Evidently, the Indiana GOP has announced that Governor Mike Pence will be running for re-election on his record. Jeff Cardwell, Indiana’s Republican Party Chair, is quoted as saying (presumably with a straight face) “He has a very strong record.”
Well, it certainly smells strong…
The Democrats’ response has been pretty predictable. A media release pointed to several documented aspects of the Governor’s “strong” record: Indiana’s per capita income is 38th in the U.S., thanks in part to repeal of the Common Construction Wage; the damage done by RFRA; Indiana’s rank of 46th in quality of life; Pence’s decisions to decline an 80 million dollar grant for pre-kindergarten, to cut funding for public schools and to wage unremitting war on the elected Superintendent of Public Instruction; his responsibility for Indiana’s infrastructure woes, including poor supervision of contractors that facilitated acceptance of substandard asphalt; his understaffing of DCS that nearly crippled that department while putting vulnerable children at risk; the damage he has done and continues to do to the state’s reputation by rejecting Syrian refugees and signing an insane and punitive anti-abortion bill…
And of course, the Democrats couldn’t resist another mention of JustIN, Pence’s tone-deaf proposal to establish a “news bureau.”
But if you are really interested in seeing the “record” that Mike Pence plans to run on, in all of its fulsome “glory,” you should revisit a recent post from this very blog. I began by listing all the reasons Hoosiers should not re-elect our Pastor-in-Chief, and then I challenged readers to fill in the blanks, to tell me what I had missed.
Forty-two of them did.
Together with the list in my post, the comments provide a pretty comprehensive picture of what Mike Pence has done to Indiana. (Much more comprehensive than the Democrats’ press release but to be fair, no one would read it if it had been that long.)
This post would also be too long if I included everything listed in the prior post and its comments, but here are just a few that the Democrat’s media advisory left out…
- He’s made war on Planned Parenthood, denying poor women life-saving health services and facilitating the HIV outbreak in Scott County. Meanwhile, he diverted money from medically-appropriate clinics to “pro life” organizations.
- He has enthusiastically supported privatized prisons. (Couldn’t have anything to do with campaign contributions, could it?)
- He refused to expand Medicaid even though the feds were paying for it.
- He refused to apply for the SNAP time limit waiver, for which Indiana qualified, resulting in benefit cuts to an estimated 65,000 individuals.
- Vastly increased logging in state forests, among other assaults on the environment….
There’s a lot more in the original, but you get the idea.
Yessiree–a strong record to run on!
Surely, they jest.
“Well, it certainly smells strong…”
Thanks for that chuckle.
A great many Hoosiers are too dumb to know how dumb they are. I predict reelection.
Pence is typical of he current Seinfeld episodic cadre of governors whose goal is complete several yeas of “shows about nothing.” The goal is to do nothing and to destroy what other dedicated public officials have done for the sake of all. When this period of history, plethorized with republican tyranny and its resultant rubble, is over (and one hopes that will be soon), what will the republicans do? David Fry once said of those who live at a teen level of rebellion, “We hall party on the rubble.” What is left of the middle class will be the dance floor.
It’s not just Gov Putz; look at the slate of R candidates and listen carefully to the paid advertising. They don’t bother w their individual records, they just bash Obama, ObamaCare, liberals. Is that all it takes to get elected in Indiana?
“Is that all it takes to get elected in Indiana?”
I guess we’ll know come November, but I’m worried the answer is yes…
Over it,
” I predict (a Pense) reelection.”
Whether it’s Walker in Wisconsin, Pense in Indiana, or Scott in Florida, it’s about one thing at its deepest level. And it’s not about the numbers. It’s called White Supremacy. And as Walter Cronkite said many years ago, “it’s White Supremacy masked in Christianity.”
It’s as simple as that. Why do we keep making it so complicated? I would suggest that we quit talking so much about democracy and focus more on the rise of FASCISM. Then we might be rewarded with some positive results.
Forgive me for dreaming. It’s still early in the morning.
I’m a former Hoosier. I can smell the stink all the way in Florida. Of course we have Governor Rick Scott, another GOP troglodyte. Don’t get me started. They are the result of the low and wrongly informed public. So sad for we all. May God bless America.
May God save America
Which is worse, the fact that he will likely be reelected in November, or the fact that the Indiana Democratic Party can’t come up with anyone who could defeat someone so despised?
EFK,
“Which is worse, the fact that he will likely be reelected in November, or the fact that the Indiana Democratic Party can’t come up with anyone who could defeat someone so despised?”
The latter.
