October 3, 2014

Yet More Crackpotism From the Tea Party Darling in Iowa

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TPM’s Daniel Strauss provides us with the latest intel on tea party darling Joni Ernst, currently favored to win a Senate seat in Iowa. Here are her answers to a survey from the Campaign for Liberty in 2012, when she was running for the state legislature:

Strauss naturally focuses on Question 5, in which Ernst happily agrees that Iowa should allow state troopers and local sheriffs to toss federal officials in the slammer if they try to implement Obamacare in their state. This is complete lunacy, but of course no one will take any notice. For some reason, conservative Republicans are allowed to get away with this kind of stuff. There’s a sort of tacit understanding in the press that they don’t really mean it when they say things like this. It’s just a harmless way of showing their tribal affiliation.

However, I’m also intrigued by Question 1. I assume this was prompted by police use of drones, which was starting to make the news back in 2012, but does it also include things like red light cameras and automated radar installations on highways? Does Ernst really oppose this stuff? She might! And maybe it’s a big deal in Iowa. I’m just curious.

UPDATE: And as long as we’re on the subject of Iowa, Senate seats, and the press, maybe you should check out Eric Boehlert’s fully justified bafflement over the national media’s infatuation with a crude Republican smear campaign based on transparent lies about Democratic candidate Bruce Braley and his neighbor’s chickens. Click here for more.

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