If it can happen in Iowa, it can happen in your state.

[CoffeeCat]

I've always been so proud of my state of Iowa and its politics. However, tonight I am ashamed because Joni Ernst--a very extremist, tea-party politician--is now my U.S. Senator. Ernst replaces retiring Tom Harkin, a liberal stalwart.

Our "first in the nation" status allows Iowans to vote first in the presidential primaries. We Hawkeyes take seriously this honor. We attend speeches, engage with the candidates and demand answers to tough questions. Barack Obama won the Iowa caucuses in 2008--despite the media insisting that Hillary Clinton was the anointed one. I was very proud when Obama won every county in Iowa, in a state that is 98 percent white. Iowans are very educated, socially conscious and fair.

Also, Iowa was the first state to legalize gay marriage.

For a long time, I lived under the comforting thought that Iowa's Progressivism insulated our state from electing someone as outrageous as Michelle Bachman or Sarah Palin. I remember feeling sorry for people who were represented by House and Senate members who were funded by the Koch Brothers. I cringed at states that elected people like Scott Walker, Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindall. Like many, I wondered, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" and I was comforted by the Progressivism in my state.

But last night, when Joni Ernst won that Senate seat, I now know that my state was never insulated.

It's true that Steve King is an embarrassment, much like Michelle Bachman is a black eye to Minnesota. But it was always understood that King's district was an anomaly where a concentrated cluster of arch-conservatives resided. Unlike King, Ernst represents more than a piece of our state; she represents our entire state.

Ernst's campaign was bankrolled by millions of dollars from the Koch Brothers and Karl Rove's American Crossroads Super PAC. It is obvious that those who funded her campaign, were also advising her. She completely hid her tea-party agenda. She never discussed any political idea or policy. Not one. Nor did she discuss one concrete plan that would help our state. She repeatedly chirped, "I've got Iowa values" in her television ads and insisted, "I want to protect Social Security for my mom and dad." These were highly-stylized fluffy sound bytes that meant nothing.

The truth is that Ernst's values will be whatever Charles and David Koch tell her they are. Furthermore, she doesn't want to "protect" Social Security. She's stated that she wants it privatized.

Ernst refused to do media interviews. While listening to her acceptance speech last night, I realized that this was the first time I had witnessed her doing an interview. I only saw her speak in her sloganized campaign ads. She refused to sit down and discuss her ideas with the Des Moines Register, the most widely read newspaper in the state. A newspaper that endorsed Romney in the last Presidential election, I might add.

Ernst was a well-crafted, tightly managed personality that never veered from the Koch-funded script. She appealed to Republicans who were voting against Obama and to Independents who fell for her folksy charm, smile and seemingly sensible politics.

I'm still in shock that she's my Senator, but I see how it happened.

This is a warning to all of you. If the Koch Brothers could come into my state and leverage a political personality to the finish line with unlimited cash--it can happen in your state too. People like the Kochs find marketable politicians that can be easily converted into political wins. In the end, the Kochs and other special interests own these politicians. They buy them.

Fairly soon--the late-night-talk-show hosts and SNL cast members will have a field day with Joni Ernst. As she sheds her fake campaign persona and slips back into her tea-party extremism, there will truckloads of comedic fodder.

Ernst actually authored a bill in the Iowa Senate that made it illegal for a woman and her doctor to end an ectopic pregnancy. The bill failed, but she wrote the bill and championed it. That's a special kind of extremism when you would jail a woman for ending a pregnancy in which the egg is growing in the fallopian tube, and if untreated always results in death. Ernst also asserted that 'Agenda 21' is a United Nations conspiracy to destroy our democracy. She also threatened to turn a gun on the U.S. government if it ever tried to take away her rights. She wants to abolish the EPA, she denies climate change, and she wants the Department of Education gone. She's against raising the minimum wage in our state, saying that, "$7.25 is just fine for Iowa."

In the end, with Citizens United the law of the land--Joni Ernst can happen anywhere. Don't be as smug as I was. Instead of wondering "What's the matter with Iowa?" you'd better be wondering what you're going to do about Citizens United. That's what I'm turning my attention toward.

Something is very wrong with a political system in which out-of-state billionaires can infiltrate your turf, identify marketable politicians and bankroll them into the United States Senate with nothing but hollow, lie-based sound bytes.

Unless we do something--your state is next. Until we ban this unholy alliance of unlimited corporate billions and sell-out politicians--the Koch Brothers and other special interests will pick off every state, one by one, until they own every last politician.

[cali]

1. I'm sorry you folks got stuck with Ernst. It's a crying shame

but Iowa has never been a deep blue state. It's purple. And marriage equality was passed by the courts, not the people in Iowa. Iowa is not CA or Vermont. You simply couldn't market an Ernst here in Vermont where even the republicans are pro-choice, pro marriage equality. Hell, the repub candidate for governor wouldn't even come out and say he opposed single payer.

