Joy Behar told her co-hosts Tuesday on ABC’s “The View” that she believes former Vice President Mike Pence is using “homophobia” to appeal to the “deplorable” MAGA base.
Several media outlets have reported that Saturday at the annual white-tie Gridiron Dinner referencing Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Pence said, “When Pete’s two children were born, 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…Pete is the only person in human history to have a child, and everyone else gets postpartum depression.”
Discussing the reports, Behar said, “I want to talk about the joke.”
She continued, “Besides the fact that the joke was not funny, it’s coming from someone who has a history of homophobia. That is what the problem is. This is a guy who has always been against gay marriage. He was against repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Even more egregious, as governor of Indiana, he exacerbated an HIV epidemic in South Bend, Indiana because he waited to legalize needle exchanges and closing down Planned Parenthood which was the only HIV testing site in the area. He should be ashamed of himself.”
Behar added, “I also have to say that this is a very, very craven attempt to appeal to the MAGA base yet again. Once they decide to run for president, they’ve got to get this deplorable base on their side in order to win the primary. That’s what they keep doing over and over again. That includes Trump, of course, the king of all of it and also DeSantis and now Pence because he wants to run for president, and that is a pathetic situation, in my opinion.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN