Democratic
National
Committee
Oct. 5, 2016 12:45 a.m.
Trump Jealous of Pence
Ruh roh. Apparently the Donald isn’t happy with Mike Pence for failing
to defend him and upstaging him in tonight’s debate
@samsteinhp: CNN’s John King, reporting from a source close to Trump,
that the reviews that Pence did better then he did won’t go over well
with Trump
@JohnJHarwood: more from adviser on Trump reaction to strong Pence
debate following poor Trump showing last week: "he can't stand to be
upstaged"
Vox: Mike Pence won the debate by throwing Donald Trump under the bus
“Kaine is running for VP, Pence is running for 2020”
The Daily Beast:
“Donald Trump has one policy toward Russia. His vice presidential
nominee, Mike Pence, seems to have another. At least, that was the case
during Tuesday’s vice presidential debate.
While Trump has repeatedly praised Russian President Vladimir
Putin—and, at times, pushed a foreign policy agenda that sounds like it
came straight out of the Kremlin—during Tuesday’s vice presidential
debate, Pence refused to adopt Trump’s embrace of Putin. Rather, he
said the U.S. would meet Russian aggression with “strength.”
____________________________
Oct. 5, 2016 12:32 a.m.
“That Mexican Thing”
DNC Deputy National Press Secretary Jose Aristimuño issued the
following statement on Mike Pence’s “that Mexican thing” comment:
“During tonight’s debate, Mike Pence not only refused to apologize for
Donald Trump’s indefensible comments that Mexican immigrants are
‘rapists’ and ‘criminals;’ he even went as far as to tell Tim Kaine
that he had ‘whipped out that Mexican thing again.’ That’s outrageous,
offensive, and unfortunately, what we’ve come to expect from the
Trump-Pence ticket. This is just another example of the divisive and
ugly campaign that they have been running. Though we’ve know it all
along, after tonight’s debate, it’s clearer than ever that only
Secretary Clinton and Tim Kaine respect and value the many
contributions that Latinos make to this country.”
____________________________
Oct. 4, 2016 11:49 p.m.
Pence debate strategy #2: Deny, deny, deny; Pretend you’re not
running with Trump
Journalists and influencers agree: Pence outright denied so much that
Trump had done and said that it seemed Pence was living in another
reality and running with another candidate altogether. At other times,
he was simply throwing Trump under the bus and espousing his own
entirely separate agenda.
Does Mike Pence even realize that Donald Trump is his running mate?
@brianjameswalsh: Pence: "Provocations by Russia need to be met with
American strength." Something I'd love to hear from Trump himself but
never have.
@RichardEngel: Pence talking tough on Putin. That’s not what
trump has been saying. So which is it? #VPDebate
@StuPolitics: Pence says stuff is "a lot of nonsense." Doesn't seem to
know what Trump has said.
@jbendery: Kaine: Trump didn't even know Russia invaded Crimea.
Pence: "Oh that's nonsense."
See here:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/31/politics/donald-trump-russia-ukraine-crimea-putin/
@jonward11: Pence: Trump "never said" more nations should get nuclear
weapons.
But he did say that:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/04/06/should-more-countries-have-nuclear-weapons-donald-trump-thinks-so/
@CahnEmily: "You know what, I'm just saying facts about your candidate"
Kaine says when Pence says hes hurling insults. Kaine is just quoting
Trump.
@BCAppelbaum: Mike Pence seems like a reasonably traditional Republican
VP candidate. Who either doesn't know or care what his running mate has
said.
@nickconfessore: "Insult-driven" is Pence's response to any time Kaine
quotes Trump (mostly accurately as far as I can tell).
@DylanByers: "This isn’t the old days where you can just say stuff and
people believe it.”
— Pence said that to Kaine. Does Pence know his running mate?
@PeterBeinart: For Republicans cheering @mike_pence's Cheneyesque
foreign policy, remember: If your own voters supported it, Trump
wouldn't be nominee
@Max_Fisher: Pence, whose running mate says South Korea should have
nukes, says his goal is to “de-nuclearize the Koreanin peninsula.” Good
luck!
@mviser: Mike Pence just claimed not to say Putin was a stronger leader
than Obama. He’s wrong. He did:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/08/politics/mike-pence-on-donald-trump-vladimir-putin/
@reidepstein: Pence saying Trump hasn't said things that he's said will
be problematic once someone makes a mashup of Trump saying those things.
@ira: Pence shakes his head when Kaine quotes verbatim things Trump
said like I used to when my mom would read my report cards aloud
#VPDebate
@RachelSB: Pence denying Trump quotes seems awkward.