Iowa has a deep and broad conservative red streak and a lot of middle of the road voters. It was ripe for exploitation by the Kochs.

[CoffeeCat]

2. Thanks for the condolences...

…and you are right--there is a lot of red in our state. However, I assumed that the Progressive blue was more powerful than the crazy red.

Not so.

I appreciate the sympathy. Feeling pretty bummed.

[cali]

17. I don't blame you for being bummed. I can't imagine being represented by Tom Harkin

one of my favorite Senators, and then being "represented" by Ernst. It truly sucks.

[bobGandolf]

3. Thanks for posting this warning!

I hope others take it seriously.

[msongs]

4. ernst was elected because the majority of Iowans who voted share her values nt

[NiceTryGuy]

10. The science has shown...

The science has shown that the money doesn't actually mean that much. There's a saturation point that both parties are able to achieve and after that, it's about the electorate.

Joni Ernst won because Iowa shares her values more than they share progressive values. There's not a single progressive in that state that was swayed by a single Koch dollar.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

14. Yeah, I reckon just about everybody in Iowa knows somebody ...

... castrate a young pig, you know, rocky mountain oysters! That is the only value I can think of that most Iowans share with this person, Ernst. It told them they have something in common, or something like that. Sorry to seem snide, but it is what it is. It has already been pointed out by an Iowan, that no one knows what Joanie's values are, other than to privatize social security (so it can be confiscated by the money grubbers) and that she knows how to grab an animal by the gonads, literally.

[busterbrown]

19. Absolutely..

And put a strong heaping of fear on top of the value issues and its the perfect storm.

You know.. Made up fear/lies by Republican Operatives.. Fear of Thuggery in our neighborhoods, fear of illegals carrying Ebola into our cities, while our president sits on his hands... Fear of ISIS attacking our good Christian Values in our streets..ON and On and On...and it worked..

[CoffeeCat]

39. The problem is...

…that her values were kept in the dark.

Her extremist views were hidden. I doubt most Iowa farmers realize that Ernst is adamant about ending all farm subsidies. This was hidden during the campaign. Her opponent, Bruce Braley never even mentioned it.

The dirty Koch money also comes with handlers, I imagine. It appears that they hand held her through the entire campaign and pulled her through a very controlled formula.

I don't think most people in Iowa even know Joni Ernst. I've seen her in post-win media interviews and it's shocking to see her speaking in complete sentences. During the campaign she was only seen in ads. She refused to do television interviews. She was kept off of television.

The Republicans learned from Palin--keep it tightly scripted and controlled. I don't mind right-wing nut jobs voting for right-wing nut jobs. That's always going to happen. The problem is that Independents, who aren't as plugged into politics--thought she was super sweet and folksy in her "I've got Iowa values" ads, and they found her more likable and friendly than Braley.

It appears that the Kochs have figured out a PR bamboozle that can get their extremist tea-partiers elected.

[Major Hogwash]

5. You need to get mad, downright pissed off until your eyes are crossed. And then channel that anger.

And tell as many of your friends and neighbors that it was the Republicans who trashed this country under Bush, and then Obama had to drag us back from the edge of the abyss.

It was the Republicans that shut down the federal government last year and wound up costing the taxpaying citizens of this country $24 Billion dollars.
But, the mainstream media isn't going to tell your friends and neighbors about that because they're in bed with the Republicans.
So, it's up to you to inform them.

Start off gently, and back down the first few times they show any sign of opposition.
Then later on, as more time goes by, be a little bit more adamant, and stand your ground.

It's up to us to right the political course this nation is taking.

Regarding Ernst, she is a 1-time fluke.
She will fail more times in her first year in the Senate than a $3 dollar watch.
She's small potatoes.

Keep your head up, you have nothing to be embarrassed about.
Keep your eyes on the prize.
Keep the faith.

We've been here before, and we know how to climb our way out.
It's up to us.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

16. That is exactly what has been bouncing around in my head the past 24 hours ...

... but the part of explaining to folks what they voted for tends to be a hopeless cause. It would take years to get most of these folks (I am from far eastern South Dakota, just south of Sioux Falls and get the Iowa channels from Sioux City, Iowa) to see what has happened. These were the ones cutting up like the Sweat Hogs in junior high civics class, back when we had them. I mean, a day doesn't go by without reading some right winger spouting off on how, "government needs to be run like a business". They do not understand the difference between the respective economics. Also they don't have much of an understanding of government besides wink and nods from their cronies that get elected.

That being said, I thank you for pointing out a bare bones method by which to attempt such an endeavor. All I know for sure, is that I have been pushed further down that road traveled by people who realize that the American Golden Age is long gone.

[KingCharlemagne]

6. Thanks for the detailed analysis and warning. Sobering stuff - nt

[LeftyMom]

7. She wouldn't get elected dogcatcher here, Koch money or no.

Demographics matter.

