The Washington Post did a write-around profile of Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence this week. The article came out a few days ago and I ignored it, mostly because I thought it was a fluff piece to make the Pences look like “wholesome Christian types who will be our First Family when Bigly is impeached.” I still believe that’s what the article is about, it’s a dog-whistle for those Evangelicals who weren’t entirely on-board with Bigly. But a funny a thing happened as details about the Pence marriage came out: people started judging their somewhat odd/creepy marriage. And all of the Deplorables were like “Stop judging Pence!” And other people were like, “No, this guy believes in gay conversion therapy and he thinks LGBTQ people are subhuman, I’ll judge his marriage if I want.” In any case, you can read the WaPo piece here. I’m doing some highlights below:
The red phone. In all of his government offices, Mike Pence “proudly displayed an antique red phone on his desk — a Christmas gift from his wife for which only she had the number, a hotline straight from her to him.”
Karen Pence is his gut-check: “She sat in on at least one interview as the vice president assembled his staff, accompanied her husband on his first foreign trip and joins him for off-the-record briefings with reporters, acting as his gut check and shield.” She’s constantly at his side and yet she’s not public about it. Sources claim Karen is “the Pence family ‘prayer warrior,’ a woman so inextricably bound to her husband that even then-candidate Trump understood her importance and consulted her in critical campaign moments.”
Bigly Trump loves Karen: When Trump called to offer Mike Pence the No. 2 slot, the businessman knew Karen Pence was by his side and asked, “I hear Karen is there, too? Can I talk to her?” And nearly three months later, when an Access Hollywood tape revealed Trump talking crudely about women, Trump called his running mate to apologize and then asked him to hand the phone to his wife, so he could apologize personally to her, too.
Mike Pence is actually Karen’s second husband. Her first husband was her high school sweetheart – they were married when she was 21 years old and he was in medical school. The exes haven’t seen each other in more than 30 years.
The engagement story: After dating Mike Pence for eight months, Karen engraved a small gold cross with the word “Yes” and slipped it into her purse to give him when he popped the question. He did, just a month later, as the two were feeding the ducks at a local canal. He hollowed out two loaves of bread, placing a small bottle of champagne in one and the ring box in the other for her to discover as she tore off pieces, according to local news reports. (They later got the bread shellacked, as a keepsake, a local paper noted).
He never eats alone with another woman: In 2002, Mike Pence told the Hill that he never eats alone with a woman other than his wife and that he won’t attend events featuring alcohol without her by his side, either.
Karen is just as anti-LGBTQ as her husband. In fact, many people who know the couple think she’s the one urging him to go harder on LGBTQ issues.
She prays all the time. Sometimes in laundry rooms, or wherever she wants.
She’s into art. She has a minor in art and she paints watercolors in her spare time. She believes in art therapy and it will likely be one of her big issues as the VP’s wife (or First Lady).
Karen’s office. When her husband was governor, she kept an office down the hall from him, which had never been done before. Now as the VP’s wife, she “plans to keep an office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where her husband’s team works.
It’s the “never eats with a woman other than his wife” thing that has gotten the most headlines, with some people even pointing out that Pence is actually following the Islamic doctrine on what is haram (forbidden):
One must admire Mike Pence for his devotion to God and Karen. For him, so much is haram pic.twitter.com/4xr3yrE5bc
— Jia Tolentino (@jiatolentino) March 30, 2017
Which is just funny. But honestly, I’m surrounded by people like this, people who do Bible study groups in their kitchens and profess to be the most ideologically pure Christians ever and who can still find a way to justify supporting Bigly Trump and his p-ssy grabbing. I feel like I already know Karen Pence. And she’s awful.
Also: apparently, Mike Pence calls Karen “Mother.” Which I would possibly – MAYBE! – understand if their kids were really little. But the Pence kids are all adults now. So… no, I don’t understand it. Calling your wife of 30 years “Mother” is Norman Bates-esque.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
Regarding not eating with a woman who isn’t his wife…what will Pence do in prison with his cellmate, “Tiny,” who is 6’7″ and likes to wear dresses?
Hehehehehe, good one
Ha! Prison cannot come soon enough.
I read that article and they have the creepiest co-dependent relationship – “you can’t get a dime between them.” He doesn’t drink alcohol unless his wife is there. Is he a toddler? Are we supposed to admire his over-controlling evangelical wife? Is she completely unable to trust him? Or completely unable to see other women as professionals? I can’t STAND these people and hope he gets caught with alcohol AND a teenage boy.
He’s a creeper; would love to see his browser history.
WTF? And a teenage boy? Gross.
Yeah, their situation doesn’t come off as romantic and virtuous. It comes off as a combination of trying to pander to the Evangelical Crowd, Pence having once had an alcohol-fueled (or maybe not. Maybe booze is just an excuse he reached for choosing not to exercise self-control after the fact) affair, (bonus points if it was with someone who was like 20 or 18, because I do not wish either member of this homophobic Trump couple any sort of marital happiness), and Karen just being a conservative wife motivated by intense sexual jealousy and insecurity. Jealousy is one of the other things that has always seemed to be behind people’s reasons for embracing homophobia, just like it’s one of people’s motives for embracing certain types of misogyny. And never mind the fact that most of us womenfolk are not going to be tempted by Mike Pence anyway.
This is so creeptastic. I mean, some of it could be cute… the phone thing, hiding the ring to pop the question. But the more you read, the more it turns, morphing into a gross, co-dependent nightmare.
@Radley You nailed it with ‘lack of trust’ – that’s it, exactly. And some other unsavory stuff I haven’t finished unpacking. Geeze, Louise.
That’s his kink, and hers too, some men just really need to be dominated by a woman and some woman need to dominate.
They probably have a playroom in their house….
LOL best first comment ever.
It’s a respect thing guys- why would he ever need to go eat dinner with a women who isn’t his wife? Why would you make fun of someone who respects their wife and marriage?
Oh ffs, it’s not about respect at all. It’s about lack of trust and control issues masquerading as respect, which is a very faux Christian thing to do.
I get that everybody approaches their relationship differently but to me, respect is born out of TRUST.
Do I love it when my BF goes to a party with a bunch of female yoga instructors without me? No–definitely NO–but my solution isn’t to impose rules upon him, it’s to let him go to the party because I am not his keeper or his guardian. I think showing trust leads to closeness and intimacy which leads to a trusting relationship.
I don’t think it’s fair to treat your partner like he/she is not able to control his/her impulses.
My boyfriend wouldn’t cheat on me because he wouldn’t ever want to break the trust we have between each other. If you are always treating your partner like a cheat, then they don’t have anything to lose.
Just my two cents and I’m not saying any of this is easy for me (I’m naturally distrusting) but it’s the way I choose to approach the relationship.
ETA: Was posting at same time, Radley
Bonehead says, “why would he ever need to go eat dinner with a women who isn’t his wife?”
Simple. He may need–or want–to grab a bite to eat with a female associate. It’s called the time crunch. What’s wrong with having business lunches or business dinners…ones that don’t involve his wife?
Let him respect his wife and marriage. Fine. But I think he’s making excuses. According to his thinking, every contact with a woman is fraught with sexuality and temptation.
It’s time for Mikey to grow up.
ETA: This fellow has a mom. And daughters. Possibly nieces, etc. Does this prohibition extend to them, too?
