Sigh, when will this nightmare be over.
Thanks Tim for inserting a little humor in an an otherwise frightening set of facts.
73
He could have a great campaign slogan if he chooses to run for the top job, "Make America Straight Again". That should at least get him the deplorable vote.
106
Thank you for confirming for me that I'd rather the devil we have than the demon we'd be stuck with if Trump was impeached. I cannot believe we have civil service tests that bar people from employment and yet we let these two abominations lead our country. Yikes. It should comfort Mr. Pence to know that many, many people are praying.....to survive this administration with its corporate toadies and rapacious bootlickers.
67
Pence = Flaming Coward
(or)
Pence = Used Car Salesman
either or both answer(s) = correct
39
Mike Pence would not have been re-elected as governor. He could not have gotten anywhere near the WH without hitching his star to djt's wagon. His political career would have been finished. He does, however, have a rigid and dangerous agenda that he likely would have mostly fulfilled should he step in upon the fake president's departure.
"Gasbagging for God" is perfect!!
Anyone who claims such moral certitude and righteousness could not possibly stand by the blowhard-in-chief with that bobble head grin and be credible. But, his knowledge of and experience with, the ways of Washington, coupled with his very dangerous religious agenda, makes him more dangerous than djt. It is the very incompetence of the current occupant that, strangely, is protecting us from some of our worst nightmares.
All the apologists, enablers, supporters of the horrors we are watching being foisted upon America, and the world, are no less guilty than the protectors of the legion of pedophile priests. Mike Pence is the chief Archbishop and the top of the list. He should NEVER come any closer to the presidency.
Mueller, if you're watching and listening, please leave no stone unturned in following the bread crumbs right to Pence's complicity in everything tRump.
105
“This outrage should stir conscience-stricken leaders to do something — anything — to ensure that it never happens again.” Indeed. The problem is, there has to be a conscience present in the first place. Move along, nothing to strike here...
29
I loath Paul Ryan's belief in trickle down economics but I will take him any day over Pence. He scares the bejeebers out of me. He has no personality, ideas, I guess no brain. The very thought of him being president nauseates me as much as Palin did.
Please Mueller, take him down.l
98
The spectacle in Washington led by Trump and Pence is not Christianity. It is empty of the teachings of Christ and devoid of empathy for those who most need it.
Pence is the worst hypocrite of all. He only wants to control behaviors, not change them. That he calls his wife 'Mommy' says a lot about his views on women, that is coupled with his actions to deny women domain over their own lives.
There is no doubt as to why people had lawn signs against him when he was governor or why they wrote comments against him remaining in Indiana.
He always struck me as someone so afraid of his natural urges that he buttoned himself completely up in his 'religion' ignoring the parts of it that heal, mend and care for the less fortunate.
Having him a step away from the presidency makes me feel that we are all the less fortunate.
Pence is clueless. Prayer is good but it doesn't solve real problems affecting real people. That is sometimes the job of government that provides for the most needy among us. Pence doesn't get it. He is owned and he is limited.
93
Egan says he's 'not against people of faith in public life.'
From the evidence of this column, does this make sense?
Dear Mr. Egan,
Please think this through, and re-evaluate your attitude toward faith in public life.
10
Then Mr. Pence should resign as vice president and go pray to solve our gun violence problem.
76
Wow, Tim. Tell us how you really feel!
Pence is tool. Full stop. A pre-Trump Pence-ism: He slammed the original Lego Movie as being anti business. (Get the fainting couch!) What can we expect from someone who does the bidding of Emperor Business?
30
Vice President Pence is a pathetic little man. He has no worries about being shot in his church. The protected political class don't get shot in church. Only blacks and the other little people get slaughtered in church. So far prayer has decidedly not saved them.
57
Republican rules of engagement:
White guy slaughters with gun?
----pray & state no time for politics
Black man slaughters with gun?
-----ask if he's part of Black Lives Matter, pray
Hispanic or Muslim slaughters with gun?
-----stop immigration of "them", pray
White KKK member kills with car?
----say he's part of "some good people", pray
Muslim radical kills with car?
----stop immigration of "them", pray
48
For far too many Christians this life is far less important than the next. Christianity, for many, has become a religion of fear and death rather than love and life as espoused by its namesake.
45
"Pence calls himself a Christian first, a conservative second and a Republican third."
Just curious, at what number is "an American" on his list?
75
"The left should be faulted for intolerance of those who express belief in a higher power or religious tradition."
No, you and a lot of other pundits, leaders, and ordinary people should stop with the phony "mea culpas" on behalf of Democrats. According to an ABCNEWS/Beliefnet poll 83% of Americans identify themselves as Christians and another 4% identify with some other religion. Only 13% say they have no religion. It is ridiculous in the extreme to claim that 87% of the population is all clustered into the Republican party. Quite obviously, the majority of people on the left, as well as those on the right, believe in a higher power and are largely part of a religious tradition.
What the left is against, both believer and non-believer, is the use of religious belief as a cudgel in politics. Ever since the emergence of the so-called Moral Majority at the end of the '70s, a certain segment of the American population has used their religious beliefs to denigrate and attack other Americans in a variety of ways. They've deemed Democrats generally as not moral, not religious, and against the religious because they, the Democrats, don't follow the same Christian beliefs as they do, regardless of whether or not those Democrats are part of a different Christian tradition. They use their religion to bash others whose behavior they disapprove of. And, they are clearly in contravention of the spirit of the Founding Fathers' belief in freedom of religion. Stop playing their game.
57
How to stop mass killings by Pence and Republicans:
Mike Pence: More Prayer
Governor of Texas: Working with God and America needs more Bibles
Paul Ryan: prayer works
Pence is fake christianity at its finest.
81
Sorry, you're wrong. This is not an attack on Christianity. This is pointing out the emptiness of claiming to be a Christian and doing nothing in the face of evil, especially when that person has great power and responsibility. Mike Pence is the "noisy gong, clanging cymbal" that the Apostle Paul wrote about.
41
Egan: "...(E)verything he says comes out like platitudinous mush."
Dr. Maritn Luther King, in his Letter from Birmingham City Jail, nailed "Pastor Pence" and all those that pontificate like him with this response to their "platitudinous mush." He referred to such hypocritical nonsense as "pious irrelevancy and sanctimonious triviality."
24
Tax every gun. Heavily. Use the money to help the families of those murdered. The new 'shooter' tax will have to be paid by every gun owner who is now buying a weapon or who has already purchased one or more weapons in the past ten years. Non-payment of the retroactive tax? Confiscation.
40
Remember the cartoon “Washington” by Mark Alan Stamaty? Pence has always reminded me of Congressman Bob Forehead.
5
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis
110
Republican Presidents choose Vice Presidents that ensure their survival as President. As bad as Trump is, imagine President Pence. Back-off the Trump impeachment train, it could be a lot worse.
19
Calling Pence "vacuous" is certainly accurate but there are a lot of other descriptors that are far better. Unfortunately, few can be used in print.
26
Pence talks pious religiosity but he acts with risk averse political strategy to cultivate and maintain support from cultural conservatives and Trump's most steadfast supporters, because he covets the powers of elected office above all - no real personal ethics nor morality are in his nature.
20
I think I have been waiting for your column, Mr. Egan, for over a year. I found myself laughing my head off with some of your remarks...you are very funny. At the heart of it, however, this is a time of heartache and tragedy. The person who has frightened me the most, during this time, is Mike Pence. When is read the title of your column, the word, "vacuity" caught my eye. That is the perfect description of him. I try everyday to not think of what is going on in our country, but how can you not. I do not watch the news everyday, I can't. The world would have to end before I would be on any social media. One question I have is, how does Mike Pence reconcile his mind with being a Christian? How does this happen? It's hard to find words that are continuously running through one's mind. How does someone become Mike Pence, without a conscious or original thought in his mind...and he is a heartbeat away from being the President. I'm rambling...thank you, Timothy Egan, many times over.
35
An excellent summation of the man. We are judged by what we do, not what we say. Jesus had no time for the self-righteous. Neither should the US.
56
For once, I am at a loss in distilling personal reactions to this vastly more articulate description of exactly what this Vice President’s self worth is. Thank you for schooling us so thoroughly. We are privileged to absorb it, as you speak for us.
23
These two sentences sum up Pence.
"The big problem with Pence is the vast empty space between his ears and the articulation of thoughts formed in that space..............Pence is a sycophant in chief, perhaps the greatest bootlicker to take up residence at the Naval Observatory."
Combine Pence with Trump and you actually have a clear and present danger to the USA. It would appear that the Pence, Trump, the NRA and the GOP do think the only solution to the complete mess the nation finds it self in, regarding lunatics using assault rifles against innocent civilians is to actually pray you are not the target. They offer nothing else so that must be the message.
I can assure you that the rest of the world laughs at the USA and the pathetic politicians the voters elect into office. We really are 'on the road to nowhere' courtesy of the GOP and their sycophant supporters.
And to be very very clear this is not an attack on people of faith or Christianity generally. There is a time and place for praying and this isn't one of them.
19
Vacuous or not, there are consequences to ones behavior.
Mike Pence's faith? This is no Christian. His works are not ANY reflection Jesus. This is a con man who is smart enough to say and do the right things to get a certain group of people to vote. He talks about God but does not walk the walk of a man of faith. He imposes his beliefs on others and lies with no remorse to protect himself. He takes advantage of those who are faithful to gain power and use his power for personal gain. He was chosen for this position to gain votes from the Evangelic block. No more no less. I am anxious to see where Mr. Mueller goes with Mr. Pence. It is obvious that Mr. P knew about many things and lied about them. He should be worried across the board about his soul, the history that will be written about him and last but not least, Mr. Mueller's work. He will go down in history shamed for his actions and will not do well in this investigation. I hope he will held responsible for his actions. He should be ashamed of himself. Anyone who voted for him should be ashamed as well for supporting such a shallow, dishonest and spiteful man. I am a firm believer in Karma and my hope is that his, is instant and equal to the harm he has done and is doing. If not, and there is judgment when we pass, he will surely be shown to the gates to hell along with all of his kind. I am sure Jesus is not smiling kindly down on Mr. P. while people and children suffer at he and his friends hands.
26
Given the number of sexual perverts and predators revealed among our elected officials I’m curious as to whether their actual rate of deviance isn’t bigger than that of the general population. As a general rule, also, I. Distrust those in any field who make the biggest fuss about being “holy” in their behavior whether they are Evangelicals, Muslims, Orthodox Jews, Buddhists or Ba’Hais. Shakespeare was onto something when Hamlet says, “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”
7
Science teaches that there is no such thing as empty space. Most mass is a whimsical mystery called dark matter. Most energy is a mystery known as dark energy. About 70% of physical reality is dark energy and 26% is dark matter. All of our knowledge of mass and energy makes up 4% of physical reality aka space time and quantum mechanics. There is no quantum theory of gravity. There is no relativity theory of quantum mechanics.
Pence is typical of universal human vacuity. Pence has no more vacuity than J. Danforth Quayle or Spiro T. Agnew. And compared to Sarah Palin he is Da Vinci.
A Texas sage once compared the Vice Presidency to a "pitcher of warm spit". That conjures up the stench and substance of Pence.
The real question is what did Mike Pence know and when did he know it about Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Russian interference in the 2016 American Presidential election by Trump campaign collusion, collaboration, cooperation and conspiracy?
11
Let's not forget he was a lackey for the tobbaco industry, questioning the the connection between smoking and cancer.
19
It is truly unfortunate that Pence stopped at prayer, w/o condemning the murderous use of automatic weapons used in all these carnages.
Prayers are necessary at all times and especially at times of such tragedies, but NOT sufficient when the country is flush with 300 million fire arms and thousands of assault weapons, whose purpose is NOT self defense but carnage....
An inveterate admirer of Trump and the NRA, not much more can be expected of him...
2
The president must be removed from office. Don't let the idea of "President Pence" scare you. We got rid of Nixon and Agnew, as you might recall.
15
Pence is, indeed, totally vacuous and uses his religion as a vehicle to avoid action. He stands with "resolve" with the victims of shootings in TX and NV; nothing will detract from his resolve to stand by and allow the next shooting in the future. If he had been president in 1940, he would have prayed and stood with "resolve" against the Nazi onslaught but would have been utterly feckless in terms of countering the horrors in Europe. Thank God we had FDR and Churchill.
I read the New Yorker profile on Pence and was appalled that he was even worse than I'd imagined. His sanctimony extends down to the molecular level and we should never have a president who does not feel that action is necessary in a leader. Good heavens, Jesus himself took action when he drove the money changers out of the Temple. He wielded the sword of righteousness.
I take comfort in my belief (in which I stand with resolve) that Pence will be taken from office as part of the house cleaning that will be coming. The sad part is that means another feckless, devout "leader", Paul Ryan, is next in succession. A pox on them all.
21
Those of us in Indiana got to see first hand what a disaster Pence can be. When the business community in a state as red as ours finally says "enough" to a gay-bashing, theocratic gasbag like this, you know he has taken his nonsense too far. The irony is that if Trump hadn't plucked him from among the basket of bozos he was considering for VP, Pence very likely would not have been reelected governor--he and his 17th century religiosity had finally run out their string with many Hoosiers.
But for all who pine for Trump's impeachment, I give you what I continue to think are the three scariest words in the English language: President Mike Pence.
36
As a religious member of the left (yes, we exist!). I remain confounded by what appears to be rampant hypocrisy among the most vocal of the religious right. Pence is just one of many who profess the primacy of the Bible yet are too often found pushing a narrow interpretation of scripture, ignoring inconvenient truths therein.
Mr. Pence: there is no grading of sins in the Bible. You sin or you do not. Somehow you seem to feel that homosexuality is a significantly worse sin than sexual assault. I can't begin to fathom such a thing. Maybe it's because it's easier to dislike that which we don't understand, but it's not right to condemn one sin and look the other way for another.
"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." What exactly are you doing for the children killed in Texas or for the potential victims of the next shooting? For the innocents gunned down in Las Vegas? For families bankrupted by medical bills? For women being assaulted by their male peers and superiors?
I think I know better than to wait for a genuine answer from the VP or his peers, though I can dream. I pray that they and all of us learn true empathy for all of our countrymen, that we all be able to model Christ's love for all, even those others look down upon, and that we are able to lead our country to do better by all her citizens.
22
VACUOUS!! That's the word I've been searching for to describe the vice president! Thank you!
22
Don't be so hard on Pence. At least he has raised doing nothing to an art form. As opposed to his boss, who does nothing but embarrass and endanger us.
7
Pence is such an empty vessel that he makes someone even dumber than Ned Flanders -- Dan Quayle -- sound like Voltaire, too. Or Winston Churchill. Or Socrates. Pence is that much of a useless, vapid tool.
The latest victims were inside a church praying! That didn't help them. Why do conservatives think that prayer alone is the best way to avoid future killings?
16
What of the vacuity of the citizenry? Many, if not most, of the people of that town seem to praise Pence for his "heart felt" words.
9
Pence may be sincere, but so was Calvin Coolidge. Remember that Coolidge and the GOP played a large role in wrecking the US economy and helping to push Germany into accepting Hitler.
5
Amen brother. I have no problems with people finding solace in their beliefs as they go through the challenges of life. I do find it difficult when "it is God's will" is the answer to these mass shootings but control of our borders is the answer to "terrorist" attacks. I personally don't think it is God's will but man's stupidity in sitting back and not attempting to do ANYTHING. We fight back with the opioid problem. We fight back with airplane safety. We fight back on everything but sensible gun regulation This shooting took place 5 days ago and we have already moved on. Just say "we are praying for you" , "be glad they died scared to death in church" but otherwise do nothing. And Pence is just a saner looking version of Trump. No Thanks.
6
Pence is not just vacuous, he is a nasty man who wears his "faith" on his arm but, in fact, uses it as the basis for trying to do vast harm to the most vulnerable among us. To the commentator who thinks that this column is an attack on Christianity I say: you misread to your own ends, which is a pious defense of a religion that needs no such defense and is being attacked only through its phony use by people like Pence to achieve warped ends.
11
Pence and his right wingnut buddies like Roy Moore think they will be first in line when the "rapture" comes. They are not interested in America or planet earth for that matter
5
Pence is the only reason I don't want Trump impeached...scary.
13
Let me tell you about Mike Pence. The following account of his public conduct while a congressman at the U. S. Capitol building during the early 2000's needs no investigation—it was observed by thousands of people: He would bring groups of up to a hundred school children from Indiana into the Capitol rotunda, where he would stand on one of the historic benches (they date to Lincoln's day, and had just been painstakingly restored), and issue loud screeds against gun control, abortion, and the wickedness of the separation of church and state. He would also point out the paintings of Columbus, the English pilgrims and Pocahontas and explain that God intended the continent to be conquered and settled by Christians. Some tour guide, some Vice President.
14
I grasp, if hardly appreciate, Pences opposition to homosexuality, immigration etc given his worldview that are no inherently irrational/delusional- but how does his Christianity justify his prevarications ?? The trouble i have with his ilk (add Sarah Huckabee sanders to this crowd ) is the fact they they DO wear their religion on their sleeves..if so why doesn't their public behavior/Christianity reflect that devotion ? Pure hypocrisy...Sean spicer was just as disingenuous as Sanders but he was never the hypocrite she is. This juxtaposition of religion and politics is never coherent.
5
Ouch! Take that Mr. Goody Two Shoes. I find the boot licker in waiting to be an odious creature of major proportions, a perfect fit for the modern GOP. His sniveling answers to people dying left and right due to preventable gun violence shows the utter vacuity of this pathetic, stupid creature. May god bring a thousand years of curses upon he and his progeny. And those who have supported he and his kind, same to them.
"It's a job that requires someone to fill hours of empty air with hours of empty nonsense. As vice president, he has refined the role."
This is Pence in a nutshell. Having sold his faith to donors, his entire existence requires a slavish adherence to their alleged "beliefs" at all times. It requires adopting a persona that never wavers from their position on anything. That is why compromise with the extreme right is impossible. How do you work with those who have been told that any compromise is the worst betrayal of those beliefs? Trump believes in nothing so much as himself. Pence voting history in the senate suggests he believes in whatever is necessary for GOP victory regardless of the impact on his own supporters and constituents. Since the election he has been only too happy to serve as tiebreaker in the senate for the GOP. But it just seems like a veneer of soft spoken piety, used as religion has been used for ages, to justify the awful prejudices and hatred of man.
13
Reminds me of the appeasers prior to WWII. Basically, do nothing about anything. He just stands back like the coward and fraud that he is.
11
Exactly!
3
I know it's been a year now but I STILL can't get past the thought that ANY of my fellow Americans thought this administration was even a remotely good idea! What country did I wake up in that day? It doesn't resemble the one I grew up in... A sanctimonious hypocrite and a repugnant, disgusting pig somehow seized the reigns and they are driving the carriage over a cliff at breakneck speed. What to do?
18
Pence calls himself a Christian first, a conservative second and a Republican third.
Well, there you have it. He's un-American. Why is he in office if he's un-American?
18
As a non-religious person, I have long held a benign view of prayer. I think private prayer, as a form of self-talk, can be therapeutic. It helps people articulate their inner hopes and struggles, helps them problem solve, and provides catharsis. Public prayer, at its best, can promote social cohesion and urge people on to positive behavior.
However, in the examples cited by Mr. Egan, prayer is used as a cop-out, an excuse to do nothing. When you need to get your car fixed, you don't just pray for a functional car, you go to the mechanic.
I also agree with Egan that, out of a population of over 300 million, we should be able to identify people who can lead our country without embarrassing us daily with their ignorance and lack of substance. Unfortunately, Mike Pence is not only vapid, he's dangerous.
