Mike Pence Made a Deal with the Devil, and the Devil Won

Earlier today our good friend that lovable gadfly Paul Ogden wrote a great, great post about how Indianapolis gambled taxpayers money on the past and we all got hosed. By a remarkable coincidence this post spurned us on to right about another exercise in gambling stupidity. As our readers are well aware INDY REPUBLICAN like the late great Gary Welsh, loathes and despises the milquetoast, obsequious, toady that is Vice President Mike Pence. Unlike some in the Never Trump band of conservatives and republicans, we are as much Never Pence as we are Never Trump. Whether it’s old Mikey being less than honest on his voter registration, using his political pull to get his less than qualified nephew John Pence a cushy political job, or putting on his best imitation of a Christian. Vice President Mike Pence has never failed to exceed our already low expectations of his worthless butt.

Back on April 15th, 2020 Adam Wren a writer for Politico and Indianapolis Monthly wrote “Four Years Ago, Mike Pence Hated Presidential Overeach”. When recounts how Mike Pence looked uncomfortable at President Trump’s April 13th, 2020, when the President said that his authority was “total”. 

Wren reports Pence’s response to his master Trump’s proclamation of supreme power. According to Wren, Pence said: 

“Make no mistake about it,” a stone-faced Pence replied. “In the long history of this country, the authority of this country, the authority of the president of the United States during national emergencies is unquestionably plenary.”

There’s a governor who spent his time in office arguing exactly the opposite: that the states had the right to refuse Washington’s dictates, that state autonomy was a constitutional bulwark against overarching presidential power. His name was Mike Pence.

Wren makes reference to a 2011 Washington Times Op-Ed then Congressman Mike Pence wrote, defending states against the overeach of federal power. Here are a few excerpts from that op-ed, back when Pence still pretended to be a conservative:

“ To ensure a lasting victory for limited government, it will not be enough simply to cut government spending. We must permanently reduce the size and scope of the federal government by restoring to the states and the people those responsibilities and resources that are rightfully theirs under the Constitution of the United States.”

“In 1982, Mr. Reagan came to Indiana to address the issue of federalism before a joint session of our state General Assembly. He used that Hoosier setting as a backdrop to announce a new presidential commission on federalism, which he called the “new phase” of the “great American experiment.” As a start, he offered to return 40 federal programs and the revenues associated with them back to the states. The commission and its work fell flat, but Mr. Reagan was right 30 years ago, and he is more right today.“

Sounds light years away from his role serving in and defending an administration that has worked to undermine Congress’s oversight of the federal government, pushed for taxpayer bailout of private businesses, and has sought to bailout American farmers after his insane tariffs have damaged them. While we believe that it is true that Pence sold his soul to Trump in the hopes of becoming president. We happen to believe that his so called Christian faith, and belief in limited government have long been a fraud that Pence has peddled in his quest for significance. In congress Pence never passed anything of any importance. It’s true he now and then pretended to support government whistleblowers. But as a congressman, governor, and now Vice President he has done less than nothing to protect whistleblowers. 

Some have attempted to defend Pence by saying he has pushed behind the scenes to reign in Trump, or that he has no choice but to obey Trump. Our response to this is “Bullshit”! The belief that Pence has tried in ANY way at all to undermine Trump, is as flimsy as the evidence for Scientology’s belief in invisible space aliens infesting our bodies. Or in other words there is NO proof of either, because like Scientology’s body thetans, the legend of Pence having a spine is a complete fabrication. As to the argument that Pence has to do as he is told by Trump. Let’s quote from the Constitution that Pence swore on a Bible to uphold:

Article I, Section III, Clause I: The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

That is pretty much all the Constitution says about the Vice President. He cannot be fired by Trump. At the very least he could take stands against the President when he oversteps his bounds. Sure Trump would rage tweet at him, and he may not get elected to another office. But he will get a government pension, and any TRUE Christian would stand against the blasphemies uttered by the mouth of Donald Trump. 

