Cat lady critic encounters tough pushback...

MONDAY, JULY 29, 2024

...from a (somewhat) surprising source: Last evening, a funny thing happened to JD Vance, the "childless cat lady" critic.

Last night, he encountered a bit of fairly stern pushback. It came from a (somewhat) surprising source.

We say the pushback was surprising because it was offered on a Fox News Channel program. We say it was only somewhat surprising because the program in question was Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy.

In our view, Gowdy's weekly 9 p.m. show stands second in line, behind only Special Report, as a reasonably straight-shooting Fox News Channel program.

That doesn't mean that we agree with Gowdy on a wide range of issues. All in all, we probably don't.

It does mean that Gowdy began his program last night by challenging Vance, at some length, about his "childless cat lady" remarks. In this news report for The Hill, Nick Robertson does a decent job reporting what Gowdy said and did right at the start of his program:

Fox News host challenges JD Vance on ‘childless cat lady’ remarks

Fox News host Trey Gowdy questioned Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) on Sunday over a past remarks from the VP candidate criticizing people who are “childless” and calling Vice President Harris a “cat lady” in an insult that has resulted in bipartisan blowback.

Gowdy, himself a former congressman, defended those without children in the opening monologue of his show. He shared a story of meeting a pair of Catholic nuns who prayed for his friend, who was expecting a child, after spending the day together in an airport.

“And it’s not just Catholic nuns. Some of the finest people I know don’t have children,” Gowdy said. “Teachers and guidance counselors and lawyers and doctors, and they love other people’s children enough to teach and guide and protect and minister to them. Some people choose not to have children. Others desperately want them, but they can’t.”

“The American people are forgiving, if we ask,” he added before welcoming Vance on the show.

Was Gowdy suggesting that Vance should ask forgiveness for his remarks? That may have been what he meant.

At any rate, that's the way Robertson starts his report for The Hill. So far, his report is factually accurate.

You can see Gowdy's entire opening monologue—indeed, you can watch his whole interview with Vance—simply by clicking here. Let's just say that, right from the start, he wasn't exactly heaping praise on his party's nominee for vice president.

After that opening monologue, Gowdy introduced Vance. As his report continues, Robertson offers a somewhat inaccurate account of what happened then:

Vance did not apologize for the comments, originally from 2021, instead accusing Democrats of being “anti-family.” 

“If you look at what the left has done, they have radically taken this out of context and in fact, aggressively lied about what I’ve said,” Vance said. “The left has increasingly become explicitly anti child and anti family. They’ve encouraged young families not to have children at all, because of concerns over climate change.”

That first paragraph is perfectly accurate. It's true! Vance didn't apologize for his remarks—and he did accuse Democrats, though not "the left," of being "anti-family."

In fact, Vance went a bit further than that in his response to Gowdy's initial challenge. Below, you see the bulk of that initial response. 

This is the bulk of what Vance said. Warning! Some of what he said here is plainly inaccurate:

VANCE: ...If you look at the full context of what I said, it is very clear that the Democrats have tried to take this out of context and blow it out of proportion, which is what they always do, Trey, because they don't have an agenda to run on themselves.

And if you look at what the American people are most concerned about, Trey, it's not an out-of-context quip that I made three years ago. It's the fact that Kamala Harris, the border czar, opened the American southern border. It's the fact that the Democratic Party has become explicitly anti-family in some of their policies. In fact, you just heard Kamala Harris, in a surfaced clip recently, talk about how it was a bad idea to have kids because of climate change anxiety. 

So what I'm really trying to get at here, Trey, is that it's important for us to be pro-family as a country,,,

For the record, that isn't what Harris actually said in that recently surfaced clip. Nor is there any reason to believe that Harris has ever been in charge of overall border policy in a way which is suggested by the pleasing term, "border czar."

In that initial response, Vance kept calling Gowdy "Trey," possibly trying to trigger a sense of tribal solidarity. That said, Vance didn't drop any L-bombs in this, his initial response.

But then, it actually happened! As Robertson's report continues, he notes the way Gowdy reacted to Vance's initial statement.

Good lord! After Vance's initial response, Gowdy reacted by challenging Vance all over again:

Gowdy again challenged Vance over the comments, pointing out that Condoleezza Rice, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and George Washington are among American leaders without children.

Yikes! Gowdy didn't simply move on; he challenged Vance again! It was in Vance's response to this second challenge that he complained about "the aggressive lying" supposedly engaged in by "the left:"

VANCE: ...That's not what I said, Trey. If you look at what the left has done, they have radically taken this out of context and aggressively lied about what I said...The left has increasingly become explicitly anti-child and anti-family. They have encouraged young families not to have children because of concern about climate change...

It was here, in response to Gowdy's second challenge, that Vance dropped his bombs about the way "the left" has "radically taken [his quip] out of context" and has "aggressively lied."

Full disclosure! Last evening, Senator Vance wasn't being challenged by Democrats or by "the left." He was being challenged—twice!—by the Fox News Channel's Trey Gowdy, who plainly seemed to be offended by the earlier unkind remarks.

As we watched, we were amazed by what a lost soul Vance seems to have become. That said, also this:

As we watched the start of this program, we were reminded of an impression we've developed in the past few months. It seems to us that Gowdy, with whom we often will disagree, seems to run the most respectable prime time program on Fox.

Special bonus coverage: Last night, Gowdy ended his program with an interview with former Olympian Dominique Dawes, a very impressive person. To watch that segment, click here.

As the program ended, we wondered this: 

Is it in any way that Dominque Dawes can be talked into running for president?