Pence Finds GOP Leaders Reluctant to Defend Donnie's Deplorables
Andrew S. Ginsburg ?@GinsburgJobs 3h3 hours ago
Mike Pence Is Rebuffed as He Tries to Rally G.O.P. Leaders Over Deplorables
WASHINGTON Gov. Mike Pence came to Capitol Hill on Tuesday on a mission to promote Republican unity, attacking Hillary Clinton for describing many supporters of the G.O.P. ticket as bigoted deplorables and urging Republicans to rally behind their nominee, Donald J. Trump.
Mr. Pence wound up raising the subject only when pressed by a reporter and then gave a halting answer in which he would not call David Duke, a white supremacist and onetime Ku Klux Klan leader, deplorable. He insisted instead that Mrs. Clinton did not have that bad man in mind when she assailed Mr. Trumps supporters.
An otherwise friendly morning meeting with House Republicans turned awkward when Mr. Pence was pressed by Representative Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska about Mr. Trumps difficulties with women, said two House Republicans who relayed the conversation. Mr. Fortenberry told Mr. Pence that his young daughter had come to him and said, Daddy, Donald Trump hates women, according to one of the lawmakers, who both insisted on anonymity to recount a private conversation.
Its just not true, Mr. Pence shot back, arguing that Mr. Trump was improving with women, the two House Republicans said.
Mr. Pence faced resistance again when he met privately with Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas, neither of whom has endorsed Mr. Trump. Mr. Lee pressed the governor on his reluctance to denounce Mr. Duke and the so-called alt-right movement more explicitly, stressing that Republicans must identify David Dukes racism as deplorable, according to Conn Carroll, a spokesman for Mr. Lee.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/us/politics/mike-pence-campaign.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0