Heh - Guess Who's Growing on People?

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

We've always been yuge J.D. Vance fans in this house. Kinda goes without saying, right? 

I mean, obviously, the Marine Corps connection always gives someone an initial leg up in our estimation, but to keep it, you have to earn it.

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After reading Hillbilly Elegy, we had a greater appreciation for the young guy we were seeing on CSPAN book tours and reading about in interviews (we still got the NYT delivered back then).

Then he decided to go into politics and wanted to represent Ohio. It seemed like a natural progression, and he seemed like a natural for it. 

Vance has an exceptionally easy-going manner, always polite and pleasant, but whipsmart, and can go for the jugular in a confrontation while effortlessly maintaining his serene countenance. Maybe it was surviving and thriving after all the mayhem in his childhood that taught him "water off a duck's back." 

Whatever it was, I wish he could bottle it.

The guy is gifted, and thank God he's on our side.

He hadn't been a senator for very long - less than two years - when Donald Trump selected him in July as his vice presidential running mate.

Former President Donald Trump chose Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate on Monday, picking a onetime critic who became a loyal ally and is now the first millennial to join a major-party ticket at a time of deep concern about the advanced age of America’s political leaders.

“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network as the Republican National Convention got underway in Milwaukee.

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We were tickled.

Lots of Republicans moaned. Some of it I understood - favorites had been dissed in the pick. A lot of it I didn't. There were these complete, disgusted dismissals of political "lightweight," "poser" - all sorts of over-the-top derision. And more of the inherent Eeyores we lug around with us as a party, who are always mourning popped red balloons at the back of the crowd.

Predictably, the progressive Left went nuts and started their patented fraudulent dogpiling with pithy Vance-isms, like "childless cat ladies."

Enlisting celebrities to rage piously on cue and whip up the emotions of those very childless cat ladies...

Actress Jennifer Aniston hit back at Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance for past comments he made about lawmakers he described as "childless cat ladies." "The Morning Show" and "Friends" star responded to a post about Vance on her Instagram Stories.

"I truly can't believe this is coming from a potential VP of the United States," Aniston wrote Wednesday. "All I can say is… Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you are trying to take that away from her, too."

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...while leaving, as they do with always popular "fine people" canard, the rest of the conversation that day conveniently out of the picture as it blows their narrative.

The media loved the controversies they could manufacture with just a few of the pithy sound bites provided by the senator's spontaneous interactions and stump speeches. They also thoroughly enjoyed fueling the angst over the Vance pick within a nervous and still not totally coalesced Republican base.

In August, ABC was busy snickering that Vance was, well...let's just say he couldn't hold a candle to Tim Walz.

JD Vance is more unpopular than Sarah Palin

Vance is one of the least popular vice-presidential picks this century.

It's important to make a good first impression — whether you're on a first date, interviewing for a job or running to be vice president of the United States. And the two men who recently joined the Republican and Democratic presidential tickets have made very different first impressions.

According to 538's new polling average of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's favorable and unfavorable ratings, the Democratic candidate for vice president has an unusual quality for a modern politician: He's well liked. As of Aug. 15 at 1 p.m. Eastern, 38 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of him, and 33 percent have an unfavorable opinion of him.

...By contrast, Americans aren't vibing with the Republican vice-presidential nominee. On average, only 33 percent have a favorable opinion of Sen. JD Vance, while 42 percent have an unfavorable one.

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The print media had a heyday with, "Man, that Vance sucks big time" stories.

Everyone in reality-based America agrees: Sen. JD Vance of Ohio is not well-liked. His national rollout after being picked as Donald Trump's running mate is likely the worst in modern history. Vance is deeply plugged into the fascism-curious world of the extremely online right. There's been a drumbeat of stories of him endorsing views like hunger is a "great motivation" to work, the "whole purpose of the postmenopausal female" is to provide free childcare, and that progressives are "unhumans" who deserve fascist violence. The seemingly endless number of clips of him condemning childless women as "sociopaths" and "miserable cat ladies" have drawn the most attention, likely because it's tied to the larger GOP agenda of forcing childbirth through abortion bans.

Then, the debate happened. The JD Vance on stage was no surprise to those of us already in his camp, but holy cow, did he turn a lot of doubters into believers that night and earned himself serious fans.

Even Politico had the kudos going.

JD Vance arrived on the debate stage the butt of endless jokes from Democrats. He was unpopular. And even some Republicans had second-guessed Donald Trump’s decision to pick him as his running mate.

But on Tuesday, Vance reasserted his place in the race: He’s the lone Republican on the national ticket delivering a sharp message aimed squarely at Kamala Harris...

...If Vance’s out-performing of Walz was primarily on style, he also excelled, for the most part, in his plan to prosecute Harris over the uneven economy. Vance spoke colloquially and resisted the too-online MAGA rat-a-tat that’s consumed coverage of the freshman Ohio senator since Trump chose him this summer.

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Anecdotal evidence from the street confirmed JD had turned a corner in public opinion.

There was also what will forever be known as 'The Look.'

From that point on, the words most associated with Vance have been "murder" and "love."

As in, "911? I want to report a MURDER..."

"Love" as in "We LOVE this guy."

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The inevitable has happened, and all the affirmative, excited, JD-boosting and boasting we've seen and shared has finally made it to the quantifiable stage. 

Survey says?

People are pretty wild about Vance.

All it took was a hostile media, a chance for folks actually to see him in action, and there's no way JD wouldn't shine.

And Trump knows he is shining, too, by extension.

It takes a competent, confident guy to submerge an outsized ego and pick an equally talented Number Two.

Whoda ever thunk - we've got ourselves quite a team.

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

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