When you are in a profession with female associates it would be a logistical nightmare to have to have a chaperone for a lunch meeting. To give her the benefit of the doubt maybe she means late night dinners and cocktails…
Lol nope.
Actually, it is a disrespect thing. Many jobs require an occasional late night of work with a meal break or business is conducted over dinner or work requires out of town travel with a colleague. It is disrespectful to the woman co-worker
….maybe because they are friends? It is possible for a man and a woman to have a friendship without banging, you know.
I’m a female in IT/mining and often had to do work trips with male colleagues. If they refused to eat dinner with me we both would have been sat alone in hotel rooms with room service plates on our laps. Downright silly. Respect and trust are the cornerstones of a strong marriage, not control.
Because with this policy I’m reduced to nothing more than a potential sexbot instead of a valued colleague with ideas and more to offer than my genitalia. Mike Pence devalues women with this policy.
Do you work? Have you not taken a business lunch/dinner with the opposite sex who happens to be a client of your company? Would you not be offended if the client said he wanted a male sales rep instead because he couldn’t imagine doing business with a woman? Great way to keep women out of the workforce, Bonehead. I’ve heard of this happening in other instances. Female litigation associate does all the trial work for a case, but the male partner won’t allow her to fly out for the trial because “what will his wife think? taking a female associate with him to litigate a case she worked on.”
For that matter, what’s wrong with eating dinner with a friend who’s a guy because you both like food.
For that matter, what’s wrong with eating dinner with a friend who’s a guy because you both like food.
Why would a man eat dinner with a woman who isn’t his wife? Ehm, friendship? Co-worker? My husband has a lot of female friends and co-workers. They’re all very nice people and I have complete trust in their and his decency. Is this an American thing I’m not getting? I don’t get why we have to sexualize everything between men and women.
Well if any women happen to work with him or for him, I guess they will never have a business lunch with him, or golf with him, have an informal discussion over a meal to discuss work projects, professional development, etc. And by “professional development” I’m not talking about something untoward, I’m talking about the kind of networking, team-building, relationship building that is crucial in just about any career for advancement.
Also, this is sort of like having segregated schools, or policing what women and girls wear because TPTB don’t want them to be a distraction or temptation to the boys and men. How about if grown men just act like reasonable adults and just not try to sexualize or romanticize every woman they come across. Wouldn’t that make more sense than trying to wall Little-Boy-Pence off from any woman who isn’t his Mother?
I agree with Bonehead about the respect thing. I have a lot of deeply Christian relatives and it is about respect. Billy Grahm did the same thing.
It’s really hard to tell what is really going on. Maybe they just like to keep in contact and he really does find she helps him keep a steady course and stay centered. Imagine if you had to work around Trump all day… .
It’s not always about the woman being controlling or sexually insecure. Maybe he’s had stuff happen with alcohol or other women and has asked for her help to avoid a repeat. We really don’t know. But his body language dancing with his wife at an inaugural ball seemed so much more normal than Donald and Melania – I’m willing to reserve judgment. Also I know from personal experience that what reporters write isn’t always what the person actually said, so it might not be as bad as it sounds.
Definitely refusing to be “alone” with a woman other than your wife in business situations is a major obstacle to true equality, especially if you’re defining alone as in a roomful of people having dinner together with Secret Service nearby. Not all men act like Donald Trump around women, and not all women are just waiting to seduce a colleague or boss. So if that part is accurate, he may have to rethink it a bit. With cell phones, it’s not that hard to stay in contact with your beloved throughout the day if you need the boost.
And Mike — if somebody, male or female, tries to seduce you, just say no. Set your phone to record if needed…. or just leave. And tell your wife about it, since discussing it can help you deal.
@Ange Yes! He devalues women. This was the other thing swimming round my head.
Hilarious! I don’t think they’ll allow an antique red phone in the cells, either.
He might want to teach her his loaf-carving techniques, in case she wants to hide a little present for him.
I think he might like “Tiny.” What man is attracted to a woman he calls “Mother”?
The more they profess to have gay people, the more in the closet men tend to be, in my experience. He is denying a very important part of himself, and it’s sad.
Calling your wife “Mother” may be old-fashioned, but it’s not creepy. It used to be very common if I can believe all the old books and old magazines I’ve ready, especially from the early 1900s and the 1800s. Women often affectionately referred to their husband as “Father” for the same reason. People get in the habit when the kids are young, especially when the first child is born, as an affectionate recognition of the new role, and it sticks. She’s still her kids’ mother, after all. It has no creepy overtones to me at all. It’s just a custom and actually kind of adorable.
It wasn’t done in my family, but we were dysfunctional as all get-out so that hardly means anything… 🙂
You know what, some of their “stuff” kind of makes sense. I remember reading a story about Billy Graham. He would not EVER be alone with a woman behind a closed door. Please note: Billy Graham has NEVER been accused of any sexual impropriety. I used this example whilst raising my son to be a man. If he was not ever alone with a girl, he could never be accused of sexual assault/impropriety. He hung out with groups of kids, and wasn’t allowed to date (one on one) till he was older than many of his buddies. It just made sense to me to teach him that.
We need to teach our boys about sexual assault, same way we need to teach our girls on how to protect themselves to the best of their abilities.
Or you could raise your son not to sexually assault someone. You’re implying that he might be falsely accused when alone with a girl. Please realize that this is something that occurs rarely. Treating men as if they’re walking timebombs just ready to assault women is damaging to men. We just need to teach them about consent.
As a teacher I have had this conversation multiple times with boys who were accused of harassing a girl. These boys still get the message that no can mean yes. When I talk with them I always make sure they understand that only yes means yes and that to be sure whether a girl really wants you to do something you best ask for her actual consent. It’s much less confusing to boys and men that way. Society should stop sending mixed signals to men.
Loved this Tweet:
“People being like, “don’t judge Mike Pence’s marriage”
Um… judging other people’s marriages is Pence’s favorite extracurricular activity”
https://twitter.com/jessielahrr/status/847448337250779136
And this one
“If I refused to be alone with men I would have a hard time keeping a job. That men can have decades long careers without women says a lot.”
https://twitter.com/jillfilipovic/status/847271551934144512
I suspect Pence excludes women from the higher levels of his staff for this reason. Which is hiring discrimination. F**k that guy.
i suspect you are right about using it as an excuse to limit employment opportunities for females
i used to have to visit the middle east for work and they werent allowed to be alone with me
their solution was that they brought a female relative to the office that week and she knit in the corner, not to refuse to allow me access
every detail about this admin, big and little, is a cancer
That second tweet:
“If I refused to be alone with men I would have a hard time keeping a job. That men can have decades long careers without women says a lot.”
https://twitter.com/jillfilipovic/status/847271551934144512
Bang on.
/\/\/\ This! I wouldn’t even try to count the number of male colleagues I’ve grabbed lunch with, shared office space with, sat next to in meetings..and I work in education, on teams where women often heavily outnumber men. I can’t even imagine the absurdity in more male dominated fields of trying to avoid being alone with men in workplace scenarios.
Yeah, I wouldn’t judge his marriage coz I don’t care how fully grown people structure their lives and relationships, but he’s decided he gets to judge (literally, legally judge) other people’s marriages and life choices so he’s fair game.
