Mike Pence’s NFL Walkout Was a Cheap, Transparent Stunt (at a cost to the taxpayer)

a reply to: Southern Guardian

Trump's ego? I don't think so. If the protest was against Trump himself, then you might have a case.

The protest is against... well I'm not exactly sure at this point, but it's not against Trump.

Trump is simply standing up for his country. That used to be called patriotism.

And FWIW, I think $200,000 is a bargain for getting Jerry Jones to take a stand on the matter.

a reply to: ghaleon12

And I quote:

Who cares?

You don't. Trump can pull off stunts at the expense of the tax payer to sooth his ego.

Who cares?

a reply to: scojak

Trump is simply standing up for his country.

By wasting $200,000+ on a stunt to go all the way to a Colts game, get up and leave. That's standing up for his country? And if the players continue to kneel (which they certainly will) the week and the following week? He'll just keep throwing away tax payer money to protect his ego and you'll be all groovy with this right?

Priorities for the Trump administration. With people like you why does he have to worry about being accountable?

have you seen the tweet from trump happily claiming that he told pence to leave if anyone kneeled?

your country is being played so hard that it hurts to watch.

a reply to: sooth


Wasn't this all originally about police brutality or something? Now what the hell are we talking about?

The false Left-Right paradigm...

Department of Justice unit organized protest with taxpayer dollars

the Justice Department’s "Community Relations Service" responded to escalating racial tension in Sanford, Fla., following Trayvon Martin’s shooting death by helping "organize and manage rallies and protests against George Zimmerman

In a separate "investigative bulletin" post touting the findings, the group went further, saying the "group actively worked to foment unrest, spending thousands of taxpayer dollars on travel and hotel rooms to train protesters throughout Florida."

a reply to: Southern Guardian

Gotta love a good cherry pick. I'll respond properly and address all the points you make.

By wasting $200,000+ on a stunt to go all the way to a Colts game, get up and leave. That's standing up for his country

As I said, it was not wasted. It prompted Jerry Jones to take a stand. If you don't know who Jerry Jones is and what he means to the NFL, then you shouldn't be commenting on the issue.

And yes, it was a show of disapproval for people who don't respect the National Anthem and flag. It was a simple way of saying that the US government will not support an institution that disrespects the symbols of America.

And if the players continue to kneel (which they certainly will) the week and the following week?

If those players are on the Cowboys, then they'll be free to kneel during the game as well because they certainly won't be playing... or getting paid. We'll see how long they last when their money goes away.

He'll just keep throwing away tax payer money to protect his ego and you'll be all groovy with this right?

I said it once already, $200k was a bargain to get Jerry Jones to take a stand. And, I also said it once already, this is not a protest against Trump, so his efforts to put it to rest cannot be blamed on his ego. That's his job as President, to fix things that are broken, including social issues.

With people like you why does he have to worry about being accountable?

People like me? comments like this show how small of a person you are. Grow up.

Yeah, I mean, I understand that folks feel these uppity football players are disrespecting the flag and veterans, but when the players have all explicitly stated that they have immense respect for the flag, immense respect for their country, immense respect for veterans.

When some of the players have explicitly stated that their moms, brothers, uncles are veterans, and they're so proud of them.

When they have all said explicitly that their protest has nothing to do with disrespecting the flag and the country, and is instead all about peacefully protesting racial injustice in America.

WIth all of this, and yet Pence continues to blindly insist that no no, they are all wrong, it's actually about disrespecting the nation? And for him to go and make this cheapest of cheap stunts, knowing full well and planned in advance that he'd walk out like a little pathetic baby girl snowflake whose ickle feelings were hurt. KNowing full well how incredibly racist his signalling would be by doing so...

It's the most pathetic thing I've ever seen a vice president do. He should be ashamed.

The Obamas used Marine 1 and 2 to fly their dogs to Hawaii to go on vacation with them... let that sink in for a second.

a reply to: avgguy

The Obamas are gone, we have new criminals in the white house, let's judge them on their own corruption.

This whole kneeling thing has gone beyond ridiculous. Ignore people doing it.

I was a dumbass and thought they were trying to disrespect the country and the flag and veterans at first. That isn't at all the point.

Lets freaking stop.

I fully support anyone who wants to burn the flag, piss on it, or not stand for it, because I LOVE AMERICA. That is a basic part of being an American.

At this point I'm just irritated it's taking away from the foosball that I don't really watch. I'm from Seattle, so I'm already a fair weather (it doesn't always rain here) fan. If anyone is at fault, it's the media for creating this absurd circus. I DON'T CARE. Stop covering it and wasting our time.

Aren't players forced to talk to the press for a certain amount of time? Why not protest there? Oh right, because you'll get fined.

Put your money on the line, get in REAL trouble and get a fine. Go on Oprah or whatever and voice your concerns.

Pence is being the annoying jackass he's protesting.

