I hope Mike Pence is better-prepared for tonight’s debate than he was in his last turn in the national spotlight — when he crashed and burned in the attempt to defend Indiana’s version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act last year. In the midst of an astroturfed social media and progressive shame campaign, he failed to mount a substantive defense to the law he just signed, couldn’t seem to move from stale talking points, and was left essentially pleading the case that Indiana isn’t bigoted. He then added insult to injury by caving days later and signing a “fix” that the law didn’t need.
Since that sorry episode, social justice warriors have tried to replicate their success in state after state — following the Indiana model that combines corporate pressure, social media campaigns, and intense media coverage (during slow news cycles) to create the impression that states and governors are on the “wrong side of history” or bringing back Jim Crow merely because they seek to revive religious liberty protections that have long prevailed in American life.
Pence’s surrender was extraordinarily destructive. Not only did he empower the worst, most hypocritical elements of the SJW Left (it’s amusing to watch corporations get on their high horse about religious freedom at home even as they proudly do businesses in violently oppressive regimes abroad), Pence is still labeled as a hater and bigot. The Left side of the internet is replete with stories about his alleged hatred of LGBT people. Their contempt is undiminished, they just now know that he can be intimidated into submission.
Before Trump picked Pence as his running mate, I would have said that politicians like Pence helped explain the rise of Trump. When the chips were down — when vital principles were at stake — he couldn’t follow through. He came to the national stage unprepared and soon found himself in full retreat. So GOP voters turned to a “fighter” — someone they believe won’t back down.
Even with my criticism of Pence’s conduct in Indiana, I would happily vote for him for president. His career can’t be summed up with that one mistake, but since this might be the only debate in the entire campaign that features a meaningful discussion of conservative ideas — especially of conservative ideas regarding life and liberty — I hope that Pence finds Tim Kaine and the debate moderator, Elaine Quijano, less formidable than he found Apple’s Tim Cook or ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.