$460,000 will buy a fuckload of breadbags

[Botany]

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2015/01/21/late-night-gop-bad-ideas-lies-open-thread/

<Amid a fledgling primary campaign, rural Iowa state lawmaker Joni Ernst crafted a quirky hardscrabble persona that propelled her to both the forefront of the race and, eventually, the United States Senate. In a 30-second spot that gained attention for its employment of hog castration imagery, Sen. Ernst (R-Iowa) claimed that her farmer parents “taught us to live within our means” and said that “it’s time to force Washington to do the same.” …

The truth about her family’s farm roots and living within one’s means, however, is more complex. Relatives of Ernst (née: Culver), based in Red Oak, Iowa (population: 5,568) have received over $460,000 in farm subsidies between 1995 and 2009. Ernst’s father, Richard Culver, was given $14,705 in conservation payments and $23,690 in commodity subsidies by the federal government–with all but twelve dollars allocated for corn support. Richard’s brother, Dallas Culver, benefited from $367,141 in federal agricultural aid, with over $250,000 geared toward corn subsidies. And the brothers’ late grandfather Harold Culver received $57,479 from Washington—again, mostly corn subsidies—between 1995 and 2001…

Sen. Ernst’s family’s financial interest notably came up once during her campaign. In October, Salon reported that Richard’s construction company was awarded $215,665 in contracts from the Montgomery County government in 2009 and 2010, while Ernst was the body’s auditor. The bids won by Culver included Federal Emergency Management Agency projects worth $204,794.>

[Bluzmann57]

1. And if Braley would have brought some of this up

during the campaign, he may have won.

[rurallib]

6. if the press would have reported it

the story on the construction contracts got little visibility.

[Bluzmann57]

19. Yes, that is true.

The "Liberal" media strikes again.

[yeoman6987]

10. True. They should have brought up the subsidies

However she would have been 25 years old at that time and can we use that against her if she was out of the house by then? It could have backfired which MIGHT have backfired against Brayley which may be why he didn't chance it.

[progressoid]

26. Farm subsidies are the third rail in Iowa.

Everyone knows the subsidy system is broken but neither party is willing to deal with it.

[jwirr]

28. Exactly and if Braley had attacked her with that he would have lost even worse.

[mountain grammy]

21. This is really the job of the media..

and they won't do their job, corporate bastards. People are so turned off by the negative campaigning, they don't bother to vote. It's the media not telling the whole story that's hurting, same thing here in Colorado.

[RockaFowler]

42. This is part of the problem

ABC ran a fluff piece on her for World News Tonight and it made it seem like she was someone she wasn't. But of course there is a Liberal Media, so they told the correct story - right??

[Overseas]

2. K&R.

[FSogol]

3. Grifters gotta grift!

[Botany]

8. Do you have anybody in mind?

BTW Huckabee knows he has zero chance of becoming President but 100% of
getting on the right wing Christian nut ball gravy train if he runs.

[riversedge]

4. She did talk a lot of her bio during her Response. Rather

bother talking points in the remaining parts

[Scuba]

5. Republican bootstraps.

[11 Bravo]

9. Republican bootstraps are to be used once and then discarded.

Because once they got what they needed, fuck everybody else.

[liberal N proud]

20. The new republican meme is to pull yourself up by your breadsacks

[renate]

33. that's awesome!

Very well said!

[BeyondGeography]

7. Classic

No shame. Ever.

[gordianot]

11. Give it time the bread bag story is most likely bullshit.

The trivial milk bag story is enough to arouse curiosity she should have kept her mouth shut.

[Botany]

13. It might have come from a Simpson's episode

MO is wearing bread bags on his feet.

Joni Ernst totally ripped off her bread bag anecdote from The Simpsons http://t.co/cSN1JXc3QU pic.twitter.com/IjYJdMlh8E

— Adam Blickstein (@AdamBlickstein) January 21, 2015

From the same link in the O.P.

[Myrina]

15. To be fair, lots of us midwestern/northerners did in winter ...

.... plastic bags in your boots, over your socks add an extra layer of protection from snow to keep your feet warm & dry during recess or when out sledding etc. It really doesn't have any thing to do with being "hardscrabble".

One wonders why, if so many republicans grew up so poor and needy, they don't remember what that's like and want to make their constituents' lives better rather than subjecting them to even worse?

[Botany]

16. We were in N.W. PA in the snowbelt and the kids in my elementary school .....

.... all wore big rubber boots to school ... even the poor kids .... and then we put on our
Keds or whathave you that we kept at school. I remember watching the puddles of water
coming out of the cloakroom as the snow melted off the boots.

BTW in PA in a very middle class neighborhood our next door neighbor's brother was
Gov. of PA and he was a great guy Ray Shafer, and a Republican too. He supported
public schools, colleges, unions, infrastructure, civil rights, and the environment ...
he would have no home in the Republican party today.

[KingCharlemagne]

23. One can barely begin to imagine what Eisenhower or even Goldwater would have to

say about these Christo-fascists currently manning the helm of the GOP. (Methinks each would probably quietly change his party registration to Dem or Independent, rather than continue to be associated with these RWNJs).

[Curmudgeoness]

35. We wore goulashes.

Clumsy rubber things that fit over your shoes. Maybe I am older than you, since we would not have been allowed to wear our Keds to school.

You must be right up the road from me. Howdy, neighbor. I am just south of the snow belt, although I wouldn't know it today.

[Botany]

36. We had our "snow days" shoes at school from November to March so when ...

... had to wear our big rubber boots from montgomery wards, aka monkey wards,
we had some shoes to change into. BTW we never ever had a snow day when school
was cancled because of snaow and or cold.

Even the poorer kids all had rubber boots in part to charity and some of those nasty
"big government" programs.