25
The though of Pence as POTUS may be DT's best assurance of not being impeached. Pence's fallback on religion is fine as a private citizen; it is downright disgusting and unconstitutional as VP. His ideas are medieval and dangerous to women and society in general. We should be intolerant of intolerant people like Pence!!
25
The despicable Pious Pence should review these words from Matthew:
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
14
One nice thought is that if Trump is impeached Pence wouldn't win in 2020.
19
There once was a leader named Mike Pence
Whose most profound thinking made no sense
In the place for his brain
Wide-open spaces reign
The best word to describe him is dense
26
The only reason Pence is veep is that more qualified candidates — like, say, my dog — turned the job down.
24
"Gasbagging for God" is priceless. It conveys the fact that no real faith is involved here, just the pretense of sanctity.
11
Egan waits for the penultimate paragraph to tell us the real reason to fear the Vice President. He is a tool of the oligarchs, as was made clear in the painfully long New Yorker article. Democrats who are braying for the impeachment of Trump prove that the Right does not have a monopoly on stupidity.
4
I remember reading that Ivanka and Jared convinced DT that Pence was the best choice for VP. They arrived at that conclusion because....?
6
Thank you for this. This entire administration is a blight on the country.
7
Pence and his ilk, lots of "christian" blow and no go. Christian or christianity has become a catch phrase for those who can't and don't think and are vacuous. It's incredible how this once "smart" nation has become so ignorant, and willingly.
6
"The left should be faulted for intolerance of those who express belief in a higher power or religious tradition." Do you really think all, or even most, liberals ( a.k.a. Democrats) are atheists?
5
What gets me is that look. Lips downcast, brows pulled in. He is SO concerned. Such feigned empathy.
15
‘Gasbagging for God’ should be a required warning label scrolling beneath every televangelist broadcast like the Surgeon’s General warning about the cancerous effects of cigarettes on cigarettes packages.
11
Pence does not care because his base doesn't.
Most people in Texas offered similar reactions comprised of flowers, crosses, vigils nary a though to gun control.
From a personal standpoint Pence is content being the yes man to Trump. It made him reach a level he could never have reached otherwise.
Worst case scenario, Trump loses the next election and Pence's career is over. Best case, Pence gets the job if Trump has to leave. Either way a win for a politician who was on the way out anyway.
2
Pence’s principle: You have an absolute right to be born. Then you’re on your own.
6
"His biblical bromides make Ned Flanders of “The Simpsons” sound like Voltaire." Made me laugh before first cup of coffee drunk! Attaguy.
6
Pence the Bible thumper sold his soul to the devil when he agreed to become his Vice President. Pence and Trump are just two sides of the same coin.
9
Pence could be of some use; since Puerto Rico is being shortchanged on food aid after the hurricane, he could go down there and pray for a miracle of loaves and fishes.
But seriously, doesn't the Bible say of false prophets "By their fruits shall ye know them"?
16
Mike Pence is an outstanding example of an Alt-Christian.
8
Great column. Though Pence and Trump couldn’t be more different stylistically, they’re both amoral opportunists wrapped up in phony sentiments, both of them improbably rescued from failure: Trump, who after Atlantic City couldn’t get a loan from a non-Russian bank, was saved by NBC and his scripted role on The Apprentice, which gave him a second career in licensing and a third in politics. Pence, a failed governor with dim reflection prospects, was rescued by Trump and his new role as religious straight man to Trump’s racist buffoonery. They’re both terrible actors, yet both shameless enough to convince their undiscriminating, desperate audience that they mean what they say.
13
Thank you Mr. Egan for your full bodied exposure of this total loser.
And he is Vice President of the United States of America. Now that is a true horror.
8
I'd say this is the democrat's original sin. Columns like this. They make us feel real good, I grant you that ("biblical bromides?" I fell out of my chair laughing!). But it is the GOP with their spiel that is laughing all the way to the vote bank. Let's attack these neanderthals where it hurts most: by organizing at the local level, by winning at the state level, and work down-ballot on to up the ballot. Then, we will sit down with these sorts of columns and guffaw on a regular basis. Actually, I would very much like to point at them while I guffaw!
9
My hope is that history will reflect on these evil doers as the soulless greed machines that they are.
1
For someone who is so ignorant on so many subjects and would not have known Mike Pence from Mahatma Ghandi, you have to hand it to Trump, or whoever masterminded his cabinet picks; he managed to put together a rogues gallery of sycophants, racists and opportunists that share a remarkably amoral uniformity. Even John Kelly, who was supposed to be a stabilizing influence, has shown himself to be of the same retrograde mentality. It really is a tour de force of team-building and one for the textbooks!
24
We have no leadership. We have a "tough Guy" Con man who turns out to be a milk toast boot licker (see China) when he comes face to face with the people who are targets of his ire. We have another boot licker (see Trump and the Koch Bros) and lower level religious con man wrapped in God. The next level down are all boot licking corporate toadies (see anyone who will give them large amounts of money). None of these people represent the people or the constitution. None of these men have any truly honest principles at the base of their belief systems. And we are suffering for it. I do hope the people who voted these con men in are happy.
14
I am a lefty and a Christian and I do not look down on people of faith. I do however look down on religious hypocrites like Pence.
31
In the off chance that Pence's prayers do not miraculously cure our nation of gun violence, and it continues on its current track of growing ever worse, we can look forward to a new vision of the US:
“Leave it to Beaver – 2020” brought to you by the NRA and MAGA hats.
“Say Beaver, beautiful day out there - how about going out to the park and playing catch. Just let me check. I have my wallet, my keys, my phone and, oh, almost forgot my gun. Like I have always told you, never know when you might have to kill someone. You bring your gun too, Beaver, you might have to cover me. See if Wally has some extra clips. Remember Son, you can never have enough ammo. And if that Eddie Haskell shows we shoot first and ask questions later.”
14
A great piece about the dangerous simplicity of Mike Pence, and the only takeaway for most commenters is this one sentence, "The left should be faulted for intolerance of those who express belief in a higher power or religious tradition. "
Y'all are REAL sensitive about that, apparently. Not sure why my fellow non-Christian leftists are taking that so personally. Methinks maybe for some there's a grain of truth to what he said, and they are perhaps having a hard time admitting it. Hey, it's like when I read articles calling white women white supremacists. Since I'm not a white supremacist, I don't take it personally. If y'all are tolerant of all beliefs, then you shouldn't take Mr. Egan's statement personally. At the very least, you can endeavor to get over it.
The prospect of impeachment is like the choice to be shot at close range (Trump), drown (Pence) or die a horrible death in a fire (Ryan). This is the first time in my 65 years that I feel completely certain there are no responsible adults in charge of our government.
24
or within the citizenry apparently.
2
If only all these "Christians" in politics actually ascribed to the philosophies of Jesus Christ. He was accepting of all, always preaching tolerance and charity, and never said a word against homosexuals, contraception or abortion. There is no doubt in my mind that if Christ was alive today, he would be a progressive.
7
This Pope had me at "Who am I to judge?" and I'm not Catholic. It's ironic that the most vocal Christians like Pence are the most judgmental among us and want to impose their "values" upon all of us. Of course, at the same time, they say they want government out of our lives and their base sees nothing hypocritical about that.
So now we have Roy Moore, removed from his bench twice for not upholding the Constitution and Supreme Court decisions, who the Republican Party must think can take another oath to uphold it. Which is worse, preying on young innocent women or flaunting his distain for the rule of law? If Moore continues, I hope the good people of Alabama do the right thing and vote for a decent person to represent them.
7
The Texas tragedy is being rationalized as a failure of the system to stop the "legal purchase" of guns. The Vice President and the party fail to acknowledge that private sales and/or gun shows offer to weaponize an individual without all that "silly paperwork." The press remains quiet in calling out the GOP for this type of hypocrisy.
4
Absolutely. Not to mention that the NRA toady GOP has done everything in their power to make the existing background check system, such as it is, non-functional.
2
Fortunately for us his 48% lying rate includes statements aiding and abetting the obstruction of justice in the Russiagate affair.
6
Well said, Mr. Egan.
5
Pence is what the Gospels would call a Pharisee. He enjoys beating his chest publicly and declaring his faith, but he doesn't live it.
Real Christians worry about people. They work hard not to judge others and to live the commandment that you should love your neighbor as yourself. Working to discriminate against ANYBODY is not something Jesus would do. Ever.
Working to limit healthcare for people who aren't rich isn't something Jesus would do either. He spent a lot of His time healing people. And He spoke highly of a certain Samaritan who paid for the care of a total stranger he found wounded on the road.
Nor would Jesus say the rich should steal from the poor through tax "reform" or laws that let Corporations do anything they want. In fact, Jesus said if we really wanted to live right, we should give everything we have to the poor and follow Him. Imagine Trump/Kochs/Mercers/Ryan/Pence/Bannon/McConnell doing that! Not likely.
Then consider Jesus' ringing warning that those who live by the sword die by the sword. Right now He would probably tell us to stop living by the sword. To stop praying and start acting on His word.
Pence makes a big show of Christianity, but doesn't live by it. He uses it as a cover to do ugly things that are about as Anti-Christian as you can get.
25
America, land of the free, about to become a theocracy if Pence had his way. Please don't let him have his way. This was once the country held up to the world as a shining example of freedom and democracy. How far we have fallen.
11
If only these political Christians would realize that their faith should be about embracing love for your fellow man, not hate and disdain for those not like themselves, then maybe we wouldn’t be so divided as a nation. Prayer isn’t going to stop a mentally ill person from buying a gun nor a serial grouper from forcing themselves upon another, but real laws aimed at making these acts harder and punitive may have real consequences where wishing away the eradication of evil doesn’t.
4
Dear god,
I know the universe is a VERY BIG responsibility, but we have a VERY BIG problem here that you might be able to help us with. Believers have been exhorting you to "deliver us from evil" for a VERY LONG time and frankly, they have a LITTLE suggestion.
Would you please intervene a teeny bit earlier? You must be aware that gun control is off the table. So it is pretty stale advice to keep forgiving and counting on you to explain the unknowable meaning.
Hope you are having a nice day out there somewhere, but we got big troubles down here.
3
Want something more scary than Pence? Take a look at the real power behind the throne, his wife, and therein lies the tale. People talked about Nancy Reagan's influence on Ronald, the astrology stuff, etc, but Nancy Reagan in the end had a heart, from everything i can tell. Karen Pence from all appearences appears to be the one laying down the law in the family, and she is even more the true believer Evangelical Christian, the ones who think the US should be a Christian nation (according to her principles, of course), there is no compassion there, no mercy, and Pence quite frankly is her puppet, "Mom" has him right by the apron strings, and that is scary.
4
But... what does he do? What is his job? Besides knitting his brow and lying directly into the camera, and waiting in the wings, what is his portfolio?
5
This should be required reading at every high school in the nation, alongside Moliere's Tartuffe.
4
Pence is the singular reason that Trump should not be impeached. The next is Paul Ryan.
5
The space between Pence's ears is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Koch bros. He has been shilling for them for many years and it has paid off handsomely. He even tried to bar Jane Mayer from riding on his airplane with the press pool because he thought it might look bad to the Kochs. Given his all consuming fealty to the Kochs, it is hard to imagine that he has anything left to give to god---especially since he seems to prefer the God of the Old Testament who has a tendency to be dictatorial and intolerant of "other gods.": I recommend that Mr. Pence reacquaint himself with the New Testament and Jesus' definition of the "least of these."
6
What a dilemma. Should we support the forced "retirement" of The Don, only to see him replaced by a theocrat? The Republican Party has done a fine job of helping elect a slate that is completely incapable of governing, has no respect for the Constitution of the United States, has filled the most important offices in the land with equally incompetent people, and who continue to try to convince us this is "what America wants."
One only look at who benefits from the Republican agenda to see what is really going on. Too many people turn a blind eye to the facts, choosing alternative "facts" over truth. It's easier that way, I guess. One of the hallmarks of integrity is the ability to admit it when one is wrong. But ardent supporters who put these people in office have lost the ability to say they were wrong. At the risk of being redundant, "what is wrong with this picture?"
Has Pence spoken out about Roy Moore? Or will his solution be to pray with him?
2
Pence is part of the theocratic "Malignant Tribalism" that ushered in the Trump presidency. This virus in our culture has infected 35-40% of the voting population and is destroying our political society. Republicans have embraced "Malignant Tribalism" and this has resulted in the impaired judgement of people who identify as conservative or Republican. Like any viral epidemic it must be contained and eliminated from the general population.
5
As someone with only an academic interest in religion, I can't really say whether Pence carries conviction or not. However, I can say a politician wearing his or her faith on both sleeves is a very convenient political tactic.
Anytime Pence faces a hard question, his default response is to withdraw within his fortress of spirituality. If you challenge him, you're suddenly a religious bigot. Pence successfully pivots almost every controversial position around his faith. From a journalistic perspective, this makes Pence very hard to pin down. Evangelicals of every strip have been employing this tactic since forever. Once again, the only people capable of calling out Pence's hypocrisy and moral absence are people that share his faith.
Here we have a catch-22 because more often than not people of ardent faith habitually share the same defense. That's what personal interpretation of scripture really means: You can believe whatever you want to believe without any moral consequence. Take what you want and leave the rest. That describes Pence's perpetual contradictions in a nutshell. The man is gaping vacuum of thought because there's no religious impulse to fill the void. He's permitted indifference to evil through his personal understanding of evil. That's how you make a parabola out of a polygon.
3
Pence is worse than Trump and any leadership change will put the Koch plan into action with steroids.
Meek, quiet, sincere Pence is a complete Fraud
Vote in every election, every year and every time.
Your autonomy depends on it
Participation will drive change and accountability
7
Thanks for the beautiful piece. How god gets praised for his goodness after a massacre like happened in Texas, et al, boggles my mind. I know that "guns don't kill people. people kill people", but, somehow it just doesn't add up. If god doesn't like abortion, really who does, why did he let us have contraception? Is he playing us one against the other? Wouldn't he frown on the earth ravaging, polluting corrupt Koch Brothers, "blessed are the poor', while trying to spread our largess, big tobacco, all over the undeveloped world? Mother Pence, please respond.
2
Pastor Pence always looks very Pensive, but not much going on upstairs..
4
This is a good example of why it's so maddening to be an atheist in this country, empty barrel indeed! Great article!
2
Pastor Pence always looks Pensive , but there is a Paucity of Process upstairs.
3
To think of the Vice President and President of The United States of America is to despair for the future of the human species. I sincerely believe our world must be like a hunter-gatherer tribe of our common evolutionary past writ large as much as possible if we are to survive. Bound by norms that focus on the protection of the whole, led by elders who care for all because of their weakness and flaws. That is so far from the reality of our senseless and selfish modern world - particularly the United States led by Donald Trump and Mike Pence. If God is such is and are far from God. Whether God is or not such is and are far from representing and leading humanity well. Despair will not suffice to change this.
3
Honest prayer is a conversation with God where we speak what is on our heart and offer ourselves to be used by God, perhaps in ways we can’t yet imagine, to serve as means of healing and love. To use prayer as an excuse not to take action is blasphemy.
3
Mr. Egan.
Thank you for a wonderful articulation of the slice of life that Mr. Pence exhibits these days!
Delightfully Spot On!!
I see Mike somewhere between a lacky doorknob polisher and the toady who swears the Emperor's New Clothes are impeccable!!
4
"Nothing but meek, passive acceptance of the great horror that makes the United States stand out from every other civilized country."
Health care is not a right. Prayers are the answer to guns. Anti-Science. Trump. Where do we get off calling ourselves a "civilized country"?
2
I am deeply offended by those who write comments assuming that the "left" is atheist or agnostic, and that people of faith are all right-wing. They have fallen hook, line, and sinker for the propaganda that the Christian right does put out, and have forgotten all the people of faith who demand justice for the poor, who have opposed the Vietnam War and all our subsequent wars. (Anybody remember the Berrigan brothers? The Catholic Worker?) And of course they let the Christian right define faith--as though those of us who are Jewish (and of other beliefs) don't count at all.
8
You can have your religious beliefs, but don't impose them on others.
There are no such things as witches, but if you want to believe that there are then go ahead, but don't start accusing people and burning them at the stake.
5
Egan wrote: "The left should be faulted for intolerance of those who express belief in a higher power or religious tradition."
I'm not at all intolerant of anyone who wants to express belief in a higher power, or in any religious tradition.
However, I freely admit to being intolerant when the faith-motivated actions/inactions of those people negatively impact my life.
Christians have long spewed the claptrap of "love the sinner, but hate the sin" against gay people. I follow a similar mantra: I don't care if you've chosen to ruin your own life by believing in whatever lies your religion teaches you. But once your personal choice to believe in those lies causes you to do things (or not do things) that ruin my life, I'll call you a terrible, immoral person (just like you call me a sinner). See, I can tolerate your religion, as long as you're not allowed to practice it in public."
See; I'm not intolerant of the people themselves, I'm just intolerant of their behaviors!
4
"[Pence] hasn't had a new thought in years."
Years. Interesting word choice Mr Egan. I might have opted for "millennia."
Soon will come a standard announcement on flights arriving in DC: "We will be landing in GOP World momentarily. Please set your watches back 2,000 years."
(Pence is a modern day miracle though: a walking breathing relic from the Dark Ages. God does indeed work in mysterious ways.)
3
Would those who support Trump, Pence and Republican congress people who quote the Bible as easy as breathing - then - say hide behind rhetoric of prayer - as they speak and act in hateful ways -- who considers these people - Christians?
I call these people by their true name - Hypocrites.
4
Yes, Mike Pence offers Americans onlytwo options when it comes to gun violence, namely (1) trust in God, huddle in their home and pray that evil will vanish, or (2) arm yourself to self-defend against the assault weapon wielding psycho killers. With Pence, the government has nothing to offer. The law and order types are more into apprehending and punishing offenders than into preventing crime. Unfortunately that approach is ineffective if the criminal expects to die in the course of committing the crime or take his/her own life after committing it.
91
Pence is as saccharine and hypocritical as any TV evangelist. He has honed his pseudo-religious homilies from a deep American tradition of grifters and barkers.
And their audience "swoons" from the sweet harmony of Old Testament language and they feel lifted up by the certainties of their beliefs.
Elmer Gantry did not die. Modern day tent-revivalists (in all disguises), continue to con their way into the hearts of some Americans. It may work for some, but most of us are not fooled.
183
In the 1960 election, people were concerned that Jack Kennedy might be in the Pope's "pocket". In 2017 no one seems to be concerned that Pence and his religious confreres are vocally and proudly in the Christian Evangelists' pockets. To say nothing of their also being in the Koch's pockets.
Whatever happened to progress, democracy and tolerance?
224
As a struggling Christian, I firmly believe in prayer, a very important part of which is listening to what God is saying in response to your requests. I'm not sure Vice President Pence. or very many of our political leaders who use prayer and religion in general as a campaign prop, ever listen to, or search the Bible for God's answer. The answer is not to ignore reasonable controls on who can buy guns and the type of guns they can buy, or to arm every citizen to "protect" society. It is also not to kowtow to the gun lobby and ignore the problem entirely. Once again, money and reelection have become the idols of the ruling class.
104
Are you sure? Sounds to me like political correctness.
Mike Pence, not a hair on his head out of place, not a rational, progressive thought inside.
MAGA: Morons Are Governing America
22
"Pence calls himself a Christian first, a conservative second and a Republican third."
Can you imagine the outcry if an office holder called himself "Jewish first, a liberal second and a Democrat third"?
Pence and his ilk would fall all over themselves denouncing that.
