(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Former Vice President Mike Pence has refused to apologize for his joke about United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s parental leave after he and his gay partner, Chasten, adopted two newborn children in 2021, ABC News reported.
During Buttigieg’s leave of absence, a series of transportation crises emerged, ultimately resulting in supply-chain issues that even the Biden administration recognized was a prime factor in its escalating inflation, which in turn has led to a cascade of other issues such as Federal Reserve rate hikes, a housing-market crash and bank failures.
Since then, Buttigieg has developed a reputation for his sudden disappearances when catastrope strikes, spawning the all-too-familiar catchphrase, “Where’s Pete?”
This year alone, he tried to avoid taking responsibility for a toxic spill in East Palestine, Ohio, and has presided over a federal grounding of all planes for the first time since the 2001 terror attacks—this time due, ostensibly, to a software glitch.
Pence made his initial joke at the annual Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, D.C.
“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,” Pence said. “Pete is the only person in human history to have a child and everyone else gets postpartum depression.”
The joke sent the media into a frenzy—not for its incicive criticism of Buttigieg’s lack of experience and disinterest in performing his core job duties, but because of Pence’s use of the word “maternity” and reference to mental illness.
No less than White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who identifies as a lesbian, rushed to Buttigieg’s defense, using an identity politics attack to deflect from the real purpose of the punchline.
“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,” Jean-Pierre wrote in a statement.
.@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
She also demanded an apology: “He should apologize to women and LGBTQ people, who are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect.”
But Pence refused, noting that he made the joke at a roast wherein numerous people were grilled.
“The Gridiron Dinner is a roast,” he said several days later.
“I had a lot of jokes directed to me, and I directed a lot of jokes to Republicans and Democrats. The only thing I can figure is Pete Buttigieg not only can’t do his job, but he can’t take a joke.”
Buttigieg at the time made the media rounds to defend his lengthy paternity leave, including appearance on The View.
“Every time I look in their eyes, I just realize that the most important thing that Chasten and I will do in our lives is be dads to these incredible, beautiful, little children, our boy and our girl,” he said.
