09/16/2016 06:29 pm ET
Christopher Lamb
Mike Pence, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s running mate, told the news media at a press conference Thursday that he no longer wants to be called a vice presidential candidate.
The Indiana governor, an evangelical Christian, explained that he opposes the word “vice” on religious grounds. Pence said that the Bible has strict prohibitions against vice. He said the word “vice” means, among other things, “immoral” or “wicked behavior.”
“That’s not who I am, and that’s not who I want people to think I am,” he said. “I can’t in good faith willingly condone a word I find deplorable without violating my Christian principles.”
Pence’s statement came a few days after he refused to use the word “deplorable” to characterize David Duke, former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, who has endorsed the Trump-Pence ticket.
<more here>