21
Pence frightens many far more than Trump. Quoting Marx:"Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again." He serves the Koch brothers, Trump, the NRA. His sort of bondage of conviction manifests as a psychopathology which, as it denies the reality of actual daily social horror stories, confabulates and rationalizes fables not of this world. Intolerance of his ilk is not of an individual's expression of belief or tradition; but of someone who has assumed the mantle of public office and responsibility utterly failing to exercise that responsibility in regard to the public welfare, cloaking servile irresponsibility in vacuous expressions of prayer. The stuff inquisitions are made of: refer to spouse as "mother"; but deny that queer love is love(not your love, or is it?). Biological creatures engaging in sexual activity? only if half forced to be incubators. Again Marx,"comparable to a fetish worshipper pining away with the diseases of Christianity." I disagree there "is a vast empty space between his ears." While Trump may lash out barely coherent tweet, Pence lives in just the sort of repression which shops for automatic weapons and high capacity magazines.
8
How does Mike Pence and Mother sleep at night? Does his hypocrisy and lies manifest into increasingly more prayer and dropping to his knees? If that is the case, it seems as though more and more hours in his day should be spent on his knees or at least almost 50% of the time. If he was on his knees, how could he preach to the rest of us his narrow/conversion inspired/born again view of God. His bobble head nodding to policies that hurt the poor and disadvantaged, and many other groups seems to me the other 50% of his time should be spent in a confessional. When did prayer become mutually exclusive to action? Why cannot both be included in the same sentence or sermon by Pence? Why does pious Pence vow to not dine alone with a woman leader for example but dines with a sexual predator, 45, by his own admission and in his own words? The irony that the #1 and #2 in this administration are being tracked for lies and mistruths should be a signal to all that “his sermon on the mount” is anything but!
10
The administration is not a revelation. What is disturbing is that people like most readers of the Times are finding that they are now in the minority in this country; that truth, facts, logic, kindness, openness, are meaningless, and the majority of the people who have elected these clowns value parochial mentality, racism, and eschew enlightenment. America has become a rather sad place with no moral leadership and poor prospects for cultured and worldly people.
9
I am astonished by this piece. The liberal sneer radiates from every word. Look I'm sure a lot of people feel really good reading Mr. Eagen's piece; a regular catharsis of liberal righteousness, but, seriously... don't you accept all peoples?
You remember when Dylan Roof murdered 10 people in a Charlston church? I don't recall Mr. Eagen or others sneering at the prayers offered by and for those victims. Liberals say diversity is strength, but the truth is they have burning, consuming hatred in their hearts for a certain type of person.
I understand that many dislike Pence, and back before America went crazy, I would agree with most of the points made by this writer. But, he is so desperate to show his disdain and contempt, so obsessed with demonstrating his intellectual superiority to the poor, stupid believers... that I feel he undercuts his main points and alienates all who don't already agree with him.
2
Farmer, you are missing Egan's point. Pence, in Egan's telling, is a charlatan dressed up in Christian clothing. It's pretty obvious the same cannot be said of the families of the people murdered in Charleston. So why would Egan sneer at them? He's not saying that Christianity is bad, or Christians are a bunch of yokels. He's saying that fake corporate/NRA-controlled "Christians" like Pence are bad.
3
Country first or get out of office.
The oath of office is not to your god, it is to the people of this country. The disrespect of Christians for our country and their religion is despicable.
Jesus told Christians to worship in private and keep religion out of the public square.
Not that we have any evidence of Pence following the teachings of Jesus but the rest of us can hold these fools to those standards.
8
Pence dealt with Las Vegas by finding comfort in "the good book" and six weeks later tells Texas families to pray. Neither course of action seems to be paying off when it comes to gun violence and thanks to your Ned Flanders reference, the words of Chief Wiggum spring to mind: "Where's your Messiah now, Flanders?"
2
America has a Game Show Host and Professional Grifter as President and a former Conservative Radio Talk Show Host and Professional Stooge as Vice President. Some combination, huh? What else would God's Own Party give our great nation?
The last serious Republican was Pete McCloskey and he left the party long ago. Even Daddy Bush changed course on Abortion Rights and Voodoo Economics when he saw it stood between him and being Reagan's Vice- President. Let's not even talk about the guy former NYT writer Molly Ivins called the "Shrub", or McCain who selected the Half Term Governor of Alaska as VP Candidate, or Willard "Mitt" Romney who changed out his whole platform trying to be President.
7
Pence is as 'evil' as loud-mouth bully Trump...but more 'elegant' in his sneaky, rigid, and intolerant stance, as he seems to support Trump's lies and insults as a matter of course, with a straight face. Ousting incompetent and corrupt Trump would be a step in the right direction...but inheriting smooth-talking fox Pence may be like jumping from the frying pan to the fire. Watch out for what we wish for, if we can't measure the horrid consequences of a distinct well-learned liar in-waiting.
3
Far more attention needs to be paid to the Ninth Commandment and to the way these hypocritical faux-Christians violate it by bearing false witness constantly with no compunction whatsoever.
3
These guys take an OATH to uphold the Constitution, than turn around & VIOLATE that oath & there are no repercussions!?!?
4
Outstanding!
Not a wasted word.... totally and completely 100% on point and effective.
Should be given broader attention.... why don't you appear on CNN or Rachel Madow show?
8
Pence could not have a scientific thought if he tried. His beliefs, all of them, not just religious, are based on heeby-jeeby nonsense that he draws from "God-only-knows-where". He is dangerous in that he has no clarity of thought, no real position unless dictated to him by an outside force, no real moral compass. Look at him clearly, he espouses morality and cozies up to and supports tRump (liar, conman, misogynist, cheater, thief, manipulator) without any reservation. Either he is really stupid or opportunistic and waiting for the 2nd shoe to drop. For me he garners NO respect what so ever, in fact contempt comes to mind. If he wants to be a preacher then get out of politics and go to seminary. My guess is that should he go to seminary he would be as mushy mouthed and gas-baggish in religion as he is in politics. Who in the world would listen to what he pushes? Vacuous is a good word, don't get me wrong, it just seems to fall short in applying to Pence. Is there not a word that would scream that concept of him a whole lot louder?
5
The horror of Pence's brand of religion is that no matter what you do during the week, from gunning down innocent children to molesting teenage girls, you will be forgiven with prayers on Sunday. Free to sin again on Monday.
A perfect "God" sanctioned system for the status quo.
7
Mr. Egan, you nailed him, skinned him and hung him up to dry. And you provided the necessary humor along the way so that we could finished your column without getting completely sick to our stomachs.
9
Every member of Congress, every Secretary of every US government department, all heads of the military, all Congressional staff and all White House staff, and all members of all police and fire departments in the USA should be FORCED to watch the video of the massacre in the church in Texas. In silence.
If you still support the NRA, you are an arms dealer.
8
I have read this fabulous piece about the loser VP, as well as so many beautiful, brilliant and intelligent comments, and a thought struck me; Can this article and it’s accompanying comments be package up and mailed to Mike Pence? I’d love for him to read what true Americans think of him, the liar president he fawns over and their policies, or, rather, lack thereof. I’d even volunteer to take this to DC and personally had it to the creep. Any thoughts?
7
A Christian first, a conservative second, and a Republican third. . . . where does he rank being an American?
10
In the event, likely or not, that Donald Trump does not complete his term of office Pence is waiting in the wings. A fightrning thought. Here we have a man who might be less narcissistic and volatile than Trump but much more rigid and dogmatic. Bad news all around.
4
When Pence and quite a few others talk about religion, remember they do not refer to the kind of Christianity most Americans would find familiar. They're talking about a kind of Dictator Jesus whose most important command is Obey.
This strain of religion also conveniently justifies obscene wealth and immense inequality as the will of God. They're rich and they're in charge because God. When you really get to analyzing it, their religion sounds less like traditional Christianity and more like the Taliban.
6
Actually, Pence's type of Christianity stops at Old Testament. Other than the name "Jesus" - no doubt to set them apart from Judaism - they have no acquaintance with the New Testament, which was to replace the Old one.
2
Pence is a pragmatic sycophant with a well organized agenda, provided by far right financial backers, that is being accomplished under (unknowing) cover of Trump's daily tweets and rants. For documentation of Pence's agenda, read New Yorker article entitled: The danger of president pence. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/23/the-danger-of-president-pence
NYT opinion writers, PLEASE provide details of what damage is being accomplished along with your simple comments that support your base.
1
Well said Timothy! As much as T. is an embarrassment to our nation, Pence is perhaps much more frightening. T. just might be stupid enough to be managed by those with more sense, but P. is a loose cannon who has only one response to any problem...pray harder. So far that doesn't seem to be having a positive impact on anyone.
2
Well done. The man is representative of how far religeon n America has provided unwarranted influence. Abortion, guns, gays. Pretty sick. Of course it could be the toxic water systems in the south as well.
2
If prayer really worked, Pence would disappear in a puff of smoke.
4
Anyone who thought Pence would bring any reason to the Trump presidency needs to send lots of money to Kenneth Copeland and the other dark crooks known as televangelists.
1
And this is the guy who would take over for an impeached Trump... heaven help us!
2
Pence is indeed a science-denying, bible-thumping, hypocritical toady with a better than 50/50 chance of soon becoming POTUS ....according to the most recent Trump “impeachometer” readings. He will undoubtedly attempt a theocratic coup just as he did in Indiana. Prayers won’t help....voting will.
3
Rather than being vapid Mr Pence is the ultimate pseudo-Christian grifter who has duped a self-righteous but gullible constituency motivated by tribal instincts. As a result it has gleefully propelled him to within a heartbeat of the Presidency despite his many shortcomings. His ambition is without scruple - how else to explain his status as sycophant-in-chief to the least Christian President in modern history? His is as crafty as he is devious. He purposefully uses Christianity as a cover for his mendacity - which is a grave sin. He is truly a false prophet.
2
At least Pencewise isn't hearing the voice of God and following His jealous or blood-lusting demands (see: Bible)...yet. But he's close, and may claim such holy privilege if enough absolutely-corrupting power is dropped in his lap (certainly never earned, so it must be God's reward for dining solo) when his Daddy is impeached.
"Out of the frying pan, into the fire."
2
Thanks once again to Timothy Egan for another perfect assessment of one our current administration's feckless leaders. Mr. Pence may view himself as religiously righteous but he is morally vacuous. What about the children Mr. Pence?
2
Bible thumper Pence calling climate change "a myth" is the equivalent of me ... um ... uh... there is no theoretical equivalency of hypocrisy I can come up with.
2
I wonder if (R)'s ever worry about their legacy. In a hundred years, people will be shocked at how backward, fearful, ignorant, racist, misogynist and just outright crazy the people of this time were. At this rate, the NRA will have all of humanity shot anyway, so there's that.
3
Trump is an outright liar, self promoter, bully, misogynist, philanderer, narcissist...and I would take Trump over Pence, as sad as that is to say. With Trump he is what he is, and despite his proclamation of faith, he is no more religious than Christopher Hitchens was or any other prominent known atheist you can name. Pence on the other hand is every negative stereotype of the religious right you can name, he is a Christian dominionist who believes that the Bible goes before the law, that the only 'real law' is God's law, and like many people of less than brilliant intelligence, he finds comfort in a simple view that there is only 1 truth, and it is the 'truth' of what his preacher told him or what he thinks he read in the bible. Worse, it is a faith, not based on love of your fellow man, but faith based in the idea (that Jesus rejected, mind you), that that love is only reserved for those like himself, the 'true believers'. What makes it worse is he sees in promoting this faith the idea that the ends justify the means, so if he has to support a GOP agenda that favors the rich, if it means defending a sexual predator like Trump, if it means getting him power to be the American Ayatollah, so be it. Remember, folks, this is a man who when Indiana saw an explosion in AIDS and in opiod addiction, whose response was basically "let them experience the wages of sin", he refused to expand drug rehab, condom distribution, needle exchange..some Chriistian.
3
It is incumbent on our country to carefully consider the types of people now ascendant to positions of highest authority (notice I did not say leadership) in the current political system. It appears that those of highest character and impeccable personal history, to say nothing of ability and applicable experience, are increasingly reluctant to enter the political realm. And who can blame them, what with the nastiness and inanity we see now? No doubt many capable leaders are more valuable and personally fulfilled pursuing careers in the arts, science, education, and research. But we definitely need to reevaluate our politics when it starts to repulse the most capable, and especially when it elevates the least. Perhaps more than anything else, character matters.
10
Brilliant skewering, Tim!
19
Even in a town where groveling and fawning are considered career assets, Pence's toadyism would be comical if his position on issues weren't so malignant. A graduate of a college whose founding principles were a rejection of rationalism and deism of the Enlightenment, there is nothing "Christian"in his values; he is intolerance (i.e. LGBT, gender equality); merciless (i.e. wage and labor policies); uncharitable (antipathy toward public schools). His opposition to renewable energy, embrace of coal and fossil fuel and calling climate change a myth manifests willful indifference to preserving the Earth he professes is God's creation. Pence is anti-life, allowing guns in cars on school property and limiting lawsuits against gun and ammo manufacturers while defunding Planned Parenthood, opposing comprehensive sex education, the Affordable Care Act, and embryonic stem cell research that can save lives. His lack of "Christian" compassion undergirds barring Syrian refugee from settling in Indiana. His self-proclaimed Christianity is more wrathful God than Sermon on the Mount. As the article sums up, he is a brown-nosing lapdog a heartbeat away......
68
Well done my boy! Well done and we'll said! perhaps you should be a heartbeat away!
1
Tim all true and objectionable, but how does even pence justify his lying with his purportedly devout Christianity ??
1
It would be nice if I could get past the headline before I need to start looking up word definitions. #justsayin
1
Pence spent days praying whether he could take the spiritual hit for giving opioid addicts clean needles to stop people in his own state from contracting HIV from shared needles. I read his Lt Gov finally told him to get off the pot and DO something. His pious closing of Planned Parenthood had cut people off from being tested so the guy causes a full blown epidemic. Indiana was compared to subSahara Africa in comparable Aids levels- Indiana, for crying out loud!
I think what is labeled as intolerance is mostly exasperation with the hypocrisy of folks like Pence. The Bible has a story about the people asking for bread and being given stones. That one is for you, Mike Pence.
53
If Mike Pence is a "Christian first, a conservative second and a Republican third," where does that leave America? How can anyone say and believe such tripe and still call himself a patriot?
Our national dysfunction stems in part from the bleak reality that so many citizens buy the "platitudinous mush" that emerges from the VP's mouth.
42
To try to answer your question; people like Pence, i.e., hard right-wing Christians think being a Christian is synonymous with being an American. To say it another way, to them, if one is not a Christian, then one is not an American. To people like Pence, being Christian is being American is being Christian is being American is being Christian. One can be a Jew or a Muslim, but not an American. Pence-like people are the ones who want to make America a “Christian nation.”
1
It's time for a new campaign: GET MAD AMERICA! I am certainly mad that the only response suggested to the loss of innocent lives via guns is to pray. We had better pray all right - pray for courage to confront and disarm the gun lobby - for courage to conquer fears that drive us to buy or steal guns - for courage to release our beautiful country from the scourge of guns - for courage to edit the Second Amendment to the Constitution - for courage to make it hard to buy or steal a gun - for courage to demand serious explanations from those who claim to need a gun. It's time to quit pussyfooting around and get serious about turning guns into ploughshares. I say again, GET MAD< AMERICA!!!
26
Mike Pence is an intolerant religious bigot.
The freedom of religion enshrined in the First Amendment is as follows:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; [or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.]"
That says the government may not establish a state religion, in any way, shape or form.
It also says the government cannot prevent one from exercising his or her personal religious beliefs in an individual capacity, or with others who hold similar beliefs.
Nowhere does it say that any one of us has the right to impose our own religious beliefs on anyone else. Certainly, such an imposition cannot be done under the color of an official act.
As an example, suppose that you believe that abortion is forbidden on religious grounds. Fine, enjoy your belief. Do not have an abortion. However, DO NOT try to impose that belief on anyone else, or try to pass an UNCONSTITUTIONAL law that codifies that religious belief. Why do you think you have the right to butt into my medical issues, of any kind? Before you do that, show me all of your medical records. (As a guy, I PROMISE never to have an abortion. Satisfied?)
Have a happy Thanksgiving. Oh yeah: Happy Holidays. The government cannot force you to say "Merry [anything]." Sorry, Donald, you lose on that issue.
25
Fabulous post Joe From Boston!! And HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you and yours, whatever you’re holiday may be.
Pence calls himself a Christian first, a conservative second, and a Republican third. Guess he's not an American in any way.
14
One of the best outcomes of the Mueller investigation will be when Mike Pence is indicted with the rest of the Trumpites.
I've followed this creep since he was in leadership in the House. Then, he took to GOP path for House members who want to run for president and left to run for governor.
If you know nothing about his career as governor, suffice to say that he was about to lose a re-election campaign due to gross ignorant incompetence when Trump and the fundamentalists picked their brother as VP.
Indictment, please, soon.
32
emm305, I agree that it will be good to get rid of both at the same time. Sadly Trump has deep pocketed backup. After Pence comes Paul Ryan, then Orrin Hatch, then Rex Tillerson, Steve Mnuchin, James Mathis and Jeff Sessions. Maybe we could skip to Mathis?
Oh Mr. Egan, the word "vacuity" is far too kind.
24
In my opinion, these AR 15 murders can be called Wayne LaPierre enabled killings. Isn't it LaPierre and his organization who is preventing action against more murders?
8
I read Ron Wilson’s comment (NYT picks).
I think many Christians are puzzled that Mr. Wilson sees what Mike Pence represents as Christianity.
It isn’t.
19
Besides the vacuity, when I think of Pence, I think of his big smile, (all those white teeth) and then, about his piety. He is dripping in piety. Back in 2014, Pope Francis offered these words about piety: “…..some people think that being pious is closing your eyes, putting on a sweet angel face, isn’t that right? To pretend to be a saint…” Shielded by his piety, Pence offers the best example of why religion and government should not intersect.
18
As uninspiring as they come. To label this man as one of our leaders is a joke. He reminds me of a bobble head when he stands adoringly behind Trump. We have our own Mullahs here and Pense is one of them. It would be such a joy to get rid of Trump but having to deal with a sanctimonious hypocrite might be just as enraging.
18
From the Bible that Pastor Pence probably believes is the only one to read ... King James Translation. Matthew 6:24 Jesus says: “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
Clearly Pence’s morality/ethics are dictated by “mammon”. The more “gold” contributed to his next campaign the more support he gives to the corporation regardless of the product’s harm to people. He is a clear example of idolatry.
17
Mike Pence, the second from the front in our Trumpian parade of horribles.
10
Perhaps Pence is Trumps impeachment insurance.
12
Word, especially since pence would be much more effective , committed, disciplined and intolerant than buffoon Trump. Pence is not fool.
Pastor Pence is the Corporate Spokesmodel for Jesus. Holding his Bible in one hand, picking your pockets with the other. With all the grace and charm of a shoplifter at Walmart. Thanks, GOP. And hallelujah.
19
Phyliss,
Jesus would have kicked over the table in their corporate conference room. Your post reminded me of one of my favorite scriptures, Matthew 21:12-13
“And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”
He wouldn’t like VP in his current state and don’t get me wrong, he loves us all and gives us multiple chances, but the greed and disregard for others in this current administration needs to be checked Bigly!
great contribution to an outstanding newspaper
question: how many in US government are not hypocrites or russian moles??
7
Excellent article.
