Man, just remember that insane doe eyed look of admiration he would gaze at Trump with, as Trump was the unanimous champion Putin bootlicker on the planet. Fuck off, Pence.
If you want to use an American football analogy, the US had been engaging in a Cold War strategy of block-and-run, grind-it-out offence for 35 years. Carter doesn’t get nearly enough credit for his role in the Cold War, but his administration achieved the culmination of this grind-it-out strategy. The Carter administration pressured the Soviet Union on arms control and supported anti-Communist dissidents. And then he acted decisively when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, supporting the Afghan rebels, boycotting the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and imposing a grain embargo. Here’s a decent synopsis: Jimmy Carter's lasting Cold War legacy: Human rights focus helped dismantle the Soviet Union
To continue the American football analogy, Reagan recognised that the Soviet Union backfield was exhausted and would fall under pressure. Carter had proposed increases in military spending, but Reagan was adamant in increasing military spending, turning it into an arms race. Arms require money, and Reagan’s insight was that the Soviet economy could not match the US economy. If the Soviet Union attempted to match the US arms build up, they’d have to make trade-offs and sacrifices which would harm Soviet society. Gorbachev eventually realised that Reagan was right, and sought to reduce Soviet arms spending and open up the economy. Those actions by Gorbachev enabled anti-Soviet elements in the western Warsaw pact nations and SSR’s and led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. George WH Bush got to hand off a walk-in touchdown.
The Cold War that started after World War II ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Reagan shouldn’t get full credit for the victory, but he should get credit for the drive that made it into the red zone and to the one yard line.
The US is now in a new Cold War, but it’s not with Russia, it’s with China. The Ukraine war is rightfully garnering all the attention at the moment, but isn’t a contest between superpowers. Russia may conquer Ukraine, and may take further action in Europe in Moldova, and east of the Black Sea in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. But where would it go next? Kazakhstan? - That’s already a Russian client state. Russia’s boxed in and is facing it’s economy being crippled.
It’s good that Mike Pence is being vocally anti-Putin and the US and its allies will probably need to be strongly anti-Putin for the next several years, if not decades. But the world’s second superpower isn’t Russia, it’s China. And Pence has been hawkish against China for years. That’s where the comparisons to him and Reagan should be made. And Pence should be supported for embracing Reagan’s successful legacy.
The myth that Reagan “won” the Cold War is Republican orthodoxy, but it isn’t true.
Another common refrain among conservatives is that Reagan simply “outspent” the Soviets. But Soviet defense spending remained flat throughout the 1980s. More significantly, Gorbachev was unalterably opposed to increasing military spending; he fought a relentless campaign by the Soviet military-industrial complex to spend exorbitant sums in response to Reagan’s buildup.
From the Institute for Policy Studies:
While Ronald Reagan was certainly capable of inspirational leadership, idealism, and personal charm, the myth that he is responsible for the downfall of communism and the end of the Cold War does a disservice to the millions of Eastern Europeans and others who faced the tanks and struggled against great odds for their freedom. It was not American militarism, but massive nonviolent action—including strikes, boycotts, mass demonstrations, and other forms of ingenious non-cooperation—that finally brought down these communist regimes.
Yes, Reagan taking credit for winning the cold war is rather like saying Louie XVI won the American Revolution.
Now there’s a surprise!
Pence edging even further away from his ex-boss:
Did the scales dried shit finally fall from his eyes?
Maybe his pet fly took care of the dried shit.
I wish Pence had the balls to say “those crazy motherfuckers wanted to hang me on Jan. 6! My former boss is several tacos short of a combo plate and so is anyone who would vote for him now. Let’s move on past the crazy bullshit of the previous administration of which I am ashamed to have been a part of.” Of course Pence has no balls at all and can promise only to be a slightly watered down version of Donnie the Dense.
Pence is simply a coward with an eye on his big chance.
He was going nowhere at the federal level until Don the Con snatched him from obscurity. Now he senses another chance, and by golly, he’s going to take it. Or more accurately, he’s going to make cowardly weaselwords towards taking it, while carefully calibrating what he says trying to keep one foot in each boat until he knows which sinks and which floats.
Imagine Dan Quayle, but with negative integrity.
BobLibDem quoting hypothetical Pence statement:
Lemme fix that for you: " . . . My former boss is several tacos short of a combo plate taco bowl . . . " 
(What? You mean he didn’t eat the whole thing?)
Dan Quayle had some integrity? Are we thinking of the same Dan Quayle?
As I recall that was before his memorable quote “I love Hispanics!”
You guys are thinking about this the wrong way. Pence has no chance at being President, but we should be encouraging him to think that, and to take action on those thoughts. What could be more divisive and distracting to the GOP (and helpful for the Democrats) than to see these two (and their factions) going to war?
And, not that I would give Pence any credit here, but he did give orders to protect members of Congress as they were certifying the vote on 1/6, and he did provide some leadership in evacuating the building. Perhaps he sees another Trump presidency for what it is, and by entering/staying in the race he can wound Trump just enough for him to lose in the General. I know, wishful thinking there.
I think you’ve got Trump and Pence mixed up. Trump is crass; Pence is a gentleman. He would not use crass language of that sort.
I’d respect him more (that is, at all) if he did rant in that manner. I don’t consider him a gentlemen as he enabled a sexual predator to win office and was his toady for nearly all of four years while in office.
We’d take him saying the same thing in words suited for prime time broadcasting but still forceful and unequivocal in rejection and condemnation.
But he does not, will not, somehow cannot bring himself to.
Pence called Quayle to ask his advice on helping Trump steal the election, and Quayle told him to follow the law and support American Democracy.
So, yeah, Dan Quayle has integrity, at least relative to most of the rest of the GOP. Including Mike Pence, who had to phone a friend when the question was “Is treason okay?”
Rest assured my mention of Quayle was not praise. Simply that he was another example of a time-server plucked from obscurity by somebody much more ambitious. And who then tried to trade on his newly elevated stature.
For sure Quayle and Pence differ greatly past that one narrow area of similarity.
Dan Quayle couldn’t spell “intregrety”
God, a spelling mistake seems so quaint and innocent now.