@petermaer: #debate understatement: "He's not a polished
politician:"--@GovPenceIN on #Trump comment on punishing women for
#abortions.
@Neda_Semnani: Seriously, who does Mike Pence think he's running
with?!?! Did he not research Trump before he said yes? #VPDebate
@jonathanalter: Kaine is scoring now on nuclear proliferation, Russia
and taxes. Pence keeps denying Trump said things that he did indeed say.
@ddale8: Then Pence falsely denies that Trump said more countries
should get nukes. From start to finish, this is the Denying Plain Facts
campaign.
@poniewozik: Mike Pence will solidly win this debate in his closing
remarks, when he flatly denies that Donald Trump is running for
president.
@markzbarabak: Pence's strategy seems to be either ignoring or denying
things that Trump has said, regardless of all evidence to the contrary.
@PeterHamby: I get that a brazen disregard for facts is not new in this
campaign, but Mike Pence just denied that this really proveable thing
happened
@katherinemiller: Mike Pence turning in a great performance for his
imaginary running mate Mitt Romney.
@samsteinhp: Trump honestly should have just done what Pence is doing:
denied ever saying the things he said.
@FlitterOnFraud: Pence is denying he said Putin is a stronger leader
than Obama. But...he said it. Trump did too. Trump said it first.
@mileskathleen: Pence denied that Trump called NATO obsolete.
FACTCHECK: "I think NATO is obsolete," Trump told ABC News in March.
#VPDebate
@jbouie: Tim Kaine and Elaine Quijano quoted, nearly verbatim, Trump's
rhetoric to Mike Pence, and he just denied it outright.
@ZackFord: Ah, Pence must've remembered it's his job to deny that Trump
said things he said in front of countless cameras. #VPDebate
@ezraklein: It sort of works in the debate, but Pence shaking head,
saying "no he hasn't" is going to look bad in ads next to Trump saying
those things
@zachdcarter: Pence is basically just denying that Trump has said or
supported everything Trump has said and supported. #VPDebate
____________________________
Oct. 4, 2016 11:48 p.m.
Pence’s debate strategy 1: Lie; Don’t Defend Trump
Journalists and influencers agree, Mike Pence failed to defend Donald
Trump tonight.
See the reactions below.
@JamesPindell: Pence isn't even trying to defend Trump, just offensive
on Clinton #VPDebate
@ReutersZengerle: Pence is avoiding answering the Trump tax return
question.
@mmurraypolitics: But he hasn't answered Q if it's fair to profit on
declaring a $1B loss
https://twitter.com/amyewalter/status/783477767836958720
@JamesPindell: Pence didn't ask to rebut that litany of charges on
Trump about things he has said #VPDebate
@JeffreyGoldberg: Is Mike Pence actually denying the fact that Donald
Trump insults people?
@jonlovett: Pence's plan here is to pretend the previous year did not
happen. Just can't work.
@StevenTDennis: "A Hoosier judge."
"Judge Curiel."
Pence ignores.
@RichLowry: That Pence has to deny Trump's support for mass deportation
another indication of how ill-considered it was
@jameshohmann: Pence sits silently as Kaine attacks Trump for his
racist attacks on Judge Curiel.
@jackmirkinson: Mike Pence is clearly hoping that if he just pretends
like he is running in a completely different election nobody will notice
@GlennThrush: Seriously, Pence has not answered a single question
@mmurraypolitics: Pence doesn't defend Trump's previous claim that more
nations should have nuclear weapons
@badler: Pence completely unwilling to defend Trump's position in favor
nuclear proliferation
@asymmetricinfo: If I were in Pence’s place, I’d do the same, but it’s
odd watching VP candidate consistently decline to defend anything top
of ticket says
@ZekeJMiller: Pence: "I'm happy to defend them...I'm happy to defend
him" As he doesn't defend them/him.
@AaronBlake: Pence's "Don't put words in my mouth that I'm not
defending him" doesn't really make sense?
@ajjaffe: Pence seems to confirm the NYT docs were real: "Those tax
returns showed that he faced some pretty tough times." #VPDebate
@badler: If Mike Pence rolls his eyes or shakes his head, that means
what Tim Kaine is saying Trump did, he really did.
@JamilSmith: Tonight we learned that it is easier to pretend racism
doesn't exist than to defend Donald Trump.
@jbouie: There's no doubt that Pence is a great performer. But for 90
minutes, he lied about everything his running mate said.
@adamnagourney: Did Pence ever defend any statement Trump made that he
was he was confronted with by Kaine?
____________________________
Oct. 4, 2016 11:48 p.m.
Statement from DNC Interim Chair Donna Brazile on Tonight’s
Vice-Presidential Debate
WASHINGTON -- DNC Interim Chair Donna Brazile issued the following
statement following tonight’s vice-presidential debate:
“There was no contest tonight. Tim Kaine demonstrated that he and
Hillary Clinton are prepared to lead our country on day one. They
are ready to face the daunting challenges of the presidency together,
and ready build on the progress of the last eight years. Mike Pence
only proved that there’s no defense for the indefensible. On the heels
of what could be the worst week of any presidential run in history,
Pence had one job: to stop the bleeding. But Pence couldn’t re-brand
Donald Trump as anything other than the unhinged, dangerous and
divisive candidate that he’s been since the start of his campaign.
____________________________
Oct. 4, 2016 10:35 p.m.
The Donald Who Didn’t Exist
A pattern emerged in tonight’s debate: Tim Kaine quoted Donald Trump,
Mike Pence shook his head, pretended it never happened and then denied
Trump said it. It would be a winning strategy, were it not for the
crushing weight of reality.
@morningmoneyben: Kaine succeeds most when he simply lays out what
Trump has said. #VPDebate
@mckaycoppins: Kaine is not wrong that Pence has consistently avoided
defending Trump tonight.
@svdate: Pence is defending the Trump he wishes existed, rather the one
who really is at the top of the Republican ticket.
@aseitzwald: Boy, wouldn't want to be guy who has to tell Mike Pence
who his runningmate is.
@ZekeJMiller: Pence: "I'm happy to defend them...I'm happy to defend
him" As he doesn't defend them/him.
@SabrinaSiddiqui: Tim Kaine just landed his best line against Mike
Pence: "He is asking everyone to vote for someone he will not defend."
#VPDebate
@jameshohmann: Pence saying Trump did not say lots of stuff he's
definitely said -- on tape! So he'll get high marks for performance but
creamed tomorrow.
@JohnJHardwood: If you haven't paid attention to campaign, you might
believe Pence denials that Trump said things he really said bc many are
hard to believe
@reidepstein: Pence saying Trump hasn't said things that he's said will
be problematic once someone makes a mashup of Trump saying those things.
Priorities
USA
For Immediate Release
October 4th, 2016
Contact: Justin Barasky
Priorities USA Chief Strategist Guy Cecil Statement On Tonight’s
Vice Presidential Debate
Priorities USA Chief Strategist Guy Cecil released the following
statement following tonight’s Vice Presidential debate:
“In tonight’s debate Mike Pence refused to defend Donald Trump’s brand
of divisive and dangerous politics that makes him so unfit to be
President of the United States. As Trump’s chief apologist Mike Pence
failed to explain why Donald Trump has insulted and demeaned women,
African Americans, Hispanics, prisoners of war, the disabled, veterans,
and so many other Americans throughout this campaign. Mike Pence
refused, or simply couldn't, defend Donald Trump's dangerous plan for
more countries to have nuclear weapons, or his claims to “love war,”
and know “more about ISIS than the generals do.” And nowhere did Mike
Pence explain why Donald Trump didn’t pay taxes for nearly two decades,
while shorting those who work for him and engaging in shady business
deals with Russian interests. On the other hand, our next vice
president demonstrated a readiness, intellect, and resolve to help
Hillary Clinton lead this country. Two debates down, Democrats have a
perfect record, and as we near the final month of the campaign our work
to stop Donald Trump and elect Hillary Clinton is more important than
ever.”
Correct The Record
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday,
October
4,
2016
CONTACT:
Elizabeth
Shappell
/
Lizzy
Price
Statement from CTR
Communications Director Elizabeth Shappell on Tim Kaine’s Winning
Debate Performance
Washington,
D.C.--This
evening,
Correct
The
Record
Communications
Director
Elizabeth
Shappell released the following statement on Tim Kaine’s
winning debate performance in tonight’s vice presidential debate:
“Tonight,
Mike
Pence
aw-shucks-ed
and
shook
his
head
through 90 minutes of
pretending Donald Trump doesn’t exist. He dodged, ducked, deflected and
lied his way through the entire debate. Pence utterly failed to defend
Donald Trump’s dozens of bigoted and misogynistic insults, attacks on
Judge Curiel, nationwide call for stop-and-frisk and affection for
Vladimir Putin. Pence appeared irritated and flustered every single
time Donald Trump’s name was mentioned. Sorry, Mike, but you signed up
for this.