Who would want to run for governor on the Democrat ticket if the majority in the two houses are Republicans? It would be just the same as Obama and the Congress.
Sheila, your statement of what Pence has done TO Indiana, rather than FOR Indiana hit the nail on the head. It is all about the damage he has done to this state. I can’t think of a single positive thing he has done for the state.
“Together with the list in my post, the comments provide a pretty comprehensive picture of what Mike Pence has done to Indiana.”
Yesterday’s blog posts by readers continued on for quite awhile last evening. For those of you interested in reading the rest of the very interesting posts, 9:30pm is a good place to start.
NVL – your post last night was So Very Well Written! Thank you!
Irvin,
The Democratic Party is the biggest joke. They’re not a legitimate opposition party. Not after Bill Clinton sold out with his “triangulation” strategy almost 25 years ago.
How have WE in Indiana, and across this nation, allowed the situation to come to it’s current downhill (NOT trickle down) slide into oblivion. What comes to my mind is that old Elvis Presley hit, “A Little Less Talk, A Little More Action”.
On April 5, 2016, Matthew Tully’s column brought our well remembered and still respected Mayor Bill Hudnut out of retirement, though in ill health, long enough to speak his mind on the current GOP. “Hudnut unloads on state of GOP” He reiterated his earlier published views on Indiana’s infamous RFRA law and stated, “Legislation like that is so wrong.” He and his wife know through their personal experience how damaging the current anti-abortion law is for families. These two issues alone should disqualify Pence for re-election due to the deeply personal invasive basis of both laws. He has wormed his way into our beds and needs to be removed just as he needs to be removed from our public education system before it is totally destroyed.
His last minute “rescue” attempt of our collapsing (in some areas already collapsed) infrastructure isn’t enough to save him from being ousted from office but this takes action. The rally at the State House last Saturday in cold weather spoke loudly to women’s issues and those of the LGBT supporters. Keep your eyes on Dana Black; new on the political scene but making forward strides in her district as she runs against Brian Bosma. Another member of the GOP who is long past his usefulness in this state. Every election is vital at this time; primaries and local elections before the presidential election in November must bring Democrats out of their homes and offices and into their polling places or the state of Indiana will continue is downward movement to 50th place in quality of life on all issues.
Look for the word well-being to be a highlight of the Pence campaign. The Koch Machine has determined that they can’t win with “makers vs takers”, so they’re shifting the rhetoric this year to talk about the well-being of the poor and the middle class.
Give the new Republicans an “F” in policy, but they get an “A+” in marketing.
We must remember and vote.
Nancy,
Thanks. NVL’s post was terrific.
Just because the Democratic Party is scared doesn’t mean we all have to be. The scary thing is how scared the Democratic Party is to speak-up. That’s the real scary part—-absolutely No CIVIC COURAGE whatsoever.
Well it (he) does smell. Reason we moved out of state. Good luck with that one- he is clueless
With my car in the shop yesterday, I took the bus and was able to keep my eyes off the road. Saw two lawn signs for Hillary, one for Bernie–and a forest of Pence Must Go signs. The guy who came up with them and sells them for $10 a piece struck gold.
As most of you, probably, know EthicalFront.net is my main site. It also has links to seven of my other websites. Since yesterday, overwhelmingly the visitors to EthicalFront.net have been from Nuremberg, Germany. That’s no coincidence.
Sheila’s blog, as I have mentioned before, has a worldwide audience. My tracking devices can tell me where the visitor originated from.
Come to think of it, Pence really IS channeling Noah in great Hoosier style. With a penchant for clever and stinging satire, my favorite ‘Pence’ article was penned by Morton Marcus and published in the Indianapolis Business Journal in 04/2014. I won’t bother to summarize the article because I’m pretty sure I’d botch it, plus you’d not bother to read the original.
http://www.ibj.com/articles/47247-marcus-it-would-have-been-different-had-noah-been-a-hoosier
I am retired to Florida; my daughter is active in Indiana Democratic politics and is more optimistic about the coming election than some of your writers. She thinks that Democrats will
beat Pence and elect a Democrat to the governor’s chair.However, as one of your other writers
suggested, if so, he will probably have a gerrymandered super majority legislature to deal with, and I don’t envy him his job if elected. If he is elected, you will probably have super majority gridlock, veto, etc. although if the Republicans maintain a super-majority his veto will be worthless. Perhaps Democrats should go after vulnerable House and Senate seats to end this super-majority of the Republicans and bring the veto back in the event a Democrat is elected governor. As things stand now, it is the legislature that is governing Indiana, not what those
who wrote the Hoosier constitution had in mind. To the extent possible, I prefer gridlock over the current march back to the cave Hoosiers are currently experiencing, some kicking and screaming. Of course, this legislature has a governor who is complicit in the state’s destruction, so vetoes are rare in any event. Nonetheless, I prefer a gridlocked (to the extent possible) situation to the march back to the cave Hoosiers are currently experiencing, some but not enough kicking and screaming. Perhaps when the Colts and Indians leave town voters will wake up. Perhaps.