4
Pence is astonishingly empty-headed and flat-out offensive in his corruption and hypocritical platitudes. He remains the strongest argument against impeaching Trump. Before we rid ourselves of Trump, we're going to have to frog-march the VP out of the White House, too.
22
Christian 1st, conservative 2nd, Republican 3rd. At least Pence is honest, as he omitted being an American.
11
Like our fake president, Pence is unworthy of the high office he holds.
He also disgraces his religion by his mendacity, cowardice, unctuousness and his failure to lead the nation toward a more just and caring society. He has voted to harm us with every tie-breaker he has cast in the Senate so far.
My prayer is that he comes to understand the religion he professes better than he seems to now.
13
There are are now some 30 million people in the USA who have abandoned the silliness of religion. "Christian first" politicians like Pence will soon become a rarity. I can't wait.
13
Is Hypocrite a state sanctioned religion that qualifies for tax exempt status ?
12
"I’m not against people of faith in public life. The left should be faulted for intolerance of those who express belief in a higher power or religious tradition."
Check your own hypocrisy privilege, then. Planes don't fly because we "believe" they will. "Sacred" mumbles and vague existential Ponzis come with ACTUAL price tags. Take our own species' coming extinction event, for example...
7
"I’m not against people of faith in public life. The left should be faulted for intolerance of those who express belief in a higher power or religious tradition."
In fashioning logical policies how is "faith based" belief equivalent to science?
This reasoning is KILLING us.
7
Pence always reminds me of a pious undertaker, platitudes, prayer, and obsequiousness at the ready. His inscrutable demeanor is always the same, so much so that I've concluded there is nothing behind it, not a flicker of personhood or humanity, not even Trumpian greed. He is indeed vacuous, frighteningly so.
13
"The left should be faulted for intolerance of those who express belief in a higher power or religious tradition". When logic and reason are tossed aside and in their place someone calls instead for a prayer that solves little to nothing, I'm willing to be considered intolerant for pointing this out. Sign a bill legalizing discrimination against the gay community and then hide behind your good Christian beliefs? I'm willing to be seen as intolerant for finding that repugnant. Climate change a myth? Don't worry, it's in Gods hands. That is laughable and if you believe a God or Gods are going to do something about it I think you should be considered a fool. I'm willing to be considered intolerant for thinking those thoughts. The idea that human beings can hide behind any kind of ridiculous magical claptrap as an answer to our problems and that nobody should point out the folly in this kind of thinking angers me to no end. Robert Ingersol summed it up when he spoke out against the kind of religious problem solving Mike Pence and billions of others turn to in times like these. He said, "Hands that help are better far than lips that pray". The next time someone pulls out a weapon and decides to mow down the innocent I will have to remind those that prayed the last 10 times that happened that their prayers don't seem to be having the desired effect. I see the lips are always praying and it's not solving much. I'll go with the hands that help every time. Yes, I'm intolerant.
14
Thank you very much for your beautiful comment, Magan.
I, too, proudly answer to "Intolerant."
Thank you for citing Jane Mayer's illuminating New Yorker article on Pence. I had no idea how deep he is in the back pocket of the Kochs. Required reading for anyone who wants to know who this man really is; i.e., we have him to thank for the appointment of Scott Pruitt to the EPA at the behest of the Kochs.
To paraphrase another Comments writer here, Mike Pence wears a smile on his face and his religion on his sleeve, but don't let him fool you.
Pence is far from a benevolent figure in this Administration.
12
I agree. Jane Mayer's article about Pence is a real eye-opener. In fact, I was so distressed reading it, I had to take a break from it. Also recommend Mayer's book, "Dark Money," about the moneyed interests on the right who are running the show that is D.C. politics.
3
The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, is equally vacuous. It is mind-boggling that he has a law degree and is a former judge. In the wake of last Sunday's massacre of 25 congregants in Sutherland Springs, TX, he was asked what he proposed to do to curb gun violence. His response was that that is up to God.
27
Yes - the ignorant are certain and the wise doubt. I don't think Mr Pence doubts much. It's strange since he's supposedly a religious man and I'm an anti-theist, but that he is the Vice-President of the second oldest and most powerful democracy in the world makes me think of the parable of the lost sheep.
5
Very well written, very accurate - and very disturbing.
Somehow Pence has come to the conclusion that he himself is such a "Godly" man that he can sit in judgment of others. He is a poster child for "unchristian" behaviour, but I doubt he has the mental capacity to be grasp the fact that his pious blabbering will not get him into heaven.
If all of these politicians are not going to do anything abut gun control, I wish they would stop standing there and praying and pretending to be "distraught" by recent killings - they don't care, they are owned by the NRA and put their personal ambitions before the safety of their fellow citizens. It would be nice if they were just honest about that rather than trying to feign compassion - it's an insult to the victims and their loved ones.
4
I can think of a dozen or so small-business owners, in my smallish hometown, who remind me of Mike Pence (in more ways than one).
Our nation is in serious, serious trouble.
7
Mike Pence is a dangerous extremely religious zealot and demagogue. I am deeply worried that he'll replace Trump, if ever there is an impeachment, making me almost wish that Trump does not get impeached.
And guess who's behind Pence. Paul Ryan, the Ayn Rand loving family-values man whose family values are limited to spending weekends with his family with no concern for how the rest of us negotiate our personal family life during maternity and healthcare situations.
Trump is damaging the reputation and credibility of the USA, but these guys will damage the USA itself.
10
Had a HS English teacher/cleric who was fond of telling his lazier students that they were indulging in the articulation of "glittering vacuities." Always stuck with me, causing me both to temper my own occasionally flaming rhetoric and also to quickly recognize ongoing purveyors of that genre. Mr. Pence would've been well-chastised in Brother V's classroom.
7
If Pence ever becomes president, for whatever reason, we would go from autocracy to theocracy.
7
"Pence calls himself a Christian first, a conservative second and a Republican third."
Does he ever call himself an American? Apparently not. I prefer leaders who are Americans first. And second. And third.
7
Historically authoritarianism has been enthusiastically enabled by religious zealots and military generals. Trump is surrounded by both. The threat to our democracy has never been more ominous.
9
Pence is admirably performing his key function of giving pause to those who would impeach Donald Trump.
9
As a long-retired Lutheran pastor, I am sickened by the common use
(and abuse) of Religiosity by politicians in chronic promotion of themselves.
I do not believe the Public is impressed by Christian (or any religious)
delineation given within a candidate's campaign material. "Religiosity" and
Belief is not a badge of courage....or a uniform to be worn for " Show".
8
"(Pence's) biblical bromides make Ned Flanders of "The Simpsons" sound like Voltaire." I have been giggling ever since that I read that line. Now if only the general topic of Pence's competence were as light and amusing. He is as scary as Trump, only in different ways. What is probably the scariest to me, though, is how Pence, someone so blank, uninspiring and intolerant, someone so thoroughly unimpressive both as politician and human being, could have risen so high in the political hierarchy. His rise to the top is as appalling as that of his boss. As a society we need to examine what character traits in people we reward, as Pence and his boss are the US's shame.
12
Pence was creepy long before Trump became his master. Pence is a man of amoral convictions, so he is cut from the same cloth as Trump. If he had any convictions he would be pressing Congress to do the right thing regarding Gun Reform, Health Care for all Americans, Tax Reform that will not add to the deficits and demand Separation of Church and State.
And by the way, represent all Americans, gay or not.
Pence is more than vacuous, he is a danger to our freedoms. And to think he is one heart beat away from being our President. He is more scary than Trump and that is saying a mouth full.
9
As a follower of Jesus Christ I struggle to find a designation for my faith that doesn't make me uncomfortable. And it is the likes of Mike Pence that creates the discomfort.
Somewhere he has learned the lingo of piety but his heart is not in it. His pasted on half-smile, his platitudes, his willingness to link himself to a man of obvious and admitted immorality, his unwillingness to speak out against such a man, makes him toxic in the community of faith I aspire to be a part of.
380
Yeah, I get really tired of saying, "I'm a Christian--but not THAT kind!" To those who don't know--most Christians don't preach hatred and intolerance. Most people in general don't. But hatred and arrogance are loud, whether they call themselves Christian, Buddhist, atheist, or whatever. You can always find an excuse, and religion makes a dandy one.
Bravo!
5
It's terrifying, and I've been trying to ignore it--or to hope that some way comes up to force Pence into retirement before we impeach Trump.
Clarifying--I, too, am a Christian first. And that might possibly have an effect, if I were an elected official. For instance, I might be in favor of universal medical care, of taxing the rich rather than the poor, of trying to stop gun violence, of reasonable minimum wage, of curbing corporate greed.
You can't look at Pence and not think of whitened sepulchres.
338
Vacuous, vapid, insipid and... insidious.
Neither Trump nor Pence is a “Republican,” but between a lying, ignorant amoral gasbag and a lying, ignorant fundamentalist twit, give me the gasbag every time. Then give me the gas.
7
Glad you brought VP Pence to readers' attention. I urge everyone to read the Jane Meyer New Yorker article linked in this column.
One of our daughters lives and teaches in northern IN, and when he was chosen as VP (not really by Trump but got the stamp of approval from the mighty Kochs), our daughter was thrilled because now he can't mess up Indiana any more. And that he did while governor.
Like Trump, Pence is a flagrant liar--anything to advance his career (which means the Koch's agenda), and like Trump, he is a bungler (see Meyer's article).
With Trump, at least what you see is what you get. But Pence is a stealthy, groveling Koch lackey, who promises one thing, ignores what he says, and does whatever the Kochs' want. He is another duplicitous GOP sneak who looks good in a suit (like Paul Ryan). And, unlike Trump, Pence will push hard to make this a pure, white Christian nation.
As Pence said: "I am a Christian first, a conservative second, and a Republican--in that order!" Nothing about being an American on his priority list.
So bad as Trump is--and he is incompetent, insulting, clueless, and embarrassingly narcissistic--so far he has not gotten much done; he made a mess of just about everything he tries to do, and spends most of his time promoting himself.
Should Trump resign or be taken out of office, we would get President Pence, and as the darling of the Kochs, he and the GOP leaders will ram through a vicious right-wing and Christian agenda.
5
Good grief, Pence makes Dan Quayle sound like Einstein. We truly have Dumb and Dumber in the WH. I'd better pray and I'm an atheist.
21
May God help the United States.
Pence is not much better than Trump.
We have a serious lack of good leadership.
7
At least he's predictable.....
1
`... the great horror that makes the United States stand out from every other civilized country.'
Civilized? If the bloodshed continues unabated, that designation is in jeopardy.
4
Although I abhor Trump, the thought of Pence as president is frightening!
6
I heard a story of two prospective Republican candidates who attended a seminar for aspiring politicians, back in the 80s when the religious right was beginning its ascendancy. The essential substance of the seminar was that religious folk were fertile ground for demagoguery. When it was over, one aspiring pol remarked to the other that he couldn't do it. The other rather enthusiastically replied that he could.
This is what we've been enduring since. As HL Mencken put it. "A demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows not to be true to people he knows to be idiots." What lies beneath the frightening vacuum of Pence's eyes, God only knows. But as the also great Kurt Vonnegut wrote, "Be careful of what you pretend to be, because it is what you become."
7
I’m going to borrow Senator Graham’s words from the 2016 campaign regarding candidates Trump and Cruz. Choosing between President Trump and VP Pence “ is like being shot or poisoned.” Of course with DT we would see the gun, but with Pence we would never see it coming, yet still the same outcome. I’ll take the wolf over the wolf in sheep’s clothing anyday.
2
Pence has no resolve?
If you want to end the carnage, have the resolve to repeal the 2nd Amendment. It's clear that the only effective way to end gun deaths is to make guns illegal, but the gun control supporters would rather paint supporters of the 2nd Amendment as cold blooded killers instead of doing the work to change things.
If you do not have the resolve to focus your energies on changing the Constitution, then you are as complicit in these horrible killings as those who support gun rights.
Gary Trudeau joked that George H.W. Bush placed his character in a blind trust when he accepted the vice-presidential nomination under Ronald Reagan and agreed to embrace the latter's supply side economic ideas. Mike Pence apparently has no public character (I am not impugning his private life) to sacrifice on the altar of political ambition. A person who seeks to exploit religious language to obscure his homophobia, his practical indifference to gun violence and his servitude to corporate interests, forfeits all claim to integrity.
In one respect, however, his behavior mirrors that of so many other evangelicals. The alliance with Donald Trump reflects a willingness to abandon the core principles of Christianity in exchange for an anti-abortion SC justice and fiscal measures that seem incompatible with the teachings of Jesus. The issue does not center on the appropriateness of religious people participating in politics.
America needs the humane values that define the three major western religions to help shape government policy. But when politicians like Pence and Ted Cruz imply that God endorses their ideas and, indeed, their candidacy for office, they violate the spirit of the provision in the Constitution which prohibits religious tests for any position in the federal government.
From the perspective of their own community of faith, moreover, they debase Christian values when they use the Bible to defend positions Jesus would have abhorred.
4
I personally have had a problem with religion but I am more than happy to accept that many find solace and direction having strong faith. But Pence's brand of religion confuses me...no real empathy or willingness to help others less fortunate. What's up with that? Does he really represent the religious in this country? Wow...and if so I'll wait for a real saviour who does what he preaches.
3
I share your view on the vacuous nature of the VP and his empty bromides laced with simplistic piety. Politically, the principle of separation of Church and State has a simple and theoretically powerful ring. However, from the perspective of morality, character, ethical activism, and the heart of life together, there are real issues that the separation of Church and State does not address. The general culture is fundamentally commercial and consumer driven and lacks a coherent message about moral ethics. It is long on individual rights and expression, but short on duties, outreach and care of the other. The state relies on an ethic of law which is fundamentally a "thou shalt not" framework. Church and Religious traditions certainly have their legalisms, but the great religions balance those with moral imperatives or "thou shalt" (shelter the homeless, show hospitality to the stranger, feed the hungry etc. etc.). To be fair there is no shortage of ethical failings and abuses committed by Religious leaders, and the same could be said about our political leaders. It can also be argued that the Founders presumed a strong religious culture resided behind the government, that their concern was with total Theocratic State sanctioned/imposed religion. This is an important conversation to continue in thoughtful and reasonable manner.
2
Mr. Welch, let’s continue that conversation. The stunning wisdom of our country’s foundation as a “secular” country is making sure that beliefs, then behaviors, are not based on insular and very narrow religious faith. Matters of interpretation and culture, yes? Faith is not fact, yes?
While I agree that we may be less morally sure-footed right now, I would hesitate to say our America is only consumer-driven and commercial. (You imply vacuous, as Mr. Egan levels at Pence.) Add to that this historical influx of many diverse immigrants, with their own beliefs and cultural imperatives, it can get a muddy at times without a process of redefining and recommitting to a set of guiding principles for this modern and inclusive world. That is our challenge.
Let’s move forward a compassionate, honest, industrious, respectful, that is, an honorable (is that an old-fashioned word?) moral code that does not invoke the words “God”, “evil”, “sin”, “shame” … you fill in the blanks. My own belief is that morality is NOT religion, and while it can reinforce sound moral principles, it does not alone create or define them. Let’s keep the focus on teaching all our American children the difference.
1
Evolution: Pence does not believe in it. That is all you really need to know about him or any other politician who wears his religion on their sleeve. Anyone who lives in our advanced civilization and who does not believe in evolution has some issue that keeps them from assimilating facts and forming reasonable conclusions. If he can't accept evolution, why expect him to understand global warming, the effects of smoking, and the environmental costs of fossil fuels?
I am sure he believes that he is "stand[ing] with resolve against evil." I am sure he believes that he and Congress are "united in our resolve to end such evil in our time.” The lack of facts to support this thesis is not important to a man who ignores facts.
Please do not interpret this as an attack on Christianity. Most Christians are not anti fact or science. I am a Christian and I believe that reason is God's greatest gift to humanity and we ignore it at peril to our bodies and souls.
2
Tens of millions of people go to church to pray every Sunday. It doesn't seem to have solved the problem of mass shootings, death of innocents and lifelong grief faced by survivors of their victims.
Mr. Pence might want to think about trying something besides prayer. We're not paying him to do that. We're paying him to think, propose effective solutions, and solve problems. He can pray on his own nickel, and his own time.
2
I viewed a picture of JFK surrounded by his advisors during the Cuban missile crisis, and imagined that same picture if we face a similar crisis with Trump--surrounded by Kelly, Ivanka, Kushner, McMaster, and Pence---what did we do to ourselves?
1
Thanks to Mr. Egan for a brilliant new phrase to try to encompass the sheer emptiness and religiously decorated hypocrisy of the current Vice President. Gasbagging for God! As other commenters have noted, perhaps the most dangerous element of the Vice President's political philosophy is the (unchallengeable) priority and (absolute) applicability of his specific expression of Christian faith to state and national governance. I am a Christian, but I'm pretty sure that I am on the left regarding the basket of policy issues mentioned in this article, and quite sure that Mr. Pence and I would disagree
on...all of them. I do agree with Mr. Egan that there are elements of intolerance on the left for persons who engage in politics with explicitly religious motives or arguments. It turns out, though, that intolerance on the religious right is...well...an article of faith. Virulently so. Theocracy is the blanket term for the pre-eminence and political hegemony of a particular religious framework, tradition and creed, and Mr. Pence is quite unabashedly a theocrat. And, therefore, he is neither a democrat--small d--nor, arguably, an American. We resolved to be a democracy, of democrats first, in 1787-1788.
The perfect word, vacuous! Whether ordering a cheeseburger or comforting families who have experienced a tragic loss, that one size fits all, pious facial expression appears.
No range of emotion, no sense of genuineness, just this single carefully constructed presentation of caring and deep compassion for the cheeseburger or whatever.
8
Proliferation of assault weapons in America is a public safety issue. We have the right to defend ourselves and hunt but weaponry that can kill and maim hundreds in minutes needs to be addressed by our leaders. I don't want to live in an open carry society which Trump implicitly endorses. If people are speeding in my neighborhood, the government installs traffic lights and stop signs and adds a police officer to monitor. It doesn't confiscate cars and prohibit driving. There are rational responses that rational leaders can propose
1
For all those calling for Trump's impeachment, be careful what you wish for.
Better to dedicate some of your time to call your fellow voters and get them to the polls next year. If we can flip the House and Senate next year, we can then focus our collective energy on getting them both out of there in 2020.
2
The line of succession if Trump leaves office early leads through Pence to Ryan. Not a happy or reassuring fact. But we have to ask ourselves if their presidencies would be worse than Trump's. How ever I look at it, the answer is: Nothing would be worse than Trump.
I often wonder what people like Pence actually think. Are they truly blind to the stark contradictions in what they say they believe in and their actions? Pence's goody-two-shoes image couldn't be further from the crude debasing image and actions of the one whose boots he licks. Is there a great void in his gray matter that separates what he professes he is from what he truly is? Does he laugh to himself as he makes up false rationales as to how his boss is such a wonderful person? Is he really the human version of Ken (of Ken and Barbie fame) with as much substance as Ken?
229
"I often wonder what people like Pence actually think."
The answer is: NOTHING!
Trump is his nominal boss; his real bosses are the Koch boys.
2
This situation is horrifying. When we delude ourselves into believing in some heavenly existence and some future reward (transcendence over immanence) there are repercussions: We become blind to act in the only world we have and can actually do something about to actually alleviate pain and suffering.
1
This essay is important its readers to read aloud to acquaintances to who call for impeachment of President Trump. Remember how smoothly it worked with Nixon: FIRST Agnew was ousted. THEN it was safe to impeach Nixon.
(There are moments of hilarity listening to Pence, despite the overall terror that he induces, as when he tried to show that he was one of the boys after the "Access Hollywood" tapes were revealed. "That's just rest-room talk," he said.)