I don’t think his calling her “mother” is creepy; my grandparents used to do the same thing. It is simply something that people of an older generation (like Pence) occasionally or habitually do. Overall, I’d say I can’t judge a 30 year marriage whose eccentricities harm no one: whatever works for them, so long as they do not try to convert others to their ways. That said, of course Pence is one of the most blatant, odious homophobes in U.S. politics: *he* judges and condemns gay couples, and ardently proposes “conversion therapy” to “cure” gays—a repulsive, hypocritical, and intolerant man. So, while I think his marriage sounds like it’s based on a lack of respect, who knows, it might be mutual respect if both are content in their roles. BUT, he has more than opened himself for personal criticism and mockery, so I don’t exactly mind seeing him getting dragged through the coals for the way that he lives w HIS beloved. (He who is so intent on keeping loving same sex partners apart…)
No way this dude did not step out.
Those are ground rules for a cheater
Also, who wants to bang their mommy/son? This isn’t like the youths calling each other daddy and mom or papi mami etc. This is a middle aged conservative white dude, he doesn’t even know this exists.
My thoughts exactly. I think he has something to atone for. She’s not letting him out of her sight.
It sounds like cheating and substance abuse. He can’t be around alcohol without a minder.
If he won’t go out with another women alone or be without her when there’s alcohol there, he must have been some kind of cheater. Mom/wife must get a little nervous without keeping eye on him
With all the other stuff about them I don’t think they necessarily have a back story for anything weird like the can’t be alone with another female thing because they are just odd
YES my first thought as well.
Is there any verifiable proof that Pence is an actual human and not a robot?
This is what I’d like to know 🤖 -“Mother”
Me too. And I’m thinking he might like some interesting things. Just a feeling.
There’s definitely a skeleton (or 11 to 70) in his closet.
+100000000 this.
transparent so much…
he has cheated before. these are the rules now.
It’s so 1950’s it’s creepy.
Maybe Karen’s first husband was a cheater/drunk so she keeps Mike on a short leash? But yeah, this reeks of distrust if after decades this behavior is badged as ‘respect’. And if you seek to judge relationships and dictate their authenticity, as Pence does, well, he’s not only fair game but people have every right to dig deeper into his and her back stories.
But the biggest message of their relationship is that it insults every woman in contact with Pence. Every woman is a slut.
Sick couple. Don’t care what they do in the privacy of their own relationship but they should not be in a position of influence over others.
My instinct would normally be to feel sorry for her. It must be exhausting to be this controlling/distrusting, but for now it’s still a free society and she makes the choice to stay with him and support his monstrous agenda.
Yep, sounds like he’s got form, and she’s got him on a tight leash.
These people sound even creepier than Trump, and that’s saying something!
Has nothing to do with banging. Just a custom in some regions and families. He doesn’t call her Mother because he thinks she’s HIS mother. It’s an acknowledgment of her role as the mother of their children. The same custom includes women calling their husbands Father – not as THEIR father, but as their children’s father.
The origin is probably the fact that parents so often use those words to describe their spouse to their children (Mother will be back soon, Father will take you to school, etc. or whatever titles the kids use). Easy transfer to affectionately calling each other that directly.
Exactly. My dad would often say to his wife: “Mum, need any help?”……..it was our cue to get off our butts and help!!! Even tho all kids grown, when the grandkids hear him say it, the phones get put down and there’s a rush to help ‘Mum’/Granny.
He doesn’t call her that ALL the time, but he does certainly when we “kids” are around. There is such love and admiration and respect in his voice, there is NOTHING creepy about it. It’s like he acknowledges one of the roles she fulfills. Occasionally, Mum would call Daddy “Dad”, though not as often. I remember once when we were walking in a cemetry and I was being very silly and probably disrespectful and she said “Father, corral your daughter” …. and we all laughed and I was better behaved because she’d nagged me a bit, but if she was involving my Dad, and I was His daughter, not ‘our’ daughter, then I knew I was borderline in big trouble!!
I’m fine with whatever rules a couple wants to set from themselves. But the “mother” thing is pretty weird.
As to whether or not this impacts the gender he hires to work for him, well that’s up for debate.
It’s not really up for debate as he has previously said that he never works late alone with women either.
In an alternate universe, the Pences are just heavily into 24/7 submission/dominance roleplay and incest roleplay.
Senna, that’s the nicest take I’ve heard on them through this whole thread.
I had two thoughts yesterday reading about these two idiots and their marriage:
1. The poor snowflake Pence can’t be alone with another woman – he has SO little self control , you guys, he must be really avoid any circumstances that could tempt him. One knows how all women are Jezebels:-)
2. How privileged of him that he can afford to have a job all his life where he is not required to eat alone with a woman. No woman could make demands like this of her job and get anywhere. (why the eating??? Is there something in food that leads to sin and ruin?? Is that in one of those missing epistles perhaps that Trump knows?)
3. She is harder than him on LGBTQ issues and he needs her constantly there to be by his side – yeah, Mike, that conversion therapy did not work very well for you so you need constant supervision… I see. In truth I think that is the issue, the first two are Russian dressing on his salad.
Yep! Pretty much covered all bases ☺
Yeah, and I need more than art therapy to get through this presidency.
“Is there something in food that leads to sin and ruin??”
Fruit cocktail in green jello is the devil’s gateway drug to depravity, y’know. And if you top it with Miracle Whip, you’re talking eternal hellfire on the spot. 😉
Oh my gosh did you just say ,”RUSSIAN”dressing?!Sorry couldn’t resist
If he refuses to dine alone with a woman, none can ever charge him with impropriety. He is protecting his reputation and his marriage. It’s the “Caesar’s wife” effect: One must be above reproach. Billy Graham had the same rule, and it served him well. As for the “my wife must be with me if there is alcohol served,” that’s odd. Agree with OP, it sounds like he’s been busted before and that rule came from the wife.
He’s never alone with another woman + she sat in on one interview for his staff = he only interviewed one woman when he was hiring his VP staff. THIS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM.
He never eats alone with a woman yet he conducts business over meals, as all at that level of government do. THIS IS ANOTHER MAJOR PROBLEM.
This isn’t just some weird quirk, this is the Vice President of the United States discriminating against women in the workplace. Somebody please sue this creep.
The impact it would have on work is what I took from it as well-wouldn’t it perpetuate the idea of an old boys club where male employees would be a lot more likely to have more opportunities to be heard? Maybe I’m biased because I don’t like the man.
It creates an unfair advantage and excludes women from the work process.
Yeah, I agree Lightpurple
Out of interest I decided to ask my fairly religious Muslim mum what she thought of this. Her point of view was that if that was his belief, he would have to make sure he didn’t have any private meetings or working lunches with male employees to make it fair. I then asked if her or dad would have any problems with the other person having working lunches etc with someone of the opposite sex. She said no, because they both trust that they would be able to conduct themselves in a professional manner and you know….not cheat. They’ve been married for 30 years so it must be working.
That’s because your parents have a healthy marriage based on trust. Not the case for Karen and Mikey I guess.
Word. If I had to deal with him at work (I mean he deals with people outside of his staff who he can’t hire) I would lose it. This is ridiculous. It’s 2017. What do these two creepy morons think will happen exactly? That one of us loses their mind over tiramisu and we have wild sex in the coat room??? THAT IS NOT HAPPENING!
Either they think too much or too little of him. None of it is good. And it’s discrimination.
