Pence is no party savior. He’s just playing to cynicism. - By Jennifer Rubin

[DonViejo]

Jennifer Rubin writes the Right Turn blog for The Post, offering reported opinion from a conservative perspective. Follow @JRubinBlogger

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, gets credit for maintaining his composure in Tuesday night’s debate and demonstrating what a credible candidate — a sane, middle-of-the-road Republican — would have been able to do in a race against Hillary Clinton. So why should he be praised for running with a non-credible candidate whose comments are so objectionable that Pence had to deny they were ever said?

Mike Pence “won” in essence by pretending to be running with a candidate who never said the things Trump says and by never acknowledging Trump’s obnoxious positions (e.g. punishing a woman for having an abortion if abortion were illegal) and dangerous stances (e.g. genuflecting to Vladimir Putin). They call Trump a con man and a huckster, but is there anything worse than selling an unfit presidential candidate to the American people?

At one point, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) observed: “Six times tonight, I have said to Gov. Pence I can’t imagine how you can defend your running mate’s position on one issue after the next. And in all six cases, he’s refused to defend his running mate. … And yet he is asking everybody to vote for somebody that he cannot defend. And I just think that should be underlined.” So noted, Sen. Kaine.

The conventional wisdom nevertheless goes like this, according to BuzzFeed: “By creating some space between himself and Trump, Pence positions himself better for a potential presidential run in 2020 if Trump loses. And his performance underscored the way he has, since being chosen as the running mate, run a kind of parallel campaign to Trump’s that has seemed at times like an unconnected effort.” One has to marvel at the deeply entrenched cynicism that this widespread opinion reflects: Pence should be rewarded for his composed performance in support of a presidential candidate whose statements he could not defend and whose foreign policy he had to contradict.

-snip-

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2016/10/05/pence-is-no-party-savior-hes-just-playing-to-cynicism/?utm_term=.c49840c3d0f2&wpisrc=nl_popns&wpmm=1

[Hortensis]

1. Deeply entrenched cynicism, yes. Widely entrenched also.

When the GOP announced Pence had "won" the debate well before it started, it did so knowing that conservatives know Trump, and Pence, are lying and don't care. They will loyally "vote their jerseys."