3
When Trump addresses congress, watch Pence and Ryan, two bobbleheads nodding in compliance with the Bloviator-in-Chief. How far down the chain of command before we get to an adult?
2
I always though Pence was a calculating politician who took the VEEP for Trump on the assumption this was the only way for him to become President, calculating perhaps that Trump could never last a full term. Maybe Trump picked Pence thinking it was his best insurance against assassination. Whatever the case, if Pence did manage to become President, all I can say is God help the United States. Makes you wonder how he ever became Governor of Indiana.
2
"Nothing but meek, passive acceptance of the great horror that makes the United States stand out from every other civilized country."
I no longer consider this country to be civilized. And it isn't just the violence, it's our own vacuity that keeps electing people who haven't the moral or patriotic fiber to just say no to corruption and corporate America's seductive call.
Thank goodness for last Tuesday when we saw at least the beginning of some pushback. And thank goodness that there are still a few people who love their country enough to run for office for the first time because they are committed to trying to change the appallingly uncivilized conditions that prevail here. They've never held office before and that can seem daunting. But I'd rather have a principled neophyte willing to learn on the job than all these has-beens who are only there to sell us out to the highest bidder as long as they get a share of the take.
For heaven's sake, keep the momentum of last Tuesday going in every election that ever takes place, from dog catcher to president. This is what will help us become a civilized society again.
1
In defiance of Egan's comment, left and right Demand people in office claim publicly their religiosity. Agnostics and atheists are kept to the margins by both even as fake belief and fake virtue make voters swoon.
1
Jane Mayer's article in the New Yorker describing Mike Pence and his political history was frightening.
And there's another article that tells us a lot about Pence. NYT, July 21, 2016, "Pistols at the Pool, Machine Guns on Parade, and There's Nothing We can Do," written by John Hamilton, mayor of Bloomington, Indiana.
Mr. Hamilton describes how Indiana's new gun laws, which enable men and women to carry their guns in public, has led to some scary displays in his city. One man walked in among folk sitting around a public pool with a handgun holstered on his waist. Everybody felt threatened. Then there was the 4th of July float in a municipal parade packed with guys carrying "machine guns" and garlanded with ammunition belts.
Hamilton explains that these assertive performances used to be outlawed in Bloomington, back when Indiana cities could establish their own laws restricting certain "gun rights." But the Indiana legislature passed a bill making that sort of independence illegal.
Mike Pence was governor of Indiana at the time, a staunch advocate of "gun rights" who received an "A" rating from the NRA.
This is the mix I find hard to understand ... and stomach. Here's a politician who flaunts his faith in Jesus, calls his wife Mother, and won't share a meal with a woman unless somebody else is along to witness his self-control. But he loves manly guns! Big, little, guns!
Did Jesus teach him this lesson?
1
When Pense was picked for VP he was running for governor. Indiana was rife with signs saying "anybody but Pense". Like with dt in NYC, those who knew him best, had the right idea.
1
The left do Not denigrate people of faith. I for one just don't like inconsistency and hypocrisy. My faith (yes people on the left have faith too) tells me to respect my fellow human beings. I don't get to pick and choose which ones are worthy of that respect. So I embrace the ALL with a happy heart.
I also do not believe that my faith is better than anyone else's. There are many people on this earth so to me it follows that there are many different expressions of faith. The fear of Kennedy's presidency was that he would push Catholicism on America which of course he did not because he had respect.
VP Pence offers no respect for others. He wears his disdain as a badge of his faith. And he wants to push his unique perspective on everyone else. Like his boss, he should read the Constitution.
Yes I am being judgmental of Pence. Not his faith per se but his application of same in his life. I find HIM hypocritical.
Mr. Egan mischaracterizes the left when he writes that they "should be faulted for intolerance of those who express belief in a higher power or religious tradition." It is intolerance for those who do not accept the constitution's separation of church and state and would have the principles of Christianity enshrined in our laws and in our government. It is intolerance for those who do not accept the legitimacy of any religion but Christianity. It is intolerance for those who preach chastity, humility, honesty, belief in God and the permanence of marriage vows, yet embrace, support, defend and elevate to the presidency a thrice-married, Godless, lying braggart who has admitted to disgusting and immoral acts against women. And, it is intolerance for those who answer senseless murder with prayer instead of action. It is intolerance for the hypocrites, like Mr. Pence, who are willing to mold and bend their beliefs when it is politically expedient to do so. When the playwright Lillian Hellman refused to testify before HUAC in the 50's, she famously wrote, "I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions." Mr. Pence is only too eager to cut his, and intolerance for such a man is to be expected.
1
Excellent column. It is interesting how willfully blind we are when it comes to GOP efforts to turn our country into a theocracy. If we are not careful (and every indication is that we are not) soon we will have a cabinet member overseeing a federal agency modeled after the Saudi’s Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice! God help us!
1
Points well made, particularly the final paragraph. Going from talk-radio host to Congress to the Governor of Indiana to Veep. Some notable Pence-y acts:
ruining public education supporting extensive vouchers, particularly for religious schools; his demeaning and attacking of the State Supt. of Ed who got more votes than he did; his bizarre legislation about requiring burial of even miscarriages; his rejection of vetted refugees....and there is too much to mention of his isolationist, narrow, self-righteous acts. There were demonstrations in Indiana: Fire Mike Pence. Truly he is an example of the Peter Principle. And if Trump is impeached, Pence has been raising lots and lots of money behind the scenes, has cronies in Congress who see him as a Saviour. Many of us see him in an opposite light. I think often of Macbeth: Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it. So apt for Pence.
1
"It's their intolerance of those who don't believe as they do, and their obsessive efforts to force their beliefs on others."
Very valid point Sara. Many Christians feel that they are obligated to proselytize on behalf of Christianity. "Have you been saved" blasts the barker on the street corner. Pence, I believe, is one of those.
1
Thanks, Egan, for using some Times' space to almost say what poliiticians' prayer is: disingenuous babble. But you had to go muddle things with this:
"I’m not against people of faith in public life. The left should be faulted for intolerance of those who express belief in a higher power or religious tradition."
Disapproval is not intolerance; contempt is not intolerance, pity is not intolerance, disdain is not intolerance. We tolerate the religious superstition, dishonesty, and sheer mental confusion of our politicians and our neighbors because in this superstitious, dishonest and generally confused nation, we have no choice.
1
Mike Pence is the only good counter-argument to bringing impeachment proceedings against Trump.
1
"...a Christian first, a conservative second and a Republican third." So, being an American doesn't even get on his radar. People like Pence, Roy Moore, and their ilk might be American by birth, but they are NOT Americans by creed. Our country was founded in opposition to theocracy and the "divine right" to rule claimed by monarchs the world over; it is why the separation of church and state was explicitly put into the constitution, and that the constitution takes precedence over all other law, profane or divine. These people are not patriots, and have no business being in government.
1
This article shines a light on two problems.
The first, of course, is the theocrat Pence. Wonderful, wonderful job at speaking truth to power, or at about power, Mr. Egan.
The second problem concerns the war against the media. If we lose the battle, and the NYTimes and MSNBC and other independent voices are quieted or lost, many Americans will be lost to the brainwashing of the insane religious right.
Thanks for standing as an ally to intelligence and rational thought and the hope that the future holds, somehow, a time of peace and, oh I don't know, a lot of FDR's as our leaders.
Nothing wrong with stupid, but lots wrong with it teaching the class, or running the country.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
1
Vacuity. An accurate one word description that captures the essence of the VP. Amen!
1
One has to ask if Trump will make it through the next four years. And we hope upon hope that he either will step down or be forced out of office. How nice that would be, albeit unlikely.
But supposing he does not last, we are then faced with a man who in his own way is just as dangerous. For behind that smiling face and absurdly impeccable grooming is a hypocrite of the worst kind. He hides behind a Christian "god" that is not my God. His "god" directs him to place an unborn child before the health and welfare of the living. His "god the father" does not listen to his own son's teachings. One comes to mind: Those among you without sin can cast the first stone. And the Sermon on the Mount is a page torn out of Mr. Pence's "bible."
I am Catholic, and through college was Catholic educated. But if there was one thing drilled into me it was Do Not Judge Others Lest You Be Judged. Maybe it was growing up in the '60's. Maybe it was growing up in a diverse and rightfully tolerant West Coast city. But I learned quickly to be wary of the Pences of this world. They are theocrats; they are sneaky. Their agendas are just as destructive to our freedoms and rights as Trump's are.
2
Thank you for this article. Papa Pence is quietly, patiently, lurking in the wings of this horrendous circus that is the trump/GOP regime.
1
One definition of faith...strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.
I am all for expressing your faith in your home, on the street, proclaiming it from the roof tops...but i want anyone in a position of power to make decisions based on facts not faith.
1
Prayer will never fix anything. Pence, who said he was a Christian first, then a conservative and then a Republican, is a mental midget who pretends he's living in the 16th century, and that prayer is better than actually doing things that make life better and less dangerous for citizens. So we have two dumb guys in charge as president and vice-president, with dimwit Ryan waiting in the wings. Prayer sure as hell won't fix this. Voting will.
Eclectic Pragmatism — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism
13
The left should be faulted for intolerance of those who express belief in a higher power or religious tradition? Where did that zinger come from?
I have intolerance of those who express belief in a higher power who carry signs saying Aids is God's Punishment or people like Mike Pence who want to put GLBT in "reeducation camps" or those who profess their God demands women have no rights, no safety, no birth control, and no autonomy over their own bodies. So please, stop with the throwaway generalizations about the left.
565
The House majority is populated by a whole bunch of Mike Pences, which isn't surprising given that he was once one of them. They bow ever so piously as the Chaplain delivers his opening prayer, then they deliberate on how to serve Mammon in the most unchristian way possible.
7
What a spineless bore! My mind glazes over when he speaks. Of course if Trump is impeached Pence will be totally manipulated by the mainstream Republicans. The only bright spot in that thought is he won't be listening to Bannon or the White Supremacists.
2
A. The United States has many mass shootings and thousands of gun deaths every year.
B. Republicans are in the pocket of the NRA.
C. All republicans in power do after mass shooting (Pence in this case) is offer “thoughts and prayers” and avoid any discussion of gun control, even for AK 47 rifles whose only purpose is to kill as many human beings as possible as fast as possible.
D. There are millions of guns, legal and illegal in the US, courtesy of the rabid 2nd amendment proponents, many of whom are republicans in congress and the NRA and gun manufacturers.
E. Republicans care only about reelection, money and power
Therefore republicans are just fine with thousands of Americans dying each year to stay in power. Their right to take money from the NRA and the second amendment support is secondary to all of us having a right to live safely.
I️ offer the above as a logical proof from philosophy.
Shame on all of you immoral republican bystanders to carnage. Pence is a vacuous evil fool and fits the proof above.
2
Pence not meeting women alone either professionally or privately could be taken in several ways. His wife is a very jealous type. He fears he would have an inability to resist their wiles of just being female.
His obvious intent to not keep religion and state separate whenever he can possibly bridge the gap is what appeals to those who support him. They, too, would like to see religion as a driving force in government. Their form of religion, of course.
Goddess help us. (Or is it Mother Goddess?)
Surprise! Donald Trump picked a complete fool for a VP. It's his way of guarding against a rash decision to impeach.
2
Exactly right. A bible thumping, vacuous, sanctimonious little man who is the antithesis of applied Christianity- not the clap trap spouted by him and evangelicals who think they have a hotline to god. Great piece.
1
Even scarier than his boss. Essentially believes Christians should be exempt from obeying certain laws that may conflict with their beliefs. Conflict with the constitutional rights of the rest of America? No problem!
2
No question the man lies like a rug. The whole Mike Flynn affair stinks, and Pence's vacuous answers were robotic. Empty, empty suit.
Reminds me of Rubio the Vacant. Pence the Vacant sounds just right. These people may just be programmed androids. Koch, et al write the programs and they work.
1
Pence's call to prayer rather than action conjures the phrase 'opiate of the masses,' apt today under an administration that is acting against neither gun violence nor opioids.
1
The fact that such an imbecile can rise to one of the highest offices in the land calls into question the whole idea of democracy and public service. It also class into question the intelligence of the American people.
1
I think you should be very troubled by the fact that he calls his wife Mother.
It was very troubling that arms-for-hostages Reagan called Nancy "Mommy."
Any male who needs his wife to be his mother needs professional help.
I don't know what else to say.
It's all a nightmare.
7
"Pence's biblical bromides make Ned Flanders sound like Voltaire." Always nice to start the day with a good laugh. Thanks.
4
The problem starts with Trump - 1) he believes that he alone runs this country, that this country does not need to worry about all the agencies, the departments, the government worker, since it's all up to him. 2) He says he is going to surround him with the "best" - but because of #1, he surrounds himself with incompetents, including Pence. Only in this manner can he look better than those around him. 3) instead of draining the swamp, the swamp, like the waters of Houston, Puerto Rico during the hurricanes, only gets bigger - beholden to the NRA, gun control is a disappearingly small target on the horizon regardless of the uproar. Pence and the GOP are puppets for the special corporate interests - at the expense of the people. Through Citzen's United, corporations are more powerful than the citizens, even though the Constitution doesn't say "We the corporations of the United States". 4) The Supreme Court is at risk of becoming a mouthpiece for the GOP and special interests with Trump's appointment of Neil Gorsuch, as the prototype of radical conservatism that supports corporate American over Americans.
One can only hope to isolate Trump and Pence by eroding the GOP control of Congress, through the 2018 elections and appealing to the moderate rationale Republicans. Having Pence as POTUS is scarier than Trump, he has no vision (except to use the office of the President as a pulpit), he brings no skills (even if Trump is a failed businessman), and brings no leadership.
1
Pence's form of faith is short on tolerance. Whether one's faith is based on religion or politics, tolerance is crucial. Pence preaches a sort of "Christian" virtue that is not. He is a "God-fearing political sycophant"--someone who believes this theological and political faiths trump (couldn't help it...sorry) so many others. This behavior is something to be denounced whatever one's theology or political persuasion.
1
In Pence, Trump certainly got his sycophant. We have ask ourselves numerous times, who is worse? Trump or Pence? (And then, Ryan.) Yikes!
1
Let's hope Mueller is on his trail of misdeeds that began as Trump's transition team leader.
4
Thank you, Tim, for reminding us why we take very little solace in the thought of impeachment.
5
"Pence calls himself a Christian first, a conservative second and a Republican third. Since taking the oath of office, he’s supposed to be a citizen first."
So he's an American fourth, maybe, and a defender of his oath of office a distant fifth??? Not very reassuring from the VP of the United States.
3
I’m only intolerant of those people who believe in a higher power and religious traditions who try to impose their “faith” on me and the public sphere. Yea verily, America’s Constitutional absolute separation of church and state.
9
“Gasbagging for God.” I love it!
For eons, those in power have been using God as a weapon to keep the masses feeling helpless and to prevent free thinking. Pence is a big advocate of ‘religious freedom.’ Whose freedom?
I believe that the members of the God Goon Squad, i.e., Mike Pence, Roy Moore, Jerry Falwell, Jr., are a bigger threat to American democracy and individual freedoms than any outside force. They are here and have become entwined in our political fabric. There is nothing loving or benign about these ‘men of God.’ They would love nothing more than to create man in their image.
8
Pence is, like Sarah Huckabee Sanders, lying for Jesus. The ends justify the lying means. The ultimate end goal is to slide into the Presidency and create an American theocracy. Even as I write this it sounds like a bad hyperventilating movie. But it's real, thanks to Trump.
2
The frightening thing about thr Pence/Jeffress Christian clan is that they are ignorant of the best of Christian thought though the centuries. They wield the 'shield of faith,' which, in their case shields them from all the better ideas inherent in the great world religions and philosophies. They actually believe (I grew up in their midst and drank gallons of their KoolAid) that their Jesus is headed back to the planet on a white horse with sword in hand (assault rifle?) to wreak death on all the bad folk. It is a cult which embraces a schizophrenic god who , at once, loves and hates humans, choosing some for bliss and others for eternal agony. This crazy-making nonsense is contagious among a certain population who prefer a world view handed down to them rather than doing their own critical thinking.
I rant about this because the bubble Pence and followers live in is Trump's narcissism on a grand scale. Nothing gets through, just as nothing gets through to any autocracy. There is simply nothing to discuss. There are only smiles, severe looks of piety, and vacuous pronouncements of platitudes and scriptures read out of context.
This would not be a danger, if it were a small sect that could simply wither away in their little bubble. But this group has infected the top levels of government and that is terrifying.
514
"In Texas this week, Pence told families, "We are working with leaders in Congress to ensure that this never happens again." That's a lie, which should be surprising for a man who wears his faith on both sleeves."
An Air Force mistake led to that Texas man being able to legally buy guns. Pence is indeed working to get Congress to ensure that the Air Force and FBI's National Criminal Information Center databases work better together. Thanks.
Praying negates any need for thought or discussion in certain quarters. It shows.
3
I'll confess to my fantasies of Trump's impeachment. Making him disappear can't happen soon enough. But, as this piece points out, Pence is certainly no prize. Like the choice to die by hanging or the firing squad.
So, maybe Trump is the lesser of two evils? If we can keep Trump's short fingers away from the nuclear button (a terrifying thought for another day), then it might be Trump's stunning incompetence that saves us. Due to his rampant narcissism, microscopic attention span and lack of knowledge about everything, he hasn't been able to get anything done. And, fortunately, that includes taking health insurance away from millions of people, and, so far, cutting tax taxes for millionaires, while exploding our deficit.
This is hard to write, but for now, I'll take Trump over Pence.
4
Trump sought a bobblehead, a marionette. And with that, Pence has few if any rivals inside the Beltway.
5
It's amazing how much evil is countenanced under the veil of prayer. Those who thought Pence might offer a moral balance to the Huckster in Chief should have realized Pence is just another smarmy political climber, drawn to power by an ambition almost as great as his intellectual vacuity. Prayer is a sop thrown to the victimized; imagine Jesus advocating bump stocks, assault weapons, and the right to open carry, and you can begin to see just how twisted Pence's "resolve against evil" really is.
4
The man simply gives me the chills.
7
"It’s not a problem that Pence is a sycophant in chief, perhaps the greatest bootlicker to take up residence at the Naval Observatory."
Vacuity of character is the nexus of amorality. If I was forced to choose between a person of immoral character and a person of amoral character, I would choose to the immoral person over amoral person without hesitation. At least I know what is in the box.
Highly immoral bullies, like Trump, surround themselves with amoral toadies, i.e., Kelly Anne Conway and Mike Pence. People who know the difference between right and wrong, but willingly check their morality at the door and with great vigor perform the immorality of their boss without hesitation or afterthought. And this makes these amoral individuals very dangerous...the banality of evil.
3
What is frightening is that Pence is so unlike DT in demeanor that in cycles that elect total opposites every 8 years, Pence has that natural pedigree. GOD help us all.
2
Wonderful column. Ask the people of Indiana what they thought of Pence and many would agree with Mr. Egan. Luckily, Pence was in charge of vetting -- or not vetting as the case may be -- many of the incompetent, corrupt and possibly criminal people Trump has appointed to his Cabinet and other senior government posts. He was also in on the firing of Comey and many of those meetings with or about Russians. So he will be one of those swept away by Mueller's broom.
1
I remember hearing of evangelists on early morning TV and then came the expose of some of them for sexual trysts.
Now comes the Senate race in Alabama!
Moving along we have the Vice President being unable to separate church and state.
