I know what
you're thinking, "Who is Mike Pence" and what do he and Der Trumpster
have in common? His family were Irish
Catholic Democrats. He was named after his grandfather, Richard Michael Cawley,
a Chicago bus driver and Irish immigrant who came from County Sligo to the
United States through Ellis Island. His maternal grandmother's parents were
from Doonbeg, County Clare.
Of course, his grandparents as Irish
immigrants were subjected to just about exactly the same sort of ethnic
discrimination he now proposes for others! Irish American people faced much
prejudice, racism and discrimination after their immigration to the United
States because they were poor, uneducated, less skilled, considered disruptive
and were Catholics in a land of Protestant dominance. At the hands of other citizens,
especially those of German protestant descent, Irish-Americans faced stereotypes that
associated men with drunkenness and laziness, and their women depicted as
primitive. American Protestants feared the high birth rates shown by the
Catholics would ultimately result in Protestant minority. They also feared that
Irish political takeovers could occur, and Catholicism would become the
dominant faith. Irish women were stereotyped as reckless ‘‘breeders’’ owing to
the large family sizes compared to those of the Protestants.
Note the Irish were classified (L to R) as terrorists, fraudulent voters, enemies of the owner class and lazy welfare bums. Sound familiar? Pence has a short memory, because with a History degree, he should know this.
Apparently, however, Pence is ignorant of all the above, as he now espouses his running mate's position
re: immigration of groups which he (Trump) characterizes almost exactly as earlier
Americans did Pence's ancestors.
Pence graduated
from Columbus North High School, in 1977. He earned a B.A. in history from
Hanover College, in 1981 and a J.D. from the Indiana University Robert H.
McKinney School of Law, in 1986. After graduating
from Hanover, Pence worked as an admissions counselor at the college, from 1981
to 1983. He ran unsuccessfully (twice!) for a congressional seat in 1988 and 1990. In
1991, he became the president of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation, a
self-described free-market think tank and a member of the State Policy Network.
By now Pence had abandoned his ancestry and traditions for the Far Right's hate
speech and discriminatory policies, especially as regards women's issues.
Meanwhile, Tim Kaine,
also Irish and Scots and also Catholic was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is the eldest of
three sons born to Mary Kathleen (née Burns), a home economics teacher, and
Albert Alexander Kaine, Jr., a welder and the owner of a small iron-working
shop. In 1976, he graduated from
Rockhurst High School. He earned
received his B.A. in economics from the University of Missouri in 1979,
completing his degree in three years and graduating summa cum laude, then
attended Harvard Law School, taking a break during law school to work with the
Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Honduras. Kaine worked in Honduras for nine months
from 1980 to 1981, helping Jesuit missionaries who ran a school, running a vocational center that taught
carpentry and welding. Kaine is fluent in Spanish as a result of his year
in Honduras.
Meanwhile, back in Indiana, Pence left the
Indiana Policy Review Foundation in 1994, when he began a career in talk radio. (Bad lawyer, failed politician?) He hosted The Mike Pence Show, calling himself "Rush Limbaugh on
decaf" since he considered himself politically conservative while not as
outspoken as Limbaugh. Pence also hosted a weekend political talk
show out of Indianapolis. As previously alluded to, Pence ran for Congress twice
against Democratic incumbent Phil Sharp, losing both times. In 1990, Pence quit his job in order to work full-time in the
campaign. Sharp won again. During the race, Pence used political donations to
pay the mortgage on his house, his personal credit card bill, groceries, golf
tournament fees and car payments for his wife. While the spending was not illegal at the
time, it seriously undermined his
campaign.
During the 1990
campaign, Pence also ran an attack ad in
which an actor, dressed in a robe and headdress and speaking in a thick Middle
Eastern accent, thanked his opponent for doing nothing to wean the United
States off imported oil as chairman of a House subcommittee on energy and
power. In response to criticism, Pence's campaign responded that the ad was not
about Arabs, it was "about Sharp's lack of leadership". As we now
know, after a mediocre Congressional 12 years, Pence opted not to run for the US
Senate. where he would actually have to put forth a positive campaign and
instead became Indiana's Governor.
