Sen. Lindsey Graham Defends JD Vance Amid Controversy, Advocates for Political Discourse without Hurtful Remarks

Sen. Lindsey Graham Says Politicians Shouldn’t Say Anything to Hurt Anybody’s Feelings

United States Senator Lindsey Graham voiced his opinion on another Senator’s controversial remarks this Sunday. In reference to Sen. JD Vance‘s recent “childless cat ladies” comment, Graham asserted that politicians “should never say anything to hurt anybody’s feelings.” Despite the uproar over Vance’s remarks, however, Graham voiced his enduring support for both Vance and the Republican party.

Graham’s Defense of Vance

Discussing the controversy on a recent episode of “Face the Nation,” Graham maintained that while the choice of words wasn’t ideal, there was validity in Vance’s message. He explained, “You should never say anything to hurt anybody’s feelings, but when you look at all these interviews by JD, he was talking about how the Democratic Party has abandoned the traditional family.” Stressing that attempts to disfavor Vance over this incident would be in vain, he said, “This idea of trying to marginalize JD and make him some kind of bad person is not going to work because he’s not a bad person — he’s a good person.”

Vance’s Controversial Remarks

The furore stems from a comment Vance made during his 2021 Senate campaign, when he claimed that the U.S was being run 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.” He cited Vice President Kamala Harris (who doesn’t have biological children, but is a stepmother to two children from her husband’s previous marriage) as one of these supposed “cat ladies”.

When asked to clarify his comments, Vance emphasized that his remark was sarcastic, and that the thrust of his argument was the widespread skepticism, or even hostility, towards the idea of having children, a trend he securely pinned on Democrats who don’t have children. According to him, it’s the Democratic Party that has become “anti-family and anti-child”, not an attack on those who chose not to have children.

Backlash against Vance’s Comments

The reactions to Vance’s comments have been far from calm. Renowned actor Jennifer Aniston, who has been open about her struggle with fertility, hit back at Vance, reprimanding him for his stance. Furthermore, she criticized Vance’s vote against a legislative package guaranteeing nationwide right to IVF. The Majority Leader of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, challenged the wisdom of former President Donald Trump’s choice of Vance as his running mate, calling it an “incredibly bad choice.”

However, Trump’s camp has shown no signs of regret over the choice, with Graham telling reporters that Vance “has one of the most compelling stories in American politics.” He further declared his support for Vance, saying, “I don’t have children, but I’m going to vote for JD and Trump, because I think we’ll be safer and more prosperous and more secure. I want to end the Biden-Harris debacle.”

Concluding Thoughts

Despite the heated debate, it is evident that both sides firmly believe in the correctness of their stances. Time will only determine how much of an impact these views and the controversy surrounding them will have on the upcoming political races.