Six Times Pence Refuses To Say That Law Won’t Allow Discrimination

Yes or No?  Indiana Gov. Mike Pence was asked 6 times on Sunday morning by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos to answer the question “if, under the law, it would be legal to refuse service to gay customers and six times Pence refused to answer.”  I watched in disbelief as Pence unwittingly continued to dig himself deeper and deeper into the hole he started by signing this bigoted hate law on Thursday. I found myself at a loss for words (really!!) in trying to explain what I had just witnessed.  However, a staff writer for Daily Kos, Barbara Morrill summed it up perfectly:

By Barbara Morrill – Daily Kos Staff

In the annals of damage control that did more harm than good, Indiana's Gov. Mike Pence has truly set the new standard. Appearing on today's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" to defend and "clarify" Indiana's new right to discriminate law that he eagerly signed last week, Pence—and this is putting it kindly—crashed and burned.

Six times Stephanopoulos asked if, under the law, it would be legal to refuse service to gay customers and six times Pence refused to answer. And when asked outright if "you [Pence] think it should be legal in the state of Indiana  to discriminate against gays or lesbians … it's a yes or no question," Pence's astonishing (and eye roll-inducing) answer was, "Hoosiers don't believe in discrimination." So there you go.

And while Pence continued to peddle the notion that he'd support efforts by the Indiana legislature to "clarify" their new license to discriminate, when asked if making the LGBT community a protected class would be considered, Pence said no, that he wouldn't push for that, that it's not on his agenda and that it's "not an objective of the people of the state of Indiana," and then flat-out said, "We're not going to change the law" and that "I stand by this law."

So, given all this, what was the real purpose of Pence's announcement that they'd seek to have this legally-enshrined bigotry clarified? Beyond insisting that Hoosiers were really nice people and that their only concern was to "strengthen the foundation of the Constitution"? Apparently it was to let everyone know that Pence has been reaching out to business leaders and cooperate leaders to "correct the gross mischaracterization of this law." Because that's the real bottom line.

I have a feeling it’s not going to be a good week for GOP Governor Mike Pence or for the state of Indiana either. Pence has deliberately stepped in “dog-poop” and instead of just scraping it off is now intent on taking his foul smelling bigotry into the living rooms of folks across the country and the world by appearing on TV.  The good news – he’s no longer a viable candidate for the GOP presidential nomination. Nobody, not even the GOP, wants a candidate with dog-poop on his shoes!

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