Using the most loaded language she could muster, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Tuesday described Mike Pence as a “hard-line, hard-core, religious right guy.” Previewing the vice presidential debate, she also insisted that there are “policy differences” on abortion between Tim Kaine and Hillary Clinton.
Regarding Pence, Maddow blurted, “ Mike Pence is a hard-line, hard-core religious right guy.” She contrasted, “He's running with, you know, [a] thrice-married brags about his affairs, Two Corinthians, not-a-religious right guy at the top of his ticket.”
Trying to link the two tickets, Maddow claimed, “Tim Kaine and Hillary Clinton do have some subtle policy differences and some of the nuances of abortion, for example.” Those must be pretty “nuanced” differences as the American Conservative Union said this about the Democrat in 2014:
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) is the only Member of Congress with a 0% ACU Lifetime Rating. Kaine is not the moderate Democrat that he likes to pretend he is. We can only conclude that the former Democratic National Committee Chairman plans to serve one-term representing the Commonwealth of Virginia before he returns to lead the fringe portion of the liberal activist base.
As for Kaine’s supposed difference on abortion, the Washington Times’s Kelly Riddell noted on October 3:
...A spokesperson for the Clinton campaign told the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Kaine is personally opposed to repealing Hyde, but supports Mrs. Clinton in repealing: “The senator is not personally for repeal of the Hyde Amendment. But as he’s made clear, he is committed to carrying out Secretary Clinton’s agenda.
Is this the "nuanced" difference Maddow saw?
A transcript of the comments can be found below:
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MSNBC Debate Preview
10/4/16
8:04RACHEL MADDOW: They do have a different task tonight. And they each have a different relationship with the guy— the person at the top of their ticket. I mean, Tim Kaine and Hillary Clinton do have some subtle policy differences and some of the nuances of abortion, for example, and trade and on whether Congress should authorize the war against ISIS. There are policy differences like that on both sides. But Tim Kaine and Hillary Clinton fundamentally share a world view are the same kind of politician. Mike Pence is a hard-line, hard-core religious right guy. And he's running with, you know, thrice-married brags about his affairs, Two Corinthians, not-a-religious right guy at the top of his ticket. He, I think, has a harder task tonight because of the difference between him and his running mate.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Mike Pence a pre-Donald trump Republican in the Republican Party, perhaps.
MADDOW: Yes. Yes. An unreconstructed, un-Trumpified Republican running with Trump.
