In her column on Joni Ernst, Margaret Carlson writes: ”At a National Rifle Association event that year, she said she would shoot first and ask questions later if the government violated her rights.”
To back up her claim, Carlson provides the quote in the very next line:
“I believe in the right to defend myself and my family — whether it’s from an intruder, or whether it’s from the government, should they decide that my rights are no longer important,” she said.
I’ve read that sentence many times now, I still don’t see anything that can be read as “shoot first, ask questions later.”
It is remarkably easy to make people seem like extremists if you simply assert interpretations as you like. For instance, Carlson writes:
It doesn’t matter that Ernst is a collection of stances and bromides. The simple persona she conveys — mom, Army reservist, state legislator — has kept her ahead.
Carlson is clearly saying here that she believes we should nuke Belgium and start wearing clogs.