Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joni Ernst (IA-R) has been making the news with her rampant spread of conservative fervor. Her latest tirade involves her bashing a “whole generation” of Americans who she says leeches on the U.S. government, reported Talking Points Memo.
Naturally, she took to attacking the Affordable Care Act, which has been the bread-and-butter topic for Republicans over recent years. The comments were made by Ernst in 2013 at the Des Moines Conservative Breakfast Club. Now that an audio file of the speech has been leaked, some light has shown on who Ernst really is.
Ernst had been quoted by TPM and Raw Story as saying “We’re looking at Obamacare right now. Once we start with those benefits in January, how are we going to get those people off those [benefits]. It’s exponentially harder to remove people once they’ve already been on those programs.”
Ernst believes that no one should seek government assistance and hates welfare, a classic conservative rhetorical device. She goes on to say that instead of asking the government for assistance, people should seek charities or go to church. It’s highly doubtful that someone has ever prayed food into existence.
She hates the government helping people in need, and, according to a recently-filed lawsuit, she possibly hates women’s rights too.
The Hill reported that a former Iowa Republican Senate Caucus staffer was fired after complaining that she was sexual harassed by her superiors. The lawsuit is not against Ernst, but she is named as a witness to the harassment. Ernst failed to intervene and ignored the complaint.
“By way of just one example, Sen. Joni Ernst of Red Oak . . . witnessed sexual innuendo and inappropriate behavior exhibited by their male colleagues and did and said nothing while female staffers stood by unable to say anything,” stated the lawsuit.
Ernst denies any of the wrongdoing and maintains that the suit is a political maneuver.
So, who is Joni Ernst? She’s a run-of-the-mill conservative that hates the welfare state and thinks life’s hardships can just simple be fixed on any given Sunday morning. People in financial trouble don’t need church, they need assistance.
