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What is this with Ohio Republicans and stand-up comedy?  From Fox News in late August:

Vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance's regret in referring to some leaders as "childless cat ladies" is that "a lot of people took it the wrong way," he revealed during a recent interview.

Since jumping into the 2024 presidential race, Vance has caught flak for a resurfaced 2021 comment, when he said that "we're effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies."

The senator, however, says that the statement was taken out of context.

"I want to be the vice president for the whole country and I want to represent everyone. And yes, I made a sarcastic comment years ago that I think that a lot of Democrats have willfully misinterpreted," Vance told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.

Vance was then pressed again on whether he regretted the comment.

"I regret certainly that a lot of people took it the wrong way. And I certainly regret that the DNC and Kamala Harris lied about it," the vice presidential candidate told the outlet.

"I'm going to say things from time to time that people disagree with. I'm a real person, I'm going to make jokes, I'm going to say things sarcastically. And I think that what's important is that we focus on the policy," Vance added. "I have a lot of regrets, Kristen, but making a joke three years ago is not at the top 10 of the list."

Oh, and what a joke it was! Which was more hilarious- childless cat ladies or "corporate oligarchs?"  It's such a running gag, a classic of stand-up.

While Vance is a sitting United States Senator, Republican Bernie Moreno is trying to oust Sherrod Brown, the senior United States senator from Ohio. On September 20, Moreno participated in a town hall meeting outside of Cincinnati and the NBC affiliate in Columbus reported

“You know, the left has a lot of single-issue voters,” Moreno said in video published by the TV outlet. “Sadly, by the way, there’s a lot of suburban women, a lot of suburban women that are like, ‘Listen, abortion is it. If I can’t have an abortion in this country whenever I want, I will vote for anybody else.’ 

… Okay. It’s a little crazy, by the way, but — especially for women that are, like, past 50 — I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t think that’s an issue for you.’”

 In a development roughly as likely as the Philadelphia Eagles qualifying for the playoffs in the past five years,  "Moreno’s campaign said he was joking." The odd thing, perhaps, was that the complete explanation belied the lame explanation of a "joke" as spokesperson Reagan McCarthy stated  “Bernie was clearly making a tongue-in-cheek joke about how Sherrod Brown and members of the leftwing media like to pretend that the only issue that matters to women voters is abortion, McCarthy added that her guy thinks “that women voters care just as much about the economy, rising prices, crime, and our open southern border as male voters do.”

The spokesperson did not explain how abortion after 50 is funny when the comedian was really referring to inflation, crime, and immigration.  Similarly, J.D. Vance never has explained how women who have cats but not children wield as much power as corporate oligarchs.

It's almost as if some Republicans want to zero out segments of the American mosaic or set them against other Americans. Ohio Republican govern Mike DeWine has properly denounced inaccurate and divisive rumors about the Haitians residing in Springfield, Ohio. Perhaps he can also denounce the misogynistic remarks of Moreno, whose general election campaign he has endorsed, and those of Vance, who is on the presidential ticket he has endorsed.  And then he can tell us what's in the water in Ohio or plead that these two guys don't represent faithfully the praiseworthy nature of the state he and J.D. Vance represent. 

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