Vice President Mike Pence has responded to criticism leveled against him by Democratic Presidential hopeful and South Bend, Indiana Mayor, Pete Buttigieg. Buttigieg, in a recent address to an LGBT campaign group, swiped at Pence for his religious belief that marriage should be between one man and one woman.
“I wish the Mike Pence’s of the world would understand, that if you have a problem with who I am, your quarrel is not with me,” Buttigieg, who is openly gay and married, declared Sunday. “Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.”
Buttigieg also referred to Pence when insisting that his gay marriage brought him “closer to God.”
Bizarrely, Pence had not issued any comments to provoke such pointed remarks. Speaking in response to the mayor’s comments, the Vice President told CNBC that Buttigieg “knows better” than to say “things that are critical of my Christian faith and about me personally.”
“He knows me,” Pence added, “but I get it. You know, it’s look, again, 19 people running for president on that side in a party that’s sliding off to the left. And they’re all competing with one another for how much more liberal they are.”
Pence, who has been a staunch believer in traditional marriage for his entire political career, noted that this “doesn’t mean that we’re we’re critical of anyone else who has a different point of view,”
Pence noted that as governor of Indiana, he “worked very closely with Mayor Pete” and that they “had a great working relationship.”
Pence’s wife, Karen, also responded to Buttigieg’s comments, declaring that “in our country, we need to understand you shouldn’t be attacked for what your religious beliefs are.”
“I think kids need to learn that, at a young age, that this is OK, what faith people have,” she said. “We don’t attack them for their faith.”