in an election without donald trump, mike pence's history of controversial statements might receive more air-time. | ap photo the governor<u+2019>s long career in the public eye contains its share of controversy. by madeline conway and brent griffiths 10/04/16 01:32 pm edt donald trump tapped mike pence for his steady hand, a low-risk, experienced elected official selected to pair a more conventional presence to the most unexpected major party nominee in a generation. and pence has delivered, relentlessly pushing trump<u+2019>s agenda, defending the nominee through his rockier moments and keeping clear of any major gaffes. but, in another election <u+2014> one without trump<u+2019>s constant controversies or his near-prescient ability to keep himself perpetually front-and-center <u+2014> pence might not be regarded as a force for normalcy. over a long career as a conservative radio host and elected official, pence has made his share of controversial statements. story continued below two trends emerge in the instances when pence has found himself swimming upstream. the first is very much in keeping with his image on the 2016 trail: after an early-career setback and personal transformation, pence has spent a quarter-century preaching civility in public life , even when that meant bucking other popular conservatives. the other, less emphasized trend in 2016 is a longstanding commitment to small government and social conservatism, even when that meant tacking to the right of the republican mainstream. and when he does that, pence has both a tendency to deploy more colorful rhetoric and to tread into territory that his critics call deeply hostile. here<u+2019>s a collection of times pence was anything but bland. in 1995, pence criticized rush limbaugh for the tone of his attacks on bill clinton. pence in 1995 took on rush limbaugh for the tone of his attacks on then-president bill clinton, calling out the fellow conservative radio host for <u+201c>making personal attacks.<u+201d> <u+201c>people like rush and stan [solomon] fail to see the difference between saying, <u+2018>bill clinton is wrong on affirmative action<u+2019> and saying <u+2018>bill clinton is a liar, a profilgate and an evil person,<u+2019><u+201d> he told the indianapolis star<u+2019>s steve hall. <u+201c>why do they do it? because people respond to low blows.<u+201d> he later added: <u+201c>i think you can be entertaining and informative without making personal attacks on those who differ from you on the issues.<u+201d> pence credited his unwillingness to go personal to his unsuccessful 1990 congressional run, after which he swore off negative campaigning forever. pence pushed for restrictions on federal funding for hiv-aids treatment for groups that supported equality of same-sex couples. when he ran for congress in 2000, pence proposed that the government refuse to give federal money for hiv and aids treatment to <u+201c>organizations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the hiv virus.<u+201d> pence was referencing gay men, who were disproportionately affected by the disease. when a federal program providing treatment for the virus came up for reauthorization, pence pushed for a federal audit to steer money toward organizations that pushed individuals to drop their sexual preference. <u+201c>resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior,<u+201d> his campaign website said . once in congress, however, pence was among the sponsors of legislation reauthorizing funding treatment for hiv and aids patients and voted multiple times in favor of the popular legislation. throughout his career, pence has been an opponent of same-sex marriage, and never pulled any punches in defending that position. in the house in 2006, pence argued in favor of a federal constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman. he couched his argument in a defense of marriage, but he also warned of dire consequences of recognizing same-sex couples as married. <u+201c>throughout history, societal collapse was always brought about following an advent of the deterioration of marriage and family,<u+201d> pence said on the house floor, citing research from a harvard sociologist. pence maintained, though, that the debate over same-sex was <u+201c>not about discrimination,<u+201d> and described being gay as a lifestyle choice. <u+201c>i believe that if someone chooses another lifestyle than i have chosen, that that is their right in a free society,<u+201d> he said. as governor of indiana in 2015, pence found himself at the center of the national debate over gay rights when he signed the state<u+2019>s religious freedom restoration act, which he said meant to affirm that the government would not infringe upon its residents<u+2019> right to religious exercise. religious conservatives welcomed the legislation, but it prompted an uproar among opponents who charged that it effectively legalized discrimination against gay people, as some business owners in the state used the law to argue that they could refuse to do business with same-sex couples. under pressure from business leaders, pence later signed an amendment that attempted to clarify that the law did not permit discrimination against lgbt people. in 1999, pence saw