Can we just watch a freaking football game without all this BS? Trump getting elected made me realize just how annoying and retarded the average person is, and made me check myself and find a lot of retarded and annoying.

a reply to: Southern Guardian

Pence showed leadership-and in this country it costs money.

Your outrage is a bit transparent but your politics arn't.

originally posted by: carewemust
V.P. Pence's trip was well worth the money. It got the publicity, and delivered results.

After Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones got wind of what V.P. Pence did, he told his selfish millionaire players that, going forward, either they stand up for the Anthem, or not play in the game.

Full Story: www.foxnews.com...

...because with war brewing in East Asia, climate change devastating coastal areas, a Congress that cannot pass a single piece of legislation, a proposed budget that contains a poison pill that will prevent it from being passed, and an Executive Branch in complete disarray, the most important issue facing the nation is football players protesting police brutality. Wow.

a reply to: Southern Guardian

Something tells me you wouldn't be whining if he had stayed for the whole game, which would've cost the taxpayers even more.

a reply to: avgguy

Interesting, that with such a lavish luxury being consumed by the Obama family, Trump has already outstripped the Obamas spending on travel for the same period by a huge margin.

Obama spent $97million in total, in eight years, on being out of the office on down time. In the first eighty DAYS of his Presidency, Mr Trumps trips have cost more than $20million.

If you divide Obama's total spending over his presidency on travel, by eight (the number of years he was in office), you get a rough estimate of his yearly expenditure on travel, which pops out at $12,125,000. So Trump overspent Obamas YEARLY figure, during the first EIGHTY days of his Presidency.

If that trend continues, then by the end of this one year of his presidency, Mr Trump will have spent $91,250,000 dollars on moving himself around on R&R trips.

Lets assume, just for a moment, that more than half of Americas citizens WANT the country to go all to hell in the next ten years, and are prepared to vote to make certain it occurs, and Mr Trump gets a second term. With his current spending on R&R time, he will have spent a mind blowing $730,000,000.

Thats eight times as much, assuming my mathematics are up to snuff on this particular occasion (I did use a calculator, so they should be relatively sound).

ETA:
SORRY... That should be 7.52577319588 times as much. My sincerest apologies for the inaccuracy there.

He flew on a C-20 Gulfstream on his own dime.
a reply to: Southern Guardian

a reply to: scojak

The protest is against... well I'm not exactly sure at this point

If you don't know what the kneeling is all about than you have not been paying attention.

a reply to: scojak

Trump's ego? I don't think so. If the protest was against Trump himself, then you might have a case.

Trump has taken the protests personally, and yes, I think he identifies as "The Government" now, and that the protests are all about him.

I wouldn't have had a problem had Pence attended the game as a sport's enthusiast, and stayed. But I do have a problem with "The Government" staging a protest, on the tax payer's dime" to protest citizen's use the 1st Amendment!

But, here's my real problem. The Constitution gives the people the right to free speech and the right to protest and redress the government for grievances. It doesn't grant "The Government" the right to protest the people's exercise of free speech!

a reply to: Southern Guardian

Absolutely a publicity stunt , rather than let this die down it suits the administration to stoke the fire.

But Reid, the 25-year-old from Louisiana, thinks it was all part of a set-up. “My honest reaction … Does anybody know the last time he’s [Pence] been to a football game?” Reid said, as quoted by Jennifer Lee Chan of Niners Nation. “With that being said, he tweeted out a three-year old photo of him at a Colts game so with the information I have the last time he was at a Colts game was three years ago. So this looks like a PR stunt to me.”
www.newsweek.com...

The trip by @VP Pence was long planned. He is receiving great praise for leaving game after the players showed such disrespect for country!
twitter.com...

I see no evidence of him receiving "great praise for leaving game" but as the statement came from "the President" I see no surprise there.
More childish daycare centre antics.

a reply to: scojak

people who don't respect the National Anthem and flag.

The protest is not about this at all. It's about police brutality and justice for all americans.
The media has fooled a lot of people into believing it's about the flag. I'll let kaepernick explain it.

That's his job as President, to fix things that are broken, including social issues

The broken social issue in this case is the injustice being done to minorities NOT a peaceful and lawful protest being done by american citizens.

We'll see how long they last when their money goes away

This issue is much deeper and more real for black people than I think you realize. Many of them will continue to kneel even once they get fired. Doing so is going to get them even more coverage than they get now. This is a bad move by jones.

Oh, so if you meet all US citizenship requirements but work for the US government, you aren’t a citizen? Somehow I don’t think it works like that. I also believe VPOTUS was acting as a private citizen while attending a football game (again, his right), which he had planned for a long time to see Peyton Manning’s jerser retired. Last I checked, attending an NFL game is not a function of government.

Finally, you are all aware that the Secret Service is going to get paid regardless of what they’re doing? And the press did NOT have to follow in yet another quest for “red meat” to spin for their agenda(s)...