Looked up “Screwed the pooch.” in the dictionary.
There was Mike Pence’s picture alongside the definition.
The funny thing is that this is taken to mean "commit an embarrassing act," which we all know is weak. What it really means is to commit a grievous and unforgiveable sin, you know like it says - e.g. physically molesting the beloved family pet, and earning the permanent banishment by wife and kids, which is exactly what Pence did here.