Politically, to
any thinking American, Mike Pence is a
train wreck. His record in the US House shows him voting in favor of only two
really significant issues: The Patriot Act and the Iraqi War, where he thinks
we should still be engaged. Seriously, folks, that's pretty much it.
On the other
hand, as Tevye would say, look at what
he voted against (or to undo):
Pence began seeking to defund Planned Parenthood in 2007
Pence opposes birthright citizenship principle set forth by
the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States
Constitution that all persons born on U.S. soil are citizens citizen.
He has been a proponent of a flat federal tax rate.
Pence
opposed the Troubled Asset Relief Program (the "Wall Street bailout") of 2008. Pence also opposed
the auto industry rescue package of 2008–09, which guided General Motors and
Chevrolet through bankruptcy.(both paid back with interest!)
In 2007, Pence voted against raising the federal minimum
wage to $7.25 (from $5.15) an hour over two years.
He voted against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
of 2009.
He voted against
Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. (ed: And just watch him attack Clinton/Warren on the same
issue on which he turned his back!)
While in the House, Pence voted to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency
from regulating greenhouse gas emissions.
Pence also repeatedly
voted against energy efficiency and renewable energy funding and rules and
voted for several bills that supported fossil fuel development, including
legislation promoting offshore drilling. The League of Conservation Voters, an
environmentalist group, gave Pence a lifetime rating of 4 percent!
Pence was a supporter of earmark reform, voting against the
$139.7 billion transportation-treasury spending bill in June 2006, and in favor
of a series of amendments proposed that same month that would strip other
members' earmarks from the federal budget. However, Pence had no issues with securing
earmarks for projects in his own district.
Pence supported the Iraq War Resolution, which authorized
military action against Iraq. During the Iraq War, Pence opposed setting a public
withdrawal date from Iraq. During an April 2007 visit to Baghdad, Pence and
John McCain visited Shorja market, describing the visit as evidence that the
security situation in Iraqi markets has improved. the New York Times reported that the visit
gave a false indication of how secure the area was due to the extremely heavy
security forces protecting McCain.
Pence chaired the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the
Middle East and was a prominent supporter of George W. Bush's Iraq War troop
surge of 2007. At the time, Pence stated that "the surge is working"
and defended the initial decision to invade in 2003.
Pence has stated his support of Israel and its right to
attack facilities in Iran to prevent them from developing nuclear weapons, has
defended the actions of Israel in its use of deadly force in enforcing the
blockade of Gaza, and has referred to Israel as "America's most cherished
ally
Pence voted against the act that created Medicare Part D, a
Medicare prescription-drug benefit.
He also voted against
the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
In 2010, Pence voted against the DREAM Act, which would
grant the undocumented children of illegal immigrants conditional non-immigrant
status if they met certain requirements
Pence "does not accept the scientific consensus that
human activity is the primary driver of climate change, writing in 2001 in an op-ed that "Global warming is a
myth," that "the earth is
actually cooler today than it was about 50 years ago
In 2009, Pence led the Republican effort to defeat the
American Clean Energy and Security Act, a bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions
Pence opposed President Obama's executive order eliminating
restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research. He asserted that "scientific
breakthroughs have rendered embryonic stem-cell research obsolete". (This
last still has biologists wondering what he meant by it, especially since stem cell research has recently yielded numerous breakthroughs in potential treatments and therapies.)
In 2001, Pence wrote an op-ed arguing that "despite the
hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn't kill." (yes, no shit, he wrote those exact words!) Pence
asserted that , "2 out of every three smokers does not die from a smoking
related illness (which of course means that 1/3 do, moron!) and 9 out of ten smokers do not contract lung cancer. In 2009,
Pence voted against the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act,
which allows the FDA to regulate tobacco products.
In 2002, Pence criticized a speech by then-Secretary of
State Colin Powell where Powell stated that it was "important for young
people... to protect themselves from the possibility of acquiring any sexually
transmitted disease" through the use of condoms.
Pence supported President George W. Bush's unsuccessful 2005
proposal to partially privatize Social Security. When asked in 2010 if he would
be willing to make cuts to Social Security, Pence answered, "I think
everything has to be on the table."
