Pence rejects Daniels' proposal for truce on social issues
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/06/13/art.penceiso0613.cnn.jpg caption="'I believe with all my heart that Republicans need to continue to fight for the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage with everything we’ve got in 2010 and in 2012,' Rep. Pence said Sunday."]
(CNN) – A leading congressional conservative disagreed Sunday with a suggestion by his state's governor that social issues be put on the back burner in order to allow policymakers to focus on turning the economy around and bringing the federal government’s finances into balance.
Speaking to The Weekly Standard, a conservative publication, Indiana's Republican governor, Mitch Daniels, said the next president "would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues" so he or she could focus on the fiscal problems facing the country.
Asked about the comments, GOP Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana praised Daniels but rejected his contention about social issues as the midterm elections approach and as both parties begin to turn their attention to the 2012 presidential race.
“I think Mitch Daniels is the best governor in the United States of America. He’s done a fantastic job for the people of Indiana,” Pence said on CNN’s State of the Union.
But, Pence quickly added that, in his view, “Barack Obama’s the most pro-abortion president in American history.”
“I believe with all my heart,” Pence told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley, “that Republicans need to continue to fight for the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage with everything we’ve got in 2010 and in 2012.”
Pence, a popular conservative who is also chairman of the House Republican Conference, frequently champions the very same social issues which Daniels suggested policymakers downplay in coming years.
The Indiana congressman often describes himself as "a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican – in that order." And last month, before a largely conservative gathering of gun rights activists, Pence made a point of emphasizing the need to press for the primacy of social issues in the nation’s political and cultural fabric.
"We will not restore this nation with public policy alone,” Pence said last month at an annual gathering of the National Rifle Association. “It will require public virtue and that emanates from our most cherished institutions: family and religion.
"To renew this nation, we must renew the institutions that strengthen her character. We must stand for the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage and the vital importance of religion in our everyday lives."
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I'm from Indiana. Pence is a wingnut dope . The best thing Daniels ever did was stay in the parking lot when Failin Sarah Palin came to Jeffersonville,Indiana in 2008. I knew that he was a smart man. I think that he has fallen on his sword with this truce because he knows that the wingnut litmus tests will kill him. He took the stimulus money and is a moderate wingnut with a brain. He has constantly denied running in 2012 but the GOP are so desperate , they won't listen to him.
I can't adequately express my profound contempt for people like Mike Pence, people who are themselves who are so utterly contemptuous of the right of the American people to make their own decisions on "social issues." If these self-righteous busybodies don't want to have abortions, fine, that's their business. If they want to practice their homophobia, that's equally their business. But it's not their business to impose their "morality" on anyone else.
There's a big divide in the Republican Party between traditional Conservatives who, regardless of their personal opinions on "social issues" would never dream of trying to impose those views on anyone else, and the neo-cons like Mike Pence who are so determined to impose their narrow minded intolerance on the rest of us that they'd rather lose an election than respect the opinions of anyone not equally intolerant.
President Obama has not said one thing about abortion, but we have this repug stating . . . . . "“that Republicans need to continue to fight for the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage with everything we’ve got in 2010 and in 2012.”
The sanctity of life while in the womb and against what a woman has to say about her body! Once the kids are born they could care less if they die. Sending adults into unnecessary wars is okay> If they die, that's their god's will, I guess.
The sanctity of marriage from a group of liars and cheaters? Please, don't make me laugh. The repugs (both elected and running) are having more affairs than we can put in a can of family values. Oops, almost forgot, lesbian bondage clubs and rentaboy websites.
Hypocrite!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Excellent! The more the Republicans paint themselves into a right wing corner, the less likely they are to win anything. Keep it up Mikey!
Pence would have been popular back during the 30's and 40's.... He demands his way in social matters.. He can stick his nose some other place as far as I am concerned...He offers nothing for the auto workers or any other workers... since he opposed doing anything about the republican Great recession..... they gave us and Indiana...
that "sanctity of marriage one has ME rolling on the floor laughing. .
unless, of course, ELECTED conservatives are exempt from that
As usual, the anti-choice (they like to call themselves "pro-life", but they're really only pro-fetus) talking head gets it wrong. There are no pro-abortion people. There are a lot of people who are pro-choice, however.