Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday that former Vice President and likely 2020 candidate Joseph R. Biden “caved into liberal activists” when he walked back a recent comment calling him a “decent guy.”
“They’ve got an awfully big field on the other side,” Mr. Pence told “Fox & Friends.”
“The reality that you see on the Democrat side is it’s largely being driven by the most extreme liberal elements in their party,” he said. “And the way Joe Biden caved into liberal activists after making a kind comment toward me is evidence of the pressure that all of their candidates are going to face.”
Mr. Biden came under fire from the left late last month after he called Mr. Pence a “decent guy” while speaking at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Liberals and members of the LGBT community, including actress-turned-politician Cynthia Nixon, took issue with Mr. Biden’s praise in light of Mr. Pence’s record on gay rights.
The former vice president later clarified on Twitter that he made the comment “in a foreign policy context.”
“I was making a point in a foreign policy context, that under normal circumstances a Vice President wouldn’t be given a silent reaction on the world stage,” Mr. Biden wrote. “But there is nothing decent about being anti-LGBTQ rights, and that includes the Vice President.”
Mr. Biden, who has all but formally announced that he’s running in 2020, would be joining a crowded Democratic field hoping to take on President Trump.
Mr. Pence said Thursday he isn’t worried.
“You’ve got a party on the other side that is prepared to run on open borders, socialism, abortion on demand, infanticide, Medicare-for-all, and the Green New Deal,” he said. “I like our chances in 2020.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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