Pence "has been a longtime, aggressive advocate of
trade deals" between the U.S. and foreign countries. Pence supported North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),
and while in the US House voted for
every free-trade agreement that came before him and in favor of permanent normal trade relations
with China. Pence also supported bilateral free-trade agreements with Colombia,
South Korea, Panama, Peru, Oman, Chile and Singapore. This of course places him
in diametric opposition to Herr Trump, who has condemned globalization and the
liberalization of trade.
In 2000, Pence stated "Congress should oppose any
effort to recognize homosexuals as a 'discrete and insular minority' entitled
to the protection of anti-discrimination laws similar to those extended to
women and ethnic minorities."
He called for an
audit to ensure that federal dollars were no longer being given to organizations
that "celebrate and encourage?" the types of behaviors that
facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus [sic]" and instead advocated for
resources to be directed toward conversion therapy programs.
Pence has said "Homosexuality is incompatible with
military service because the presence of homosexuals in the ranks weakens unit
cohesion. " Pence opposed the repeal of don't ask, don't tell, saying in
2010 that allowing gays and lesbians to openly serve in the military would
"have an impact on unit cohesion." All this of course from a man who has
absolutely zero military experience, and in spite of an ever growing body of
proof that the reverse is actually true, that military personnel are generally more tolerant
than many of the politicians who would send them in harm's way.
In 2007, Pence voted against the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act, which would have banned workplace discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation.
Pence opposed the 2009 Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act,
actually stating, if one can believe it, that Barack Obama wanted to "advance a
radical social agenda" and said that pastors "could be charged or be
subject to intimidation for simply expressing a Biblical worldview on the issue
of homosexual behavior."
Pence opposes both same-sex marriage and
civil unions.
On March 26, 2015, Pence signed Indiana Senate Bill 101,
also known as the Indiana "religious objections" bill (RFRA), into
law. The law's signing was met with widespread criticism by people and groups
who felt the law was carefully worded in a way that would permit discrimination
against LGBT persons. Organizations as the NCAA, the gamer convention Gen Con,
and even the Disciples of Christ (not a misprint!) spoke out against the law. Thousands protested against the policy. Five
GOP state representatives voted against the bill, and Greg Ballard, the
Republican mayor of Indianapolis, criticized it as sending the "wrong
signal" about the state. Pence, on the other hand, repeatedly defended the law, stating that it
was not about discrimination. Although Pence
denied the law permitted discrimination, he later signed a bill modifying the
law as to insure non-discrimination.
In June 2012, after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the
Affordable Care Act, Pence likened the
ruling to the September 11 terrorist attacks in a closed-door meeting of the
House Republican Conference. Even other Republicans shunned him.
This, then, is the
body of work of the man who would be "vice king." He is a bad man,
who has a short memory of his origins and heritage. He should scare you more than Donald Trump. The fact that Trump chose him should tell you a lot about Trump's willingness to pander to the worst in and of us.
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ReplyDeleteExcellent biographical summary of Mike Pence. Being from Michigan City, Indiana I can attest to the fact that Mike Pence is one of the most hated political figures ever to have ascended to the position of Governor in the State of Indiana. I have been calling Pence a homegrown Fascist for years. And now Hoosiers are celebrating the fact that he will no longer be governor and are enthusiastically touting Birch Bayh as his replacement.
ReplyDeleteYou hit on just about every negative point that has ever been attributed to this despicable man, which demonstrates why Pence is so hated in Indiana. I am surprised that you were even able to dig up the fact that this thief illegally used his campaign funds to finance his own personal well-being. I have often asked friends (including Jim Arnold, State Senator and Scott Pelath, State Minority Leader for the House of Representatives) how and why this man ever became Governor let alone a U. S. Representative. Unfortunately, no one seems to know for sure (or are not saying) other than to speculate that it was all about downstate bribery and political payoffs, not uncommon in the Hoosier State. Your last paragraph effectively summarizes and reveals who and what this innocent looking little man really is -- a very dangerous political predator and a latent Fascist.