Reporters are attacking Vice President Mike Pence for walking out on the Indianapolis Colts-San Francisco 49ers NFL game Sunday afternoon after nearly two dozen visiting 49ers took a knee in protest during the playing of the National Anthem. Pence’s principled stand was called a stunt and mocked as ‘wag the flag’ by reporters.
Looking forward to cheering for our @Colts & honoring the great career of #18 Peyton Manning at @LucasOilStadium today. Go Colts! pic.twitter.com/C3aCYUNpqG
— Vice President Mike Pence Archived (@VP45) October 8, 2017
We were proud to stand – with all our @Colts – for our soldiers, our flag, and our National Anthem 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/mkZiKMkPDD
— Vice President Mike Pence Archived (@VP45) October 8, 2017
I stand with @POTUS Trump, I stand with our soldiers, and I will always stand for our Flag and our National Anthem. pic.twitter.com/B0zP5M41MQ
— Vice President Mike Pence Archived (@VP45) October 8, 2017
Dan Dale, Washington correspondent for the Toronto Star:
Wag the flag https://t.co/NXLjsYwO0w
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 8, 2017
I'm no historian, but this may very well be the most blatant LOOK A SQUIRREL move in American political history https://t.co/ZfJwhQzRxk
— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) October 8, 2017
Reporters became more upset with Pence when the pool reporter noted they were told that Pence may leave the game early.
Pooler @VaughnHillyard asked to go into the stadium with @VP (as is pool's duty) but held in vans and told @VP may leave game early: pic.twitter.com/Ki6HRVYDNP
— Elizabeth Landers (@ElizLanders) October 8, 2017
Emily C. Singer, Senior Writer @mic covering politics:
So they admit it was a stunt. https://t.co/EGlyESGIik
— Emily C. Singer (@CahnEmily) October 8, 2017
Mark Berman, national reporter, Washington Post:
Nothing like a little pre-planned walkout on a Sunday afternoon pic.twitter.com/0TwjHvAVzn
— Mark Berman (@markberman) October 8, 2017
Peter Alexander, National Correspondent, NBC News:
FLAG: Was Pence leaving Colts game a political stunt? Reporters were told to stay in van bc "there may be an early departure from the game."
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) October 8, 2017
Brian Stelter, CNN senior media correspondent:
VP Pence flew from Las Vegas to Indianapolis… seemingly for the staged walkout… now he's flying back west to L.A. 🤔 https://t.co/XwcfjJuPwG
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 8, 2017
Mark Harris, journalist at Vulture:
Trump is a marrow-deep white supremacist who believes that Republicans win by signaling to racists. That's what he had Pence do today.
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) October 8, 2017
David Corn, Washington Bureau Chief, Mother Jones:
Translation: Dear Leader owns Little Pence. https://t.co/B8Ij9LT0x8
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) October 8, 2017
Slate:
Mike Pence escapes kneeling men, patriotically beats traffic: https://t.co/2YPkg8UMNm pic.twitter.com/h8VH6Z8teP
— Slate (@Slate) October 8, 2017
Jennifer Bendery, senior politics reporter for HuffPost:
Hmm. If this really was a publicity stunt, shouldn't Congress investigate how much taxpayer money Pence wasted for this trip? https://t.co/muvEPOs9Sx
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) October 8, 2017
Benderey was commenting about a tweet by Democrat Senator for Hawaii Brian Schtaz:
Wait. This was orchestrated to make a point? That's not an inexpensive thing to do. https://t.co/Ze5jDw4Ifu
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) October 8, 2017
Pence's stunt likely cost more than $250,000 at minimum. https://t.co/Y9E9LqvhPG
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 8, 2017
Pence updated his Twitter page with a header photo from the game.
.@VP's background photo on his official Twitter has been updated with the pic from today's Colt's game pic.twitter.com/UhhUfdRPyr
— Elizabeth Landers (@ElizLanders) October 8, 2017
More reporter outrage to come…
And here it is:
Joe Scarborough, MSNBC host:
Nothing conservative about he VP's political stunt. It cost taxpayers a lot of money, inconvenienced fans, and burdened the Secret Service.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) October 8, 2017
Joe Scarborough, MSNBC host.
Taxpayers spent enormous sums for Pence to travel so that he could, according to a preset plan, walk out of a game. #GovernmentWaste https://t.co/IllXd9ehdX
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) October 8, 2017
Nicholas Kristof, New York Times columnist.
To be clear: @VP flew from NV to IN last night. Went to football game for a few minutes then left in protest. Soon flying back west to CA. https://t.co/cxFf6Hh9eD
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 8, 2017
Jake Tapper, CNN host.