It’s such a Duggar-esque way of thinking. Ugh.
My biggest question would be if (and when) he becomes President, how would that translate into dealings with foreign leaders, especially considering a good number of the heads of state are female. Would his mother-wife have to be at every meeting?
Sorry Ms Merkel, the German/US trade discussions need to wait, my Mo… ahem WIFE, is delayed in traffic.
I think he shared this as kind of an ‘aw shucks’ he’s just like the rest of us moment.
Except he didn’t realise he was sharing the fact that he consistently discriminates against women in government (and elsewhere), and his success while refusing to deal with women, is a sign of how corrupt the system is.
There is no way a VP of the US should only be able to control himself around 50% of the population.
He is the missing stair, and his wife is working around it. http://pervocracy.blogspot.ca/2012/06/missing-stair.html
I think she’s the one with major control issues and he’s her super passive dude. I know a lot of couples like this. Men with no spine, women who are really domineering (I know the opposite as well). Maybe that’s why hubby #1 split. Anyway The pences seem extreme. It’s entirely possible he has plenty of female coworkers- remember, this woman is present 24/7, creates an office for herself etc. she’s probably ALWAYS THERE. I would despise that, but it’s not me.
He belongs in the Vatican, along with all the other woman haters. And surely “Mother Superior Pence” would feel right at home there, too.
He left Catholicism. Too liberal for him.
He looks like a shark in a expensive suit. Silent and deadly. The only difference between him and Trump is better hair and manners
In my childhood: “silent and deadly” was a term my brothers used for really stinky farts. So, sure, Pence is a really stinky fart.
lol.As kids, my sister always was doing the “silent but deadly” farts. At 36, she still does. Who’s a stinkier fart? Pence or Ryan?
So I guess the Orange one would be considered “loud, explosive and room clearing”?
I think he looks like a penis in a suit. His head!
Beck Bennett on SNL is a cuter Pence, anyway.
I also know many bible thumpers who found a way to vote for this vile creature who currently occupies the WH. It was the final straw for me. I cut them out of my life. I have no room for that level of hypocrisy.
When a bible thumper friend of mine voted for Trump and Pence, I couldn’t believe it. I tried to explain it wasn’t the Christian guy who wasn’t going to be president, it would be the almost satanic Trump. She didn’t care because Pence was such a saint and wouldn’t let Trump do anything wrong. I hope she realizes how big a mistake she made
This all seems a bit bizarre, but aside from the anti-LGBTQ, which is huge and also rather knee-jerk for that kind of uber Christian, what makes her so awful? I don’t know anyone like that, who does Bible study in their kitchen etc. What else goes along with that?
“She believes in art therapy and it will likely be one of her big issues as the VP’s wife (or First Lady).”
She’s very passionate about art therapy! lol
I mean, our of all the things she could use her platform for JFC. And BTW I went to art school and I too “believe” (such an odd choice for a word) in art therapy because I understand and have seen the benefits but COME ON now..I think she can do a bit more with her position.
Yeah, it’s just that he seems evil and she seems–bland? Maybe she hides it better.
From this interview, I find it paints (ha!) her in a pretty sketchy light as well. Are these the kind of rules that he goes by because SHE demanded it? I just can’t imagine some dude being like “oh I can’t go to lunch with another woman” it’s more likely “my wife doesn’t want me going anywhere with other women”.
I mean, hey, it’s not like he respects women that much so maybe her opinions really don’t count for sh–. But it’s just all so weird.
And I also have this image in my head of her grabbing a canvas and painting vindictive watercolors whenever she experiences any kind of emotion other than happiness.
I don’t know. I guess I just find it hard to believe that she’s some delightful, passive flower with a husband who has so many hateful beliefs. I’m inclined to think she’s probably just as hateful and spiteful.
“And I also have this image in my head of her grabbing a canvas and painting vindictive watercolors whenever she experiences any kind of emotion other than happiness.”
Hahahahahaha…amazing.
Calling you wife “mother” is bizarre. Will he not eat alone with another women because he needs his wife to feed and burp him like he’s a baby with his “mother”?
Boy, of all the endings I figured BATES MOTEL would spring in its final season, I sure didn’t see this coming. 😉
They sound creepy aso f*ck. I’ve always said to people who want trump impeached that then we have to worry about pence. He sounds like a horrible person.
This “Christian” man broke the Senate deadlock and voted to allow states to defund Planned Parenthood, so I’m not a fan. His wife agreed with this of course. I wonder how many women won’t get mammograms now, or well checks, or pap smears. The health and well-being of thousands of women matter far less to the Pences than the threat that a far fewer number of women might seek an abortion. He’s better than Bigly Cheetolini, but not much.
Oh, I’m sure they prayed about it and came to the conclusion that he’ll sign that thing with a smile.
Art therapy will likely be one of her big issues? WTF? Add Jill Biden to my list of people I miss so, so much.
they tried defunding pp in his state, guess what happened? abortions went up.
I’ve posted this on another thread, but I’m fairly serious about this.
Women need to collect about 2-3 babies a piece, walk on the senate floor when it’s really busy, drop them in the laps of the members, and walk out. Preferably when the babies haven’t been fed for a couple of hours (to remind them of what’s happening to poor people’s ability to EAT in this great land….)
He CAN’T be alone with another woman-you know how those harlots are around married men-always tempting them and what not. What is a good, completely morally unblemished CHRISTIAN man supposed to do otherwise? And if ALCOHOL is involved???? Heaven forbid!!
No, but seriously-referring your wife as Mother is ten kinds of f**ked up and I am 100% certain that Pence has probably got really bizarre fetishes deep in his closet. His type always do.
They both need to come out of the closet. 🔥
YES- or at least come to terms with whatever inner demons they clearly have which causes them to act out in such hateful ways.
Coming here to say the same thing. I truly don’t like speculation of this kind, but there is no way Pence is a straight man. He is a deeply in denial gay man full of self hatred.
Wouldn’t be surprised his wife was gay too, actually.
Ew. In Savannah, GA, many Karen Pences. Sadly
Lived in Savannah (loved it) and now live in NC (don’t love it). I know so many of these women. Funny thing is at least 75% of them are on their 2nd marriage. Which would be fine but they all claim to believe in a literal interpretation of the bible and the bible has quite a bit to say about divorce and remarriage. I love it when they post their anniversary on FB (“15 years of wedded bliss!”) in May and the birthday of their oldest kid in October. Again, I really wouldn’t care if they went down the aisle with a baby on board, but I do so hate a hypocrite. It seems like the further they drifted from the evangelical Christian ideal, the more they double down on the holier-than-thou after marriage.
Come back and visit me! I went to a small, private Southern Baptist school K-12. The literal interpretation drives me insane. I went out of my way and got my way, in that I weaseled out of religion two years in high school. That teacher hated me. I loved it.
What was interesting to me was that this was second Pence piece in a few days. The other one was his staff leaking to the NYT that Pence is wary of Prebius handling of his job and that Pence offers much more stability to this administration.
It’s almost as if Pence’s staff is making a point that Pence would be a good leader…calm and faithful, unlike the orange tyrant we have now.
Oh yeah, he’s positioning himself. There was a rumor the former head of the RNC was telling people Trump wouldn’t last his term and they should cozy up to Pence.
Dogmatically religious people are so scary. There’s something about him that reminds me of the characters in “Get Out”, very creepy.