There was a reason the Founding Fathers made the separation of church and state absolute. Would that we had just a smidgen (a small amount of something) in our government's world today!
4
Bernie resign your senate seat next October, run for the house, once elected become speaker, impeach both Trump and Pence, and Bob's your uncle.
1
Pence and his theocrazies should be reminded that America's founders were mostly NOT Christian (ie. Unitarian, Deist....) - and their enlightenment ideals created the secular government we enjoy today.
4
I remember one of your columnists writing - when he was still at the Wall Street Journal - that Barack Obama wasn't very bright. Clearly, then, a man with very high intellectual standards for US presidents. But, perhaps, he is more demanding of Democratic presidents than of Republican. Even so, I wonder what he thinks of Pence, who is one of the dimmest bulbs to illuminate a position occupied by the likes of Dan Quayle.
3
Pence is the reason that Trump should not be impeached.
1
Pence is Trump's insurance policy against impeachment.
2
If you were the National Rifle Association and the gun and bullet manufacturers the N.R.A. serves, what better team could you assemble at the top level of government than Donald Trump and his trusty assistant, Mike Pence?
Trump belligerently attacks anyone who dares to suggest that we need to reduce access to powerful, military-style weapons.
If the shooter is a person of color or an immigrant, Trump cries out about drug dealers and terrorists and loose borders. If the shooter is white, Trump says the problem is mental derangement, not guns.
Trump ends by saying, “Lucky there was a hero there who also was armed.” Or, he says, “If there had been someone there to shoot back, there would have been fewer deaths.”
If Donald Trump is the hammer, Mike Pence is the master of the empty non-answer. While Trump threatens to make people pay politically for raising the issue of gun control, Pence just keeps repeating his prayers for more praying.
A majority of Americans dislike both Trump and Pence. Trump evokes disgust and anger. Pence arouses disgust and nausea.
The N.R.A. leadership loves the dynamic duo.
6
Way to nail this phony pious Pence, Mr. Egan. I wonder if it ever dawns on these holier than thous that offering thoughts and prayers to those who were murdered while praying in church is a might ludicrous. Instead of calling on divine intervention Pence would do well to call on government intervention instead of prayers and platitudes about small government.
7
Trump is great and Pence is good. Let us thank them for all they do. Amen.
Okay, can I have my brain back now?
4
Vacuity is the perfect word to use in describing Pence. I have rarely seen a more cardboard cutout of a person. He has carefully scraped together a few behaviors he admires and painted them onto his cardboard self. He isn't even one dimensional. He is a non-dimensional human being spewing christian one-liners and vacuous platitudes. As he focuses his smarmy smile or his other look, the preacher-ish man of god grimace at people, it feels like Mr. Spock projecting his thoughts into peoples brains. I wouldn't be surprised to see him grab their heads to do the Vulcan mind meld.
Meanwhile he is working to enforce his rigid views and corporate beliefs on America. It's hard to believe anyone is worse than Trump, but if it's possible, Pence is the man for the job.
3
Hopefully the Mueller investigation takes him down as well. Pence is such an uninteresting pawn. We pretty much know that he and Trump both were in on the Russian collusion.... we just need Mueller to prove it. Then we go to Ryan?? Oh, good Lord.....
6
Pence a Christian without a conscience. Why are we so surprised and outraged! Who else but an empty suit would run with Donald Trump. He like Spiro Agnew, Nixon's VP, is Trump's insurance policy against impeachment.
Perhaps Pence will be caught with his hand in the cookie job before Trump is finally outed.
1
Given the power of prayer, within a God-created, and gifted, reality of personal choice, with full payment in one of the "other" UP-DOWN-places,the VP can choose:(1) not to be medically insured by the "Feds, " since he and his family are already celestially covered;(2) not to be protected by secret service; the vestments of God being more than adequate protection against a range of mass-murdering- non-believers-whatever their backgrounds, and(3) should God decide, as he did in Sodom, to "disappear" all souls and soil,aside from an incestuous trio, to receive this as God's just-justice. AMEN
1
Pence is one of those ultra religious conservatives who end up getting caught with their pants down doing the very things they rail against others for. The greater their religion, the bigger their trespasses, and the more ignominious their fall.
3
At the end -- when more televangelists swing while married, or another priest is caught pantsing an 8-year-old -- we'll be hearing from pastors who tell us that the repenting of sin ensures the holiness of the sinner. Every day, this kind of holy mouthwash demonstrates why the Constitution's authors separated the state from the church.
Did that feel good? Did it change any minds? Instead of lingering here in the morass of what is, why not talk about the future that can be and how the present doesn’t yet measure up it it?
1
The US is not a civilised country. That may be the delusion of some Americans, but no one else in the world is under that delusion.
1
Pence is just another cheap sideshow act in the wretched chronicle of Trump’s heinous House of Horrors. He wears his monkey suit well, he is somewhat effective in looking smug, and he adequately carries around documents for Trump to sign in front of the cameras (and much of the time Trump even manages to sign them).
No one will remember this sad, shallow, shameful, and sententious little sham of a stooge. He has entombed himself in history’s dustbin – right where he belongs.
More prayer when people are slaughtered at Church praying! Really?
What is it happened at seedy strip club, more alcohol & dance?
I️ thought I️ left the ayatollahs behind when I️ immigrated to this country three decades ago.
You say "the left should be faulted for intolerance of those who express belief in a higher power or religious tradition." What utter nonsense.
Americans' religious rights are assured by the Constitution. They exercise those rights freely and very extensively. They infuse their "feelings"/faith deeply into most of our laws, cultural norms, and social conduct. They insist, like almost no other group, on widespread freedom from debate, questioning, or rational analysis.
In favor of what? Sad, silly, obstinate beliefs that there is some imaginary being that loves and protects them. That they will go to a good or bad place after death, that prayers produce real, material benefits in their lives. Then there are all the tribal, authoritarian, superstitious and repressive "rules" that a made-up deity prescribes for human life.
Does this sound "intolerant"? If I said that we should blindly "follow" some dictator because of some super-trait of his, should that be beyond public discourse, should it automatically be "tolerated" and should it be considered impolite to scorn or contradict such a view? That would be anti-democratic, and dangerous. Humanity has suffered from such hubris. Yet, religions do the same and worse (and get away with it!), even while pushing supernaturalism into the picture.
We have been plagued by religion since the dawn of time. The oppression it casts is heightened by its exemption from rational thought and critiquing. It has gotten a pass for far too long.
7
His GOP counterpart is Ryan, whose evident sincerity about the vacuous bromides he utters is underlined by his soft blue eyes and his boy scout demeanor. That's the thing about faith-based politicians. They are not the least bit nonplussed about the fact that everything they say is either a lie or nonsense. They'd make a great ticket.
3
My guess, is that he's being manipulated by "mother".
And does anyone have the courage to call his "Good Book" the mostly gibberish that it is?
I like to think that the rise of the theocrats like Pence, are singing their swan song.
4
Limbaugh on decaf..... Great..... Limbaugh is just another bought and paid for hired mouth piece for the right wing talking point megaphone echo chamber!!! In time we should all be happy to see the appeasment doctrine supports of Trump exposed for what they truly are... self serving opportunist who just wanted to use this administration as a stepping stone. Well, hollywood and all these other Weinstein 'knowers' who did nothing are being exposed now. Pence and all the others will be exposed by the winds of time sooner than they think. They will not e able to be recycled and will not be able to come back from the fact that they have hooked their wagons to the Trump train. They will (or should) have to go over the cliff with him into purgatory!!! As Pence would also say..... "God Willing"!!!!
The ascension of Mike Pence into power is the dream of those who wish the United States to be a Christian theocracy. He is the nightmare of those who truly understand the First Amendment. As such, Pence exemplifies the the greatest threat to our country: Those who weaponize the Constitution to enhance their own power, wealth, and privilege but trample on the democratic principles enshrined in the Constitution (or at best ignore them) when the results don't lead to the white, male, straight, "Christian" nation they desire.
3
I guess we can only pray that there is evidence that Trump, Pence, Ryan, the entire White House Cabinet, and at least 50% of the GOP legislators conspired with Russia to rig the election. Dear Lord, give me strength.
4
This is the main argument against the impeachement of Trump. If he goes, Pence takes over, and he'd be ruthlessly effective in carrying out a right-wing agenda in Washington. Ditto that for Paul Ryan, next in line if both Trump and Pence go. Should it come to this, a backroom deal between Republicans and Democrats will have to be struck wherein a Gerald Ford type takes over as vice president. Probably pardoning Trump, Pence some of the other miscreants (including Trump's relatives), he or she assumes the presidency as a caretaker until the next election. The alternative could be a constitutional crisis the Republic has yet to witness.
Why did think Pence would be ruthlessly effective? There is no evidence for that. Perhaps because he looks like a robot? But as Mr. Egan so eloquently pointed out there is nothing between Pence's ears other than platitudinous mush. The Republicans have been shown to be ruthlessly ineffective as a group. We can only hope they don't destroy everything before the adults get back in charge.
Let us not forget that Pence was born Roman Catholic and practiced that faith until college. After that time he and his wife have been "Evangelical" Christians.
But during the presidential campaign he somehow became a Catholic evangelical Christian despite not partaking of any Catholic practices or sacraments for several decades, perhaps to court the Catholic vote.
A man who would falsely report what religion he belongs to - well, that is something new and despicable!
"The left should be faulted for intolerance of those who express belief in a higher power or religious tradition."
Why? When belief in a higher power translates into a complete abdication of responsibility because 'it's God's will' then color me intolerant; when belief in a higher power means cherry-picking which tenants of that belief to apply to one's self and others, then yes: I am intolerant.
If magical thinking is supplanting truth, action, and fact, then intolerance is not only necessary, it's a requirement.
7
The only upside to Pence is that he is unlikely to gather as devoted a crowd as his master. If Trump leaves office - so much winning is exhausting after all - and Pence replaces him, I doubt Trump 's followers will embrace Pence with the same ardor. It isn't much, but it is something.
Hey, Kochs, your investment's payoff may have a short shelf life. Aren't you guys starting to feel your age yet? Time to repent your thief of democracy. Absolutely stunning arrogance.
3
And this is why we should not call for Trump's impeachment. Pence is worse. Far worse.
4
I didn't realize that thinking science should be taught in schools and we should take care of the environment meant the left was intolerant of people of faith.
7
"He has learned from his master." That says it all.
1
What a tragic prospect we face with Pence once Trump is dethroned: the arrival of a theocracy to follow the current kakistocracy. Which is worse?
4
He is a completely uninspiring person. Calling him insipid and vacuous may be overstatements, but unfortunately, he may be more dangerous to our society and culture in the long run than his master.
7
I am a proud lefty, and I deeply respect people who have religious beliefs. What I don't respect is people who pick and choose the parts of their religion they like, or use it to persecute others. These so called Christians have completely missed the message and teachings of Jesus. They have destroyed what it means to be a Christian for many of us. I no longer call myself a Christian, but I do believe that the teachings of Jesus can be a guide to living a moral life. "I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." I don't hear sanctimonious judgement in those words. I guess most Christians are really listening to Christ.
426
To MJ in NJ: well put! I, like u no longer call myself a Christian, being raised an Episcopalian and am now an agnostic; however, believe Jesus was a great prophet and live by his values. So called evangelists like Mike Pence, and others like him, don't seem to understand that the meaning of separation of church and state. We all have our personal beliefs, but we
1
It is crystal clear what Jesus would say ("What would Jesus say?") about health care: it is a human right.
1
"His biblical bromides make Ned Flanders of “The Simpsons” sound like Voltaire. "
If that is not bad enough that means Trump is "Homer". That makes some sense except that Homer is not a mentally ill conman.
Pence's self-righteousness is staggering, but normal for such people who erase all rational thought from their brains to follow some delusional dogma. Intellectual laziness fostered onto them by notions of some grand deity. You'd think that, God having given them brains, they would use them. But no, they are the 'walk-offs'; when God was handing out brains they got tired of waiting and walked off. It's the socialism built into religion: God will provide, God will save. Nope, real people have to do that, Pence. And seeing as that won't be you or your ilk, others will have to do it for you.
2
Given that we have an absolute dunce as President, a person whose moral compass spins in whatever direction the wind blows, whose penchant for boot-licking, himself, is unbounded, it’s no wonder we ended up with a “mini me” as Vice President. Apparently “draining the swamp” meant we now are supposed to follow the quasi morality of Pence as well as Trump, religiously and otherwise. Neither Trump or Pence has had an original idea that wasn’t incredibly self-serving, either to their personages or their base. “Make America Great Again”? With these two people at the helm, along with first mate Ryan and second mate McConnell, we’re at sea with no destination whatsoever except to reach the point where the Captain is named “God”. Did I just write this? Ouch.
3
Pence in the coin realm is not worth much. Nor is the one in the realm of Vice-Presidents worth much either, Just another example of how far we have fallen as a nation.
3
Trump and Pence together have helped me more thoroughly understand the current American trend in books and films portraying sinister clowns that are completely evil and do great harm.
5
Most leftists don't look down on people of faith in public life. We can't stand the hypocrisy of windbags like Pence and Roy Moore who cloak their ignorance, intolerance and indifference behind the garb of religion.
1029
I would add the criminality they--at least Moore--also cloak with their supposed piety.
1
Well said, Brad. But it's more than the hypocrisy. It's the intent to enshrine in our laws and constitution their bigoted, sectarian beliefs.
3
Pence is no Jack Kennedy. He's not even a mediocre George H. Bush, Reagan's veep. Pence is a yes man, a follower, and a bench warmer. He'd be the last man you'd send in for a critical point in a game. If you want to see Soviet style propaganda, read Pence's Facebook feed. It is lies, platitudes, and more lies. It's ironic that as Trump rails against North Korea his own vice president allows "Dear Leader" trip on his own Facebook page.
Perhaps what we should be saying is that America will be a great place once Trump, Pence, and their entire Politburo are out of office.
3
Thanks for this article. I didn't know much about Pence. I have been telling people that Pence couldn't possibly be as bad as Trump, and, in truth, I still maintain that thought—but even though he's not nearly as bad, he isn't any better.
So—if we impeach the utterly dangerous, dishonest, and greedy, narcissistic flip-flopping embarrassment that is our current so-called president, we will replace him with an utterly dangerous, insipid, and vacuous, steadfast charlatan-hiding-behind-Jesus "Christian" whose solution to every emergency and problem is prayer and more prayer?
Most professionals have to meet certain criteria in order to even apply for a position in their field of expertise. Why do we not have a list of requirements that must be meant before any candidate for president can get his or her name on the ballot to be considered for the position of leader of our nation? Obviously we cannot leave this application process and selection to the whims of political party caucuses and reality-television audiences.
We have put a Blowhard Buffoon and his Toadie in charge of our nation. Our national integrity is at an all-time low. And those who were fooled into putting them in office don't acknowledge what they have done.
Sad . . . very, very sad!
432
The only "requirements" to run for president are to be a natural born citizen and be at least 35 years old. Any further vetting is the responsibility of the electorate. That's what Benny Franklin meant when he said "a republic if you can keep it". Looking at the societal health of the OECD nations, it appears that a lot of us are falling down on the job.
"Why do we not have a list of requirements that must be meant before any candidate for president can get his or her name on the ballot." Two years ago, that would have sounded bizarre. But now that we're actually living in Bizarro World, it sounds like a serious proposal. For Supreme Court nominees, the American Bar Association weighs in with "highly qualified" (or not). The details re: POTUS are a challenge, but, there's got to be a way.
I can prove that prayer does not work. I prayed fervently that Trump and Pence would be defeated at the polls one year ago. See where that prayer got me?
Pence is more than vacuous. He himself is evil, sort of like the priest who uses his position as a Man of God to prey upon trusting young boys. When an elected leader is called upon to act, to do something about the scourge of mass murder here in the US, and does nothing but offer 'soothing' words, he shows himself to have bright red blood on his undoubtedly well-manicured hands.
3
Yes, that sickly sanctimonious smile turns the stomach. Yes, he is dumb. But he is not a sociopath. We will survive his stupidities and unchristian Christianity. We may not survive trump. Impeach. We can clean up the rest of the mess later.
Do not hold your breath for Pence to acquire some moral clarity. He and his fellow Republicans are completely comfortable as the hypocrites they are.
Every last one of them must be voted out of office until the Party regains some much needed moral clarity.
3
Mike Pence won't eat dinner with a woman who is not his wife unless someone else is there, apparently out of concern that he might be tempted to sin, but he has no problem allying himself with a man who boasts of getting away with sexual assault. What perverted form of Christian morality is this? Or is the whole piety schtick nothing more than a pose, intended to woo the good people of Indiana into voting for a fraud? Roy Moore may be the moralizing hypocrite of the moment, but he's a piker compared to Pence.
1
Scarier than the grifterin chief!
Sociopathic grifter President and Bronze Age sexually repressed sinmeister for back up; it's truly an American Horror Story.
Democracy is way too messy!
1
I'm waiting for Pence the Professional Christian to weigh in on the activities of Roy Moore, the latest sexual predator to be exposed and another professional Christian. Bet he says we should all pray for him.
Between t rump and Pence it is Pence who is more dangerous to our Nation and Constitution. He should be regarded, at present, as t rump's Dick Cheney; insurance against assassination or impeachment as long as he is next in line. Of course, right after him is Paul Ryan, the emptiest suit and brain on the block.
Democrats must take back both houses and then we can begin to drain the t rump swamp.
2
Pence is a totally vacuous individual living mentally in the dark ages. But how dangerous is he if he should become president? Trump has no morals, he is also vacuous but with his foot in his mouth stumbling along. He puts himself out where we can see him and judge him for who and what he is. A narcissist, who lies constantly and doesn't know what he's doing or saying. On the other hand, Pence, is a slippery, sneaky religious fanatic who slides around mostly under the radar and says stupid and outrageous things that make no sense in this day and age. If the Koch brothers own him, by association he's as
dangerous as Trump to our welfare.
1
Recovering the combined gasbagging of the VP and his boss would make us energy independent.
3
Here’s an existentialist political nightmare: I actually believe, after looking at Jane Mayer’s “New Yorker” piece on VP Pence, that if Trump resigns or is impeached and Pence becomes President, he could be a worse President than Trump. I just have a natural wariness for men who wear their so-called Christian goodness on their sleeves.
5
Mike Pence is a perfect example of today's GOP and its policies of "culling the herd," that is, culling the herd of people who are different or believe differently. After seeing the "healthcare" bills that would take access to healthcare from 22+ million Americans, and the failure to fund CHIP (access to healthcare and nutrition for nine million poor American children), I use a different word: genocide by malign neglect.
3
The banality of ignorance. There is no there there in Pence's brain; it's just filled with the self serving nonsense of the prosperity gospel loving fundamentalists.
6
Guaranteed, if Roy Moore wasn't a bannonite pariah, the Republican Party would have already sent Pence to Alabama to lead the chorus to "save" good ole boy Roy, resurrect him to stand proudly on the floor of the Senate and cast his vote to transfer what's left of the wealth of the nation to corporate America.
The Alabama chorus is already singing: "Mary was a teenager...Joseph was an adult carpenter....and they had a Baby Jesus...so Jesus shines his light on our boy Roy....la la la la." I can picture Pence nodding his pious head in time to the beat, maybe even a toe tap or two.
I'm listening to this morning's report that Flynn&Flynn are being investigated for their alleged plan to forcibly remove Gulen from the US to Turkey in exchange for $15 million big ones. (lock 'em up!) Pence has many times claimed he had no knowledge whatsoever about any of Flynn's activities, despite, as head of the transition team, being told repeatedly in writing that there were "problems".
