Senator Joni Ernst: More Than An “Unknown Pig Farmer”

Senator Joni Ernst: More Than An “Unknown Pig Farmer”

Luke Russert has a problem. No, it isn’t a problem with terrorism. And it isn’t a problem with pesky things such as free college, or defense, or even the Oscar woes that Al Sharpton seems to have an issue with. Instead he has a problem with United States Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA). You see, when it was announced that she would give the response to the State of the Union address, Russert tweeted:

Boy howdy! There’s a backhanded compliment in there….somewhere! Luke, as you’ve now discovered, your tweet is falling flatter than a pancake. You see, Sen. Joni Ernst is MUCH more than “just” a pig farmer. Luke, she didn’t just pop up out of nowhere and decide to run for office. In fact, she has quite a record as a businesswoman, landowner, and military veteran. Lets take a look.

I was born and raised in Montgomery County. I grew up walking beans and feeding hogs. My mom made all of my clothes. We went to church every week, helped our neighbors when they needed it, and they did the same for us. These were the values I was raised with, and they’re the same values I have fought my entire life to promote and protect.

She has contributed to the security and safety of Iowa and of the United States for over 21 years.

pic_giant_110714_SM_Joni_Ernst-Army

In fact, she is still serving today as a Lt. Col in the IA National Guard. According to Benny Johnson at the National Review:

A day after winning one of the most contested Senate seats in the country, Joni Ernst reported for duty at her National Guard base. Ernst, a lieutenant colonel, started two days of training with the 185th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion on Thursday.
“Not many folks know she is in uniform on Thursday and Friday,” Ernst’s husband Gail tells National Review Online, “She does it without fanfare.”
A spokesman for the Iowa National Guard, Greg Hapgood, says soldiers don’t “punch the clock.” “We serve regardless of our situations and Colonel Ernst doesn’t want to be treated any differently.”
Ernst, a ferocious campaigner, had just finished a 24-hour straight campaign sweep of Iowa two days before reporting for duty. Her victory in the race also sealed the Senate for the GOP majority.

Jodi wrote about Senator Ernst here and highlighted one of the best campaign spots we’ve seen in a very long time.

You know, that ad was terrific and her follow up ad was epic! It certainly made quite a few people sit up and take notice of Joni and of the life of a farmer. Maybe that is what Luke is fixated on. Perhaps he doesn’t understand what it takes to be “just a pig farmer?”

Luke, I’m a 5th generation rancher’s daughter. Lets see if I can help you out. A rancher or farmer’s day usually starts at the crack of dawn. There are livestock to feed, equipment to get ready for haying, irrigation water to check, sprinklers to check, equipment and sprinklers to fix, fences to fix, and much more.

A rancher/farmer’s day can include work stoppages due to equipment breakdowns or weather problems. It’s a common mantra in the agriculture business that its either feast or famine with the weather. You either get too much moisture or not enough. Then you add in vet bills, mortgages, fuel expenditures, employee salaries, and insurance. A farmer/rancher has to juggle all of that and more. For me, I got to add many fun adventures that included herding cattle through a massive rain and lightening storm, accidentally sinking a tractor in the pasture, a few too many close encounters with rattlesnakes (the real kind), nearly putting a front-end loader on its side, and getting discovered by my dad when I was yelling 4-letter words at a windrower that was giving me fits.

Oh and Luke? Let’s not forget all the branding fun. Yes, I actually did wrestle and hold calves down while they received their vaccinations, were tagged, got branded with our family brand, and the bulls became steers ie; castrated. You know, brandings are a lot of fun. You never know what type of rodeo you’ll get. Will it be one of the mama’s bawling and slobbering on your shoulder? Will it be one of the calves taking you for a bumpy ride across the corral? Or it is having a branding come to a halt as you watch a huge bull elk stalk across the pasture majestically ignoring those noisy humans and cattle off to his left? All of this is part and parcel of the life ranchers and farmers know very well.

We know adversity because of weather, banks, taxes, and more. We are resilient and adaptable. We are practical, frugal, knowledgeable, and have a knack for looking at the big picture while taking care of the details. Our day starts at the crack of dawn and doesn’t end until the sun goes down. We check on the livestock and take care of them and the land in every type of weather you could imagine.  We help our neighbors out and don’t expect compensation in return.  In times of adversity we pull together and don’t take the time to wait on the government to “help” us.

Luke, Senator Ernst is all of the above and more.  She is a wife, a mother, a farmer, a solder, and a United States Senator.  You may not be, but this rancher’s daughter is more than pleased to have an “unknown pig farmer” serving her state and this country in the United States Senate.

Written by

8 Comments
  • Appalled By The World says:

    Who the hell is Luke Russert? Judging from his disdain I know enough to say he needs to shut up and let a good politician do her thing. After all, what exactly was Emperor Ebola in 2008 before his enthronement? Methinks Ernst will actually do some good-unlike the Big 0.

  • Nina says:

    He’s the son of Tim Russert… and not filling his dad’s footsteps very well.

    I have high hopes for Sen. Ernst as well.

  • Chris in N.Va. says:

    That’ll leave a smoking brand on lil’ Lukie’s backside!

    He’ll be pig-squealing all the way home.

    Wife and I (both vets) salute Sen. Ernst and wish her Godspeed into the battle, into the Valley of the Pig Trough, that shining City on a Swamp, er-um, hill, the Emerald City of Odds.

  • Dana says:

    I’m thinking that we need more pig farmers and fewer celebrity journalists.

  • William Bourne says:

    I once identified with the conservative, responsible, accountable government meme since that was how I was raised in Western Canada. Some years back we had a do-nothing Alberta Premier (like governor) Getty after several good leaders such as Manning and Lougheed. He seemingly trashed our provincial economy with lax controls on spending leaving us with a debt. A populist radio personality named Klein got himself elected on a ticket of fiscal restraint. Within a week he was in New York meeting with David Rockefeller after which most gov’t services were privatized and Albertans were obliged to pay mightily for services previously free for generations. It occurred to me then that something was wrong with that picture. I had been conditioned to champion free enterprise, but I knew Rockeeller for his support of radical social engineering up to and including Communism. Now the bankster games are known, and how half of Alberta’s wealth had gone to pay usury that should not have been. Whenever I see local fiscal restraint, I search for the fat cat parasites who feed off the public trough. Restraint causing poverty may be unjust. For instance, your Federal Reserve, and our Bank of Canada (and IMF) do the same thing in different ways by lending us our own money at interest. Prior to 1974, Canada borrowed our own money directly at no interest, but since then the IMF obliged us to go through them to borrow our own money letting them collect mega interest on repayment. Now a lawyer, Rocco Galati is suing the system on behalf of Canadians for the trillion $$ fraud. He studied constitution and economics himself as a hobby, finally taking action on his findings, and is worth a google.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe
Become a Victory Girl!

Are you interested in writing for Victory Girls? If you’d like to blog about politics and current events from a conservative POV, send us a writing sample here.
Ava Gardner
gisonboat
rovin_readhead