If Pence’s virgin-whore worldview didn’t so clearly drive the harmful policies he imposed/is trying to impose, I’d say “his creepy marriage, his gross business”….but, alas. This is a great piece on how dangerous Pence’s Taliban/ fetish view of females is :
The reality is that most people are fully capable of dining with people of the opposite sex — or the same sex — without cheating on their spouses or partners. And while it’s fine for couples to take necessary steps to protect their marriage from infidelity, it crosses a line when those steps handicap the women you work with. Pence’s reasons for avoiding dinners with women sound a lot like arguments in favor of requiring female modesty — that if a woman shows her thighs or her shoulders or her hair or whatever body part is at issue depending on culture and context, men will be distracted and unable to function, so better to require women either cover up or stay home. Perhaps a better solution would be to make men stay home if they can’t function in view of human legs (or shoulders or ankles or noses or whatever disembodied piece of a woman is deemed inherently sexually tempting). And by extension, perhaps men who can’t be alone with women without being sexually tempted by them are a liability, and shouldn’t be in charge of anyone or anything.
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a9209120/mike-pence-dinner-alone-women/
That was an interesting read – thanks for sharing!
Yes, it’s crazy to me that people would see him as somehow being virtuous with this nonsense.
To me it screams that he can’t be trusted any more than the p*ssy grabber.
seriously.
If you are that emotionally fragile you shouldn’t be holding a political position.
Alternatively, if you can only think with your little head, you shouldn’t be the head of anything.
I just have the image of Pence with his arm around Josh Duggar, consoling him since his sisters “tempted” him into sin.
There’s a reason to feel creeped out by Pence in addition to all the other very valid reasons to dislike and fear him.
Edit this to read “mental image of Pence.” That’s just what popped into my brain as I was reading …
You know what’s funny? I assumed this was put out there to make him seem like a virile Christian man who is tempted by women but valiantly resists. Because this guy seriously pings. I know it’s a cliché, but can anyone be that viciously anti-LGBT without being in denial?
Cosmo is so weird, though. Right after that article are two blips about “what does HE think of your family”? “what does HE (no, not Jesus) think of your makeup”?
My Grandparents called each other “Mom” and “Dad” for as long as I knew them.
My husband doesn’t eat alone with a woman either – not for religious reasons, but so that no questions of impropriety or unprofessional behavior arise in the workplace. Just the way the corporate world works these days. You have to be so careful – lots of instances of men (and women) being reported to HR for various incidents and he said/she said.
My sister has worked in HR for over 20 years and I haven’t heard about eating with someone — unless you’re sitting on the person’s lap — to be a problem the workplace. Truly, how is it any different than sitting alone in an office with someone of the opposite sex?
What exactly is your husband’s corporation? Strip clubs? That’s the most bizarre thing I’ve ever heard. He goes on a business trip with a female colleague and they have to have lunch at separate restaurants?
Then he shouldn’t be eating alone with male subordinates either because it gives them an unfair advantage.
Um, that’s weird dude.
My husband has lunch with co-workers, vendors and female friends all the time. I can’t imagine how sitting in a restaurant in the middle of the work day eating a meal can be construed as inappropriate
Can’t even eat alone with coworkers of the opposite sex? Thankfully, not many see eating with someone as a reason to be suspicious and uptight. I eat with male friends and my boyfriend never worries. He eats with female friends at school and I’m never panicking. What’s the big deal?
Obviously I’m an unchaste harlot because I’m married and eat alone with male co-workers and clients frequently. Sometimes it’s me and 2 or 3 guys. That should give Karen Pence the vapors.
Count me in, too. I go to lunch with one of my male co-workers every now and then. Just the two of us. Husband is fully aware of it, and perfectly content with it, because I’m an adult who can make their own decisions – one of which was to marry him, and not some other dude.
Me too! I had no idea I was living such a shocking lifestyle.
LOL
I not only go out to lunch with male coworkers, I go out for drinks with them after work too. Clearly, I am damned to Hell for all eternity
I’m unmarried and I often eat alone with male colleagues. Even worse, right? 😉
And I have to add that none of my colleagues looks to be actually ‘manfully resisting temptation’ while eating with me. They don’t even notice. They see the person, not the legs. They’re modern well adjusted 21st century professionals.
I’ve never given it a thought, either. Why should gender matter when grabbing lunch with co-workers? Does she think physical ‘grabbing’ happens?
I recall one co-worker (female) who refused to lunch or even ride in a vehicle with a male other than her much-older husband. It didn’t matter if it was one guy (her manager) with two other women co-workers going along. Her job involved helping with occasional off-site events. The company would pay her mileage to drive behind the company vehicle if going to another work location during the day. I never agreed with that decision. She also had to report every daily interaction with males at work to her husband via phone call during lunch.
I work in Business Development and very often I have a working lunch/dinner with a males and all by ourselves. Ufff I am glad I haven’t been fired for breaking this honorable code…
I’m in Business development too and I go out with Male clients for lunch and coffees every week where it is just me and them. If people started subscribing to this rule I would be out of a job because it would mean that no male client that was married would be able to meet with me which the majority of them are married. So then my company would obviously hire a male BD rep who would quickly out perform me if I was only able to meet with unmarried men and women.
I guess that’s kind of the point, subtle ways to push women out of the work force with micro-aggressions so they can’t be accused of sexism but still get their same desired end result.
Addendum- I wonder how much that cute? red phone hotline to wifey/mother cost tax payers to install and is costing tax payers to maintain. Sounds like a disallowable expense to me- LOCK HIM UP!
Also, they do know that the phone number is not actually tied to the physical phone, right?
Because the wording in the article makes me think that they do not, and that the VP of a modern Western country has no idea how the phone network works.
“In all of his government offices, Mike Pence “proudly displayed an antique red phone on his desk — a Christmas gift from his wife for which only she had the number, a hotline straight from her to him.””
She even prays in the laundry room? That might be a little weird, but everyone is different. I’ll be in my laundry room today. The only time I’ll mention Jesus Christ is if I stub my toe or the stain doesn’t come out. Then I’ll yell in pain and take the name of the lord in vain.
“…Yet she’s not public about it” You know, like that evil hussy Hillary during all of Bill’s time in office.
Coming from a Baptist upbringing I can tell you this with certainty, people steer clear of extremist guys like that because they are always hiding something bad. If you can’t do anything without your wife, it means the inner morality dial is broken and you feel you need someone there to check you.
I would never be in a room alone with this guy.
Damn straight. Time somebody checked the attics/basements/backyards of the various Pence domiciles, no?
So let me get this right. The Gospel of St Matthew says that anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery, which is a breach of one of the Ten Commandments. Leviticus says that homosexuality is wrong.
But apparently it is OK for Pence to marry a divorced woman – and for them both to hate on LGBT couples?
Hypocritical much?
The divorce part caught my eye as well, because I have assumed they are uber-fundamental types, who often believe a second marriage is basically void.
Then again, fundamentalists seem to have no issue with an allegedly adulterous guy with five kids by three marriages. It’s interesting what parts they pick, and what they excuse away for themselves and their chosen ones.
There are “rightful” divorces, in scripture, if the other spouse has cheated.
