From: Michael Greven
Columbus
Columbus native son Mike Pence has gotten himself into a sticky wicket, and it is troubling to see that the favored son of Columbus has lost his bearings.
There is no doubt that the allure of the vice presidential ticket was an attractive opportunity for a politician who has for quite some time set his sights on the White House. Regrettably, Pence accepted to run with Donald Trump, an unpolished politician who has yet to outgrow his role as a bully in middle school.
Initially, it all seemed to make some sense. Pence would balance the oft-questionable positions of the Republican nominee, and perhaps there would be a balanced approach to governance. Regrettably, that has not come to pass, and even more regrettably, Pence has not had the common sense to walk away from Trump and live to be a potential candidate in the future.
The recent revelations about Trump’s incredibly indefensible remarks about women while with Billy Bush on a live mic gave Pence the opportunity to walk away from Trump and be in a better position in the future. Trump’s comments were a clear endorsement of sexual assault. Regrettably, Pence chose a path of weakness.
It is hard to understand what interests Pence was serving other than the allure of power. There is nothing in the Christian faith, or for that matter any faith that I am aware of, that tolerates this type of an attitude toward women. No man of faith can tolerate this or support those who have that attitude. It is not locker room talk; if you talked like that in a locker room you would be thrown out. In lieu of rejecting Trump, Pence went on to exhort Christians to vote for Trump as was recently noted in the banner headline of The Indianapolis Star. This is wrong, period. It is also deeply disappointing.
Republicans have chosen an exceptionally poor candidate to represent them in Donald Trump. In lieu of working to find ways to bring this country together in challenging times, Trump has chosen to divide this country along racial lines more dramatically than anyone since George Wallace. He assails the media, the government, the military, women, Muslims, Hispanics, voting officials, the Chinese, the weather, the trees and the Little League baseball team from Bumdiddly, New York, and anyone who might think differently than he.
I have voted for my fair share of Republicans, including Indiana son Sen. Richard Lugar. It’s time for the Republican Party to recognize this year as a disaster, move on, work cooperatively in governing this country and look forward to better opportunities in the future. Whether or not Mike Pence can figure out a way to salvage his political career moving forward is questionable. One thing is for sure however: that standing hand-in-hand with Donald Trump is the wrong message for our country and in complete contradiction to the Christian faith.
