Pence To Media: 'We've All Got To Do Better'

Vice President Pence (Reuters photo)

Vice President Mike Pence chastised the news media over what he saw as unfair coverage at a posh Washington event Saturday evening, while also poking fun at administration he serves.

NBC News was reporting Pence was attending 132nd annual Gridiron Dinner, a white tie affair that every president since Grover Cleveland has attended at least once, which features music, skits and comedic remarks from senior political figures. Trump, who is spending the weekend at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort, did not attend.

Pence took light-hearted aim at a wide range of targets, from the recent Oscars' best picture flub to revelations that he used a private email account while Governor of Indiana.

"[It] really was embarrassing for me to have millions of Americans learn that I'm one of the few people in the country to still have an AOL account," he said.

But despite his easygoing tone, Pence also criticized the media's coverage of the administration, albeit in a more reserved tone than the president tends to employ.

"These days, and I say this with the deepest respect," he told reporters in the room, "it seems like in this short news cycle … too often stories will make page one and drive news with just too little respect to the people who are affected or involved."

"So let me just say to you as, not as your vice president, but just as a neighbor … that I think we've all just got to do better. And the way I think we can do better is by focusing on what unites as more often as Americans," Pence added.