Yes, yet where I live, there are pastors who refuse to perform a marriage if one party has been divorced (even if it was adultery that led to the dissolution). I had heard a pastor state this, and encountered it twice personally when planning to wed my husband (who was briefly married to a woman who had an affair with a physician and decided she wanted to divorce/trade up — which she did yet again a few years later, with a neurosurgeon).
I remember how hurt my husband was to first hear this type of judgment being placed on him, when he was cheated on and left (had no choice, as he put it). My mother learned about her mother’s divorce in a youth Sunday school class, announced by the adult-aged class leader (it had been a teenage marriage with physical abuse, years prior).
Ugh. Glad to know Mike Pence and Ofmike are equally creepy. Wonder what happened to make them think they can never be alone with the opposite sex. Too much secret porn warping their perspective, or … ?
To say Mike Pence is problematic is putting it mildly but the Onion’s take on this might have been the funniest thing I read all week:
http://www.theonion.com/article/mike-pence-asks-waiter-remove-mrs-butterworth-tabl-55661
OMG LOL!
That is the best.
The ONION is the best!!
Okay, this guy has serious problems. Perhaps he shouldn’t have ordered the pancakes.
It is a oersonal desicion, but Don’t tell me this thinking doesn’t affect the high government hiring desicions. It affects the hiring of women for high government positions
Yeah that’s my concern too @Ennie. I don’t care how he and his wife want to conduct their marriage. But yeah, I suspect it impacts the hiring for women in government. But then, his other policies are pretty anti-woman so I guess we shouldn’t be shocked. :/
These outmoded gender codes have gotten our society nowhere over the years. The point is not that Pence and Mother are not free to have their little rules, it is that this destructive view now influences public policy. Also, for those of us with children in the LGBT community, Pence is the enemy.
Yes, yes and yes.
Colbert knows that pence is such a sex machine that he can’t be alone with a woman who’s not mother.
http://www.tvovermind.com/the-late-show/stephen-colbert-thinks-mike-pence-naughty
I love Colbert so much!!!!
Ok. I’m not going to win any love for what I’m about to, so let my preface it with this; I’m hardcore democrat, as democrat as they come. But I have a rule like that with my husband too. He can’t spend leisure time alone with another woman or eat out with another woman by himself. Why? Because my first husband was a terrible philanderer and this rule makes me feel safe and my husband humors me by following along. Besides that, we live in a small town and if he is caught eating out alone with someone it WILL get around. People WILL gossip.
So, as odd as this rule sounds it works for us. Also we maintain complete transparency. He has access to ALL or my devices and pass codes and thus do I. I feel like if no one has anything to hide from one another then we should have no problem if the other has complete access.
If that works for the two of you, work it! But neither of you are the Vice President of the United States and are responsible for maintaining professional working relationships with a wide variety of people, men and women. We wouldn’t tolerate this behavior from a devout Muslim VP or an Orthodox Jew VP. But somehow this is acceptable from an evangelical Christian VP? Sometimes our choices have consequences and we have to decide whether or not our choices allow us to fully participate in larger society. I can decide to dress and carry myself as if I was the star of an adult film but I couldn’t then use that same image and behavior as a kindergarten teacher. No judgement. Just that decisions have consequences.
No disrespect to adult entertainers. Much love to them and to the kindergarten teachers. ❤ No love for the Pence’s.
Twinkies, that was such a well-worded reply. I love my Celebitchies….
My husband works with interior designers a lot, and the majority are women. if he has lunch with one, alone that was for business, then ok.
but if they were at a house, then decided to go for lunch after the work was finished, then no, I’d not be ok with that.
I agree with Twinkies and @originalkay! As long as you and your spouse have an understanding because of your past history, and it works for you, that is understandable. If a job with a female ceo came along, then you and your husband would have to talk about what it would mean for him to take that job or not, and your family would deal with the consequences of your rule. It is your life!
I personally think women make awesome friends for everyone, but a partner choosing a new random female acquaintance over me in their free time would hurt.
But let us imagine if Michelle Obama had said Barack could never be alone with Valerie Jarrett or Sontomayor (sp?) or Dianne Feinstein or Atty Gen Sally Yates or Maxine Waters or Kamala Harris or or or…the list goes on and on. Think of all the ideas and work that these womem bring to the table. What if a male staffer hit on Pence? Ban the men?
In my opinion, there are clear duties that come with WH service. Duties which mean having to work and represent people vastly different than you, and that means representation in your office.
Would it seem fair to have only women making decisions for men in congress? No. Then why is it ok if Pence and Trump do it? And that is why Pence and this whole admin sucks.
What a great idea. Maybe some gay male staffers will take one for the team and hit on Pence. That will make it obvious that he can’t do his job and he’ll have to go.
Sigh. I’m daydreaming again.
I have mixed feelings. If it works for you, that’s great. I mean – it’s really nobody else’s business.
I live in a VERY small town as well. And a few times I’ve seen some of my husbands family members out while I was on lunch break with one of my male coworkers. I immediately got the thought “oh great, I’m sure they’ll have something to say about that”.
But then on second thought I was like “who the f cares what they think?”. Because honestly, if they’re going to be catty and start rumors I really don’t give a sh–. I know I’m not going to stray. My husband knows I’m not going to stray. My husband is friends with this guy as well, though not as close as I am. And I’ll usually say “[Coworkers name] and I went and got Subway for lunch” or whatever once we’re chatting at home, or sometimes he’ll text during the day and ask what I’m up to. I don’t tell him because I feel like I need to, or because I need permission. But it’s usually just in a “this is what I got up to today” kind of chatting.
If some moron feels like starting some crap, go right ahead. It says a lot more about them, honestly, and it’s not like I’m in any situation that could be construed as anything other than “I saw Erinn with some guy”. Nothing like “I saw Erinn all cuddled up with some guy” or “Who was the guy Erinn was flirting with”. My husband would probably honestly laugh right in their face if they tried to say anything.
The passcode stuff – we have eachothers for the most part. But it wasn’t like “give me a list of your logins”. It usually happened like “hey, can you login to x for me and update y?”. Or I’ll forget to log out of something, or he will. I find that NEEDING eachothers passwords isn’t really that healthy either. I don’t go snooping around in his messages, or anything. If I’m on his account it’s accidental, or because he’s asking me to. If one of us is driving the other person will sometimes text someone for the person getting the message.
I’m also not about to choose to hang out with a male coworker over spending time with him, either.
I completely understand why you have asked him to do this, and my partner has access to all of my devices and vice versa, transparency is always good for trust. Your hubby also sounds like he adores you, and being willing to do these things shows his commitment.
That said, I sincerely hope that your current partner doesn’t have a powerful position that requires lunch or business meetings, because this would honestly be denying women these opportunities while promoting the business interests of men.
If the men where I worked with had these rules, I would be barred from discussing curriculum with my chair, not able to discuss sensitive matters privately with my direct boss. And even if it was completely reasonable from a personal standpoint, I would think less of them professionally. Frankly, I would most likely escalate to HR.
Pence gives me a vibe that he may have a zip at the back of his neck to allow his true monster form to get comfortable at night when he goes home.
This visual both terrified me and made me laugh.
Me too !
So pence is a hypocrite who has no problem kissing up to a man who maintains a daughterwife and indulges in pu$$ygrabbing and bursting in on nude teenagers and serial adultery. Sounds just like the type of “Christian” who would support trump.
