USA Today Allows Union Boss to Smear Vice-President Pence Appearance at Indy 500

May 26th, 2017 3:27 PM

Hoosier State voters elected Mike Pence to Congress for six terms. They elected him governor. Hoosiers helped elect him vice-president. Pence is a huge motor racing fan who has attended the Indianapolis 500 some 30 times, and he is rumored to be the pace car driver for the start of Sunday’s race.

Yet a USA Today headline declares “Mike Pence could get rough reception at Indianapolis 500” this Sunday. The source of this claim is “one of his fiercest critics” -- Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers 1999, writes USAToday’s Martin Rogers.

Jones is quoted as saying: “I would imagine that there are going to be a lot more boos than cheers. Pence was going to have a hell of a struggle getting re-elected as governor if he hadn’t become vice president.”

Does anyone really care what an obscure Democrat union activist thinks of a Republican VP? Did Rogers ever quote a veteran criticizing Barack Obama, who weakened our military, prior to his appearance at a college basketball game on an aircraft carrier? Not a chance.

Really stretching for ways to smear the VP, Rogers also notes, “Pence has already suffered recent embarrassment in Indiana, with a group of students walking out on the commencement address he gave at Notre Dame last Sunday.” USA Today ran a photo of these students walking out, and some were mugging for the camera. It was a staged protest after all.

Jones points to the Carrier company for the possibility of a rough reception for the vice-president. Last year Donald Trump visited Indiana’s Carrier manufacturing plant near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and announced the company had agreed to keep jobs from shifting to Mexico. Now the company is planning to shift 632 jobs to Monterrey, Mexico.

“(Pence being there) is a slap in the face to the people at Carrier and a slap in the face to the taxpayers of Indiana,” Jones told USA Today yesterday.

A Carrier spokesperson told USA Today in an email Thursday that its plans have not changed and that more than 1,000 jobs will remain in Indiana.

Rogers also reported that Jones, who retires after 31 years of union leadership this weekend, received menacing phone messages from unknown callers in the wake of social media criticism of him by Trump. This is a clear insinuation – with no proof whatsoever -- that Trump is behind the threatening messages. Rogers must have skipped his J-school class on journalism ethics.

Jones plans to be in attendance at Sunday’s 500 and says it will be a “sad moment” when Pence is announced. Maybe those saddened Democrats in attendance will do everyone a big favor by taking a cue from the Notre Dame activists and leave the greatest spectacle in racing.

After several months now of sports media upholding promises that they won’t “stick to sports,” it’s clear the phrase is code for the advocacy of all things left of center.