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Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy didn’t mince words on Jesse Watters Primetime when he reacted to the spectacle at Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Planned Parenthood event — saying even liberals are fed up with Newsom’s theatrics and attention-seeking stunts. McCarthy’s blunt assessment landed because what played out in Sacramento this week looked less like governance and more like a political photo op dressed up as outrage.
The trigger was a Feb. 11 press conference where Jennifer Siebel Newsom pushed her husband aside and scolded reporters for asking about anything other than the Planned Parenthood funding announcement, accusing the press of contributing to a “horrific war on women.” The governor had signed a $90 million package for reproductive health and the first partner’s public rebuke felt rehearsed, not spontaneous — a tone-deaf performance in front of a room full of professional journalists doing their jobs.
Conservatives watching saw a familiar pattern: grandstanding about “women’s issues” while refusing to answer hard questions about real policy failures like California’s botched high-speed rail and runaway homelessness in major cities. Reporters were asking about those real problems, not to embarrass anyone, but because taxpayers deserve answers about tangible failures that affect everyday Californians. That context is what made the first partner’s lecture come off as hollow and out of touch.
McCarthy’s point — amplified on national TV — is simple and politically useful: Democrats can fluff up their messaging, but the public notices the results. Even some on the left who see through Newsom’s optics-driven approach aren’t thrilled with the governor’s record, and Republicans should be relentless in pointing that out rather than letting him run unchecked as the Democratic establishment’s golden boy.
This isn’t just about one awkward podium moment; it’s about accountability. While Newsom and his allies trade moral superiority in front of cameras, Californians are still paying for delayed projects, higher taxes, and a broken approach to public safety and homelessness — realities his stunt can’t erase. Conservatives ought to keep the pressure on, turn the spotlight from performative pronouncements to concrete policy failures, and remind voters which leadership actually produces results.
Hardworking Americans are tired of being lectured by elites who prefer grand gestures to governing. If Republicans are serious about winning the debate, they must pair principled criticism with practical plans and never let another scripted outrage distract from the task of restoring accountable, effective leadership to cities and states that have been left behind.