On a purely b!tchy fashion note; why do many of these GOP/Trump admin people wear ill fitting suits that make them look wider than they are? Are they taking fashion advice from their Dear Leader?
So for his pet name does Karen call him Oedi?
**chortle***
I liked his calmness in contrast to Trump but Pence is obviously just another hypocrite and possibly future backstabber of Trump’s. I think he is taking fashion advice from Trump. He wears coats now and looks like part of the Trump mafia crowd.
snake in sheep clothing
He always looks so puckered – like his face was sucked into a vacuum cleaner.
The “Mother” thing is strange. I remember my late grandfather calling my grandmother “Mother” and some of my older uncles do as well.
I can’t be the only one getting the Serena Joy vibe from her, as the seemingly more passive partner who is in fact the real zealot of the pair.
Nope not the only one. She has a real puritan vibe about her.
Oh, I definitely think she’s the one running the show.
(1) Wonder what he’s hiding?
(2) This comes across as very fundamentalist.
Politics aside, this all sounds wonderful.
His life partner is his priority -period. Can’t hate on that.
Sounds more like his jailer.
I can hate on it. He shouldn’t be in politics where you are supposed to interact with all people and that includes women. They should have a home business, maybe bottling jam and selling it on line. They sound sick to me.
I’m right there with you Catesby. Nothing to hate here, unless somebody is just full of hatred anyway.
I can hate on the discrimination. For all the staff he hired, he clearly interviewed only one woman. Any women who do have to work with him get excluded from important meetings and events and lose out on the knowledge they need to do their jobs. If so-called devotion to his wife and marriage means he must violate the EEOC, as it appears he is doing blatantly and flagrantly despite having sworn to uphold the Constitution of the US and all laws arising under, then he should resign immediately from his job.
You just have to look at Pence to see how buttoned down he is … when he blows, it will be spectacular!! I wonder if he’s had issues before and is now on a super tight muzzle?
Maybe Karen can combine her art therapy with conversion therapy. A gay person paints a picture of a straight person and magically changes!!
Ugh… If you are so worried about gossip, lies, cheating, or offers of cheating that you can’t let your spouse be alone with the opposite sex, then you shouldn’t be married to that person! or married at all because you have trust issues.
Didn’t read all of the comments (I have an appointment and will finish later) so this might have already been said…maybe he only wants to eat with other dudes. Because, you know, he can’t actually “come out” right now.
lol
The Pences exude creepiness.
So they will not attend dinners where alcohol is involved but yet in the corny story of their engagement a bottle of champagne was involved??? Hahahahah I know the narrative around their married is supposed to sound sweet and admirable but it rather seems creepy and controlling specially with the “Mother” treatment.
They shellacked the f’ing bread! The romantic nature of it all. /s
.
So, while it’s WEIRD, I have no hate for the Pence relationship. Some people are really codependent. If they’re both equally codependent, there’s no problem. Some people get off on extreme loyalty (ie the direct phone line and monitoring each other’s behaviour). While I find it hard to relate to couples who have merged their lives as though they are a multi-celled organism searching biological advantages, I understand this makes some people feel safe, happy and secure in their relationships. Some people are super into being parents – hence the “mother” pet name (which is also incredibly old-school: conflating one’s value as a spouse with the children one has borne). Eh. It’s weird, but if they’re happy…
What they will never own, though, is that this behaviour is verging on kink. The tendency of fundamentalist Christian relationships to verge towards kink as the model and epitome of all relationships has never ceased to confound me. Childbearing is fetishised; or submission is; or codependence, or domestic discipline. There is nothing wrong with being kinky, but kinks are personal, not universal. Bring a non-kinky person into a relationship where a certain kink is normative and they will be very unhappy. You might also argue that kink has happened to this relationship model as society has become less patriarchal. However, these choices have also occurred as a way of preserving “traditional gender roles” in a modern society, making them other than the norm.
TL:DR: that’s my argument for why the Pence relationship is fine, but definitely outside the norm, and also not acknowledged as within the spectrum of kink.
ETA: the one thing that is not fine, IMHO, is Pence’s rule about not being alone with women. It’s cutting down women’s professional opportunities by refusing to see them as equals. Unless Pence takes, say, a PA as a “chaperone” with him at all times, making it 100% his own issue, this is hurting the women he works with by denying them access.
You make a lot of good points, actually.
thanks senna. I agree with what you wrote. I feel grateful for where I am and also recognize that some people will never become self-realized enough to not be codependent (see all duggar girls)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, isn’t it damn weird that no one in DT team appears to be average and normal? All of them either look like some walking dead alcoholic Death Eater and / or appear to be hiding some sinister whathefuckery in the closet or dungeon. That twit, Bannon, Kushner, Pence, Miller, Conjob, Spicer…yeesh.
I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. I used to work for a man who I suspect thought the same way. We traveled together and he never asked me to join him for a meal. He was very supportive of my career and a good boss – he just never shared a meal with me alone. It didn’t bother me at all and I frankly liked not having the pressure to eat with him.
Did he share meals with the men who worked with him? That’s when it becomes problematic, when only women are left out. When casual business or socializing is happening and the woman/women isn’t/aren’t invited.
Birds of a feather, flock together, so do pigs and swine. I realize I’m insulting birds and pigs, sorry!
meant to post the above under “Alexandria”.
It all goes back to these religious types being raised in homes with strict household roles for men and women. Women are seen as only harlots, the virgin, to sex up, to wife up, to have babies. There is no other view of them. These type of men have been brainwashed to see them in defined terms of their sexuality. They don’t see a whole person they only see the “woman” part.
My BFF from high school and her husband call each other Mom and Dad, even when the kids aren’t around.
Everyone we both know comments on how creepy it is.
Yeah I’ve heard married couples call themselves that too. In my culture, the older women (this generation has changed thank God) would never call their husbands by their names. They would have a nickname or simply refer to him as “my child’s father” or something because it was seen as bad luck to call him by his actual name. LOL ridiculous. They say not saying your husband’s name would bring him a long life. I call b.s. Oh and oddly enough, the husbands were allowed to call their wives by their names !!! I don’t know why these women put up with it. F*ck that.
What happened to nicknames? Yikes.
My husband has a close friend who refers to his wife as “mother” or “mama”. He never fails to be weirded out by it. I avoid the friend; he considers himself a preacher (self ordained) and has over the top mysogynistic ideas. We used to pay their son to mow our yard… until we found out this dude was taking ANY money earned under HIS roof for himself. The guy is a creeper. That’s all I know about guys who call the lady they have sex with ‘Mama’
She was married before, thereby, she’s divorced? Isn’t that against the Bible? Divorced, laid with another man, but she still feels she has the right to pray?
If this ho gets to judge gay people, I’m damn well judging her VERY unchristian divorce and previous sex life.
You might add that she was married previously, which is weird for this holier-than-thou Catholic pair (as in, is she divorced or was it annulled). Also, fun fact, her ex husband participated in the invention of Cialis.
A tweeter called @AshleyRParker has a great thread about it.
He was raised Catholic but he left the faith and joined an evangelical mega-church
Honestly, I’m shocked that nobody is picking up on this. Bitch really cherry-picks her Christian prejudices.
Few if any seemed bothered by Ronnie R’s divorce, alleged affairs or that Nancy (also had a mother-based pet name – Mommie, I think he called her) was expecting when they married.
