Pence's "Election Integrity" Op-Ed Was Intended For An Audience of One

Former Vice-President Mike Pence has written an editorial in the conservative journal The Daily Signal questioning the integrity of the 2020 election and opposing the For The People Act, a voting rights reform bill currently under consideration in Congress. Pence called the For The People Act "a blatant disregard of the U.S. Constitution."

I would suggest the people who wanted to hang Mike Pence were displaying a blatant disregard for the U.S. Constitution amongst many other things. But that's just me. Why should Pence be different than any other Republican?

When it comes to editorials, I cannot take Pence with any degree of seriousness. Keep in mind, this is the same Mike Pence who scarcely 9 months ago claimed in the pages of The Wall Street Journal there would not be a second wave of COVID-19 in the United States. Only 48 hours ago, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky warned of a fourth wave of COVID-19. 

Pence's arguments don't stand up to scrutiny. He writes:

In 2008, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s new voter ID law, the ruling noted that America has a long, well-documented history of election fraud. The court cited the 2005 report of the bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker, which said the “electoral system cannot inspire public confidence if no safeguards exist to deter or detect fraud.”

The case in question, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, does indeed cite the Commission on Federal Election Reform chaired by former President Carter and former Secretary of State Baker. But here is what Pence left out of Justice Stevens' citation:

There is no evidence of extensive fraud in U. S. elections or of multiple voting, but both occur, and it could affect the outcome of a close election. The electoral system cannot inspire public confidence if no safeguards exist to deter or detect fraud or to confirm the identity of voters. 

Pence would have you believe "the ruling noted that America has a long, well-documented history of election fraud." Crawford vs. Marion County Election Board said no such thing. There was no extensive fraud in U.S. elections when the Supreme Court made its decision in 2008 and there was no extensive fraud in the 2020 election. Joe Biden won and Donald Trump lost. Mike Pence knows this to be true, but he has chosen to lie.

This brings me to the reason Pence wrote this op-ed. He wrote it for an audience of one - former President Trump. Pence not only wants to get back in Trump's good graces but he wants to be Vice-President again even if it means a cadre of Trump supporters still want him dead. 

I would venture to guess that Trump has moved on from Pence. Should he be the Republican nomination I'm sure he would rather choose South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem or Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene - people who are wholly devoted to him. 

Pence can call for "election integrity" all he wants. Trump will always view him as one who lacked the "courage" to not overturn the election. 

I do agree with Trump that Pence is a coward but not for his reasons. Mike Pence is a coward because he chooses to live on his knees and refuses to stand up to Trump for disregarding his very life and that of his family on January 6, 2021.