Ernst, Hinson, Miller-Meeks aren't moderates
COVID is a hoax, right wing rhetoric of "steal" and other really moderate things
“Let’s hear it for moderate Republican women” - Washington Post Opinion 12/6/21
An opinion piece in the Washington Post praised - among others - Senator Joni Ernst, Rep. Marianette Miller-Meeks and Rep. Ashley Hinson as part of a cadre of “moderate” Republican women in congress.
Moderate is an unword definition-less until faced with an outlier. Moderate exists relatively - a reflection of how we view ourselves or how a political party attempts to redefine [a word, a fact, a reality] and rebrand itself.
The wording of the piece is perfect. The headline misleading. Of course Hinson, Ernst, Miller-Meeks are not moderates let alone Elise Stefanik who is tagged on to the end of list of GOP women here in hopes we won’t notice; the outlier on the off chance. By gleefully supplanting Liz Cheney who brazenly took on Trump over his coup attempt, Stefanik (with an assist by the spine free Kevin McCarthy) turned Cheney into de facto moderate - or as they like to call them - traitors.
See?
Tricky business.
But here is the tell - the author’s wink, nod. She is relying on us to not read closely. In the 4th paragraph the author (before launching into a list GOP women) qualifies her intent writing not that these women are moderate themselves instead they “….are capable of appealing to moderates…”
Bleeding Heartland’s Laura Belin was quick (and correct) to point out the above Iowans would bristle at being called moderate:
Don’t take my word for it. Take theirs:
The Iowa GOP is transparent when it comes to strategy: glad hand Donald Trump at a super-spreader event in Des Moines where the Big Lie is on full display and employ the familiar, catchy rhetoric of steal. It’s how Trump kicked off his October rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds: the election was rigged, Governor Reynolds went on a racist rant against Kamala Harris the US Southern Border and Grassley, Miller-Meeks and Hinson stood on preening in His Orange Glow.
Senator Chuck Grassley kicked off the whole democrats-tried-to-steal-miller-meeks-win-nonsese in a Tweet (a medium he works like a fine piece of clay into Haiku-like masterpieces to be cross-stitched into ruffled pillow shams):
There was no illegal attempt to overturn MMM election - the closest one in maybe forever? There was however a legal challenge by the Democrat:
Just one state over in Illinois a Republican was apparently trying to “steal” an election from a Democrat however I do not see Chuck nor Joni squealing (or bleating?) on about that.
Unlike Donald Trump and scores of GOP elected officials who claimed (falsely) that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Trump - Rita Hart’s perfectly legal challenge (which she subsequently ceded) didn’t result in a bloody coup attempt led by the head of the party. No, Hart just withdrew her request. Trumps loyalists - including the Iowa GOPers who crawled onto that Des Moines stage with the wannabe autocrat - on the other hand proved they will do everything to stay in power.
Ernst has the honor of standing alongside some of Iowa’s most unserious and dangerous conspiracy theorists when it comes to Ye Olde Covid Hoax. Take Rep. Jeff Shipley for example claiming that deaths from COVID19 in Iowa and overall were inflated - you know by the deep state or lizards:
This from The Gazette:
And then Ernst during her tough reelection bid:
According to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, responded that she, too, was "so skeptical" of the mortality rate from the coronavirus, adding: "These health-care providers and others are reimbursed at a higher rate if Covid is tied to it, so what do you think they're doing?"
Ah yes. Hard working Iowa health care workers inflating mortality rates for that sweet, sweet cash.
Shipley and Ernst are one and the same. You know. Moderates.