Posted on 10/23/2014 3:16:42 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The picture of IA GOP SEN nominee Joni Ernst that’s emerging from exposure of her pre-2014-general-election utterances is of a standard-brand Constitutional Conservative embracing all the strange and controversial tenets of that creed. There’s Agenda 21 madness. There’s Personhood advocacy. There are attacks on the entire New Deal/Great Society legacy—and perhaps even agricultural programs—as creating “dependency.” And now, inevitably, there’s the crown jewel of Con Con extremism: the belief that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to enable “patriots” to violently overthrow the government if in their opinion it’s overstepped its constitutional boundaries. Sam Levine of HuffPost has that story:
Joni Ernst, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Iowa, said during an NRA event in 2012 that she would use a gun to defend herself from the government.
“I have a beautiful little Smith & Wesson, 9 millimeter, and it goes with me virtually everywhere,” Ernst said at the NRA and Iowa Firearms Coalition Second Amendment Rally in Searsboro, Iowa. “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.”
Now this is a guaranteed applause line among Con Con audiences, for reasons that have relatively little to do with gun regulation. The idea here is to intimidate liberals, and “looters” and secular socialists, and those people, that there are limits to what the good virtuous folk of the country will put up with in the way of interference with their property rights and their religious convictions and their sense of how the world ought to work. If push comes to shove, they’re heavily armed, and bullets outweigh ballots. It’s a reminder that if politics fails in protecting their very broad notion of their “rights,” then revolutionary violence—which after all, made this great country possible in the first place—is always an option. And if that sounds “anti-democratic,” well, as the John Birch Society has always maintained, this is a Republic, not a democracy.
This stuff is entirely consistent with everything we’ve been learning about how Joni Ernst talked before she won a Senate nomination and decided upon an aggressively non-substantive message based on her identity and biography and one stupid but apparently irresistible joke comparing the kind of treatment she’ll give to the pork purveyors of Washington (presumably those who support obvious waste like food stamps and Medicaid) to hog castratin.’ Issues are absolute kryptonite to her campaign, so it’s no surprise she’s decided abruptly to cancel all meetings with editorial boards between now and November 4, according to Des Moines Register columnist Rekha Basu:
Is Joni Ernst afraid of newspaper editorial boards? After much negotiating, she was scheduled to meet his morning with writers and editors at The Des Moines Register, but last night her people called to unilaterally cancel. She has also begged off meetings with The Cedar Rapids Gazette and The Dubuque Telegraph-Herald.
Is Ernst that sensitive to the kinds of criticisms that invariably will come in such a high profile U.S. Senate race? Is she afraid of the scrutiny? Sure, it’s stressful, but all the other candidates for Congress are doing it to get their messages out, including Steven King, the target of frequent editorial criticism.
Maybe Ernst’s cynicism will be justified by the results, but I dunno: Iowans are pretty old-school about this kind of thing, and the Register actually influences votes, probably more than any newspaper I can think of. If she does win, nobody in Iowa has any excuse to be surprised if she turns out to be Todd Akin or Sharron Angle with better message discipline. As I said in another post recently, that’s pretty much who she is. Knowing she’s played the “I have the right to overthrow the government with my gun” meme makes that even clearer.
Still, somebody should ask Joni Ernst: “Since you brought it up, exactly what circumstances would justify you shooting a police officer or a soldier in the head?” Oh yeah: that would require her taking questions, which I doubt we’ll see in the last days of this campaign.
Book marked.
Furthermore, Mr. Kilgore knows nothing of the history of the Second Amendment.
The left does not like the Constitution. Period!!
Mr. Kilgore’s article just reminded me of another reason to carry at all times - attack by a rabid, drooling, whirling-eyed Straw Dog!
Con Con, it’s what works for me.
You got a problem with that Prog?
Not you 2D.
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. - Thomas Jefferson
“[Joni] Ernst said at the NRA and Iowa Firearms Coalition Second Amendment Rally in Searsboro, Iowa. ‘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.’”
Go, Joni! GO! I never EVER send $ to politicians, but I HAVE sent $ to Joni. This. Woman. Kicks. Ass. She reminds me of EVERY woman I served with in the Army :)
Give Joni a shot:
http://www.joniforiowa.com/landing/give-joni-shot/
Constitutional Conservatism made America GREAT.
Progressiveism made it what it is today.
And, in only a hundred years too.
If Kilgore thinks the 2nd Amendment was intended to guarantee hunting rights, he is a liar or a moron.
The only thing that leftists critiqued more than the Constitution is marriage - UNTIL gays wanted to marry.
Bet he doesn't have any problem with Bill Ayres doing it with dynamite and roofing nails.
Well Ed, the good news is that cops and soldiers aren’t likely to be the ones enforcing FASCISM.
More likely it would be DHS, ATF, and other like minded agencies.
And the “circumstances” you suggest, would be when they have decided my 2A rights are null...then...then...”they” will be void.
Walker/Ernst 2016? ;)
Let the HEARTLAND put the HEART back into America!
(While ripping the still-beating hearts from the chests of our enemies!) :)
“After much negotiating, she was scheduled to meet his morning with writers and editors at The Des Moines Register, but last night her people called to unilaterally cancel.”
Hope this was a good decision by Joni. The Register has moved much more to the center and has made some surprising endorsements of Republicans.
Like it or not; their endorsement can help.
Sent some. Too bad I don’t live there anymore so I can vote for her, but I’m VERY happy with one of my current senators.
Here’s your answer Ed Kilgore you statist POS:
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/390971/meet-new-serfs-you-kevin-d-williamson
BTW Kilgore, you tyrannical jerk, would you ask the same of Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Monroe, Henry, Mason, Franklin, et al?
Move to Europe and leave us alone you pig.
The Red Star? When? I lived there from 1974 to 2002.
I think Mr. Kilgore should perhaps read up on what such liberal heroes as John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey had to say about the Second Amendment.
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