Pence is a consummate liar, and a more dangerous liar than trump: Pence's holier-than-thou shroud protects him; he knows it and uses it. I've yet to hear him speak with competence about any policy.
Truly, I don't think there has been a single day in the past year that hasn't delivered details of unethical, illegal behavior by this Administration: it's just prime slime all the time.
1
Yes, and compare that to eight years of a completely scandal-free Obama administration! We went from heaven to hell in one night!
Why drag Ned Flanders into this?. Pence is not nearly as self aware or charitable as Neddly Deddly
Mike Pence is a coward. Like his boss.
1
Nothing fails like prayer.
1
Well said! Succinct and accurate!
Stop endlessly dissecting these people. The one thing that every one of 45's cronies have in common is that they just flat out dumb. And Mike Pence is no exception. He is a true believer who can justify or excuse anything by saying, just pray.
Move on. There is nothing to see here. It's like staring into a bowl of mud. Nothing much ever happens until it finally dries up and blows away.
1
How lucky can we get-a dangerous fool and a sanctimonious gasbag heading the government of the most powerful country in the world!
1
Pence and Ryan have both fallen back on the position of “we just need to pray more” -which reminds me of a joke I heard as a boy that to me sums up what is wrong with Christianity today. It goes like this:
A man is sitting on his roof during a flood. He prays to god to save him. Men wade up to the house, and ask the man if he needs help. The man tells them that he is praying for help, and to leave him alone. The water continues to rise...
Men in a boat come to the house, and ask the man if he needs help. The man tells them that he is praying for help, and to leave him alone. The water continues to rise...
Men in a helicopter come to the house, and ask the man if he needs help. The man tells them that he is praying for help, and to leave him alone. The water continues to rise...
The man drowns, and goes to heaven. He promptly tells god that he is angry with him for not answering his prayers. God replies: “Oh you silly man, I sent you men who waded, a boat, and a helicopter!”
Pence (and those who support him) represents a far more dangerous threat to the U.S. and our Constitution than any isolated Muslim fundamentalist wielding a bomb or stolen truck. He is a one-man terror cell.
6
brilliant!!
1
"It’s not a problem that Pence is a sycophant in chief, perhaps the greatest bootlicker to take up residence at the Naval Observatory..."
And those are just his virtues.
3
I too read the New Yorker article. Ok, so where is the rest of the media other than the New Yorker and the New York Times calling out this bought and paid for (by the Koch brothers) climate denier, religious hypocrite and charlatan Vice (emphasis on the vice) President?
3
Thoughts and prayers for Pastor Pence and his chronic boot licking, loathing of those who are not like him, and belief Jesus is actually returning to raise the dead from cemeteries. Amen.
2
Pence is only one in a whole cast of crackpot White House administration officials - the only thing that differentiates him is his particular kind of crazy -religious fanaticism.
1
SOME thirty years old males that molest fourteen year old years are FINE people. Right, Pastor Pence????
4
When trump was nominated, did anyone think his VP choice would be a Nobel Laureate? Did anyone think the VP choice would be anything else but a rubber stamp? Here's the joke as to how phony pence is; the swastika waves freely and the bible says love thy enemy. Pence takes it literally, kissy, kissy.
1
I live in Indiana and we were glad to get rid of Pence. Oh, and Mikey? They were killed in church. Praying.
3
Anyone who considers themselves a thoughtful christian, (anybody?... hello?) should be appalled to have this spineless, boot-licking liar representing their religion.
For many of us he is simply an affirmation of what those who have been paying attention have known for a long time.
1
Way to call out the little imp, Mr. Egan. Pence's spurious spirituality is plain to see. He slinks around doing the sycophant shuffle, with a pained, constipated look of faux faithfulness. He is one of the more sickening members of this administration, shining the light on his dangerous and narrow agenda is right on target.
3
Please read Mathew 23 in the one of the very few books Pence and his brain washed colleagues read "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites...". Roy Moore is in good company; remember Jim Bakker, Billy James Hargis, Jimmy Swaggart, John Geoghan, Paul Shanley, Gilbert Deya, Tony Alamo... The list is long. More importantly, the separation of church and state is a joke in this country. I know because I lived 33 years in Europe where I was born. Wake up and make use of the best gift from God: THINK! While it's still legal...
1
This guy is as phony as a 3 dollar bill.
1
Bravo!
1
The most dangerous hypocrite of all is the one who uses God as a shield to stand behind.
1
The business of governing and lawmaking is full of minutia and those precise, non-trivial details and subtle nuances puts most people to sleep. To be good at it, I think one needs smarts and the same desperate hunger for it as Alan Alda describes being necessary to becoming an actor. Not coincidentally, acting is sometimes part of the job, but all the world's a stage, someone once said. There are some politicians who are genuine statesmen and pretty good at it, Al Franken comes to mind. Unfortunately there's way too many who are just playing a part, don't give a rat's patootie, and could care less about those they govern. Most of congress and the executive branch comes to mind. Of those, Pence sticks out like Cyrano's schnoz, second only to the biggest, grandest Pinochio of them all, currently on a sales call to Asia. Of course one must assign some large measure of contributory negligence to that segment of the population, a.k.a. the governed, that permitted this, for falling for the pitch, swallowing the bait, hook, line and sinker.
With gov't. now populated by a self perpetuating circular firing squad of ignorance, suspicion and paranoia, how long will it be before the snake necessarily swallows it own tail? It must happen, but how? Either the GOP's death grip on government will weaken and break, as may be happening as we speak, or the nation will dilute, dissolve and deform like one of Dali's clocks. Something's rotten in D.C., and it stinks everywhere we turn.
Need to call a spade a spade: Pence is not just a theocrat; he's a Christian supremacist.
1
Amen.
1
Christian cream mush, false, hypocrite, the worst of the worst. Despicable beyond words.
Not MY vice-president.
3
Trump is a disgusting human being and morally repugnant. Pence is an even more disgusting human being and even more morally repugnant precisely because he uses God as a weapon in ways even more overtly than Trump does.
1
Pence is a moron, and as noted, a tool. To effectively impeach the president, we must first get rid of Pence, and replace him with some innocuous Congressman, much like Nixon did, replacing Agnew with Jerry Ford. Of course, finding an innocuous member of Congress is much harder today than it was in the 70's.
1
But don't Egan and the other NYT columnists want him to be President?
VP Pence is POTUS Trump's bobble-head....
1
The worst administration in US history. Buchanan and Harding come off as genius when compared with the fool in chief and the toadie in chief. Oy!!
3
"Evil" is such a pointless, meaningless word. We might as well call it "barrel o' evil."
C'mon, Pence and fellow proselytizers, leave your anachronistic, Biblical fantasylands and join the 21st century.
4
There is no end of hatred at the New York Times....Trump is demonized viciously on a daily basis and now Pence. If Hillary had won she would have been praised to the skies by this newspaper and all her crimes shoved under the rug. Oh wait....that's what's going on now.
Pence wants to unite us all, willing or not, in a great Christian Talibanism.
I prefer the heathenism of Trump*.
1
What a choice we Americans face: get rid of the bizarre idiot trump and get this blank nonentity Pence. Putin can't be happier.
3
Maybe this moron can read from James:
"What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."
Pray all you want, Mr. Vice President...but so far, you're just dead...as are the poor victims of this senseless violence you and your party continue to allow.
3
Pence is Trump lite. Imagine how much worse Trump would be if he were driven not by self interest but by ideology: just as ignorant and closed-minded, but blindly using a socially acceptable cloak of faith to justify it all. Pence is what’s wrong with American politics: the bold and creeping influx of rigid religious doctrine that most citizens don’t share being codified into law.
407
Pence is not "Trump light". They really have nothing in common, except being dense in their own way. In private, I'm sure they can't stand each other, except for Trump probably getting some satisfaction from Pence's fawning.
3
Mike made one mistake as a Trump loyalist. For 10 minutes or so, he created the impression that he was doing things politicians do when preparing to run for the office held by The Donald.
Someone spoke to his Pencenss about this. Maybe Jared...his silent, Dracula-like demeanor strikes terror in the stoutest heart...and Pence is now one of the Children of the Night. He goes where he is told and departs whenever a black man takes a knee.
His private hell is to say and do what he is told to say and do...and keep that cross pointed away from the White House.
1
Trumpolini, Ayatollah Pence, or Ayn Ryan? This is the choice we're left with for a POTUS line of succession due to the gerrymandering, voter suppression, and propagandization of the American public by the koch brothers (Montgomery Burns Twins).
Now I have to grit my teeth when listening to Arizona NPR and the freaking Koch Brothers have a sponsor ad on my last refuge from conservative horse manure. It makes me want to spit up. Guess I should be like Ned Flanders and Ayatollah Pence, "Too blessed to be stressed".
Pence is a would be Torquemada, who would throw non-believers to the flames if only he could turn back the clock, which he's been busy at for years.
Like Ron Reagan, I'm not afraid of burning in hell. Practice your own religion folks, but leave those of us who want no part of it, out of it.
3
Great article! Thank you. I have long thought Pence to be a self-righteous Trump suck-up, but you put it so much more eloquently.
3
What does it say about American society and American politics that Pence's vacuity has greased his ascent to some of the highest political offices in the land, attracted the support of the wealthiest political players, and left many people hoping that he will soon replace Trump as president?
5
Since doing away with the Electoral College is highly unlikely, perhaps we should try to tweak our Presidential election laws so that in the case of a split decision such as in 2016, the candidate with the most popular votes (vs Electoral College votes) would be awarded the Vice Presidency, with the upgrade in significance to something like a "Senator at large", casting votes and able to propose legislation. Mike Pence serves as nothing more than reinforcement for a President whose dubious legitimacy grows more suspect every day, and, of course, creates an even worse case scenario in the event of impeachment.
8
Mike Pence is the only reason I don't want to see Trump impeached.
1002
Right on!
AMEN!!
I agree. But what a terrible decision to even have to consider making.
"Bubbles," -- as The New Yorker article pointed out was Mikey's childhood nickname -- went utterly flat at some point, unless the family was labeling him ironically. Christianity I'm sure is a fine religion, but like any, it can be hijacked and corrupted. Pence is the poster boy for such insidious co-opting. Hate thy brother and praise the Lord. 2020 can't arrive soon enough. Amen.
16
I had thought of Trump as Chauncey Gardner in "Being There" because both said "I like to watch Television"; but Pence is an even better fit.
Remember what the maid, Louise, said about Chance, "Had no brains at all. Was stuffed with rice pudding between th' ears. Shortchanged by the Lord, and dumb as a jackass. Look at him now! Yes, sir, all you've gotta be is white in America, to get whatever you want."
11
I would write something, but Pence brings nothing to mind. He is the perfect foil to Trump's blow hard incompetence...he is bland, white-washed, bible spouting incompetence. How did truly devout Christians fall for this?
9
Perhaps not all have, but in my experience devout Christians are easy prey for con men and con-women.
I consider Pence to be more in the fashion of Burt Lancaster acting in Sinclair Lewis's Elmer Gantry. Lancaster received the Academy Award for his acting. Pence received the Vice Presidency.
Lancaster though was able to play along with a real pro..Shirley Jones. Pence is playing beside con men and women with only the talent for deception, hypocrisy, and cowardice. The only mystery is 'who owns Mother.'
10
I, for one, cannot stand to listen to him. I cannot bear born-agains who are about as far from Christian as one can get and he is the poster child for that phenomenon. As much as I detest our President, I can't help feeling that Pence is just another flavor of unmitigated disaster. Hard to believe we have three more years of this mess.
45
Three more years of a kakistocracy.
1
The number one indication that Pence isn't a Christian? He sided with Trump.
25
Religion merely elevates cognitive dissonance over reason.
We need fewer of the "faithful" than ever before.
12
Thank-you Mr. Egan for telling it like it (really) is.
I have no words for Pence other than while among the brain dead, he is looked at as holy, in reality (where the world actually exists), he is toxic.
When will Americans see that Trumpism is a magnet attracting venal, sociopathically sick men shaking down a whole nation! We are in the thrall of Tartuffes.
14
Pence is your garden-variety sanctimonious empty suit. In some ways, he is even more appalling than Trump, because Trump exposes what he is in every word, gesture and facial expression, while Pence hides behind that holier-than-thou mask and sows damage where ever he goes.
He is so extreme in his phony piety that he reminds me of an absurd character out of a Dickens novel-right out of central casting with that obsequious demeanor.
I often wondered if he is so repressed that he actually believes what he says, or if he is a faithless manipulator for his own greedy ends, looking forward to the day when he can replace his Master (Trump, not Jesus).
Either way, he is extremely dangerous. I look forward to the day, and that day will come, when we can sweep these people out of office and onto the trash heap of history where they belong.
66
Yes! The fictional character he most reminds me of is Uriah Heep in "David Copperfield"!
You do know that as an ex VP, Pence will get a lifetime pension and Secret Service protection? no matter how much you hate him?
He can also run for President if he wants -- go back to the Governorship of Indiana -- or run for Senate or the House. He is well liked amongst conservatives and Evangelicals. He'll do just fine, no matter what.
1
It makes one long for veeps like Dan Quayle ... Oh, when we could laugh about his malapropisms.
11
Yet, pathetically, Pence is known to be behind several of the people now populating key positions in the Justice Dept. who are rapidly using administrative and bureaucratic diktats to completely foil a woman's reproductive rights.
Pence, like other uber-evangicals, places his skewed religious beliefs above the secular rule of law, and that is as dangerous a feature of this Administration as is Trump himself.
42
Choosing Pence for VP was Trump”s insurance policy against removal from office, either through impeachment or the 25th Amendment. It would be going from a narcissistic would-be dictatorship to a theocratic Handmaid’s Tale.
47
Honestly, the left just has to drop the "Handmaid Tale" meme.
It's really stupid. For starters....it was written 35 years ago and has NOTHING to do with Trump. Second, it is about a military coup that takes over the government -- MILITARY -- not by an election. Third, this has only occurred in the novel because of a world-wide, catastrophic INFERTILITY epidemic.
35 years on, it is hilariously funny to think that ANYONE could believe the world would be LOSING population! in fact, world population has DOUBLED since then!
The book is not about what you seem to think it is. I suggest you read it, instead of reading ABOUT the HBO TV series.
1
I would love to be a fly on the wall in the room when Mike "Six" Pence sits down to view the carnage video recorded at the First Baptist Church. I want to hear his "prayers." The first would probably be "please, Lord, get me out of here."
10
Every citizen who pines for Trump's impeachment or resignation should realize full well that we would then be gifted his hand picked successor, President Pence. To the divisions we have now a blanket of religion would be added, as Pence would soon remold the federal government into an evangelical version of the Vatican.
To forestall that calamity, we must first remake the Congress in 2018.
Failing that, prayer will be everyone's only recourse.
41
"The left should be faulted for intolerance of those who express belief in a higher power or religious tradition."
Be careful using blanket statements when criticizing intolerance. Personally, I only fault the "christians" who use the Bible as a crutch to justify anti-Christian behavior, such as Mr. Pence and Alabama State Auditor Jim Ziegler. Unfortunately, that's a whole lot of Americans!
36
I recall the supposition that Richard Nixon selected Spiro Agnew as his running mate to forestall any notions of a Nixon impeachment. And Trump seems to love Tricky Dick's playbook as his behavioral template in other regards.
Vapid. Dull. Empty. Simple. With Pence there's no there there. He stands by the man in the white house with that annoying grin on his face and looks as if he couldn't come up with a thought if he had to.
I remember a time when we had separation of church and state, or at least a whole lot more than we do now. I also remember a time when your religion was private. You didn't force your beliefs down other people's throat. These days it seems we are drowning in religion. Yet somehow we are also drowning in hate. We've forgotten the most basic tenet of belief:that God is love.
80
"The big problem with Pence is the vast empty space between his ears"
What a class statement denigrating the Vice President. We forget that Republicans can never be as smart as Democrats. That's why we associate Democrats with towering intellects.
Like Joe Biden.
5
Pence deserves no respect - he is a bigot and a moron. Joe Biden is neither.
It's impossible to make a "class statement" (whatever that means) about a man who has no class. You're being sarcastic (we get it) but you're unintentionally speaking true.
1
Well, if Republicans call Democrats the "Coastal Elites", and threaten to defund public education, what can you expect?
If there was ever a person who epitomizes a wolf in sheep's clothing, it is Mike Pence. There are good reasons why his presidential campaign never got off the ground, and that Trump picked him for his running mate.
It's been a while, but I think there's a Bible verse (John) about whenever he (the devil) lies, he's speaking his native language.
37
Rather tRump in office than Pence. Pence drank the cherry KoolAid and actually believes his own gooblygook. Much scarier dude.
38
Perfect characterization- I was waiting for somebody, anybody to finally describe the second buffoon in the "jokes on us house" (the white house). Thank you!
-
34
We are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. Trump is irrational, ignorant, deeply corrupt, and bigoted. Pence is bigoted and a zealot for extremely narrow Torquemada Inquisition like views against women, the LGBT community, and Republican orthodoxy to the nth degree.
He shows up like an undertaker in his dark suit at every national disaster and atrocity spouting meaningless phrases while at other times hovering behind Trump's shoulder with a rictus on his face strongly supporting the day's atrocity, rant, bluster, and offensive lies.
When someone after a gun massacre asks Pence what the government will do to address gun violence, maybe he should express some equivalent to his macabre law requiring a woman to pay for a funeral for aborted fetuses no matter the reason for the medical procedure. For example, maybe the NRA and every politician who accepts NRA money should pay all funeral expenses for victims, all medical expenses for survivors, and complete life insurance payouts for every single American victim of gun violence as well as mental health treatment and private prison facilities--say, at Guantanamo--for any surviving shooter. That would probably solve the problem quickly.
Pence may be an empty suit but watch out for that flicker of demonic possession inside.
803
I could get behind that: the NRA and its stable of politicians can pay for the funerals of mass shootings.
1
Brilliant! Maybe Steve Scalise would agree, the NRA should PAY.
3
Yep. It's time to consider our options when Trump either resigns or is forced out in disgrace. Pence is not exactly an improvement, and neither is Ryan, the next in line. Ryan is actually worse, since he manages to sound intellectual while talking gibberish. All three of them genuflect to the oil companies, especially the Kochs, and their main dreams are to accumulate more money for themselves.
This is a disgraceful period in our history. None of these three men deserves to be a dogcatcher in a small town. There are many reasons behind this woeful situation, but high on the list is a takeover of media and government by the worst of our corporations. And this includes you, Facebook, Google, and Apple, in spite of your mouthing progressive slogans while allowing your advertisers and thought police to continue to shovel mental muck into the shrinking brains of Americans.
Syria just signed the Paris Accords. We are officially a laughingstock now. "God" won't help us. Only a determined citizenry can- but we need help from you, Times, as well as other remnant media companies. Forget "green" and political organizations, who lack the courage to initiate product boycotts and public shaming. Hello?
12
It is a disturbing aspect of US politics that an empty suit like Pence got himself elected governor of Indiana. Obviously religiosity and pablum trumped any intellectual capacity. The quality of average politicians from red states is nothing short of appalling. There is no shortage of brilliant minds, highly competent and compassionate people in the US but very few of them are willing to run for office. The need to spent most of one's time fawning for campaign contributions is a major hurdle, without them it is impossible to be heard. Another is the low level of political sophistication of many voters, mainly due to a very poor grasp of history and how the US became the country it is today. It is not only the schools in many parts of the country that are failing to provide a serious intellectual foundation but also the level of discourse in sources they listen to.
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Pence is the consummate representative to the people he was addressing. He was speaking to his "choir" and my sense is that he was saying what he knew and believed they wanted to hear.
