Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst may be “as good looking as Taylor Swift,” but she’s the wrong choice for Iowans, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) said at a recent event.
Buzzfeed on Sunday night flagged Harkin’s remarks from the Story County Democratic Party barbecue last week.
“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.”
Harkin’s comments were met with loud applause from the audience.
Ernst is facing Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA) in one of the hotly contested races that will decide which party controls the Senate after the midterms. But Harkin, who is retiring, reportedly refused multiple requests to give money out of his own campaign account to help out Braley this year.
The TPM Polltracker average has Ernst leading Braley 47.9 percent to 45.8 percent.
Watch Harkin’s remarks below around the 18:15 mark:
Kinda late in the game, wouldn’t ya say, Tom?
I guess when they say “Old Senate Bull”, the emphasis should be on “Bull.”
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.
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. . . . . .
Late to the game and sexist but he is correct!
or
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.