Trump VP Choice Trifecta: Tobacco Shill, Climate Denier, Bigot
July 14, 2016
They can’t help themselves.
Which comes first? Tobacco shilling or Climate denial? Or bigotry? Don’t let it confuse you. It’s all very, very clear.
Before there was North Carolina’s bathroom bill, there was a Mike Pence-endorsed bill that gave “protections” to religious people who wanted to refuse service to LGBTQ people in the state. The problem in Indiana, however, was that Pence missed the cultural shift and underestimated those who would stand in opposition to him and his bill. Boycotts were called, conventions and speeches were canceled along with concerts, and the dollars were quickly draining from Indiana‘s tourism at a time when the state was already struggling financially. The CEOs of Yelp and Salesforce said they would reduce investment plans in the state and Apple CEO Tim Cook denounced Pence’s law in an op-ed for The Washington Post.
“Our image. Our reputation as a state that embraces people of diverse backgrounds and makes them feel welcome…is at risk because of a new law,” the editorial in the IndyStar read.
Climate Denial Crock of the Week 
July 15, 2016 at 8:04 am
I’m no fan of Pence, but it irritates me when people start dredging up things that Hillary said 20 years ago to try to drag her down. Hasn’t Pence written anything since the turn of the millennium that might be worth discussing?
July 15, 2016 at 11:06 am
With Climate Change, you stab someone today, and 20 years later he dies. On this topic, I really think people need to be held accountable for what they counselled decades ago, when doing something could have helped. They can’t claim ‘ignorance’: the Science was settled even before the ‘ice age scare of the 1970s’ nonsense Pence is peddling made news-rag headlines. We are surrounded today by the consequences of inaction. I absolutely think people like Pence should PAY for committing this crime, at the very least by shining a light on the inconvenient truth that it was committed at all.
July 16, 2016 at 9:06 am
Pence is disingenuous. The tobacco settlement was not a ploy to make smoking illegal, but was brought on by the industry itself by knowingly defrauding the public about their own research and efforts to make tobacco more addictive and by committing perjury. His global warming argument checks all the denialist boxes (seventies ice age scare, volcanoes as main source of CO², unfair business advantages to the Chinese and Indonesians (!), global warming as a conspiracy to aggrandize the role of government and increase taxes.
These are not arguments made in good faith or from ignorance. In the end even the “conservative” rhetoric protecting big business comes down to protecting their business model from a truly free market and a fair playing field. Was it not Adam Smith who noted that in a truly free market it was almost impossible to realize a profit.
July 15, 2016 at 9:18 am
Well, regarding global warming, while he presumably supports “clean air” and regards reducing CO2 emissions a good thing, he has said as of 2009 that the “science is very mixed” and “There is a denial of the growing skepticism in the scientific community.” So I doubt he has changed much there.
Please see for example the Hardball video at:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/07/14/watch-mike-pence-trumps-likely-vp-pick-question-global-warming-and-demur-on-evolution/
July 15, 2016 at 9:33 am
Also, Pence signed into law the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” in 2015 where religious freedom is construed as the right of businesses to discriminate against minorities, so the bigotry is still there. This would apply to more than just sexual orientation. And he opposed Frank-Dodd Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act which is to my knowledge the only significant attempt to put in place a few safeguards against a repeat of the 2008 meltdown.
Please see:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/jul/14/indiana-gov-mike-pence-widely-expected-join-trump-/
There is more of interest on the other end of that link.
July 15, 2016 at 12:16 pm
Trump-Pence hardly rolls off the tongue and sounds ridiculous.
If only he’d chosen Mr Ocalypse for VP!
July 15, 2016 at 5:48 pm
“Trump-Pence” makes me think of the “Tuppence a bag” line in the old Mary Poppins song “For the Birds”. Someone with more time than I have might enjoy playing with some parody for campaign slogans and even a song.
July 15, 2016 at 5:50 pm
Sorry, the title is “Feed the Birds”. I guess I was already into the parodies myself.
July 22, 2016 at 9:57 pm
T-P, as in toilet paper, is as good a symbol for their ticket as any and the original campaign logo which was modified after only one day had the shaft of the T passing through the gaping opening of the P.
Pence is a smarmy scumbag who’s against abortions for anyone including victims of rape & incest and because of legislation he signed and supported there’s a woman who’s been sentenced to FORTY years for a miscarriage
https://rewire.news/article/2015/03/30/purvi-patel-sentenced-41-years-feticide-neglect-dependent/
July 15, 2016 at 4:43 pm
Mike Pence is also rabidly pro-TPP – unlike Trump who opposes it: http://www.tppcoalition.org/press-release-governor-pence-urges-congressional-delegation-to-support-trade-promotion-authority-and-trade-agreements/