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On Wednesday, Vice PresidentMike Pence continued the narrative thats been coming from the conservatives in recent weeks during a speech in the St. Louis suburb ofFenton, Missouri. Speaking at the headquarters of Fabrick Cat, a manufacturer of construction vehicles, Pence insisted that the pro-Affordable Care Act/Obamacare stories being told at town hall events arent legitimate.The nightmare of ObamaCare is about to end, he said. Despite the best efforts of liberal activists at town halls around the country, ObamaCare has failed and it has got to go.

That same day, White House press secretary Sean Spicer gave a more tempered version of the same message, saying that Theres a hybrid there: I think some people are clearly upset, but there is a bit of professional protester, manufactured base in there. On Tuesday, PresidentDonald Trumptweeted the more harsh assessment, putting Pence in lockstep with him:

Also on Wednesday, though, Rep. Mark Sanford (R-South Carolina) went onCNN and pushed back against the idea of the pro-ACA town hall denizens being paid protesters:

[image via screengrab]

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Mike Pence Blames Recent Town Hall Unrest on Liberal ...

Vice President Mike Pence.

Think its difficult working among the ranks in the Trump administration? Try being Mike Pence.

The vice president has proven himself to be a loyal lieutenant to Trump, standing by his side through some of the most tumultuous times any commander in chief has faced. And for all that loyalty, he likely receives little advance notice ahead of the presidents early morning Twitter tirades.

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Pence is simply and smartly putting his head down as much as he can, said Brian Howey, who has reported on Pence for decades for his newsletter, Howey Politics Indiana. About 40 to 45 percent of Republicans back home in Pences Indiana think that things are so crazy that he could be president in this term, and so Pence isnt going to do anything to screw that up.

After a month on the national stage, Pence is finding his way around his new political reality much like his boss. But during the first 30 days, Pence has been lied to by the nations top security adviser and then he repeated the lie on national television.

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Further, when the president found out that Pence was lied to, he didnt inform his No. 2 for over a week. Trump told Pence moments before the whole world would know.

Vice President Mike Pence says the US has what could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to install conservative solutions to the nations problems.

Pence, a social conservative, had to like what he saw in the Trump administrations withdrawal of Obama-sanctioned protections for transgender students in public schools (however there is no evidence he personally pushed for it).

Adding to some of these insults is the shifting political landscape in Indiana. Republicans remain in charge of state government, but they are quickly trying to unravel Pences legacy.

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Governor Eric Holcomb, Pences lieutenant governor and handpicked successor, quickly canceled a massive cell tower contract touted by Pence. Holcomb issued a pardon for a man many felt was wrongly convicted 20 years ago (Pence had refused to do so).

In addition, Holcomb declared a state of emergency in East Chicago over water contamination issues, something else Pence had declined to do.

And it is not just Holcomb. The Republican-controlled Legislature also overturned two of Pences vetoes, one on a 93-to-2 vote.

But does any of that matter to Pence now? Local Republicans say probably not.

I have known Mike Pence for three decades, and if you think that he is nothing but happier than a pig in slop right now, you are wrong, said Rex Early, a longtime Republican strategist who chaired Trumps campaign in Indiana. What Pence always wanted is a spot at the national stage.

Early may have a point about Pence being like a pig in slop.

Howey, the Indiana political expert, said the only way he and his colleagues understood most of the moves Pence made as governor was in the context of his national ambitions.

Pence was a hard-line conservative on fiscal and social issues, Howey said, so as to not cede any position on the right in a Republican presidential primary in the future. Years before Trump was even a presidential candidate, Pence was already speaking in New Hampshire at a major county Republican dinner.

Pence may have even run in 2016 if the states Religious Freedom Restoration Act had not gone over so poorly in 2015. He was forced to repeal the law, and instead of running for president, Pence would have faced even odds that he would be reelected last year.

Pence knew what he was getting into by signing up with Trump, said Amy Walter, a nonpartisan national political analyst with the Cook Political Report. Pence is not some naive politician now shocked by it all. This is what he wanted in a way.

Inside the White House, Pence is not within the team of four strategists that reportedly have the most access to Trump namely Stephen Bannon, Reince Priebus, Kellyanne Conway, and Jared Kushner.

Walter noted that, at the same time, it is Pence who has the task of soothing congressional and world leaders after something Trump has said.

His message to them is that everything is going to be OK, Pence is here and on it, Walter said. This puts him in the thick of it.

Pence may also be thinking about the future. In the first month, he has had lunch with former New Hampshire governor John H. Sununu, talked with current New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu about right-to-work legislation, and has appeared three times at events with US Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina.

What do all three men have in common? They hail from the states that are among the first on the presidential nominating calendar.

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Is this what Mike Pence wanted all along? - The Boston Globe

(OXON HILL, Md.) President Donald Trump's vice president and top aides delivered one overriding message Thursday to the thousands of conservative activists gathered for their annual conference outside of Washington: Don't blow it.

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Vice President Mike Pence said Trump's victory provided the nation with what could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to install conservative solutions to the nation's problems.