Had he not screwed up a year earlier he would have been on stage with the rest of the Republican tryouts for President and would have problem been a REAL GOP contender.
How scary and fragile American leadership has become, it only requires more form than substance.
I truly believe that Pence will lose the election. His record is horrible and many people will get out to vote against him and not so much for the opponent. Just look at the last election with Pence, Gregg and Rupert. His support was lukewarm at best and he just squeaked by with a win thanks to Rupert pulling votes away from Greg.
The Democrats have a decent candidate, although too conservative for my taste, I will support John Gregg because I absolutely despise Pence. Dems have a problem with lack of money for the campaign. If Gregg starts now he will be out of money before November and Pence’s unlimited dollars courtesy of the Koch s, et al would bury Gregg in negative ads right before the election.
Democrats have to start somewhere, so I will gladly support a campaign of voting against Pence if that is what it takes to get this clown out of office. And hopefully when the Democrats actually start campaigning in the next few months things will start to look up for those of us who want Pence to be a one term governor.
This is a Hoosier test. How bad can the (R) offering be before (R)s won’t support it?
One could assume that the first time that the Pence offering was made it was an unknown.
Now that the bait has been rotting in full view of the public will (R)s still go for it?
You betcha!
My experience is that conservatives see their blind alligiance to each other, or anyone who claims be one of them, as loyalty. But what it is is brand loyalty which is blind loyalty.
Conservatism has been given more than enough time and opportunity to actually deliver and virtually never has. It survives only on advertising, as it has delivered nothing in business, religion or government. It’s a dud but loyal customers of the brand are undeterred.
It’s an anthropological Petri dish. We observe the actual behavior of brand loyalists under lab conditions in real time.
They do not evolve as the environment feeds back success or failure of adaptation.
That always means extinction.
Mea culpa. Natural selection comes from differential reproductive success.
As far as I know brand loyalist culture is still reproducing as apples fall close to the tree.
I guess we’ll have to rely on education to teach cognitive quality control.
We need to encourage our intelligent youth to get involved as Sheila writes about Civic Responsibility. We all have to educate ourselves on the candidates & vote for the one’s that are going to work for the people rather than their own agenda. Regardless of what stereotype Indiana has, if these controversial bills like 1337 & RFRA were put to a popular vote the majority of Hoosiers would not support. Get on the Indiana gov. Website & see how these idiots vote. Make sure they will not be re-elected! There should not be any person in this state that is of voting age that would vote for a lawmaker that supported HB1337. Read that bill & put yourself in the shoes of that woman or father to be & imagine getting the news that your unborn child has a fatal birth defects. Hell why do we even run the tests, if you’re going to demonize the mother for making a choice to terminate? So that mother to be & father to be have difficult decisions to make. Can you imagine being told that you cannot say the reason for termination was due to a potentially fatal birth defect? Excuse me but that is just playing w/your head. Is that what we elected these people to do?i wasn’t aware we had such a problem w/people aborting babies because of race or sex? Where does this come from? It’s like they tried to make it sound politically correct or something while just plain putting their noses in our private lives.
I wrote to every legislater that voted in favor of HB1337 & told them I would to all I could to make sure they were not re-elected. So spread the word. My voting power can only vote against one of those idiots. We need to get the word out to everyone. If people actually read the bill, the could not support these candidates. This is more than anti-abortion, this is invading your personal lives & the choices that you or a loved one may face.
Pete,
You wrote “My experience is that conservatives see their blind allegiance to each other, or anyone who claims be one of them, as loyalty. But what it is is brand loyalty which is blind loyalty.”
There are folks who are ‘Ford’ people and there are those who are ‘GM’ people. You couldn’t change their loyalties if you shared all the evidence-based peer-reviewed research in the automobile industry. These same strange loyalties exist in politics, both Democrat and Republican. Never dismiss the importance of the loyal low-information straight-ticket voter to the Democrat Party and the Republican Party.
Here’s the link: iga.in.gov. Put in your address. Find out who your representatives are & see how they voted this year. Donna Schaibley Rep. House Rep. Voted in favor of HB 1337. It’s that simple, she’s out!