[world wide wally]

8. You're not alone… There are a lot of states that should be ashamed today

[Drunken Irishman]

9. It's already happened in my state - decades and decades ago.

This is the state that kicked out Frank Moss, who was an influential and popular senator, for Orin Borin' Hatch.

[AndyTiedye]

11. It All Comes Down to Money

There is no such thing as a safe Democratic seat once the Koch brothers have their checkbooks out.

[cali]

18. No, it really doesn't.

In my state, we've made jokes out of the filthy rich candidates who thought they could buy an election. See Tarrant v Bernie Sanders or McMullen v Leahy. Their fat checkbooks worked against them.

[yeoman6987]

28. If money counted,

We would have President Romney. Big money is a negative for voters. We keep saying this yet Brat won against Cantor for 5 bucks. We need to consentrate on message. Money in the end means nothing.

[ErikJ]

12. She's a Koch-sucker

just lie all the rest of Republicans.

[truedelphi]

13. When California had this happen,

It was done compeltely with Di Feinstein's acquiescencse.

A very decent man, one Gray Davis, saw to it that when scientists he had picked for a Blue Ribbon panel ruled that MTBE was a total risk for the environment, he helped get the substance banned.

Big oil money immediately got him recalled, without one whimper of protest from Di Fi.

When Feinstein choose the next two gubernatorial candidates, she made sure both of them were unknown and distasteful. Schwartzenegger, who of course had name recognition, won both times. The last time around, she rejected the man the voters wanted in the Primary, Steve Westley, for a guy who didn't hve a chance in hell of winning. (Phil Angelides.)

Since this is my 30,000 post here on DU, I will add in a favorite Frank Zappa comment: “Government is the Entertainment division of the military-industrial complex.”


And a comic from cartoonist Toles: http://www.gocomics.com/tomtoles/2014/11/05

[barbtries]

15. Tillis in NC nt

[mnhtnbb]

24. Precisely. The most expensive Senate campaign in the country was in NC

and the same thing happened. Koch brothers and their PAC's and affiliates
came in and spent MILLIONS on pushing Tillis as having "North Carolina values".
They do the same thing--from the same ALEC script--everywhere they can get
away with it.

http://realkochfacts.com/afp-holds-rallies-to-celebrate-thom-tilliss-extreme-policies-in-nc/

[barbtries]

26. not to mention the lying.

the projection of their weaknesses onto their opponents. the spin. and most of all, their ownership of the media.
there are a lot of people who pretty much prefer not to think for themselves, and they've been offered a load of bullshit dressed up as democracy and they bought it.

i had to drive for 4 hours yesterday. i just left my cds in the whole time and listened to music; i must tune out of the news right now. i'm growing bitter.

[CoffeeCat]

41. Yep, this is a concerted effort...

The Koch money bankrolls it and the Republican establishment handles the candidate--the way that a PR agency would handle a campaign.

Ernst was treated as a product to be marketed, controlled and sold. The problem is that what was being sold was not the reality. Her extremism was completely hidden and she never spoke in television interviews during the campaign.

I don't think people really understand how extreme this method of electing politicians is. Ernst wasn't interested in imparting her ideas or explaining her views. In fact, she did the exact opposite. She fooled everyone with her smiling "I've got Iowa values" ads and they liked her. Then they voted for her.

The extremist Republicans in Iowa (40 percent of the Republican party) love her religious extremism and her Michelle-Bachman views. However, there is a large contingent of Republicans and Independents in Iowa who voted for her, and they have no idea what a nut job she is.

That's not fair. You can't run as Dr. Jeykyl and govern as Mr. Hyde--but that's what Koch-funded candidates do. That's the formula to get them elected.

[Cha]

20. Kick for your post, CoffeeCat! Thank you, Excellent!

[pansypoo53219]

21. that happened here w/ proxmire. + ted kennedy. she will have a harder time getting re-elected.

[ALBliberal]

22. Excellent post

I am sorry for your impending embarrassment as Ernst displays her inadequacies. I am thankful for the comedy shows (SNL Daily Show etc.) Seems they are one of our last bastions of sanity against these RWNJs.

[Cairycat]

23. Coffeecat, you need to send this to

the Des Moines Register, or another large paper. A broader audience than DU needs to see this. Thanks for this post.

[CoffeeCat]

42. Thank you for your kind words Cairycat...

It was a rant, for sure--and I think the post is way too long. So thanks to you, and others for reading and commenting. It's cathartic.

I may pare it down and send it to the Register.

I appreciate your support.

[Ilsa]

25. Her voters were hoodwinked by the Kochroaches.

Last edited Thu Nov 6, 2014, 09:22 AM - Edit history (1)

They were lazy and fell for slogans instead of looking at where she stood on the issues and her legislative history.

