Former Vice President Mike Pence greets people while signing copies of his book "So Help Me God" before the start of a GOP fundraising dinner, March 16, 2023, in Keene, N.H.
Former Vice President Mike Pence doubled down Thursday on his controversial remarks aimed at Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's decision to take parental leave.
The former vice president, thought to be a contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, refused to apologize after he mocked Buttigieg's "maternity leave" at the annual Gridiron Dinner in Washington for journalists and politicians last Saturday.
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"The Gridiron Dinner is a roast, " he told WMUR's Arielle Mitropoulos at a GOP dinner in New Hampshire when asked for his response to the criticism. "I had a lot of jokes directed to me, and I directed a lot of jokes to Republicans and Democrats. The only thing I can figure is Pete Buttigieg not only can't do his job, but he can't take a joke."
On Monday, the White House publicly asked Pence to apologize, calling the joke "offensive and inappropriate, all the more so because he treated women suffering from postpartum depression as a punchline." Buttigieg's husband, Chasten, then went on ABC's "The View" on Thursday to denounce the "attempted joke."
Marc Short, Pence's former chief of staff and co-chair of his political advocacy group, called the White House reaction to Pence's set "faux outrage."
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"The White House would be wise to focus less on placating the woke police and focus more on bank failures, planes nearly colliding in mid-air, train derailments, and the continued supply chain crisis, " Short said in a statement earlier this week.
ABC News' Gio Benitez asked the transportation secretary himself on Monday whether he thought Pence owed him an apology, to which he responded, "I'll let others speak to that."
"It's a strange thing to me because the last time I saw him, he asked me about my kids like a normal person would. I guess, you know, at a political event in white tie, it's a little different, " Buttigieg said.
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Buttigieg's twins, now 18 months old, were born prematurely and developed Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection (RSV). One was hospitalized and put on a ventilator -- a "terrifying" experience that the couple documented on Medium -- and a point Chasten Buttigieg raised in a tweet this week to Pence.
"I spoke up because we all have an obligation to hold people accountable for when they say something wrong, especially when it's misogynistic, especially when it's homophobic, and I just don't take that when it's towards my family, and I don't think anyone else would, especially when you bring a very small, medically-fragile child into it, " he told co-hosts of "The View."
"The thing about what he said is it flies in the face of what he says he is. He says he's a family values Republican. So I don't think he's practicing what he preaches here, " he said.
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"Someone wrote this, and he checked it and purposely said maternity leave rather than paternity leave -- but also, it's a bigger conversation about the work that women do in families -- taking a swipe at all women and all families and expecting that women would stay home and raise children is a misogynistic view, especially from a man who said just last year that we should be supporting more people that adopt, " he added.Sure, Buttigieg may be the first openly-gay Democrat to run for president while Pence’s Biblically based views on homosexuality have made him the boogeyman for the LGBTQ community.
But while they’re polar opposites on many policies, and havepublicly debatedeach other on how their strong Christian faiths differently inform their views, they share temperaments, some family traits and even some approaches to religion.
“We want to make sure we’re not only raising our voices in opposition but also establishing a movement that people would want to be proud of, ” he said of what he also called his “happy warrior” approach.
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As Buttigieg has continued that style in his presidential campaign, the similarities caught the attention of Mitch Harper, a member of the Indiana GOP’s leadership.
“He seems to have something in common with Mike Pence. And it’s the flipside, ” Harper said. “You know how Mike Pence says, 'I’m a conservative, but I’m not mad about it? I think Pete Buttigieg can say, `I’m a progressive, but I’m not mad about it.’”
Pence, who is extremely proud of his Irish roots, frequently talks about his maternal grandfather’s immigration to the United States in 1919. If his grandfather could see him now, Pence likes to say, he would not only be “very surprised, ” but would know he was right to come.
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“This is a country where anybody can be anybody, ” Pence told a group of Hispanic business owners in March. “If you work hard and play by the rules, and keep your promises, you can live the American Dream.”
As much as Pence wears his Irish heritage on his sleeve, Buttigieg’s unusual name immediately raises the question of his genealogy. As hard as it is for many Americans to pronounce, Buttigieg is one of the most common last names in Malta, where his father was from. Joseph Buttigieg, who died in January, came to the United States in the 1970s to pursue his doctorate and later became an English professor at the University of Notre Dame.
“My father chose to become an American, after immigrating here because of the educational opportunities no other countries could provide, ” Buttigieg wrote to his supporters after his dad’s death. “He loved this country but also hated to see it fall short of its values and wanted it to constantly become better than it was.”
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Both also got the same start in religion – as baptized Catholics. But both now practice other faiths. Buttigieg is Episcopalian. Pence is an evangelical Christian.
Pence, a former altar boy and parish youth minister, has said that his Catholic upbringing helped shape him and “continues to serve me.”
During his eight years of parochial school, Sister Sharon Bierman encouraged Pence to enter speech competitions, developing early the public speaking skills that would be part of the foundation of his public and political life. And throughout his political career, Pence has been outspoken on some issues important to the Catholic Church, particularly his opposition to abortion.
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Buttigieg went to a Catholic high school where he said was taught not only “church doctrine on matters like sexuality and abortion, but also to understand the history of the Church as a voice for the oppressed and downtrodden.” He headed the school’s small chapter of Amnesty International, an experience that contributed to his wanting to get involved in politics more directly.
“Pence admired Lincoln’s presidency but was curious about why the sixteenth president, a man raised in a log cabin in Southern Indiana, was never baptized, never received communion, and never joined a church, ” wrote biographer Andrea Neal in “Pence: The Path to Power.”
Majoring in Harvard University’s program in History and Literature, Buttigieg wrote his thesis on a speech by a Puritan minister. Samuel Danforth spoke about America’s civilizing missions to make the “wild and savage lands” of the New World more like the image of heaven on earth.
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In his memoir, Buttigieg describes his thesis as drawing a line from Danforth’s thinking to America’s Cold War insistence on invading Vietnam to “save” it from godless Communism.
The idea that the first shall be last and the last shall be first is central to how both men say their faith should be put into practice.
Pence has spread the servant leader philosophy when he’s spoken to young people over the years, including in commencement addresses since becoming vice president.
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“Servant leadership, not selfish ambition, must be the animating force of the career that lies before you, ” Pence told the 2017 graduates of Pennsylvania’s Grove City College. “For it’s written, whoever would be first of all must be servant of all.”
Buttigieg has questioned whether Pence has a “different understanding of Christianity than I do” because of Pence’s support for what Buttigieg has called the “porn star presidency.”
Yet, Buttigieg also uses the term “servant leadership” to describe his philosophy of trying to follow Christ’s example of humble service, epitomized by Christ’s washing the feet of his apostles.
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“To me, faith is largely about humility, it’s about humbling yourself in the service of others, ” Buttigieg told ABC’s “The View.” “And that’s a sense of servant leadership. I think it’s something we need a lot more of."
“He was proud. It was one of the last things we talked about, ” Buttigieg said on The View days later. “I’m here because I knew he would want me to be.”
Pence’s father, who was vice president of Keil Brothers Oil and ran a string of gas stations, died of a cardiac arrest during his son’s first congressional campaign in 1988. His dad had grilled Pence about why, at age 29, he was taking on an established incumbent. But Ed Pence eventually became a big supporter, and helped introduce Pence to people in the business community.
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After his father’s untimely
