Pence supported Sodrel before-- and after-- it was "cool"

Mike Pence endorsed congressional candidate Mike Sodrel on Saturday. Sodrel will face Travis Hankins and Todd Young in May's Republican primary-- the winner of which is scheduled to face Rep. Baron Hill in November. I've already described this as a bizarre and disappointing decision by Pence.

Here are some excerpts from the press conference in Matt Koesters' Jeff/NA News-Tribune article...

Sodrel: “I can’t think of anyone that I would rather have an endorsement from than Congressman Mike Pence.”

Sodrel is correct here; buy low and sell high is good investment advice. And Pence is apparently just past the height of his endorsement powers among fiscal conservatives.

Pence: “[Sodrel is] someone who personifies all that’s best about...the conservative ideals that make this country great. I believe in Mike Sodrel. In fact, I was for Mike Sodrel before it was cool.”

Which "conservative ideals"? On social conservatism, it's certainly good news that Sodrel is "now fully on board" to defund Planned Parenthood from federal taxpayer dollars. Otherwise, Sodrel is quite solid. On fiscal conservatism, Sodrel has always talked a strong game-- and was surely a promising candidate when he ran in 2002 and won in 2004. But the record belies the rhetoric. Unless there has been a change of heart-- and I have not heard any sense of repentance-- than support for and an endorsement of is inconsistent with "(fiscally) conservative ideals".

So, Pence believes in Sodrel-- despite the evidence or because Pence's principles have faded. In a word, Pence was "for Mike Sodrel" before-- and now after-- "it was cool".