My condolences. From Texas.

On edit: please consider submitting your letter for publication in your local newspaper when Ernst shows her true colors. It'll probably be regarded as sour grapes, but there is so much truth in it that it'll be hard to overlook.

[DinahMoeHum]

27. There's only one thing to do with the Kochs. . .

. . .and unfortunately it's not fit for discussion here.

[HereSince1628]

29. Welcome to the screamers. We screamed the same thing in WI, MI, and OH

We've been screaming for years, now.

It's hard to believe that all that screaming wasn't heard in IA...folks there can't possibly think what's happened to them is 'new'.

But living under teahadist administration, I know them a bit. And I suspect the screaming was heard, and the screaming is exactly what makes the teahadists blood race.

It's a signal of success.

Pain is what they are looking to inflict on all the 'lazy takers'.

Just wait until we see the "Entitlement Reform" package they present to Obama looks like. It'll be a bonfire of every safety net of the 20th century.

"United" States? That's not a nation working for the common good, it's a target to vanquish.

[CoffeeCat]

44. It is frightening to think about the legislation they want passed...

And you are right…the safety net is a patchwork of weak threads right now, and if Republicans have their say, it will be completely decimated.

The only hope is the veto pen.

I reluctantly join the chorus of "screamers" as you said.

I think many Progressive Iowans feel gobsmacked. Most people that I talk to can't believe that this happened here. We have our extremists. Rick Santorum won the Iowa Republican caucus last time; Mike Huckabee the time before that. So…no surprise that a large swath of Iowa Republicans are nutters. What's shocking is that pivotal Independents--who always tip the races--bought Ernst's fluffy ads and lack of substance.

It's humbling, seriously. No Progressive wants to live in a state in which politicians can be purchased and outside Koch millions steal your elections. It's infuriating and embarrassing.

[HereSince1628]

45. I think progressives in Iowa are feeling much like what we felt in WI

In WI we thought we were beyond it. I don't know that we took it for granted, so much as we didn't see the growing sense that our fellow badgers had no interest in the concept of a community being people sharing the load so that the "every" in everybody really means helping people to get up on their feet.

As I see it, the widening economic gap, not only measures the rich running away from the rest of us, but also the growing gap between what people want and what they desire to have. The growing gap is not only pushing the working class into the working poor, but also generating a lot of misplaced resentment about paying taxes that serve the needy. Because that money could have addressed outstanding desire for 'wants and desire' if it hadn'nt been sucked up on braces, new shoes etc. And, of course, there is that thing of being anxious about becoming part of the needy...it is really a scarey blip on the radar of most of the resentful).

People all over the midwest, and maybe much of the country, are being set up to advocate and vote for policy that is nothing more than a thin coat of self-reliance on the surface of 24 carat selfishness. It appeals to the needs of the very very rich who want nothing but MORE as well as the working class trying to maintain dignity by not accepting government assistance.

IMO it's time for progressives to open a new channel of effort, unrelated to trying to influence politics. It's time to turn to advocating, creating, and supporting organizations at the community level the are dedicated to 'being in it together'. Because when we get back to believing in the power of being in it together ALL progressive things will fall in place.

The politicians are really untrustworthy and can't be given these tasks. Hungry people need feeding. Cold people need blankets. The sick and the aging need comfort and care. People who need to gain skills to integrate into the workforce need to be taught.

It isn't written in stone that we need majority turnout in suspect elections to elect smiling elites to address these things. We just need to realize that old Nike's meme: "DO IT"

[PatrickforO]

30. I feel the same about Colorado, because Cory Gardner, the ultimate

Koch brothers puppet, is our new US Senator.

[bigwillq]

31. Wasn't Mass. the first state to legalize gay marriage?

[Bluenorthwest]

34. Yes, it was.

nt

[Capt. Obvious]

40. But Iowa was the first caucus state to legalize it

[City Lights]

32. Excellent post.

Thanks for laying it out so clearly, CoffeeCat.

[Bluenorthwest]

33. They just tried it in Oregon and failed to elect their cadidate. Merkley won by a large margin.

nt

[RiffRandell]

36. K&R. Thanks for this and my

condolences as well. Very well-written and spot-on OP.

I was foolish enough to believe my state (GA) had a chance with Jason Carter and Michelle Nunn.

I read an article last month in our paper that said the Koch Brothers didn't donate much this year.

They didn't have to. I'm about done.

I agree with others to submitting this to the Des Moines Register, but your call.

[realFedUp]

37. Drinking Monsanto run off water

Brain erosion.

[cyberswede]

38. Excellent post

Happy to K&R.

[Rex]

43. Too late, Texas is already a red state hellhole.

Don't need the Kochroaches...we have Halliburton and now governor (wretch) Abbott. And don't worry, Abbott will try and out crazy anyone so Ernst has a challenger.