the disney movie <u+201c>mulan<u+201d> as an obvious push for women in the military. <u+201c>mulan,<u+201d> the story of a young woman in ancient china who dresses up as a man to take her father<u+2019>s place in the army, was <u+201c>walt disney<u+2019>s attempt to add childhood expectation to the cultural debate over the role of women in the military,<u+201d> pence wrote in an op-ed posted on his radio show<u+2019>s website. <u+201c>despite her delicate features and voice, disney expects us to believe that mulan<u+2019>s ingenuity and courage were enough to carry her to military success on an equal basis with her cloddish cohorts,<u+201d> pence wrote and as buzzfeed chronicled in july . he also brought <u+201c>bambi<u+201d> into the debate: <u+201c>i suspect that some mischievous liberal at disney assumes that mulan<u+2019>s story will cause a quiet change in the next generation<u+2019>s attitude about women in combat and they just might be right. (just think about how often we think of bambi every time the subject of deer hunting comes into the mainstream media debate.)<u+201d> he also had some thoughts on the film <u+201c>titanic.<u+201d> as vox notes , pence offered this theory on the popularity of james cameron<u+2019>s <u+201c>titanic<u+201d> in a piece posted to his 2000 campaign website: in the film, <u+201c>we are seeing america of the late 20th century in metaphor before our eyes,<u+201d> he wrote, referring to the country turning away from its religious roots. <u+201c>just as the royal mail steamship titanic left southhampton, england, on her maiden voyage with deckloads of proud and waving passengers, do we not see ourselves, steaming away from the safe harbor of our best moral and religious traditions? do we not see ourselves full of the same unfounded confidence in our own ability to steer our own course without regard for those antiquated restraints?<u+201d> <u+201c>we love this movie because we still love truth,<u+201d> he concluded. <u+201c>the truth of 1912 and the truth about our own time. there are icebergs ahead and we know it.<u+201d> in 2000, pence downplayed the health risks of cigarettes as <u+201c>hysteria from the political class.<u+201d> <u+201c>time for a quick reality check. despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn't kill,<u+201d> pence wrote on his website . pence then, however, added some statistics that seem to amend his point to say smoking doesn<u+2019>t kill most smokers. <u+201c>in fact, 2 out of every three smokers does not die from a smoking related illness and 9 out of ten smokers do not contract lung cancer. this is not to say that smoking is good for you.... news flash: smoking is not good for you,<u+201d> he wrote. <u+201c>if you are reading this article through the blue haze of cigarette smoke you should quit. the relevant question is, what is more harmful to the nation, second hand smoke or back handed big government disguised in do-gooder healthcare rhetoric.<u+201d> he concluded: <u+201c>a government big enough to go after smokers is big enough to go after you.<u+201d> pence<u+2019>s opponent later questioned this statement during a debate in late september 2000. the indianapolis star reported that the future congressman clarified that he <u+201c>wrote that there was no causal link medically identifying smoking as causing lung cancer <u+2014> adding smoking is bad and urged others to quit. two years before pence<u+2019>s run, america<u+2019>s four largest tobacco companies agreed to pay 46 states and u.s. territories at least $206 billion over the first 25 years, as well as to accept a slew of regulations, in exchange for dropping state and local suits against the companies. pence called climate science a <u+201c>myth<u+201d> and a <u+201c>liberal environmentalist agenda<u+201d> to raise taxes. also in an article published to his 2000 campaign website, pence was emphatic in his denial of climate science. <u+201c>global warming is a myth. the global warming treaty is a disaster,<u+201d> he wrote . <u+201c>there, i said it.<u+201d> pence referred to global warming as the environmental movement<u+2019>s <u+201c>latest <u+2018>chicken little<u+2019> attempt to raise taxes and grow centralized governmental power.<u+201d> <u+201c>i know monica lewinsky seems like the most important issue in america but, call me crazy, i think the quiet expansion of the liberal environmentalist agenda by al gore and clinton white house that will cost thousands of jobs could be more important. say no to the global warming treaty,<u+201d> pence concluded. sixteen years of climate science later, pence the vice presidential candidate sees it somewhat differently. he recently told cnn<u+2019>s chris cuomo that <u+201c>there<u+2019>s no question that the activities that take place in this country and in countries around the world have some impact on the environment and some impact on climate.<u+201d> that understates the scientific consensus on the impact of human greenhouse gas emissions on the climate, but it<u+2019>s a shift from portraying it as a mass hoax. by michael grunwald by bill scher by thomas wright by joshua zeitz
in a trump-free election, pence might not seem so mainstream - politico
madeline conway brent griffiths michael grunwald