BTW I don't buy Ms Ernst's bread bags story at all because her family was raising hogs
and if she needed some boots or shoes all they would have had to do is sell a pig.

[Curmudgeoness]

37. I do remember a few snow days.

But it really had to be bad. I also remember that all the kids had some kind of boots, and even the poorest kids did not wear bread bags. I don't buy that story either, basically because I know that bread bags would not do much good. I know this because there was a few times when I would be a work with good shoes on and it would snow so bad that I tried to put plastic garbage bags over my feet to keep my shoes from being ruined, and they didn't hold out for a one minute walk before they were leaking.

But it doesn't really matter if WE believe her. We are not her target audience.

[gordianot]

17. I am not sure it is a sign of poverty.

No one grows up in the Midwest in winter without shoes and socks. Too bad all these years later she is embarrassed.

[Jackpine Radical]

14. Milk bag?

I must have missed something.

[gordianot]

18. sorry had a senior moment

[Thespian2]

12. Funny

how Ernst, like most Repug women, have the balls to blatantly lie, especially about their "poor-as-a-church-mouse" upbringing.

[2naSalit]

29. Yeah, they were all poor as dirt

until the Kochfairy came along and bought their souls...

Oddly, I bet they see themselves as a set of time-honored thespians themselves... they'll steal anything for the sake of trying to put lipstick on a pig and try to tell you that it's miss murika.

[freshwest]

47. +1,000!

[The CCC]

22. $460,000 will buy a fuckload of breadbags

A grifter got to grift.

[underpants]

24. Wonder woman

[AlbertCat]

25. I find it amazing....

.... that she thinks bread bags are acceptable for anyone in any economic situation.

Bread bags? That's good enough for America?


Well, what do you expect from tasteless opportunists who don't care about the quality of the country? Who thinks anyone wants to live in a country where bread bags for boots are OK?

[TBF]

32. It's good enough for MOST of America -

I can guarantee you there is not one child born to a member of Congress that is walking around with bread bags on their feet.

That is why we describe it as "two Americas". Way different depending upon whether you were born to folks residing in an apartment or mansion.

[azmom]

39. That's the message that I got

That Americans should work hard and live simple lives free of waste. If that means putting bread bags on your shoes because you are too poor to afford anything else, that is perfectly acceptable even commendable. She says she wasn't embarrassed by it.

I don't think that is a good message to send at all.

[Mariana]

44. She says she wasn't embarrassed because all the kids wore them.

So even if it's true, it's not a story of "what we did because we were poor" but a story of "what everyone in my town did, regardless of their wealth or lack thereof".

[JohnnyRingo]

27. Sucking at the teat while complaining about how much the hog eats.

Breadbags my ass. Ernst probably saw a kid with them on his feet in grade school and spent the bus ride teasing him for it. That's certainly a more believeable scenario than 36 kids all with Wonder Bread overshoes.

Amazing such a destitute child could afford to go to college for a masters in psychology.

[2naSalit]

30. I'm gonna go with

her stealing the idea from a Simpsons episode. She's a liar and a thief... prerequisite for gaining entry to office for Rs these days.

[bhikkhu]

31. I'm not one to jump on the "breadbag" humor wagon

my mom worked for Honeywell, then for the state of CA when I was a kid - pretty solid employment for a privileged upbringing, except that things were different back then. We didn't go hungry, but we grew up 12 people (extended family) in a small house. I had one pair of shoes at a time, as did my brothers and sisters. Maybe one pair of pants, two shirts, and a school outfit. We shopped at garage sales mostly. My grandmother saved breadbags, because we didn't throw anything away, and wove them into area rugs. She also bought old quilted nightrobes and made them into quilts for us...it was fine, but I wouldn't trot it out as some kind of street cred, or want to see anyone else make fun of someone for it. Objectively it was poverty by current standards, but thats just the way it was for most people back then.

[kairos12]

34. Republicans are the real takers.

[Munificence]

38. So

"Ernst’s father, Richard Culver, was given $14,705 in conservation payments and $23,690 in commodity subsidies by the federal government–with all but twelve dollars allocated for corn support.."


So her father gets $23K in farm subsidies over 15 years (just over $1500 a year average) and this is somehow an issue? DO you realize what the other "conservation" payments are?

Heck do you even realize what the farm subsidies are about?

Your anti-farmer position is noted.

Most subsidies and "conservation" actions are really a liberal idea and I support them. I was involved in several "subsidies" through the clean water act. The government did not want run off in the creeks so they had to be fenced off so livestock could not get close, they also paid to have a water source (pond) put in. A farmer could do it themselves if they chose and after "costs" they could make no more than min wage to compensate for their time.

"Conservation" programs are put in place to allow wildlife areas in most instances. It in essence is saying "Quit farming this area and let it go to CRP and we will pay you to do so, for nature". Call it a "don't rape the land" stipend.

[Botany]

41. I have worked with the CRP program thank you very much

n/t

[Munificence]

43. That's great!

So why such a long face? Care to educate me on the other things I asked of your post?

And by your post, I guess if other "not immediate" family members someplace get subsidies over X amount then you should not?

Your post is really disingenuous. I'd say that you should make the headlines read "Ernst father received nearly $24K in farm subsidies and nearly $15K in conservation monies over 15 years"....but that wouldn't have the same effect now would it? Does not sound as bad now does it?

[Botany]

45. I have no problem with certain government programs to help farmers but .....

.... if you are for cutting SSDI, not raising the minimum wage, not giving
overtime pay, and at the same time you and your family are getting government
$$$s then you are hypocrite

[GreatGazoo]

40. A $3 million farm getting $460K in federal help = thrifty, self-reliant Republican (?)

[Generic Other]

46. So they wore the bags over their heads to rob the bank!

I get it.