Janice R. Andrews
Vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance recently defended his contentious comments from 2021, calling Democratic leaders “childless cat ladies” for not having biological children. Vance made the statements during an appearance on the podcast “Megyn Kelly Show.” Prominent individuals including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Vice President Kamala Harris were all referred to by this name.
A snippet of Vance’s statements from X (formerly Twitter) was published by former first lady Hillary Clinton earlier this week, little over a week after Vance was named as Donald Trump’s running mate. According to ABC News, Harris—who was among the targets of Vance’s remarks—has lately obtained pledges from enough delegates to emerge as the presumed Democratic nominee.
“We are effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too,” Vance stated in the initial 2021 Fox News interview.
Vance made it clear in his interview with Kelly on Friday that the Democratic Party’s position on family values was the target of his criticism, not single people without children. “The simple point that I made is that having children, becoming a father, becoming a mother, I really do think it changes your perspective in a pretty profound way,” Vance said.
He continued, saying, “Despite the lies spread by the media, I made it clear in my statements that this is not about condemning individuals who choose not to have children for a variety of reasons. This is about calling out the Democratic Party for turning against children and families.”
In his remarks from 2021, Vance emphasized the “choices” that certain Democrats had taken, implying that these choices had left them “miserable” and “childless cat ladies.” Vance alleges that Democrats are “anti-family and anti-child,” yet Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden have made strong cases for the child tax credit. The COVID-19 epidemic saw the implementation of the enhanced child tax credit, which ran out in 2021 as a result of resistance from Republicans and independent Senator Joe Manchin. Democrats are still pushing for its return, and Biden has included it in his budget request for FY2025.
In his conversation with Kelly, Vance underlined his dedication to helping parents. “I hope parents everywhere understand that I’m a guy who wants to fight for you. I’m proud to stand up for parents.” I’d like to defend your rights. I wish to defend your national interest. And that’s basically the main point of this,” Vance said.
But Vance’s previous statements have drawn a lot of criticism, with detractors claiming that he unfairly singled out some people based on their personal decisions and that they were insensitive. As the 2024 presidential contest heats up, the topic keeps igniting conversations about the place of family values in politics.