I've come to believe and accept more that the regional differences across this country are much greater than I ever imagined with respect to "values". I think Pence knows what he's doing when he speaks to people in rural America.
Rural Americans indeed want their guns as part of their philosophy of "self reliance". Their weapons give them a feeling of security, (a false sense, as it seems to us who dwell in the cities) and these "shooting events", play into their religion as well. Religion is their other sense of security. Religion can't necessarily explain away, dreadful events, but it can be used as a form of comfort after the fact.
We believe that Pence is being cynical when he involkes prayer and religion into the situation, but his audience is right there with him. They are mostly gun right advocates and NRA supporters.
Our fear is generated by the thought of what "weapon freedom" would look like in a city environment. Very scary.
The people of Texas and other "gun rights" states have our sympathy, but don't necessarily share or want our values. If they want practical protections from weapons they can intone their representatives.
But right now, Pence is giving them the prayer they seem to prefer.
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Great picture of Pence – if anything accentuates the narrow-spacing of the eyes, the perpetually puzzled and often-hurt look, it’s that brilliant product of paparazzo timing.
Tim just can’t get over the fact that Pence and Reagan attracted millions of votes BECAUSE they called their wives “Mother” and “Mommy”. The likelihood is high that Pence will again, with a better-than-even chance of securing the same outcome. So … who’s the “the greatest bootlicker to take up residence at the Naval Observatory”?
And, actually, I don’t think his ONLY response to the tragic carnage in TX was “more prayer”. I believe he also privately urged more Texans to buy guns and take them to church in open-carry holsters. Completeness in reporting is an important component of journalistic accuracy.
Eventually, the more sensible in this country might finally twig to the fact that Pence IS our vice-president and the guy who will become president should Russian cahooting ever be proved of Trump. That wasn’t Pence’s fault, or even the fault of Republicans: it was the fault of Hillary Rodham Clinton, a very poorly managed campaign, and of Democrats generally. You guys might consider getting your collective act together more effectively by 2024, because I don’t think you’re up to it by 2020.
Tim doesn’t like Pence. Quelle surprise!
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You know, if Steve Scalise was only practicing baseball with a gun holstered, maybe he himself could have stopped the shooter, instead of relying on those professionally trained cops who did so.
What nobody talks about is the thoroughly unregulated world we have created for guns here in ‘Murica. There are over 1000 shootings a year involving children under the age of ten. Children find their parents’ gun and shoot their playmates, or themselves. In one case, a mom was shopping in Walmart when her two year old rummaged in her purse, found her loaded pistol, and shot her dead in the produce aisle.
Look, Scalia did write in Heller that there were legitmate government infringements to the ability to keep and bear arms.
Why that does not include demonstration of proficiency, good character, and maintaining liability insurance is beyond me, except for cowardice.
Every time there is a major shooting, and there is one involving four or more shot, not including the perpetrator on nine out of every ten days in ‘Murica, the republucans say that “now is not the time” to talk about regulating well, or even unwell.
Now that five years have passed since Sandy Hook and 20 dead children, NOW can we talk about what happened then?
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..."he privately urged more Texans to buy guns and take them to church in open-carry holsters", what could possibly go wrong, everyone wildly shooting at everyone and everything, the carnage of unknown magnitude. You may agree that that is not truly what America requires, we need sane and restrictive gun laws that certainly excludes assault weapons and open carry for every man, woman, and child.
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I liked what you wrote until you blamed Hilary. Her "very poorly managed campaign" got 3 million more votes than Trump. And lets be honest, Hillary didn't win, not through any action of hers, but because men didn't vote for her in the states that mattered in the end.
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I continually wonder what happened to separation of church and state when I hear that praying will solve all of our problems. I do take issue with the intolerance the of religious right for anyone who is different from them, who does not believe as they do. I don't want to hear that praying will solve our gun problem. I am not a Christian and I take issue with their assumption that their way is the right way. I am not intolerant of the right to their beliefs I just don't believe that they have the right to impose them on me or anyone else.
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Trumps insurance policy agaunst impeahment
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If you look through the annals of history, the authoritarian playbook remains remarkably consistent: Use the church to back up your amoral ideas and wrap yourself in the flag to disguise your undemocratic policies.
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I was very young when I first stumbled onto Dr. Samuel Johnson's quote about the flag & patriotism: "the last refuge of a scoundrel". I've never forgotten it.
People who do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ do not understand how these Christians think. Their faith becomes the center of their life. True Christians, as apparently Mr. Pence is, have the Holy Spirit of God living in them. To separate their faith from their everyday life and duties is impossible. The apostle Paul tells us in ( Romans 12 ) " Do not be conformed to this world..". In the spirit of diversity we should accept Mr. Pence as he is and not be critical of his sincere beliefs.
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We should certainly "accept Mr Pence as he is and not be critical of his sincere beliefs". But if he calls himself a Christian first he has no business in public office, because as Mr Egan writes, "he's supposed to be a citizen first". I remember when JFK was running for president there was some doubt about his ability as a Catholic to put country before church; but he believed "in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute". We should demand no less of the VP or any other elected official, and no less of the citizenry. As a gay man and a Jew this has special resonance for me. Christians and Muslims and Jews have a choice: if they are unable to support freedom of religion and freedom from religion and be citizens first, they should stay out politics.
Which "sincere beliefs, Christian or Catholic?
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He can believe whatever idiocy he wants, he just can’t impose his beliefs on me.
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This guy doesn't merit a single comment. He is the most public un-Christian "Christian" who uses faith to hid behind his lies. He is so pious that I'm sure he is able to walk across the Potomac.
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Pence is part of Trump's defense against impeachment.
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What was it that General Kelly said? 'Empty barrels make the most noise'? Pence to a tee. Now the only problem of using Kelly as a paradigm of anything is his notion of compromise - still waiting for him to tell us what our forefathers should have compromised about? They had tried 4 or 5 compromises and they backfired. Which is the point.....You think that somewhere it would be a 'given' that compromising around the enslavement of people for race, color, religion, sexual preferences, and the list goes on, is vile. Even the Simpsons would understand that. Which puts the White House in 'pre-caveperson' territory.
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If there were more demanding Education requirements for Government Jobs, then Pence and Trump would not have ever been allowed to run for office in the first place. Democracy is good, voting is good, but there must be Resume Standards. Obviously, the USA cannot rely on the intelligence of the population to choose the best candidate when the best candidate wouldn't qualify to be considered for the Top Jobs in the Private Sector, as well as Education Sector.
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"If there were more demanding Education requirements for Government Jobs, then Pence and Trump would not have ever been allowed to run for office in the first place. "
Agreed , then there is the moral standards to be met. If Judge Moore is dropped from the Alabama Senate race for sexual behaviour how is that a sexual predator got elected president. Recall that 16 women came forward during the election to proclaim they had been sexually molested by Trump & then there is the Bush Tape in which he admits being a predator plus the Miss Teen contest dressing room intrusions , etc , etc.
You do realize that both men have college degrees?
What educational requirement would you have, beyond "college degree"? A master's degree? in what subject?
The left is so biased, they mocked Dr. Ben Carson for being "stupid" -- and the guy is a HEART SURGEON.
So basically NOTHING would ever satisfy you, unless that candidate is a liberal Democrat.
Got it.
When IV drug users in one county in Indiana stared speading HIV, Pence denied the county’s request to open a clean needle exchange. Until the HIV spread and verged on an epidemic.
Pence was a poor governor. It’s likely he wouldn’t have won re-election. Trump was his last chance to stay in the game. Let’s send him back to Indiana, if they’ll have him.
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As Trump said he was right from central casting. Looked like a Vice-President.
Tom Kaine did not and did not act like a potential president which Pence did in the debate. Democrats did not learn from Kennedy the importance of TV.
There is a special place sometimes known as down low and fiery for people like Pence and Trump, McConnell and Ryan. Along with all the Republicans who support them. May they roast in peace.
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How stupid is Pence? He's so stupid that he suggests prayer can help even after people were massacred while praying.
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Amen brother! Well said.
At the risk of appearing to be intolerant of alternate views, I think we should enact laws to bar people who believe in ghosts, gods, goblins, etc from holding public office, operating heavy machinery, and being within 1000 yards of children without two responsible adults as escorts. Faith is the abandonment of rationality and personal responsibility. I do not see how anyone can view this behavior as tolerable in an adult.
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Pmurt - There are many religious people who are capable of separating their spiritual and secular lives. All of us have a non-rational side. We root for sports teams. We have hope when the odds are against us. We have children, ignoring the ridiculous expense and constraints on our freedom.
President Obama, for example, identifies as a born-again Christian. He clearly draws strength from his faith, but never in his presidency did he use it as a cudgel against others, or make a policy decision at odds with logic because of it.
I share your dismay at having bible thumpers in charge of public policy, but don't extend it to those who have the sophistication to compartmentalize their lives.
1
Amen! Er, uh, I mean, Right On!
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I do not agree with Pence's ideology - religion first. If he cannot separate church and state then he cannot not represent all Americans.
I want our secular constitution used to legislate secular laws.
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Separation of church and state is a doctrine -- an opinion, basically. It is not the law and not what the Constitution says.
The Constitution says there shall be NO official US Church -- such as there is in Great Britain (the Church of England) where the Queen or King is the literal head of the Church. And there is no US Church of any kind, nor has there ever been.
It also says there can be NO religious test for public office, and indeed -- even the GOP is made up of many dozens of kinds of church members, from Mormons to Evangelicals to Roman Catholics to Presbyterians -- and of course, Jews and I am sure there are a few Muslims (Grover Norquist comes to mind). Nixon was a Quaker!
It doesn't matter what religion the President is -- or no religion -- because he or she has NO POWER WHATSOEVER to impose that religion on anyone else.
Mr. Egan,
Great piece on Pence. I have one quibble with it. Your comment, "Veeps are expected to be slavish." At this point in our history the Vice President has become more of a partner rather than the old "Place-keeper." We should not go back to an expectation of the place-keeper rather than the partner.
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Thank you Mr. Egan for a master teaching moment . Unfortunately, Mr. Pence sees nothing wrong with his thought. It is as if, because of the power of his God, that anything he does can not be controlled by his own free will. These evangelicals that I have encountered are always " my way or the Highway" - exactly a trumpism if there ever was one. Keep up the good work.
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Indiana was very happy to get rid of one-term Pence. He would have lost if he'd run for Governor again. All the good people in government left when Mitch Daniels moved to Purdue. He's thrilled to have hitched his wagon to Trump, and will do whatever is expedient, whatever Trumpy tweets, even if it's completely different from the last thing either of them said or did.
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Another day, another attack on Christianity and people of faith on the opinion pages of the New York Times. You expect us to keep our faith behind closed doors. Mr. Egan states that the left can be "faulted for intolerance of those who express belief in a higher power or religious tradition", yet he does precisely that himself.
Some thoughts are timeless, Mr. Egan. May I respectfully suggest starting your day reading a verse from Proverbs. I hope that you will appreciate these timeless lessons as much as I have.
This is not a defense of Mr. Trump, for whom I did not vote.
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Ron-
To me this sounds more like an attack on hypocrisy than on Christianity.
I sincerely doubt that Christ would behave like Pence or any of today's Republicans, who spout fine words but do nothing that is within their power to protect others from pain, suffering and evil.
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This is not an attack on "faith", which, by definition, is irrational. It is, rather, a plea for reason and action, and not empty platitudes and bromides, which may comfort some, but which will accomplish nothing. As Bill Mayer said, "thoughts and prayers" is a contradiction in terms. Believe what you want, but stay away from the rule of law.
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Render unto Caeser.... an attack on christianity as it forgets its boundaries and creeps, by creeps into the secular world.
7
Pence, Palin, Cheney and Quayle are all great examples of the flawed process for nominating running mates. None of these people should have ever come anywhere near the Oval Office.
The GOP habit seems to be arbitrarily selecting a wingman or wingwoman to shore up their base on the far Right and perhaps providing some anti-impeachment insurance.
We deserve better, but only if we get out and vote for leaders from local to national.
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Give Nixon credit, he started this trend by nominating Agnew. Although in retrospect it appears Eisenhower started it, picking Nixon!
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Don't forget Spiro Agnew!
5
True enough, but Dems do it too, albeit perhaps with more aforethought as to the running mate's qualifications for office. But both parties do what's known as "balancing the ticket".
Though crying for our country is warranted, instead of giving in to that, we have work ahead of us. Rather than hope for an impeachment of DJT, we must spend our time talking to people, reminding them that the founding fathers, so often referred to in the rhetoric of the right, believed strongly in the separation of church and state, which the GOP of today is working so hard to break down. We communally have to remind people of what we are losing, what is at stake and do all possible to pressure our Senators and Congresspeople to resist, to orate, and to reach across the aisle to find partners in the effort to minimize the damage being done to our democracy.
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It IS part of the conservative/Republican platform! Just because they don't have the guts to say it out loud does not mean they are not pursuing it. If you want quotes, just listen to Mike Pence talk for a few minutes.
You seem to want some sort of hard proof that Republicans want to tear down the separation of church and state yet hard proof means nothing to conservatives regarding climate change or virtually anything else for that matter.
1
Pence: “I am a christian, a conservative, and a republican, in that order.”
2
Well said... Thank you
1
I have absolutely no respect for Mike Pence. No respect for him as a man, as a leader, and especially as a person of religious principles. The only principle he holds dear is which boot do I lick to get what I want. Pence is so devoid of character that he makes Paul Ryan look like a saint.
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I agreed with everything you said up until the last part-NOTHING could make Paul Ryan look like a person with any moral fiber, much less a SAINT-Pence and Ryan just use different jargon to try and justify what is indefensible.
3
LOL! But you give Ryan way too much credit.
3
My theory is that Pence was Ryan's price for staying mum on Trump during the election.
A confederacy of scheming weasels. I'll bet my dwindling bucket of nickels that they themselves know better than to turn their backs to one another.
A novel system of representative government though.
(I wonder how much they're paying food tasters in Trump's court?)
3
Thanks for another excellent piece.
Saying, however, that the "left should be faulted for intolerance of those who express belief in a higher power or religious tradition" is a mischaracterization of the left's stance towards those who are religious. It's not the religious belief that's the issue. It's their intolerance of those who don't believe as they do, and their obsessive efforts to force their beliefs on others. This takes the form of bullying, mocking and efforts to turn their beliefs into laws (think theocracy). Their efforts include anti-contraception and anti-abortion laws, transgender bathroom laws and anti-gay laws. The distinction is important as their efforts (some successful) detrimentally effects millions of Americans.
746
That's not entirely true. I see quite a bit of ruthless intolerance of faith, period--not intolerance of hypocrisy, nor of theocracy, but "wow you are a moron for believing in sky fairies and zombie Jesus." The "I'm too smart to buy that garbage in which you believe" crowd is out there.
Amen!
2
Agreed. One of my most generous, liberal and tolerant friends is a devout Catholic. Another true Christian friend is a retired Lutheran minister.
4
Pastor Pence has also been a champion for the tobacco industry and happily accepted their contributions.
In 2001, Pence wrote an op-ed against the tobacco industry settlement and tobacco regulation, stating that "despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn't kill".
In 2009, Pence voted against the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which lets the FDA to regulate tobacco.
According to the CDC, Pence's state of Indiana has one of the worst smoking problems in America.
As Governor, Pence's administration slashed the amount of the tobacco tax and settlement money available for smoking prevention and cessation in 2013, well below the CDC’s recommended levels.
According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, “Funding for Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation was down to $8 million per year when Pence took office in January 2013. And within his first week, the Pence administration slashed the agency’s budget to $5 million.”
Indiana has one of the highest adult smoking rates of any state in the industrial midwest and the 7th highest smoking rate in the nation.
A 2014 article noted that 17% of pregnant Indianian women smoke — double the national average — which has been linked to lower birth weights and higher rates of infant mortality. As a result, “the state spends $28 million a year on health costs for infants born to mothers who smoke.”
God, Guns and Cigarettes:"Let us pray"
Pastor Mike Pence: A One-Man GOP Death Panel
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So conservatives are against abortion but not when it is carried out via tobacco or becomes necessary due to one of their extra-marital affairs.
8
Does Pence smoke.
1
Perhaps better put, "God, guns and cigarettes: 'Let us Prey.'"
7
"Gasbagging for God"--I love it!
Far more dangerous is his love of theocracy in government: "Pence calls himself a Christian first, a conservative second and a Republican third."
I'm with Jack Kennedy: separation of church and state must be absolute or we'll end up with preachers as presidents.
We're on our way, folks, with a SCOTUS made up of conservatives, who believe corporations and businesses like Hobby Lobby (considered one person!) have a right to impose their religious beliefs on employees.
Kennedy, an Irish Catholic like myself, knew America's fear of being in the Vatican's pocket in the 60s. But today, there seems to be no fear of a rising evangelical movement that seeks to violate the Constitution by redefining the role of religion in government.
Freedom of religion and freedom from it--Pence doesn't believe that and it shows in everything he says and does.
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Do the employees have the right to not work there? Does the government have the right to force people to support policies they disagree with? Do we have a free country with free citizens or do we bow to edicts from above? If you believe in using birth control then do so... just don't try to force others to pay for it that don't. Pay for it yourself.
1
I don't agree with paying for Mr. Trump's endless trips to his golf courses. I'm still paying for them! Part of being part of any "democracy" is going along with the majority. Ask those who sought to not pay the share of their taxes that went to the Vietnam war how that went for them.
16
Debby, I don't like paying for Mr. Trump's golf course visits any more than I liked having to fly Mr. and Mrs. Obama separately to Martha's Vineyard, or paying to fly Mr. Obama to Hawaii for vacation four weeks before leaving office. All, both Mr. Trump and Mr. Obama, were and are a waste of taxpayer monies.
1
If only those Republicans cared as much for people as they do the fetus.
394
They actually don't give a damn about fetuses, their real care about is controlling other people.
8
Your right NB...They will die and they will Kill others to protect the Unborn...But once they are born...They are on their Own....
4
Let's not kid ourselves. Conservatives like Pence don't actually care about the fetus. Let it be born dead, let it be born deformed, let it be born severely brain damaged, let it be born drug addicted.....just let it be born! This idiotic thinking is part and parcel of these "christian" beliefs that Pence spouses. What have we elected?
14
Apparently he doesn't think of himself as an American, not even fourth. That is the problem.
525
Having Pence as president after a Trump impeachment gives me pause.
If we impeach both, next in line is Ryan.
Good grief, 2020 cannot come soon enough.
1042
I think Ryan saw his future in Trump and Pence. He was slow to embrace them and when he did it was because he could see them failing and leaving him wearing the crown. He has never gotten ahead by enlightened thought only by default.
23
But Kevin, unless the second impeachment were somehow instantaneous after the first, Pence would, with the approval of Congress appoint a new VP. Ryan could be his choice, of course, but not necessarily. The line of succession only comes into play if both Pres and VP are vacant at the same time.
6
Let's assume that Trump is removed from office by reason of election fraud, then Pence would be gone as well. No succession to the Presidency. Impeachment for his behavior leaves us with Pence, which would be a bad thing. The best scenario is to get out the vote and get rid of as many McConnells and Ryans as possible.
Please Democratic leaders, don't screw this up.
7
I too read the Jane Mayer piece and it scared me. Although it shouldn’t have, given his history. Pence is so completely evil I would prefer the devil.
404
At least with the devil, you know exactly what you are getting.
7
But we already have the devil sitting in the Oval Office.
5
In my family, we read this aloud. Then, we laughed out loud. We admired the turn of phrase. And then, once again, we cried for our country.
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