Former Vice President Mike Pence took aim at Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg with a joke he made in front of a group of politicians and journalists.
According to ABC, Pence made the remarks during his headline speech at the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, D.C., in which he mocked the secretary for taking parental leave after his children were born while the country’s transportation was in shambles.
“He took two months ‘maternity’ leave whereupon thousands of travelers were stranded in airports, the air traffic system shut down, and airplanes nearly collided on our runways. Pete is the only person in human history to have a child and everyone else gets postpartum depression,” Pence said.
As you can imagine, however, the Biden White House did not take too kindly to Pence’s remarks and, naturally, started to throw out the usual accusation of homophobia.
“The former vice president’s homophobic joke about Secretary Buttigieg was offensive and inappropriate, all the more so because he treated women suffering from postpartum depression as a punchline,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “He should apologize to women and LGBTQ people, who are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect.”
.@PressSec: "The former vice president’s homophobic joke about Secretary Buttigieg was offensive and inappropriate, all the more so because he treated women suffering from postpartum depression as a punchline." https://t.co/V45uLURApK
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) March 13, 2023
Apparently, the part of the joke that was “homophobic” was when Pence referred to Buttigieg’s absence as “maternity leave” instead of “paternity leave.” He was probably just acknowledging the basic fact that only women can give birth.
Frankly, Buttigieg and his partner do not deserve any sympathy. They denied their adopted children the chance to grow up in a family with a mother and a father for their own selfish reasons.
According to American Adoptions, there are about two million couples currently waiting to adopt in the United States, meaning there are approximately 36 couples for every child waiting to be adopted.
There is no reason why those children had to be denied a mother and a father, there were millions of other couples waiting to adopt them.
Also, several people have pointed out that the Buttigieg and the Biden administration should be more concerned with addressing the serious problems that are facing the country.
Marc Short, Pence’s former chief of staff, tweeted, “The Biden administration should spare America the faux outrage,” and demanded that the administration focuses on the myriad of transportation problems including train derailments and the supply chain crisis.
The Biden administration should spare America the faux outrage. The hypocrisy is especially rich considering their own Secretary of State Antony Blinken joked that he yearned for "the old days" when "Jews did all the work."
— Marc Short (@marctshort) March 13, 2023
Buttigieg would be wise to head these words, as it is his inaction on these issues that is leading to the criticism that he is receiving.
Meanwhile, Buttigieg’s partner Chasten also responded, saying in a tweet, “If your grandchild was born prematurely and placed on a ventilator at two months old — their tiny fingers wrapped around yours as the monitors beep in the background — where would you be?”
An honest question for you, @Mike_Pence, after your attempted joke this weekend. If your grandchild was born prematurely and placed on a ventilator at two months old - their tiny fingers wrapped around yours as the monitors beep in the background - where would you be? pic.twitter.com/pCWvl8pb5N
— Chasten Buttigieg (@Chasten) March 13, 2023
Chasten’s statement was based on the fact that, according to ABC, the prematurely born twins developed Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection and were hospitalized.
This however is misleading, as it implies that the twins were in the hospital the entire time, when Pete Buttigieg’s own account stated that the RSV hospitalization did not come until October, a month after the adoption, and they were discharged from the hospital after a few days.
Of course, Buttigieg could have taken some time off once his children were admitted to the hospital, but to say that that was the reason he took all the time off that he did is misleading.
This is just another example of the classic leftist tactic of playing the victim in order to distract from their own failures.
via westernjournal