Religious conservatives frequently insist the Bible is the word of God and its message does not change over time. That may be why the Office of Vice President Mike Pence is refusing to respond to a CNN inquiry for a story about columns he wrote demanding Republicans impeach the president for lying and sexual misconduct. Those columns cite the Bible, that president was Bill Clinton, Pence was a conservative radio host, and it was the 1990’s.
CNN reports Pence, in Indiana, at the time was a “prominent conservative voice in the state arguing Clinton had lost his moral authority to lead the country.”
Andrew Kaczynski at CNN reports Pence insisted presidents must be judged against a higher authority.
“Dismissing the idea that the president is ‘just the like the rest of us,’ Pence wrote, ‘If you and I fall into bad moral habits, we can harm our families, our employers and our friends. The President of the United States can incinerate the planet. Seriously, the very idea that we ought to have at or less than the same moral demands placed on the Chief Executive that we place on our next door neighbor is ludicrous and dangerous.'”
“Throughout our history,” Pence continued, “we have seen the presidency as the repository of all of our highest hopes and ideals and values. To demand less is to do an injustice to the blood that bought our freedoms.”
Pence, who is an evangelical Christian, wrote: “Leaders affect the lives of families far beyond their own ‘private life’. In the Bible story of Esther we are told of a king who was charged to put right his own household because there would be ‘no end of disrespect and discord’ among the families of the kingdom if he failed to do so. In a day when reckless extramarital sexual activity is manifesting itself in our staggering rates of illegitimacy and divorce, now more than ever, America needs to be able to look to her First Family as role models of all that we have been and can be again.”
He added that regardless of polls or votes, Republicans had a moral obligation to impeach the president.
“If our leaders flinch at this responsibility, they would do well to heed the Proverb ‘if a ruler listens to lies, all his officials become wicked.'”
Image by US Dept. of State via Flickr
This story has been updated to correct the vice president’s religion.