Discussion: Sen. Harkin: Joni Ernst Is 'As Good Looking As Taylor Swift' But Wrong For Iowa

TPM Article Topics
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Discussion for article #229627

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Kinda late in the game, wouldn’t ya say, Tom?

I guess when they say “Old Senate Bull”, the emphasis should be on “Bull.”

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Idiot,cowardly Democrats totally screwed themselves by running away from the man who cut deficit spending by 2/3rds, doubled the value of the the stock market, and created 12 million private sector jobs. They should have been shouting that from the roof tops every day for the last year.

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Slightly sexist remark. If looks were a qualifier for public office, then how did Alan Greenspan ever get into power for so long? Hmmm, maybe there is something to that notion.

Hey, W. was a pretty good looking guy. . . . . .

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Late to the game and sexist but he is correct!

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Sen. Harkin: Joni Ernst Is ‘As Good Looking As Taylor Swift’

or

“You know, in this Senate race, I’ve been watching some of these ads,” Harkin said, according to video of his remarks. “And there’s sort of this sense that, ‘Well, I hear so much about Joni Ernst. She’s really attractive, and she sounds nice.’”

“Well I gotta to thinking about that," he continued. "I don’t care if she’s as good looking as Taylor Swift or as nice as Mr. Rogers, but if she votes like [Minnesota Rep.] Michele Bachmann, she’s wrong for the state of Iowa.”

In other words, the headline is a blatant lie. Harkin said no such thing. Come on TPM, I used to think better of you than that, but your reputation is plummeting with this sort of crap.

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I rarely complain about this when it’s a tweener, sort of pushing the edge, but yes, it’s a lie. Harkin did not say “Joni Ernst Is ‘As Good Looking…’” and so forth. In other words he didn’t say something that was mildly curious, and so worth reading about. What he did say was entirely unremarkable, isn’t a story, and shouldn’t be presented as one. This is pretty much on the one-wierd-trick level. Very disappointing.

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I was wondering myself how Harkin could say such a thing. I mean, he may be old, but he isn’t blind. Imagine my surprise when I found out that he’d actually said no such thing. But the headline served its purpose in getting me to open the article.

It is indeed sad to watch TPM, once a proud source of razor-sharp political analysis, devolve into an online version of the National Enquirer.

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It started with the TV age, JFK was the first. He beat Nixon because he looked better on TV. Sarah Palin is a great example, not even close to being governor is she not good looking. Clinton’s popularity at first rose because he looked good. Many other examples. And W is a good looking guy. Daddy not so much, but he ran off the Reagan machine, and then lost anyway to Clinton next time. You think an unknown guy who looked like HW Bush would have beat an incumbent that looked like Clinton? No chance. Same with Reagan, he just looked good.

And yes, Greenspan would never have been elected to public office, definitely not a handsome man.

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Yup, and Gore ran from Clinton because of a blow job, ignoring his amazing approval numbers. Democrats are wimps, they proved it when they voted to give Cheney war power on Iraq.

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What’s with TPM and its misleading headlines lately? Is whoever’s writing them not reading the story? Harkin said he didn’t " care if she was as good looking as Taylor Swift," not that she was.

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Yup indeed, as sitting V.P.he ran away from peace and prosperity (20+ million jobs) message, not with it. And to make things worse Dems scream ‘all Nader’s fault’!

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Prediction…if elected…Joni Ernst will be the “Paula Hawkins” of Iowa…

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Same here.

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Well not exactly PickWick. They gave up on Obama for a lot of legitimate reasons, cowardice not being one of them. Stupidity yes but being too much like a Republican and an anemic economy - after 6 years - are two of the reasons many Dems have given up on Obama. He’s baked this cake all by himself.

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Haha!
Nice little tantrum there, Darcy. But it’s fact-free.

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"Sen. Harkin: Joni Ernst Is ‘As Good Looking As Taylor Swift’ "

Is the headline writer having trouble with the English language? That is N-O-T what he said.

"I don’t care if she’s as good looking as Taylor Swift or as nice as Mr. [sic] Rogers, but if she votes like [Minnesota Rep.] Michele Bachmann, she’s wrong for the state of Iowa.”

You might as well have headlined "Sen. Harkin: Joni Ernst Is ‘As Nice As Mister Rogers’ " But that click-bait wouldn’t have been as provocative.

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My guess is the remark is calculated…Harkin is too smart to goof like that. It forced Ernst to defend against it using liberal language that will come back to haunt GOP’ers from now on. It also made Harkin seem a bit of a good ole’ boy…

Had Ernst been smart ( and she is not ) she would have said thank you for the compliment but “its Harkin’s unattractive ideas we are talking about”… or something like that.

That’s ( diminishing a woman by flattering her looks ) a play right out of the GOP’er play book. Ernst should not have allowed a Democrat to gain a yard on it. I think he did.

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First, only a fool would consider Obama stupid. Misunderstood who you were calling stupid.

Second, the ones “giving up on him” are not because he’s too conservative. It’s because their electorate thinks he’s a Kenyan Muslin with anti-colonial tendencies and a deep-seated hatred of white people.

Third, given the astronomical turnaround in jobs since the Bush Reign of Terror, and given the record highs enjoyed by the investment community, it’s difficult to see how the economy is anemic, particularly in comparison to the shambles Bush left it.

Would you care to rephrase that, or let its denial of reality stand as representative of your insights?

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He should have said, “She’s as wacky as Michelle Bachmann.”