Huffpost Politics
WASHINGTON -- Voters in Iowa elected Republican Joni Ernst to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, making her the state's first woman senator.
Ernst, a
state senator and lieutenant colonel in the Iowa National Guard,
catapulted to stardom during the GOP primary with ads featuring her
castrating hogs and pulling a handgun from her purse. The spots also
helped Ernst win support from prominent Republicans, including New
Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. The woman
who branded herself a "mother, soldier, leader” convinced Republicans
she was the party's best chance to turn red a Senate seat held by
retiring Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin.
While Ernst propelled herself
to victory by painting herself as a Midwestern woman who grew up on a
farm, Democrats pointed to questionable statements to claim she's a
hard-right conservative, if not a conspiracy theorist.
Agenda 21
While campaigning last November, Ernst backed a right-wing theory that
the United Nations' sustainable development plan Agenda 21 is a
conspiracy that would enable the government to strip Americans of their
freedom and eliminate private property rights.
All of
us agreed that Agenda 21 is a horrible idea. One of those implications
to Americans, again, going back to what did it does do to the individual
family here in the state of Iowa, and what I've seen, the implications
that it has here is moving people off of their agricultural land and
consolidating them into city centers, and then telling them that you
don't have property rights anymore. These are all things that the UN is
behind, and it's bad for the United States and bad for families here in
the state of Iowa.
[
Agenda 21 is a
non-binding, voluntarily implemented action plan of the
United Nations with regard to
sustainable development.
[1] It is a product of the
UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil,
in 1992. It is an action agenda for the UN, other multilateral
organizations, and individual governments around the world that can be
executed at local, national, and global levels. The "21" in Agenda 21
refers to the 21st Century. It has been affirmed and modified at
subsequent UN conferences. Agenda 21's goal is to help the environment
and was agreed at Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Local Agenda 21 is Agenda 21
on a local scale, a saying is "think globally act locally"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenda_21]
States Can Nullify Federal Laws
At a forum held by Iowa's Faith & Freedom Coalition in July, Ernst suggested that states can somehow
nullify laws passed by the federal government.
You
know we have talked about this at the state legislature before,
nullification. But, bottom line is, as U.S. senator, why should we be
passing laws that the states are considering nullifying? Bottom line:
our legislators at the federal level should not be passing those laws.
We’re right ... we’ve gone 200-plus years of federal legislators going
against the 10th Amendment’s states’ rights. We are way overstepping
bounds as federal legislators. So, bottom line, no we should not be
passing laws as federal legislators -- as senators or congressman --
that the states would even consider nullifying. Bottom line.
WMDs In Iraq
Ernst told the Des Moines Register's editorial board in May that she
believed there were weapons of mass destruction found during the United
States' invasion of Iraq. From the
Daily Beast:
"We
don't know that there were weapons on the ground when we went in," she
said, "however, I do have reason to believe there were weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq." When a Register reporter quizzed her on what
information she has, Ernst said, "My husband served in Saudi Arabia as
the Army Central Command sergeant major for a year and that's a
hot-button topic in that area."
Ernst later
clarified those comments in a statement conceding that there were no WMDs in Iraq, although the country had used them before.
47 Percent Mentality
Audio recorded by Radio Iowa in 2013 revealed that Ernst, like many
conservatives, holds a "makers vs. takers" view toward social welfare
programs. But as
Greg Sargent reported, her comments went further than former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's infamous "47 percent" video.
We’re
looking at Obamacare right now. Once we start with those benefits in
January, how are we going to get people off of those? It’s exponentially
harder to remove people once they’ve already been on those programs ...
we rely on government for absolutely everything. And in the years since
I was a small girl up until now into my adulthood with children of my
own, we have lost a reliance on not only our own families, but so much
of what our churches and private organizations used to do. They used to
have wonderful food pantries. They used to provide clothing for those
that really needed it. But we have gotten away from that. Now we’re at a
point where the government will just give away anything.
Climate Change Skeptic
While hardly unique among Republicans, Ernst has claimed she does not possess the
scientific knowhow to weigh in on whether humans are causing climate change. But she did chalk it up to "cyclic changes in the weather" during
an interview in May.
Yes,
we do see climates change, but I have not seen proven proof that it is
entirely man-made. I think we do have cyclic changes in weather, and I
think that's been throughout the course of history. What impact is
man-made. ... but I do think we can educate people to make good choices.
She Really Likes Her Gun
An ad featuring Ernst shooting at a target that is supposed to represent
the federal government isn't the first time she has used such a stark
metaphor. Speaking at a
2012 NRA event, Ernst said her firearm would help protect her if the government imposes on her rights.
I
have a beautiful little Smith & Wesson, 9 millimeter, and it goes
with me virtually everywhere. But I do believe in the right to carry,
and I believe in the right to defend myself and my family -- whether
it’s from an intruder, or whether it’s from the government, should they
decide that my rights are no longer important.
Ernst also has suggested that President Barack Obama
should be impeached, expressed openness to
privatizing Social Security, called for
abortion providers to be punished if a fetal personhood bill were passed, and opposed a
federal minimum wage hike.
RAWSTORY
Amanda Marcotte
04 Nov 2014 at 09:21 ET
As
Tom Boggioni here at Raw Story reported yesterday, Joni Ernst,
whose bugfuck wingnuttery has managed to fly mostly under the national radar this election season,
hit a shocking new low in terms of conservative science denial:
Claiming that disease transmission is a matter of “opinion”, not
biological fact.
Charles Pierce of Esquire reported his bizarre encounter with her on this:
“With Ebola, we see he’s very hands-off. He’s not leading. He’s not leeeaaading,”
she said, drawing out that last word like a conjurer casting a spell. I
suggested to her that, well, at that moment, one person in America —
Dr. Craig Spencer — had Ebola. Her eyes went hard, like the wheels of a
slot machine fastening on tilt.
“Well, you’re the press. That’s your opinion.”
Say what?
“But that’s not an opinion. It’s a fact. Only one person in America has Ebola.”
“But he’s not a leeaader,” Ernst said, again. “What he can
do is make sure that all of those agencies are coordinating together and
make sure that he is sharing that information with the American people,
that he cares about their safety.”
It’s worth pointing out that, like with all other aspects of this
ridiculous ebola panic, the racism driving it is fairly obvious. Ernst’s
entire argument against Obama is a variation on ugly stereotypes about
black people being lazy, except she uses a synonym—”apathetic”—and hopes
the rest of us don’t notice. It’s a charge that’s so ridiculous, when
applied to a man like Obama, that giving it a moment’s thought makes the
racism of it screamingly obvious.
Alas, we live in a society where it’s considered impolite to notice
even blatant racism as long as the racist manages to do a half-assed
effort at coding it, by using a synonym for the racist thing she’s
saying, in this case. But blatantly denying incontrovertible facts, like
what ebola is and whether or not it can be diagnosed by “opinion”?
Needless to say, if Ernst wins, she’s going to be a regular producer of
WTF headlines, giving prior contenders like Louie Gohmert and Michele
Bachmann a run for their money.
One more observation: One of the oddest things about midterm
elections is how frequently politicians, particularly Republicans, will
run on issues that the office they’re vying for has little to no power
to deal with. Ernst here is running against Obama, not her actual
opponent Bruce Braley. But if she wins, guess what? Obama is still going
to be in office. Now, running against him isn’t necessarily
illegitimate, if the issues were stuff where her vote could sway policy.
But how he’s handling ISIS or whether or not he’s panicking over a
non-epidemic to your satisfaction cannot be moved by a vote for Ernst.
It is utterly irrelevant.
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