Most people that comment on this site probably already know this kind of information, but we have to encourage others to do it too.
BSH, I agree that brand loyalty is a human trait unrelated to political preference. However what I observe is that Republican/conservatives rely more on advertising, disguised as news, to enlist brand loyalists. That’s a main reason why they’ve become dysfunctional. Like many companies they’ve come to rely on advertising rather than product innovation for market penetration.
Product innovation delivers the goods. Advertising gets you the sizzle not the steak.
That’s why it’s wise not to be sucker punched by advertising.
Of course it’s ancient political ware to accuse your opponents of the tricks that you use. So RCs are always pointing to other media peddlers as politically motivated. Thus their piteous cries of liberal media.
Nice marketing try but lacks evidence.
Pete, your marketing analogy tweaked my thinking. For decades, the Democrats have been convinced there would always be a massive number of voters who wanted Clintons in office, and that those same voters would always support Clintons based on tradition. The DNC has done quite well with that market. The problem is that the Democrats were securing a growing share of a shrinking market. The voters who want Clintons are elderly, and they are dying. Young people don’t want Clintons just as they don’t want Oldsmobiles or Buicks.
With the Republicans, I see no marketing strategy other than perhaps, relying on chaos which does tend to grab free media attention. Remembering the concepts of operant conditioning, negative attention is better than no attention.
If John Gregg does not get a clue pretty soon, Pence is assured of reelection. Why does Gregg insist on referring to himself as “pro-life,” when everyone knows this means hatred of women and children? He is fooling himself if he thinks the thousands of Fire Pence signs at last Saturday’s rally will translate into votes for someone who calls himself “pro-life.”
Sharon, John Gregg personally looks like a nice enough man; however, he is the victim of the Democrat Party in Indiana. Who made the ultimate decision to place Gregg on the ballot? Don’t blame the man; blame the party who lifted him into his current position on the ballot.
I say the IN Democrat Party does not have a grip on the Indiana voter and is attempting to satisfy ‘everyone’ which means no one is satisfied.
To any 21-to-30-year-old performance students with backgrounds in drama, basketball or football:
Please, please consider running for governor on the Dem ticket otherwise be one of the many who will blindly unintentionally re-elect Pence.
Don’t worry about missing qualifications. History demonstrates you don’t need any.
Your youth will get you elected these days. People want to unseat the dour old gerrymandered whitehairs. You don’t need to be religious but be sure to speechify like you are.
Wear a windblown hairdo that in no way resembles Pence’s or Reagan’s coifs.
Sharon Boothby and BSH; because John Gregg is running unopposed in the primary I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and convince myself he is saving campaign funds till announced as the actual Democratic nominee. He has stated himself that he has more going for him than NOT being Pence; we still don’t know what that is and I am curious.
We, who want Pence out MUST vote for Gregg; if another low Democratic voter turnout in May, we are lost. Who knows what Pence will deprive us of next? I am NOT curious to learn what that could be.
A missed ultra-strong candidate for placement on the ballot as the Democrat choice for IN Governor is Indy Mayor Joe Hogsett. He’d gather votes from both sides of the aisle.
How has Pence supported privatized prisons? We had ONE privatized prison before he took office. We still have one. He’s not privatized a single prison since he took office.
The downside of democracy is that all of us have nobody to blame but the rest of us. A Commie plot.
Being pro life means you hate women and children? Seriously? So the millions of mothers who are pro life hate themselves and their own children?
Like most abuses of power Paul the prolife/choice movement is about who decides for those affected.
We think that the mother deciding for herself and her baby is the right decision process and the Supreme Court apparently agrees.
Some churches disagree. They don’t have to agree because their mothers have the same right to decide.
That’s the nature of freedom and liberty.
Paul,
Frankly, when voting for Governor, the last thing on my mind is parsing the number of privatized prisons that occurred on the incumbent’s watch. Setting my background as a relatively fiscal conservative voter offset by my being socially liberal, I’m not up for an argument about prisons; however, I’m up for an argument as a Hamilton County voter who finds no reason to vote for Mike Pence nor do I find a valid reason to vote for John Gregg. Neither gentleman impresses me or impresses my husband, a traditionally straight ticket Republican voter, who refused to vote for Pence because of his stance on abortion.
Paul, the Tea Party group and the narrow evangelical thought processes are killing any chance for a Republican ever to receive a vote in Indiana. Do you guys not realize that?
I recall Paul that Pences role in privatizing prisons is to keep them full through draconian prison sentences for minor drug offenses.
