Joni Ernst: Lying Liar Of The Liardom
(Posted here at the request of the author)
Posted on September 28, 2020 by Paul Deaton
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Tonight at 7 p.m. Democrat Theresa Greenfield debates her Republican opponent, the incumbent, junior U.S. Senator from Iowa.
Greenfield is expected to be well-prepared for the face off on Iowa Press. She will lay out her plans to make health care more affordable, and to protect Social Security. The link to a live stream is here.
Why didn’t I mention her name? Joni Ernst, the lying liar of the Liardom, may be pathological and I don’t want to get into other possible personality disorders. I want to be as focused as Greenfield is expected to be tonight.
What set me off is Ernst lies about Theresa Greenfield’s position on police reform and systemic racial injustice. Those are both issues requiring our thoughtful attention. By rendering the discussion into hyperbole and outright falsehoods, Ernst preempts any serious discussion or debate.
Epitomizing the distraction, on Sept. 3, Ernst signed the so-called “Police Pledge” from the radical conservative group Heritage Action. Here’s what it says:
A lawful society—free from mob rule and violent insurrection—is not possible without Law Enforcement.
Police Officers have chosen a noble profession. They dedicate their lives to upholding the law and protecting the sacred rights of their fellow citizens. As a profession, they deserve support and respect.
I stand with America’s Police and pledge to oppose any bill, resolution, or movement to “Defund the Police.”
The statement seems reasonable until we realize it is an attempt to rally around our police officers as a political calculation. I mean, who doesn’t like law officers we get to know in our communities? Ernst’s hyperbole and blatant lies about Greenfield obfuscate the issue. Instead of having a reasonable discussion about police reform or systemic racial injustice Ernst distracts us.
What lies has Ernst told? Here is one.
“But I see that my opponent and presidential candidate Joe Biden, you know that path is defund the police,” Ernst said in an Aug. 11 interview with KCAU. “It is encouraging others to rise up against the government.”
At no time has Greenfield, or Joe Biden for that matter, supported defunding the police. Greenfield has been explicitly clear. She does not support defunding the police. Instead, she believes we need real reform with more transparency and body cameras, more civilian oversight and Department of Justice reviews, and better racial bias and de-escalation training and standards, along with other long-term investments to address racial disparities in policing, housing, health care and education, according to her campaign. Greenfield said something similar on multiple occasions.
Here’s another lie:
“My opponent will support a position of dismantling our police, not just correcting injustice as it is out there, but actually getting rid of the police, which is not the direction that Iowans want to see,” Ernst said at the Aug. 26 Spencer Daily Reporter forum.
Nope. Theresa Greenfield doesn’t want to get rid of the police.
Here’s a third lie:
On Sept. 3, Joni for Iowa sent a press release titled, “Iowa Democrat Theresa Greenfield Denounces Police as Racist.” Three days later, at the Crawford County GOP Tractor Parade, Senator Ernst claimed that Theresa Greenfield said police are “systemically racist – which means that every single sheriff’s deputy, sheriff, every police officer, every trooper up there, she’s calling them racist.”
Theresa Greenfield has never once said that all police are racist. Ernst’s lies falsely manipulate Theresa’s comment on WHO-TV’s “The Insiders” where she said that “we do need to address systemic racism, not only in our policing, but in our housing policies and systems, in education, in health care, in financing, lending, and so much more.”
Like normal people we expect to hear candidates debate issues that matter. Instead of promoting that type of discussion Ernst seeks to distract from her own shortcomings.
Let’s face it, I’ll rarely agree with Senator Ernst. However, I believe that instead of rallying around the police we should address the actual mob rule and violent insurrection going on as conservative Republicans dismantle our government, assault the idea of equal protection under the law, and loot the commons. Here the junior senator seems a willing co-conspirator.
Highly recommend watching the debate. Let’s see if the lying liar from the Liardom can speak any truth.