It’s all quite selective, apparently, and does not prevent them from shaming others.
And, the marriage – divorce topic is mentioned upthread. Have experienced that one firsthand.
so on wednesday he was host to the women’s empowerment summit and on thursday he voted to kill family planning. cause you know preventative health services like pap smears, mammogram, birth control, hiv testing, etc are not empowering to women.
i wonder what drumpf thinks of all these pence would make a good president articles.
the whole thing with him and his wife reminds me of my aunt and uncle. my aunt isn’t even allowed to sing karaoke with another guy. i think that is more ridiculous than the whole dinner thing, because karaoke is done in a group activity. but my uncle is the jealous (and controlling imo) type. my cousin has had to hide her relationship with her dad from her stepdad because of his insecurity to the extent where even her brother didn’t even know about it. i always also got a sexist vibe from him too because he always favored his son over his daughter (although to be fair to him, he refers to my cousin as his daughter instead of step-daughter, but imo that is just because he doesn’t want anyone to know that his wife has been married before) even though he’s been part of her life since she was 5 (she’s 37 now).
They seem like such a lovely couple, said no one ever.
There should be a law against people like this. Not just in positions of power, just in general.
Yes, if wishing made it so. Plus, would it come as a shock to Karen and Mike that no-one would want to have affairs with them, because creepy?
The marital stuff doesn’t bother me a bit. They’re older and conservative. Our country has way bigger issues than this silly nonstory.
He’s the VP, and stands a good chance of becoming President when Trump finally screws up for keeps. So, yeah, it _is_ a big issue if someone with his influence regards all women except his perfect wifey as tempting whores.
So he’s saying he’s gay? Because if an activity is too sexual for a man to engage in with any woman except his wife, why on earth would he engage in that sexual activity with a man? He must be gay. Or, if he claims there’s nothing sexual about dinner, then there is no reason for his ridiculous “rule” that excludes women. Which is it, pal?
this whole thing is reminding me of a friends episode, the one where rachel smokes. during smoking breaks, her boss and coworker bond and make decisions. so she takes up smoking for her career and when she is forced to “quit” her smoking coworker gets a trip to paris.
What a sad way to live your life.
Heather. Yes. It’s sad and pathetic. These are depressing times
If these were like boundaries they have decided as a couple- ok. We all have our thing, like my husband is not allowed to shave his beard without my permission and I’m not allowed to have other men butcher our chickens (literally not a uphemism, it has come up in conversation).
But this reeks of the whole ‘women cause men to stumble’ evangelical Duggar breed of Christianity that is toxic to both the religion at large, gender roles in our culture, and religion in our politics. Wherein men are helpless creatures controlled by the urges in their loins and women are either evil succubus in their yoga pants and skinny jeans or virginal queen workhorse helpmets.
Gag me with a spoon.
Sounds like someone used an alcoholic episode and perhaps had an indiscretion with a woman and this is some type of pact of contrition.
So he conducts no business with women over a meal unless his wife is present. Wow!
In NO way defending this closet case, but I will say, in the deep south, it’s not uncommon for men to call their wives “mother” or “mama” regardless of their children’s ages. Mostly a much older gen thing.
Orthodox Jews also follow the practice of yichud– the prohibition of being in seclusion (alone) with the opposite sex, unless it’s a family member or your spouse. “In Jewish religious law (halakha), the laws of yichud (Hebrew: איסור ייחוד issur yichud, prohibition of seclusion) is the prohibition of seclusion in a private area of a man and a woman who are not married to each other.” So while it sounds bizarre, there is a cross-cultural element to this.
But a restaurant is not a private area.
Not today, Satan; my wife’s lurking around somewhere. Maybe tomorrow. She sees her hairdresser on Saturdays. (At least that’s what she says.)
I have a friend from h.s. like this. In fact he friended me on fb just to tell me he couldn’t be fb friends bc of his religion & his wife. 😳
My former boss is sort of like this, she won’t be fb friends with a male until she checks it with her husband, even if it’s a mutual friend. OTOH, they don’t have problems having work related meals with the opposite sex even if the other isn’t around.
Oh! “You can’t get a dime between them.” Well, that’s one way not to cheat – pretend your spouse is your conjoined twin.
“The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
I’ve been re-using this one a LOT lately.
Good quote. Reflects my experience as well.
Talking the talk and walking it are two different things.
I’ve never had an experience where a married colleague wants to go for dinner or or a drink with just the two of us for truly work related reasons or because he just wants to be friends. Maybe a friend of several years, but not a work related situation. If we need to meet for work I would prefer a coffee meeting, lunch, someone’s office, or even a phone call before dinner for two. Maybe he has had boundary issues in the past. In any case it’s not the worst thing in the world for him to put his wife first and make their relationship a priority.
Really? I’ve had to do it a lot, I’ve even travelled with men. My job relies on relationship building, if I was denied these meetings because I’m a woman I would be hugely disadvantaged.
Governors and Vice Presidents MUST attend meetings that take place over meals. It is just the nature of the job and the limited number of hours in a day.
Business trips usually necessitate some degree of spending time with a co-worker. If you make a conscious decision that you aren’t going to spend any time alone with a co-worker of the opposite sex or allow a co-worker of the opposite sex to share a meal with you, it is going to give rise to accusations of unfair and discriminatory business practices.
I wonder how he can work alongside the Pussy Graber in Chief? The man who wants to sleep with his own daughter. Who’s been accused of rape? It just goes to show the real depravity of Drumpf AND Pence.
Incidentally, I worked with a physician from Syria who’s a practicing Muslim. I was his physician assistant and we spent a fair amount of time together – including conversations alone talking about stuff other than work (politics, religion, how it was for him growing up in Damascus, our families, his kids, etc.) It was never weird or uncomfortable and we’re still friends. So I’m not buying any religious rational for Pence’s behavior.
I know this is silly but Plankton’s wife (from SpongeBob SquarePants) name is Karen. And Pence’s wife is a dead-ringer for Mrs. Swan from the old MadTV show……
But Plankton’s relationship with Karen really was weird. She was a mobile computer. He referred to her as his computer-wife…. Huge size difference as well might have caused a few problems. Plankton was a tiny guy.
To be fair, this is probably a good rule for someone in the public eye!
No. As described in these comments several times, it is a terrible rule for anyone who works with women, and that is pretty much everyone these days.
Oh please stop trying to make your toxic marital distrust look like piety. My work husband and I went to a conference in Las Vegas together, when he was still miserably unhappy with his first wife, and we did not commit a single inappropriate act. Adultery involves a conscious choice and deliberate actions. Grown-ups choose self-control.
“Please stop trying to make your toxic marital distrust look like piety.”
Consider that snatched.
Good thing he’s not a gynecologist like my husband. Boy would she have a problem😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
You win!
To be fair, male doctors today usually make sure there is a female nurse in the room during an examination. I assume this is protective for the doctor.
Yes it is.
I can’t even imagine wanting to have a private lunch with Pence. It’s absurd. But if I was POTUS, then I would insist on it — to discuss the business of the country. 🙂
Puerto Rican sex traffic rings are trying to steal black women and children in Wake County North Carolina.Blacks are armed and ready and communicating about it via social media. Post all alleged Puerto Ricans in silver vans, or those who suddenly move in across the street from you to your local thug cousins now and Conceal and Carry always. Black to the future unite.