No?
Paul,
You wrote “Being pro life means you hate women and children? Seriously? So the millions of mothers who are pro life hate themselves and their own children?” And, I’m sure I’ve missed some posting for which you’re replying.
Pro-life, pro-choice are not politically relevant questions today. Whether we agree or not, whether we choose or not, abortion at this point in time is legal in the eyes of the law. Women and husbands/partners are free to choose their options based upon personal reasons which may, or may not, be to our liking.
Just as my late father was a Depression-era teetotaler regarding alcohol for whatever his private reasons, he had no problem enjoying the company and fellowship of those who enjoyed an alcoholic beverage or maybe two or three, as in imbibing at the same table.
Where has our sense of tolerance for personal choice gone? I’m convinced that my father is now living with ‘John Galt’ in some undisclosed hidden Heaven for those who enjoy the concept of ‘live and let live’.
Paul,
You can’t fix stupid. Sorry for your luck.
@Jim, just because one disagrees with another certainly does not mean it’s a hunter’s dream, ‘open season’ with ‘no limits’. Poaching always is in poor etiquette.
Unfortunately the Democratic Party in Indiana is very, very weak and is only getting weaker for a multitude of reasons…major problem is the lack of money. I know and I have met several Democratic folks running for office in other counties other than Marion and they get very little help…okay actually zero help at the state level and their county party may also be weak and so for many of them they would reach out to the state level party personnel for assistance (not just monetary but campaign advice, mentoring, etc…) and get zero help. When I mentioned this to one of the Representatives I was quickly told ‘we have no money to help’ and I pushed back and said a return call or some advice would be just as helpful. That is when I was told there is a day training for those wanting to run. A days training…to go up against a well funded machine.
I had heard of a Democratic Representative who actually called out the party in ignoring the rural Democrats after they had lost their seat. From what I have heard is the party had putting too much focus for too long on the urban centers and ignoring the Dems in rural and even sub-rural counties much to their peril. I am originally from Terre Haute who has been a Democratic stronghold (which I believe has been getting starved by the SH run Republican party similar to what they are doing to Gary and Hammond and will are turning on Indpls) and Terre Haute has voted into office Republican. Dems in the House lost their seats…Gambill, Reardon, Vandenburgh,…
I will not be surprised if Pence gets reelected…I think it maybe a tight race, but I won’t be surprised. I moved from Terre Haute to Plainfield (Hendricks) and I was in the minority with my Obama and Sanders bumper stickers.
Earlier on this post “Surely you Jest….” I commented:
“As most of you, probably, know EthicalFront.net is my main site. It also has links to seven of my other websites. Since yesterday, overwhelmingly the visitors to EthicalFront.net have been from Nuremberg, Germany. That’s no coincidence.”
Sheila’s blog, as I have mentioned before, has a worldwide audience. My tracking devices from Godaddy.com can tell me where the visitors to my websites originated from.
The total visitors, yesterday, to my website http://www.EthicalFront.net from this post: “Surely you jest” according to my report from Godaddy was 16. All were from Nuremberg, Germany and all originating from SheilaKennedy.net. Absolutely nothing from the U.S. And I’m sure the response in the past two days was prompted by my post on “fascinating!” which revealed my unique knowledge of the machinations of the deep oligarchy in Dallas.
The Germans, more than anyone, know the importance of a first- hand understanding of an “Inner Circle.” By the time Hermann Rauschning’s two books: “The Revolution of Nihilism: Warning to the West” published in 1939 and “The Redemption of Democracy” later entitled “The Beast from the Abyss” published in 1941 were circulated, it was TOO LATE. Those two books told the INSIDE STORY of the Nazi movement by a former leader of the National Socialist Party and ex-president of the Danzig Senate. Rauschning accurately predicted the number of Jews who would die in the holocaust as early as 1939 because he understood the DEEP PATTERNS and where they would eventually lead. It was no SURPRISE to him.
The world is scared of us. And they should be. We have no immunity whatsoever against neo-fascist movements. That’s is why the Democratic Party is so IMPOTENT. We’re all doomed if a nationwide antidote of TRUTH is not administered effectively prior to our presidential election in November.
I’ll be glad to forward a copy of the Report from godaddy.com to anyone who questions its content. My E-mail address is on the http://www.EthicalFront.net website.
an-ti-dote n. [ Gr. anti-, against +dotos, given] 1. a remedy to counteract a poison. 2. anything that works against an EVIL or unwanted condition. ~Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesaurus
Americans Awake! We better.