Thoughts from the ammo line

Ammo Grrrll expounds THE PENCE PROTECTION PRINCIPLE. She writes:

If, like me, you are fortunate enough to live into late, late middle age, you will think that you have heard everything. But, sadly, you will have not.

So, when the breaking news story about Vice President Pence’s principle of not dining alone with a woman other than his wife hit the airwaves, it could have triggered any number of sane reactions: “Oh, how interesting!” or “My, I wish my spouse would have followed that rule before he ran off with his accountant’s secretary” or “That seems kind of old-fashioned and silly to me, but hats off to someone who takes no chances and puts his family first.”

I have spent a lot of time around Lubavitcher Chasidim (so-called ultra-Orthodox Jews), who do not sit next to, be in a room together with a closed door, or even shake hands with people of the opposite sex. So the Vice President’s principles did not strike me as unusual or particularly extreme, even though I have personally taken hundreds of meals alone with male friends, colleagues, and business clients.

But you can see why it would upset Democrats. They inhabit a world in which a kinda-sorta married ex-President flies off on a private plane called “The Lolita” to a private island of underage girls. They are not shocked when Hillary’s galpal’s husband sends repulsive pictures of himself in his Underoos to teenage girls while lying in bed with his toddler. Clearly, in Democrat World, the bar for decent behavior is set too low for even the most skilled limbo dancer to navigate.

So along comes a very intelligent, religious man who just says “No.” And the commentariat explodes with the usual unhinged criticism of someone who had the audacity to own a principle. Besides the utterly predictable charges of sexism and bigotry, an employment attorney asserted that not dining alone with a woman could “harm the professional development of women.” Oh, cry me a river! Find another way to “develop,” ladies. Maybe, oh, I don’t know, just by being extremely competent, loyal, smart, and indispensable?

And then this same employment attorney speculated that it could possibly even be ILLEGAL not to dine with women if you dine with men. Oh, please, by all means, bring that case to the Supreme Court. COMPULSORY dinner dates with women for married men! Find the shadow of THAT penumbra, Supremes!

Now apart from a precaution against his own ungoverned impulses, can we possibly think of another reason why Vice President Pence might avoid mixed groups who are drinking? Let’s think real hard.

Good Lord, have none of these idiots ever watched a single episode of West Wing or House of Cards? ALL these self-important power junkies do night and day, is plot how to screw each other over. But, until they can accomplish that, they will settle for just plain screwing. Have you ever seen a character of any gender on either show that you could imagine trusting for five minutes with either your spouse or some personal confidence? Are you daft?

Let me give you just a couple examples of bad behavior I have witnessed personally where men, women and alcohol were involved. Because I am the cheapest date on the planet, who gets drunkish on half a martini, I will stipulate that it is possible that I have said a stupid thing or two under the influence myself. If you never have, congrats, and more power to ya!

Mr. AG and I were out for drinks with another couple at a prominent jazz club in the Twin Cities. A friend joined us at our table. And although I hoped I was mistaken, I distinctly heard the other wife say to our friend the minute he sat down, “I’m not wearing any underwear.” Style points for subtlety to be sure, yet not too understated to be missed. Our friend at the time was a single, enthusiastic heterosexual who found this opening conversational gambit unusual, but not unwelcome.

We later learned that this damaged woman was in long-term therapy for routine behavior of this nature. Everyone around her was used to it and they just said, “Oh, that’s just our Henrietta” (not her real name) and carried on as if nothing had happened.

At a jam-packed New Year’s Eve party with a lot of people in “the arts,” this same woman wedged herself in on the sofa next to Mr. AG and rested her hand on his thigh – with me sitting on a chair across from him! – until he rather pointedly got up and moved to the piano bench where he figured he was safe, at least while playing. Mr. AG was and is pretty attractive so, hey, I guess she was only human. The bizarre thing was that, apart from coming on to every man in the room, “Henrietta” was a perfectly-nice person.

Does the Vice President of the United States need crap like this? Because anyone crazy enough to tell a complete stranger that she was nekkid beneath her leather mini skirt is sure to be crazy enough to assert that HE made an inappropriate remark or otherwise assaulted HER. And then, who will the completely-unbiased media be eager to believe? Remember, women never lie. Only poor President Clinton had the bad luck to maul only liars. The odds against that had to be astronomical.

In the toxic, degenerate “gotcha” culture that is Washington, DC, the Pence Principle would be as much for protection from lawfare and blackmail as it would be from one’s own baser instincts. Stick to your guns, Mike! Karen is a lucky lady who, God willing, will make a great First Lady in a short eight years.

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