For a more in depth view of Pence selling his soul, checkout yesterday’s episode of Joe Walsh’s podcast “Fuck Silence”:

The Thrill is Gone! Bernie Sanders Revolution Goes Kaput

Bernie Sanders 

Based off of the results going back to late last year in special election’s. One could reasonably say that Vermont Senator Bernie “Crypt Keeper” Sanders no longer has the magic touch many in the Democratic Party claimed he did. David Siders over at Politico in his article “Bernie and his army are losing 2018”. Siders recounts a litany of defeats for the Sanders Socialist Squad:

Bernie Sanders is sputtering.

Two years after his defeat in the 2016 presidential primary, the Vermont senator has amassed a growing string of losses in races in which he has intervened. Beginning last year, Sanders-backed candidates faltered in an Omaha mayoral race and a nationally watched House race in Montana.

Then came Rep. Tom Perriello’s loss in Virginia’s gubernatorial primary, and in June, the drubbing in Iowa of Pete D’Alessandro, a top adviser to Sanders during his 2016 Iowa caucus campaign. Cathy Glasson, endorsed by Sanders’ successor group, Our Revolution, fell short in Iowa’s gubernatorial primary, as did Peter Jacob and Jim Keady in two New Jersey House races. Dennis Kucinich lost in Ohio.

Siders points out that even with the help of other ultra liberal politicians and activists. Sanders backed candidates still mostly went down to defeat in primaries held earlier this week:

In a crowded Democratic primary in Kansas, former Sanders campaign staffer Brent Welder said before results were finalized on Tuesday night that his “message of bold progressive values and running an uncorrupted campaign that does not take corporate PAC money is resonating with people across Kansas, across the district and across the country.”

But hours later, the race was called for Welder’s opponent Sharice Davids, an attorney who will take on Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) in November.

Sanders did even worse in Michigan, where he and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaigned aggressively for Abdul El-Sayed, who was trampled by more than 20 percentage points in the Democratic primary for governor. Sanders rallied supporters in Detroit over the weekend. El-Sayed, a 33-year-old physician, was seeking to become the first Muslim governor in the nation.

For those of you who may not be aware Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a 28 year old Socialist Democrat who defeated 10 term veteran Democratic Congressman Joe  Crowley in June. Her victory garnered even more attention since Crowley was considered as a strong contender to become Speaker of the House if the Democrats take back the House this November. Since than Ocasio-Cortez has become a rock star to many on the extreme left of the Democratic Party. Bob Fredricks over at the New York Post has a good article about Ocasio-Cortez’s terrible track record at getting candidates elected here. 

So how did Bernie Sanders go from almost beating Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination to a has been? IR’s theory is after having spoken to some of our most left leaning friends that the biggest reason that Bernie caught fire the way he did for so long is because he was running against Hillary and was a good outlet for anti Hillary democrats. But Hillary despite whatever her ambitions are is gone and will not be back. So a major motivation for anyone to take Bernie Sanders seriously now is no longer around. Also it could be that many Democratic voters could be tired of the identity politics of Fake Republican President Donald Trump. And with there being such an enormous Anti-Trump wave building among Democrats, Independents, and a small minority of Republicans. This wave is a great, great, great Anti-Trump wave! It’s Yuge!! So  the last thing many people want is to vote for candidates that are going to go to Washington just to blow up our political system.

Preaching income redistribution over growth, timidity in asserting America’s values on the world stage, and adopting a slightly redressed version of Trumpisim may play well in New York, D.C., and Los Angeles. But farmers in Kansas, line workers in Michigan, and blue collar workers in Virginia will and have so far rejected candidates who just preach Sanders silliness. This is by no means to say we think that any significant number of Democrats who have beaten Bernie’s people will wind up being less extreme than Sanders. If the House changes hands as we believe it will. We predict that most newly elected Democrats will turn into Nancy Pelosi clones. The only difference is that the Democrats will lie about their extremist views. We thought we would end this post with a little meme making its way around cyberspace showing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez being out of her depth:

Ocasio-Cortez Severely Burned After Accidentally Touching Book On Basic Economicshttps://t.co/GPiDEbRZfW pic.twitter.com/9z5ohZAJxr

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) August 8, 2018