"This is the chance we've worked so hard, for so long, to see. This is the time to prove again that our answers are the right answers for America," Pence said.

The vice president said the Trump administration would soon take aim at the sweeping health care law approved under former President Barack Obama, saying the nation's "Obamacare nightmare is about to end." He said Republicans would implement a new plan and would have "an orderly transition to a better health care system."

Earlier, White House chief of staff Reince Priebus pleased for patience and unity, urging activists not to squander the Republican Party's control of both chambers of Congress and the White House. Trump adviser Steve Bannon made his case for a governing strategy based on aggressive deregulation and an "economic nationalism" in negotiating new free trade deals.

"What you've got is an incredible opportunity to use this victory," Priebus said. Some of Trump's plans for creating jobs and putting more money in people's pockets will take time, he said. "We've got to stick together and make sure we have President Trump for eight years."

Priebus' pleas acknowledged conservatives' underlying skepticism about the new president, a former Democrat who in the past has elicited boos at the conference. Trump has often suggested he doesn't prioritize the social issues many conservatives elevate, and his proposal for a massive infrastructure bill has cast doubts about his commitment to curb government spending.

But with a Republican in the White House for the first time in eight years, many activists say they feel energized and more than willing to give him a chance.

The decades-old CPAC, as the event is known, is now really more like "TPAC," White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said.

She and other Trump administration speakers thanked conservatives for voting for Trump last fall. Bannon said appreciation would largely be the theme of the president's remarks Friday to the group.

Many in the audience chanted "Trump! Trump! Trump!" as Bannon, a provocateur and outsider, and Priebus, a GOP party insider, made a joint appearance onstage. The duo's chummy joint interview seemed designed to refute media reports that the two are working at cross-purposes in a factionalized White House.

Priebus presented their partnership as evidence that conservatives and Trump supporters can work together.

"The truth of the matter is Donald Trump, President Trump, brought together the party and the conservative movement," he said. "If the party and the conservative movement are together, similar to Steve and I, it can't be stopped."

In his remarks, Bannon emphasized Trump's plans to deregulate businesses or what he described as "deconstruction of the administrative state."

"Every business leader we've had in is saying not just taxes, but it is also the regulation. I think the consistent, if you look at these Cabinet appointees, they were selected for a reason and that is the deconstruction," he said.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos urged the activists to "engage" and "be loud" in the face of politicians who stand in the way of changing the education system.

"We have a unique window of opportunity to make school choice a reality" for millions for families, she said.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said last fall's election results provide "an assignment for change and real reform."

"So we need to see a repeal and replacement of Obamacare, we need to see real tax reform," he said. "We need to see a federal government that gets its spending under control."

"As governors, as activists, engaged citizens, we need to hold all elected leaders accountable for results in this cycle right now. We may not get this same opportunity again. We can't squander it."

Although Republicans have long vowed to overturn Obama's health care law, the election of Trump and majorities in Congress now have a chance to do it.

Former Sen. Jim DeMint, president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, said activists must maintain pressure on the people they've elected.

"Fellow conservatives, this is our time," he said. "We must and we can repeal Obamacare now."

__

Associated Press writer Ken Thomas in Washington contributed to this report.

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Mike Pence Tells Conservatives They Have a Rare Opportunity In the Trump Presidency - TIME

Vice President Mike Pence assured the Republican Jewish Coalition that he and President Donald Trump will work tirelessly on foreign and domestic issues important to the group, such as enacting business-friendly policies at home and supporting Israel abroad.

"If the world knows nothing else, the world will know this: America stands with Israel," Pence told the group Friday night. The Republican administration is "assessing" whether to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, he said, and has put Iran "on notice."

Pence's words served as evidence of the fruits of years of the politically active group's labors. Its annual conference at billionaire donor Sheldon Adelson's casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip has become a de facto campaign stop for Republican presidential candidates over the past few years. The RJC also drew the entire GOP presidential field to its December 2015 forum in Washington.

Now, with the first Republican White House in eight years, the group of Republican donors and Jewish leaders was among the first to hear from the new vice president. Former Vice President Dick Cheney introduced Pence. The roughly 500 attendees also are expected to hear from Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado, Joni Ernst of Iowa and Lindsay Graham of South Carolina this weekend.

Pence told the RJC that America's bonds with Israel had already grown stronger under the young administration. President Barack Obama did not have a close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and many Republican Jews saw the Obama administration as insufficiently supportive of Israel.

Pence also ticked through Trump's domestic agenda, saying the president had already brought back American jobs. "This White House is in the promise-keeping business," he said.

The vice president shared stories from his trip to Germany last weekend his first abroad as vice president. He'd paid a visit to the former Dachau concentration camp, where thousands of Austrian and German Jews were among those imprisoned and killed. He was joined on the tour by a survivor of the Holocaust who was at Dachau when it was liberated by American soldiers at the end of World War II.

Pence also talked about how this week he had made a surprise visit to a Jewish cemetery in Missouri where more than 150 gravestones had been toppled and vandalized. Speaking through a bullhorn at the site, he said there was "no place in America for hatred or acts of prejudice or violence or anti-Semitism" and then picked up a rake and helped clean up the cemetery.

