GOP vice presidential candidate Mike Pence decried political “name calling” Friday just as Donald Trump called Hillary Clinton “crooked” and Michael Bloomberg “little.”
Pence’s comments—made to conservative radio personality Hugh Hewitt—were directed at Barack Obama after the president called Trump a “demagogue” during his speech at the Democratic National Convention.
“I don’t think name calling has any place in public life,” said Pence. “I thought that was unfortunate that the president of the United States would use a term like that, let alone laced into a sentence like that.”
The comments come as Trump has adopted name-calling in a fashion unheard of in modern presidential politics. Throughout the primary he developed monikers for his opponents like “Little Marco” for Senator Marco Rubio, “Lyin’ Ted” for Senator Ted Cruz, and he continues to use the title “Crooked Hillary” frequently when referring to his Democratic opponent.
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Write to Justin Worland at justin.worland@time.com