NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Vice President Mike Pence got a raucous reception from the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday evening, where he encouraged conservatives to “make your voices heard in town halls” as GOP lawmakers have faced often angry constituents at their district forums.
Pence’s address was the ninth time the former Indiana governor had addressed the annual CPAC.
“You know, the president and I have become good friends. It’s the greatest privilege of my life to be vice president to a leader of such conviction, vision, and courage. Now, some people have remarked that we’re a little bit different,” he said. “You know, I’m a small-town guy. He’s big city. I’m Midwest, he’s Manhattan Island. He’s known for his bigger than life personality, his charm, and his charisma. And I’m, like, not.”
Pence vowed that President Trump’s campaign-trail agenda will be executed: “Over at the White House, I like to say we’re in the promise-keepin’ business these days.”
The VP, who was in charge of the transition, called Trump’s cabinet “the A-Team.”
“President Trump has assembled the strongest conservative cabinet in my lifetime, bar none,” he said.
Pence declared that “despite the best efforts of liberal activists at town halls around the country, the American people know better: Obamacare has failed, and Obamacare must go.”
“With President Trump’s leadership, Obamacare is going to be replaced with something that actually works, something that’s built on freedom and individual responsibility. President Trump and I want every American to have access to quality and affordable health insurance, which is why we’re designing a better law that lowers the cost of health insurance without growing the size of government,” he said.
“…You know, despite all the fearmongering from the left, make no mistake about it: We’ll have an orderly transition to a better health care system that finally puts the American people first. And after we repeal and replace Obamacare, we’re going to do a whole lot more.”
Pence told the activists that “the success of our movement and, more importantly, the success of our country depends as much on all of you as it does on us.”
“We’ve got to mobilize. We got to march forward, as if it’s the most important time in the history of our movement, because it is,” he continued, telling them to reach out “on the Internet and social media, and all those places where commonsense conservative messages are most desperately needed.”
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