Countering wingnut lunacy with a progressive message. How novel!
by digby
Now we're talking!
This election isn’t about Joni Ernst or me, it’s about who would be best for Iowa. Take Social Security. My plan would make millionaires pay Social Security taxes on all their earned income, just like middle class families already do. That will keep Social Security strong and increase monthly benefits. Joni Ernst would rather privatize Social Security, risking benefits. Millionaires don’t need a Senator, you do, I’m Bruce Braley and I approve this message.
That's the difference between Braley and Ernst, right there, and it will say a whole lot about the "heartland" state of Iowa if they elect this Tea Partying extremist over Braley. But hey, perhaps you truly believe that making millionaires pay the same percentage of their taxes to Social Security as middle class working people and increasing monthly benefits for everyone is more "extreme" than this:
TPM’s Daniel Strauss dug up a candidate questionnaire Ernst filled out in 2012 in which she indicated that she would support “legislation to nullify ObamaCare and authorize state and local law enforcement to arrest federal officials attempting to implement” the healthcare reform law.
or this:
Among other stances, Ernst has endorsed impeachment for President Obama, expressed the belief that states could nullify federal laws, and supported “personhood” anti-abortion laws that would outlaw most forms of contraception. In addition, she’s slammed Medicaid recipients for not taking “personal responsibility for their health”—even though recipients have to apply for coverage—and talked extensively about “Agenda 21,” a decades-old U.N. recommendation for environmental sustainability that forms the basis for conspiracy-mongering on the far right.
She's full-fledged nuts. And to Braley's credit he's countering her nuttiness with a progressive policy like taxing millionaires and expanding Social Security. Good for him. There's no point in trying to "move right" when your opponent is a lunatic. You might as well run on something that will actually help people. And who knows? The people of Iowa might even be persuaded by it.
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