Mike Pence is a Blithering Idiot

That's not news, of course, but this clip of his exchange with MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell about Rush Limbaugh is so absurd, and, at the same time, so astonishingly indicative of the intellectual and ethical bankruptcy of the Republican leadership, that it must be seen. Yglesias, quite rightly, says:

Mike Pence is a moron, and any movement that would hold the guy up as a hero is bankrupt. You can see my colleague Amanda Terkel for more of the specifics on this, but I would refer you to this post from September about the earth-shattering ignorance and stupidity of Mike Pence. He has no grasp, whatsoever, of public policy issues. And yet I can only gather from the fact that his colleagues have elevated him to a leadership post, that a large faction of them are actually so much stupider than Pence that they don't realize how dumb he is. But it's really staggering. In my admittedly brief experience talking to him, his inability to grasp the basic contours of policy question was obvious and overwhelming.

[Transcript below.]
The frightening, infuriating, and hilarious thing is that Pence quite genuinely doesn't appear to have any idea what an unmitigated ass he looks like asserting that Limbaugh is not racist immediately after being read a transcript in which Limbaugh says something wildly racist. The whole thing just does. not. compute.

He also seems to think Limbaugh really isn't racist. He's not clever enough to be spinning, and needs not struggle to maintain the thin veneer of dignity fought for by most politicos in a similar situation; Pence is, in fact, so thoroughly gormless he doesn't even realize he should be embarrassed. He actually believes what he's saying.

He is truly a fool. And he's the cream of the GOP crop. Shudder.

Norah O'Donnell: On another matter, I do want to ask you about Rush Limbaugh, because he has said, "I hope he fails," talking about President Obama, and Rush Limbaugh also said this, he said: "We are all being told that we have to hope Obama succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles, bend over forward, backward, whichever, because his father was black, because this is the first black president." Do you agree with Rush Limbaugh?

Mike Pence, R-Indiana, Inveterate Fuckneck: Well, let me speak specifically to what Rush Limbaugh said about America. Actually, I heard a little bit of him this afternoon. I mean, we all hope America succeeds, and, in that vein, we hope our president succeeds, and I think Rush Limbaugh, who I admire, and, like millions of Americans, I cherish his voice in the public debate, I think that is what he was saying, but what he was also saying was, where Barack Obama is going to pursue the implementation of campaign promises where he's gonna grow government, grow spending, depart from traditional values, or take positions with regard to our national defense that are antithetical to conservative values, we certainly hope there will be strong opposition from voices like Rush Limbaugh and from leaders here on Capitol Hill, so we appreciate his statement; I understand what he was saying, Norah, and, you know, we all hope our president succeeds, we all hope America succeeds, but that doesn't mean we're always gonna agree with what the best solutions are for the country.

O'Donnell: No doubt you can agree with Rush Limbaugh about that he is calling this stimulus package essentially a sham, what's going on, that it's just too full of wasteful spending, but on that specific thing, that we "have to bend over because this is the first black president," why don't you feel like you can denounce something like that? Are you so beholden to someone like Rush Limbaugh that you can't say—

Pence: Oh, gosh, Norah.

O'Donnell: —that's not the kind of rhetoric, when America's trying to come together, and do something for— The unemployment rate in your state of Indiana: Now 8.2%.

Pence: Right.

O'Donnell: Is that the type of rhetoric we need?

Pence: Well, look, Norah, I don't believe that Rush Limbaugh's got a racist bone in his body, and if you're suggesting that his statement had a racist element to it, I would commend you to, you know, a greater understanding of the positions that he's taken. He's a man that's about opportunity for all Americans, regardless of race, creed, or color, and I think that's why he's so admired and appreciated all across America.