“While
the Republican ticket fell apart before our very eyes, Tim Kaine was
feisty and passionate. Senator Kaine powerfully and forcefully made the
case for Hillary Clinton’s vision for a stronger, fairer America and
held the Trump-Pence ticket accountable for their campaign of hate. And
unlike Mike Pence, Tim Kaine actually agrees with his running mate on
the issues.”
PRE-DEBATE
Correct The Record
October
4,
2016
CONTACT:
Elizabeth Shappell / Lizzy Price
Correct The Record Releases New Memo, Video on Donald Trump’s
Chief Apologist Mike Pence
Ahead of tonight’s vice presidential debate, Correct
The Record released a new
memo and video
outlining what you need to know about the extreme record of Mike Pence,
Donald Trump’s running mate and chief apologist. For years, Pence has
been at the forefront of right-wing attacks on women, LGBT Americans,
immigrants and refugees in Congress and Indiana. Since joining the
Republican ticket, Pence has taken his extremist politics national as
the chief defender and explainer of Trump’s hateful rhetoric and
bigoted views.
MEMORANDUM
TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Brad Woodhouse, President of Correct The Record
RE: What You Need to Know About Donald Trump’s Chief
Apologist, Mike Pence
DATE: October 4, 2016
__________________
Compared to the bombastic Donald Trump, many have painted vice
presidential nominee Mike Pence as the voice of reason on the
Republican ticket. In reality, Indiana Governor Mike Pence is as
extreme as Republicans come and has emerged as the GOP’s leading
apologist for Trump’s most outrageous comments and policies.
For years, Pence has been at the forefront of right-wing
attacks on women’s health, LGBT rights and immigrants and refugees in
both Washington and Indiana. So it is no surprise that since signing up
for the Donald Trump campaign, Pence himself has emerged as the the
chief defender and explainer of Trump’s hateful politics. Ahead of tonight’s
vice presidential debate, here is what you need to know about the other
half of the Republican ticket.
Cleaning up for Donald Trump
For someone who claims to be “a
Christian,
a
conservative,
and
a
Republican, in that order,” Pence
has inexplicably defended Donald Trump’s offensive rhetoric and
behavior at every turn. Pence has proven a remarkable willingness to
try to dismiss, explain, or otherwise condone offensive statements and
policies from his running mate and the Trump family. In the process, he
has become an apologist for some of Trump’s ugliest and most poisonous
rhetoric—including Birtherism, Trump’s insinuation of violence against
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Jr.’s infamous Skittles tweet.
-
MACHADO: Ignoring the blatantly
offensive nature of Trump’s comments, Pence brushed
off Donald Trump’s body shaming and incendiary tweets about a “sex
tape” (that doesn’t exist) regarding former Miss Universe Alicia
Machado as the media being too focused on “he said this, he tweeted
that.”
-
RUSSIA: On Trump’s dangerous
admiration of Putin’s Russia, Pence offered the head-shaking assertion
that it was “inarguable”
that
Putin
has
been
a
stronger leader than President Obama and compared
Trump’s encouragement of Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails to an
Abraham Lincoln quote.
-
BIRTHERISM: Governor Pence defended
Trump’s leading role in the birther conspiracy theory, saying Trump “brought
that
issue
to
an
end
this week” after Trump’s one-sentence
admission and, in the same week, Trump refused to admit President Obama
was born in Hawaii.
-
OBAMA FOUNDED ISIS: Pence has
defended Trump’s assertion that Obama founded ISIS and Trump’s support
for bringing back waterboarding, saying–without proof–“enhanced
interrogation
saved
lives.”
-
ENCOURAGING VIOLENCE: Pence has tried
to explain
away
Trump’s insinuation of violence against Clinton with his comment that
“Second Amendment people” could do something about Clinton picking
judges and Clinton’s secret service protection should disarm and “see
what happens to her.”
-
POLICE POLICIES AND GUN VIOLENCE:
Pence defended Trump’s call for profiling, calling it “common sense,”
claimed Trump is “on a sound constitutional footing” with his
stop-and-frisk proposal (not true), and defended Trump for politicizing
the shooting death of NBA player Dwyane Wade’s cousin.
-
SKITTLES: He defended Donald Trump
Jr.’s tweet comparing Syrian refugees to poisoned Skittles, saying he
was simply using a “metaphor”
and
condescendingly
said
it
was
“remarkable to see the level of
outrage” about the tweet.
“Nobody hates Planned Parenthood quite as much as Mike
Pence.”
While Trump continues
to make
headlines
for his disparaging, offensive comments about women, Mike Pence’s
record expands upon this disrespect for women. Perhaps more than any
other Republican politician in the recent past, Pence has fought to
undermine women’s access to health care services on both the national
level and in Indiana. In 2011, Politico even declared that “Nobody
hates
Planned
Parenthood
quite
as
much as Mike Pence.”
Pence has a long history of trying to take down Planned
Parenthood in his larger campaign to take away a woman’s right to
choose. He has said he wants to send Roe v. Wade “to
the
ash
heap
of
history
where it belongs.” Pence signed into
Indiana law earlier this year a bill that would ban women from seeking
abortion based on a fetal diagnosis of physical or mental disability
and require women to seek funerary
services for a fetus, no matter if an abortion or miscarriage, at
any point in time in the pregnancy. The law was blocked
by a federal judge in June 2016.
In Congress, Pence was the defacto leader of efforts to
defund Planned Parenthood and eliminate the Title X program, which
provides family planning and reproductive health funding. In 2011,
Politico wrote
Mike Pence was “on a one-man crusade to deny all federal funding to
[Planned Parenthood]—not just the money it gets for reproductive health
and family planning services, but every penny it gets for anything.” He
sponsored
legislation that would make it legal for hospitals to deny abortions to
pregnant women with life-threatening conditions and supported
a federal ban on abortions after 20 weeks. He cosponsored
a bill that would redefine certain rape cases as “forcible rape,”
redefining “rape” in the case of federal funding for abortions in case
of “forcible”
rape
only.
Enacting LGBT discrimination in the name of “religious
freedom”
Donald Trump’s repeated refrain to the religious right is
a promise that he will protect religious freedom by repealing the Johnson
Amendment. His running mate is right in line with Trump’s extreme
agenda, having already taking action in the name of “religious freedom”
in 2015. Governor Mike Pence signed into law the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act in 2015 and with it, exacted LGBT discrimination. The
widely-condemned law alienated the Republican governor’s natural allies
in the business community, drew national condemnation and deeply
embarrassed the Hoosier state. Throughout the scandal, Pence displayed
an almost Trump-like level of disingenuousness and dishonesty. In one devastating
interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Pence refused to
answer six yes-or-no questions about whether the law legalized
discrimination against the LGBT community.
Pence at first said he would not support legislation to
clean up the mess he made, was “knowingly
disingenuous” when trying to compare Indiana’s law to those passed
in other states, and finally supported a bill to “clarify” RFRA after
an uproar
from Indiana business and community leaders and other governors and
mayors banned
taxpayer-funded travel to Indiana.
Discriminating against the LGBT community was nothing new
for Governor Pence. When in Congress, he cosponsored
an amendment to the Constitution that would ban same-sex marriage, voted
against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and against
the Matthew Shepard Act in 2007 and 2009. During his first successful
run for Congress in 2000, his campaign said
“Homosexuality is incompatible with military service because the
presence of homosexuals in the ranks weakens unit cohesion.”
Test driving Trump’s Muslim ban in Indiana
It’s no surprise Pence is “very
supportive” of Trump’s proposed ban of Muslims from coming to the
U.S. In 2015, Governor Pence announced
he was suspending the resettlement of all Syrian refugees in Indiana.
Religious leaders defied the Governor. The Archbishop of Indianapolis,
Joseph Tobin, met with the Pence to hear his concerns but defied
his
ban, declaring Catholic Charities would welcome a family of
four from Syria anyway. This ban was challenged
in court by the ACLU and blocked by a federal judge on the grounds that
it “clearly
discriminates” against Syrian refugees.
Pence honed his anti-immigrant agenda while serving in
Congress. He said it was “wrong” to oppose Arizona’s “papers, please”
immigration law, sponsored
legislation that would end birthright citizenship, opposed
a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and sponsored a
bill to declare
English the official language of the United States. He even introduced
an immigration plan that would push undocumented immigrants to “self-deport.”
BONUS: Bringing Pravda to the Plains
Trump disparages members of the media nearly every day,
whether through going after certain newspapers or networks or
encouraging rally attendees to boo reporters covering his events. This
concerning lack of respect for a free and open press is something
Governor Pence can relate to. In 2015, Governor Pence tried to launch a
state-run news service in Indiana that earned the nickname “Pravda
on
the
Plains.” His state-run taxpayer-funded news outlet was going
to produce pre-written news stories and even break news about the Pence
administration. Not surprisingly, Pence was forced to drop the project
after planning documents were leaked to the Indianapolis Star.