One of the Republicans running to succeed Tom Harkin as the junior Senator from Iowa is in full damage control mode after referring to last weekend’s mass shooting in Santa Barbara as an “unfortunate accident.”
At last night’s Republican primary debate in Des Moines, the moderator asked state senator Joni Ernst a viewer-submitted question about an ad that has been running for most of this month showing her firing a pistol at a shooting range. According to the ad, if Ernst becomes the first woman elected to the Senate from Iowa, she will “unload” on Obamacare.
The viewer was very concerned about the ad’s imagery in light not only of the Santa Barbara shooting, but also the 2011 shooting that nearly killed then-Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and the 2012 Aurora theater shooting. Ernst said that while the Santa Barbara shooting was “an absolute tragedy,” she still remained a firm supporter of the Second Amendment.
“Just because of a horrible, horrible tragedy,” she said, “I don’t believe we should be infringing upon people’s Second Amendment rights.”
She also touted her endorsement from the National Rifle Association.
When the moderator asked Ernst if she would recut the ad or change its timing in light of the shooting, Ernst replied:
“I would not, no. This unfortunate accident happened after the ad.”
Ernst then claimed the ad tied the all-but-certain Democratic nominee, Congressman Bruce Braley, to the health care bill, and also highlighted her strong support for the Second Amendment.
Ernst has been deservedly slammed for her comments for most of the day. Iowa state Democratic Party chairman Scott Brennan denounced Ernst’s remarks as an example of how her “fierce partisanship and opposition to any gun control” puts her out of Iowa’s mainstream. Longtime Democratic consultant Jeff Link emailed The Des Moines Register to express his disbelief at how Ernst could dismiss “a rampage against women with knives and guns” as just an accident.
In a statement, the Ernst campaign pointed out that Ernst had initially said the shooting was indeed a tragedy. Left unsaid, however, is why she didn’t leave it at that–and unless I missed something, she hasn’t explained why.
The most benign interpretation is that Ernst probably isn’t used to having to explain herself. She represents a crimson-red district in southwestern Iowa, and the Democrats haven’t even put up a candidate in her two bids for a full term; she was first elected in 2011 in a special election to succeed now-Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds.
Ernst is widely reckoned as the front-runner in the June 3 primary. The last poll of this race, from Public Policy Polling, showed Ernst with 34 percent support, just a hair short of winning the nomination outright.
She’s running as a no-questions-asked conservative–besides her hardline position on gun control, she opposes same-sex marriage and raising the minimum wage. In the past, she’s also denounced the Clean Water Act and said she would have voted against the farm bill. Stances like that may play well with primary voters, since Iowa’s Republican primary base is as conservative as you can get. But if she has any prospect of beating Braley in November, she’s going to have to tack to the center–and unless she can explain why she couldn’t leave well enough alone last night, that task is going to be very difficult.
Darrell Lucus is a radical-lefty Jesus-lover who has been blogging for change for a decade. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook.
edited by tw
