4 ms·

Pence, for all his faults, will be remembered as a patriot for his actions on 6 January.

ashtonkem 6y ago
No, he will not. Doing the literal minimum does not make you a patriot, and history will be lukewarm to him at best. “He didn’t follow through with the coup” is the best he can hope for.
- Brian_K_White 6y ago
  He will be remembered as a patriot by the same 50% of everyone who voted MAGA, twice. I don't know about history books. Probably if a given book or article even records more than his name and the R, this act could easily be one of the only explicit facts mentioned. All the years of messier boring day to day policies won't be mentioned, just the summary single word conservative, "advocated conservative policies" etc. It doesn't have the same effect. So you end up with a little blurb that says his name and the list of offices he held and that he was famous for declining to participate in a coup attempt. I think I could see it actually that he will be remembered as a patriot.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > 50% of everyone who voted MAGA, twice 50% of everyone didn’t note MAGA, either time, much less twice. Heck, more than 50% of those who bothered to vote didn’t vote MAGA, either time.
  - ashtonkem 6y ago
    The MAGA crowd hates his guts, especially now. He didn’t use his wholly imaginary powers to install trump for another term; if that mob got ahold of him his lifespan would be measured in minutes. Extreme groups always reserve their strongest ire for their ideological neighbors, not the alternate side.
    - ashtonkem 6y ago
      Follow up. The rioters setup a set of gallows and were chanting “kill Mike Pence”. They hate him with a righteous fury.
    - Brian_K_White 6y ago
      Man were you right about that.
- scoopertrooper 6y ago
  At times like these, you can't count on people to do the literal minimum, so you appreciate when they do it. Matt Gaetz is currently vacillating between actively defending the insurrection and blaming the whole thing on Antifa. Edit: before some whacko decides to defend Matt Gaetz, the Washington Times retracted the story he cited. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jan/6/xrvision-firm-claims-antifa-infiltrated-protesters/ https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jan/6/xrvision-fir...
  - ashtonkem 6y ago
    I acknowledge your point in principle, and reject it roundly in the case of Pence. It’s not that Pence was doing nothing and finally did the bare minimum to our surprise. No, what actually happened was that Pence has spent four years actively abetting and abiding by this and he pulled back at the last second; he was leading crowds last week in a chant of fighting for trump. He is part of the problem, full stop, and he doesn’t get credit for not following through with it. One doesn’t praise someone for rushing into a burning building to save its occupants if they also lit the building on fire themselves.

No, he will not. Doing the literal minimum does not make you a patriot, and history will be lukewarm to him at best. “He didn’t follow through with the coup” is the best he can hope for.

Brian_K_White 6y ago
He will be remembered as a patriot by the same 50% of everyone who voted MAGA, twice. I don't know about history books. Probably if a given book or article even records more than his name and the R, this act could easily be one of the only explicit facts mentioned. All the years of messier boring day to day policies won't be mentioned, just the summary single word conservative, "advocated conservative policies" etc. It doesn't have the same effect. So you end up with a little blurb that says his name and the list of offices he held and that he was famous for declining to participate in a coup attempt. I think I could see it actually that he will be remembered as a patriot.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > 50% of everyone who voted MAGA, twice 50% of everyone didn’t note MAGA, either time, much less twice. Heck, more than 50% of those who bothered to vote didn’t vote MAGA, either time.
- ashtonkem 6y ago
  The MAGA crowd hates his guts, especially now. He didn’t use his wholly imaginary powers to install trump for another term; if that mob got ahold of him his lifespan would be measured in minutes. Extreme groups always reserve their strongest ire for their ideological neighbors, not the alternate side.
  - ashtonkem 6y ago
    Follow up. The rioters setup a set of gallows and were chanting “kill Mike Pence”. They hate him with a righteous fury.
  - Brian_K_White 6y ago
    Man were you right about that.
scoopertrooper 6y ago
At times like these, you can't count on people to do the literal minimum, so you appreciate when they do it. Matt Gaetz is currently vacillating between actively defending the insurrection and blaming the whole thing on Antifa. Edit: before some whacko decides to defend Matt Gaetz, the Washington Times retracted the story he cited. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jan/6/xrvision-firm-claims-antifa-infiltrated-protesters/ https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jan/6/xrvision-fir...
- ashtonkem 6y ago
  I acknowledge your point in principle, and reject it roundly in the case of Pence. It’s not that Pence was doing nothing and finally did the bare minimum to our surprise. No, what actually happened was that Pence has spent four years actively abetting and abiding by this and he pulled back at the last second; he was leading crowds last week in a chant of fighting for trump. He is part of the problem, full stop, and he doesn’t get credit for not following through with it. One doesn’t praise someone for rushing into a burning building to save its occupants if they also lit the building on fire themselves.