In Las Vegas, the vice president effusively praised the Adelsons from the stage, saying that they "in so many ways have given America a second chance" through their political work in the U.S. and Israel. Adelson and his wife, Miriam, gave more than $20 million to a pro-Trump super PAC, making them among Trump's most generous benefactors, campaign records show.

"Rest assured we're going to keep our end of the bargain, too," Pence said, thanking the Adelsons and RJC for "steadfast support" throughout the campaign.

Yet, like so many staples of party politics including the conservative activist conference taking place this week near Washington the RJC has fit uneasily with Trump.

Adelson, who helps finance the RJC, didn't openly support Trump until the final weeks of the presidential campaign. The wariness was mutual. Trump had called his GOP rivals "puppets" of Adelson and prompted major heartburn among Republican Jews with his freewheeling comments at the 2015 RJC forum.

Trump has been appreciative. At one of his final campaign stops, in Las Vegas, he called the couple "really incredible people" who have been "so supportive" The Adelsons also were front and center for Trump's swearing-in last month, and Sheldon Adelson was one of Trump's first dinner guests at the White House.

And Trump picked the leader of the super PAC that landed Adelson's money, Chicago businessman Todd Ricketts, as deputy commerce secretary.

Associated Press writer Ken Thomas in Washington contributed to this report.

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VP Mike Pence tells Jewish group world will know US supports Israel - Chicago Tribune

(MUNICH) Vice President Mike Pence vowed Saturday that the United States will "hold Russia accountable" even as President Donald Trump searches for new common ground with Moscow at the start of his presidency.

Pence, in an address to the Munich Security Conference, also offered assurances to European allies that the U.S. "strongly supports" NATO. He said the U.S. would be "unwavering" in its commitment to trans-Atlantic institutions like NATO.

In his first overseas trip as vice president, Pence sought to calm nervous European allies who remain concerned about Russian aggression and have been alarmed by Trump's positive statements about Russian President Vladimir Putin. The address to foreign diplomats and security officials also sought to reassure international partners who worry that Trump may pursue isolationist tendencies.

Pence said the U.S. would demand that Russia honor a 2015 peace deal agreed upon in Minsk, Belarus, to end violence in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed separatists.

"Know this: The United States will continue to hold Russia accountable, even as we search for new common ground which as you know President Trump believes can be found," Pence said.

Pence met afterward with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who addressed the conference just before the vice president. Merkel stressed the need to maintain international alliances and told the audience, with Pence seated a few feet away, that NATO is "in the American interest."

European countries along Russia's border are rattled by the prospect of deeper U.S.-Russia ties after Trump suggested sanctions imposed after Russia's annexation of Crimea could be eased in exchange for a nuclear weapons deal, and after the president referred to NATO as "obsolete" in an interview before his inauguration. Trump has since tempered his language, stressing the importance of the NATO alliance during his telephone conversations with foreign leaders.

Pence also scheduled meetings Saturday with the leaders of the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko countries dealing with the threat of Russian incursion. Pence also planned to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

The visit, which includes a stop in Brussels on Sunday and Monday, comes amid worries in Europe about Russian aggression, Trump's relationship with Putin and whether the new president may promote isolationist tendencies through his "America First" mantra.

"The vice president has sent reassuring messages through his own engagement but that hasn't been enough to dispel the concerns that you see in many parts of Europe," says Jeff Rathke, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "There are such grave challenges that the U.S. and Europe faces that it only heightens the desire for additional clarity from Washington."

Pence's stature within the administration was also under scrutiny because of the recent dismissal of Trump's national security adviser, retired Gen. Michael Flynn. Flynn was forced to resign Monday following reports he misled Pence about contacts with a Russian diplomat. The vice president learned that he had been misled through media accounts about two weeks after the president was informed.

Pence is also expected to meet with the leaders of Iraq and Afghanistan, where the U.S. is embroiled in two separate wars. Trump has made clear his intention to defeat the Islamic State group. But he also said the U.S. may get a second chance to take Iraqi oil as compensation for its efforts in the war-torn country, a notion rebuffed by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who will be meeting with the vice president.

Trump's immigration and refugee ban has ruffled feathers with a number of Muslim-majority countries affected by the order currently tied up in court, including Iraq a close ally in the fight against IS.

In Munich, the American allies were searching for clues from Pence as to how the Trump administration plans to deal with Russia in the aftermath of Flynn's departure, U.S. inquiries into Russia's involvement in the presidential election and Trump's past praise for Putin.

In his remarks, Pence also reinforced the Trump administration's message that NATO members must spend more on defense.

NATO's 28-member countries committed in 2014 to spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense within a decade. But only the U.S. and four other members of the post-World War II military coalition are meeting the standard, Pence said.

Failure to meet the commitment, he said, "erodes the very foundation of our alliance."

"Let me be clear on this point: The president of the United States expects our allies to keep their word, to fulfill this commitment and, for most, that means the time has come to do more," Pence said.

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Mike Pence Promises the World: We Will 'Hold Russia Accountable' - TIME