在几年前@ PeteButtigieg在茶党活动上发言，称赞他们对国家“方向”的担忧？”杰克逊发推特。“提醒一下，”巴拉克·奥巴马当时是总统。”

“他完了。专栏作家兼作家迈克·弗里曼在推特上写道:“当然可以。”。"没有一个有色人种会投票给一个支持该死的茶党的家伙."

巴特吉格竞选团队的快速反应沟通主管肖恩·萨维特指出新闻周刊巴蒂格在他的评论中明确表示，“他‘来自一个非常不同的视角’，与茶党的观点没有任何相似之处。”竞选代表解释说，巴蒂吉当时参加了活动，因为最终赢得竞选的共和党对手拒绝与他辩论。萨维特还表示，这些言论与美国前总统巴拉克奥巴马(Barack Obama)同期发表的言论相似。

奥巴马在2010年10月表示:“我认为有很多参与茶党的人对失控的支出有着非常真实和真诚的担忧，或者从哲学上普遍认为政府应该少参与美国生活的某些方面，而不是多参与。”。"作为公民，他们有权利也有义务参与这一进程."

值得注意的是，担任奥巴马副总统的拜登也积极地谈到了茶党的担忧。拜登在2010年4月关于茶党的评论中说:“外面有很多人害怕和害怕，人们失业了，他们不确定自己是否会保住自己的家园。”。

茶党在21世纪初崛起，共和党候选人鼓吹“财政保守”议程赢得全国大选。除了经济方面的担忧，这些候选人中的许多人也是坚定的社会保守派，有些人宣扬种族主义的“生育阴谋”，即奥巴马实际上不是作为美国公民出生的。他们得到了亿万富翁兄弟大卫·科赫和查尔斯·科氏的大量资助和支持，他们推动解除经济管制，同时减税，这将大大有利于富人和企业。

11月18日，乔治亚州亚特兰大市，民主党总统候选人印第安纳州南本德市市长皮特·巴蒂吉格在莫尔豪斯学院参加了与埃德里安娜·琼斯博士的对话

根据“真正透明的政治”组织的民意调查，在全国范围内，巴蒂吉目前以8.3%的支持率在民主党总统候选人中排名第四。然而，本月公布的对爱荷华州党团成员的调查显示，南本德市长人数激增，似乎在初选初期领先一群人，根据民意测验由得梅因注册/有线电视新闻网/媒体通讯和蒙茅斯大学提供。对巴蒂吉和唐纳德·特朗普之间预计的竞争进行的几项全国民调显示，这位候选人也以相当大的优势领先于总统。

与此同时，这位候选人一直在努力获得黑人民主党选民的支持，黑人民主党选民被视为确保该党提名和2020年总统大选胜利的关键人群。

PETE BUTTIGIEG FACES BACKLASH AFTER SPEECH AT TEA PARTY EVENT RESURFACES ONLINE: 'HE'S DONE. ABSOLUTELY DONE'

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg faced some strong criticism online after a 2010 video of him speaking at an Indiana state Tea Party event resurfaced this week, with critics of the South Bend mayor accusing him of "sidling up to racists" and saying he's "absolutely done."

In his remarks to the group, which came during his unsuccessful 2010 run for Indiana state treasurer, Buttigieg discussed how he understood the economic concerns of the Tea Party voters and candidates.

"There are some, especially in my party, who think that the Tea Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party," Buttigieg said at the time. "But there are many others who believe that the Tea Party is motivated by real concerns about the direction of our government and the responsiveness of our government to citizens—and above all, a frustration with business as usual. That is what motivated me to run," he continued. "And so, while we may come from often very different perspectives, I believe we might have a lot in common on that front."

Responding to the resurfaced clip, Jodi Jacobson, an editor and analyst, called the clip "unreal."

"@PeteButtigieg literally sidling up to racist Tea Partiers. And he's got it wrong: @GOP is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Tea Party," she tweeted.

Chris D. Jackson, Tennessee County commissioner who has endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, criticized Buttigieg's remarks as well.

"But did you know that just a few years ago @PeteButtigieg spoke at Tea Party event and praised them for their concerns about the "direction" of the country?" Jackson tweeted. "Just a reminder, @BarackObama was president then."

"He's done. Absolutely done," Mike Freeman, a columnist and author, posted to Twitter. "Not a single Dem of color gonna vote for a dude who backed the goddamn Tea Party."

Sean Savett, Buttigieg's campaign's rapid response communications director, pointed out to Newsweek that Buttigieg made clear in his remarks that "he 'comes from a very different perspective' and doesn't share anything close to the view of the Tea Party." The campaign representative explained that Buttigieg attended the event at the time because his Republican opponent, who eventually won the race, refused to debate him. Savett also said the remarks were similar to comments made by former President Barack Obama around the same time.

"I think there are a lot of people who are involved in the Tea Party who have very real and sincere concerns about spending that's out of control or generally philosophically believe that the government should be less involved in certain aspects of American life rather than more involved," Obama said in October of 2010. "And they have every right and obligation as citizens to be involved and engaged in this process."

Notably, Biden, who served as Obama's vice president, spoke positively about the concerns of the Tea Party as well. "Lots of people out there are frightened and scared, people have lost jobs, they're not sure if they're going to keep their homes," Biden said in remarks about the Tea Party in April of 2010.

The Tea Party rose to prominence in the early 2000s, with Republican candidates touting a "fiscally conservative" agenda winning national elections. Beyond economic concerns, many of these candidates were also staunch social conservatives, with some promoting the racist "Birther Conspiracy" that Obama was not actually born as a U.S. citizen. They received significant funding and support from the billionaire brothers, David Koch and Charles Koch, who pushed for deregulating the economy along with tax cuts that would largely benefit the wealthy as well as corporations.

Democratic presidential candidate South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg participates in a conversation with Dr. Adrienne Jones at Morehouse College on November 18 in Atlanta, Georgia

Nationally, Buttigieg is currently in fourth place among Democratic presidential candidates with 8.3 percent support, according to an aggregate of polls by Real Clear Politics. However, surveys of Iowa caucus goers released this month show the South Bend mayor has surged, and appears to be leading the pack of frontrunners in the early primary state, according to polls by Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom and Monmouth University. Several national polls of a projected match-ups between Buttigieg and Donald Trump show the candidate leading against the president by a significant margin as well.

At the same time, the candidate has struggled to gain support from black Democratic voters, which is seen as a key demographic to secure the party's nomination and a presidential victory in 2020.