Karen Pence, the wife of Vice President Mike Pence, responded Tuesday to attacks on her husband by Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, stating that Buttigieg was criticizing the vice president simply for “notoriety.”
“They’ve always had a great relationship,” Karen Pence said on Fox News host Brian Kilmeade’s radio show. “It’s funny because I don’t think the vice president does have a problem with him, but I think it’s helping Pete to get some notoriety by saying that about the vice president.”
Karen Pence’s statements come after Buttigieg, who is gay, excoriated Mike Pence’s position on LGBT issues.
“And that’s the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand. That if you got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me — your quarrel, sir, is with my creator,” Buttigieg said Sunday.
The vice president’s press secretary, Alyssa Farah, responded Tuesday on Twitter to Buttigieg’s criticism.
“Since some are asking: the last time we recall Pence even mentioned @PeteButtigieg was in 2015, after news that Pete came out, Pence said: ‘I hold Mayor Buttigieg in the highest personal regard. I see him as a dedicated public servant and a patriot,’” Farah said.
[Opinion: The Left thinks Pete Buttigieg isn’t gay enough]
Since some are asking: the last time we recall Pence even mentioned @PeteButtigieg was in 2015, after news that Pete came out, Pence said: “I hold Mayor Buttigieg in the highest personal regard. I see him as a dedicated public servant and a patriot” https://t.co/iNjrAzplQk
— Alyssa Farah (@Alyssafarah) April 9, 2019
Buttigieg is the mayor of South Bend, Ind., and Pence was governor and representative for Indiana before becoming vice president.
Buttigieg responded a couple hours later, implying his previous lack of criticism of the vice president was him being “polite.”
“People will often be polite to you in person, while advancing policies that harm you and your family. You will be polite to them in turn, but you need not stand for such harms,” he said. “Instead, you push back, honestly and emphatically. So it goes, in the public square.”
People will often be polite to you in person, while advancing policies that harm you and your family. You will be polite to them in turn, but you need not stand for such harms. Instead, you push back, honestly and emphatically. So it goes, in the public square.
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) April 9, 2019
