Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), the vice presidential candidate, became irate when CNN’s Dana Bash questioned him about remarks he made in 2021 about “childless cat ladies.”
During a heated confrontation on Sunday’s State of the Union, Bash challenged Vance about a Pennsylvania Republican voter’s critique of the senator’s remarks from 2021, in which he said: “we’re 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. And it’s just a basic fact. You look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.”
“What do you say to key voters like that, Republican swing voters, who are put off by your views?” Bash asked.
“If you look at what I said in context, the Harris campaign has frankly lied about what I actually said,” Vance replied. “I’m pro-family. I want us to have more families. And obviously sometimes it doesn’t work out, sometimes for medical reasons, sometimes because you don’t meet the right person. But the point is that our country has become anti-family and its public policy.”
“You called out Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg in particular,” Bash said, following up. “Kamala Harris has two stepchildren. Pete Buttigieg and his husband have adopted twins. Do you recognize them as parents and more broadly, as being part of families?”
Vance replied, “Of course I do,” and went on to claim he criticized Harris “for being part of a set of ideas that exists in American leadership that is anti-family.”
Following some additional back and forth, Vance expressed his disapproval of Bash’s line of questioning.
“You’ve now asked me three questions about comments that I made three years ago,” Vance said. “I wonder what Kamala Harris thinks about the fact that she supported policies that open the American Southern border. I wonder what Kamala Harris thinks about Joe Biden’s mental facility for the office.”
“I’m interviewing you,” Bash replied. “Not Kamala Harris.”
Except for a two-minute Q&A with reporters on a Wisconsin tarmac on Thursday, Vance had avoided contact with the media since President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 contest. Vance seized the chance to criticize Harris for this behavior.
“You are interviewing me, Dana, because I respect the American people enough to sit down for an interview,” Vance said.
“Kamala Harris has been the nominee for three weeks. She hasn’t sat down for a real interview.”
CNN has asked for a meeting with the vice president, according to Bash.
“The point is, Dana, you’ve got me for 15 minutes or however long you have me,” Vance said. “We should be talking about public policies that matter. How are we going to lower inflation? How are we going to reduce the cost of food and housing? How are we going to close down that southern border? We’ve talked so little about that. We’ve talked a lot more about a sarcastic remark I made three years ago.”
