Buttigieg’s Attacks Based in Fiction; Contradict Positive, Working Relationship in Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS – Since exploring a potential run for president, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg has bombarded the campaign trail and national media with attacks on Vice President Mike Pence. These attacks contradict the relationship he shared with Vice President Pence when Pence was governor of Indiana – and also fly in the face of the positive statements Vice President Pence has made about Buttigieg over the years.
“Now that Buttigieg is spending more time in Washington, D.C., Iowa and New Hampshire and neglecting his day job in South Bend, it seems that some of his recent statements have become detached from reality – especially when it comes to Vice President Mike Pence,” said Kyle Hupfer, chairman of the Indiana Republican Party. “After years of maintaining a positive, working relationship with Vice President Pence, Buttigieg has decided that it’s now more politically expedient for him to drag that relationship through the mud with personal attacks. As Hoosiers, we know that’s wrong.”
Prior to becoming a potential presidential contender, Buttigieg spoke for years on the need for more civility in politics. However, recently he has made outrageous statements, including:
- Calling Vice President Pence’s leadership and views “fanatical”
- Rejecting Vice President Joe Biden’s characterization of Vice President Pence as a “decent guy”
- Claiming that Vice President Pence has a “quarrel” with God
These unhinged, mean-spirited attacks from Buttigieg on Vice President Pence are a complete reversal from the relationship they shared while they both held public office in Indiana. Examples of this positive relationship include:
- The day after Buttigieg announced in the South Bend Tribune that he is gay, then-Governor Pence was asked to respond and said:
“I hold Mayor Buttigieg in the highest personal regard,” said then-Governor Pence. “We have a great working relationship. I see him as a dedicated public servant, and a patriot."
- When then-Governor Pence and Buttigieg broke ground on a major overhaul of the former Studebaker facilities in South Bend, funded largely through a state grant, Pence said (1:20 mark in video):
“I especially want to mention to you today, particularly, South Bend, Indiana, is so blessed to have an energetic, innovative, forward-looking, creative mayor in Pete Buttigieg,” said then-Governor Pence.
- When Buttigieg was deployed to Afghanistan in 2014, “a noticeably moved Pence called Buttigieg the day he was driving to the base.”
“Either Buttigieg has a really poor short-term memory, or he’s purposely trying to pick a public fight with the vice president because he knows it’ll create the sensational headlines he desperately needs in order to stay relevant in a who’s-the-most-liberal Democratic primary contest. And this race includes a socialist,” said Hupfer. “But as Hoosiers, we know the truth. We know that Vice President Mike Pence is a man of integrity, while Buttigieg has a record of failure. It’s time for Buttigieg to stop disparaging our vice president and to start telling the truth.”
