http://youtu.be/SIv4Mrg9BOE

With less than two weeks to go until Election Day, the Huffington Post on Wednesday dredged up a two-year-old statement made by the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Iowa and treated it as news.

Liberals were only too happy to play along.

Without any context, HuffPo ran a 26-second clip of Joni Ernst’s remarks at the NRA and Iowa Firearms Coalition Second Amendment Rally in Searsboro on Aug. 25, 2012.

“I have a beautiful little Smith & Wesson, nine millimeter, and it goes with me virtually everywhere,” Ernst said in the clip. “But I do believe in the right to carry, and 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.”

The most likely reason the liberal website would have chosen to publish the clip at this time would be in hopes of eroding Ernst’s reportedly slim lead over Democrat Bruce Braley in the Iowa Senate race. But the transparency of that motive didn’t stop liberal commentator Kirsten Powers from tweeting her supposed shock as if Ernst had made the remarks yesterday to a room full of nuns and kindergarteners.

More than that, it seemed to some that Powers went out of her way to misconstrue the Republican’s words.

Did Joni Ernst really say she carries a gun in case govt decides ‘my rights are no longer important’? Wow. http://t.co/Y0U9goCwfl — Kirsten Powers (@KirstenPowers) October 23, 2014

Well, @KirstenPowers, that is the purpose of the 2nd Amendment.

— High Plains Parson (@HiPlainsParson) October 23, 2014

@HiPlainsParson So she is going to shoot who exactly? — Kirsten Powers (@KirstenPowers) October 23, 2014

.@Tonebo1 I will ask again: WHO from the US govt would Joni Ernst shoot?? Be specific. A member of the military? A police officer?

— Kirsten Powers (@KirstenPowers) October 23, 2014

But conservatives were having none of Powers’ liberal slant – and quickly fired back.

I see that @KirstenPowers is being deliberately obtuse. Or maybe she really doesn’t have the capacity to understand the point. @Tonebo1 — Moira Fitzgerald ن (@Moira1987) October 23, 2014

@KirstenPowers Perhaps she is using the 1st amend. to say she is exercising the 2nd, in case the gov. violates the 3rd, 4th, or 5th.

— Ric White (@ScoobyCheese) October 23, 2014

Ideally, no one. That’s kinda the point. RT @KirstenPowers @HiPlainsParson So she is going to shoot who exactly? — RB (@RBPundit) October 23, 2014

@KirstenPowers Surely you understand that she is speaking hypothetically as to the value of a citizenry able to defend itself from tyranny.

— Moira Fitzgerald ن (@Moira1987) October 23, 2014

@KirstenPowers Furthermore, I hope you’re not suggesting that this veteran is some kind of anti-government conspiracy nut. I sure hope not! — Moira Fitzgerald ن (@Moira1987) October 23, 2014

@KirstenPowers @Tonebo1 So, never carry a handgun unless you have a spec. person in mind that you are going to shoot? Seems…premeditated.

— Anne (@docboogie) October 23, 2014

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George Upper

George Upper is a U.S. Army special operations veteran, an academic, a poet, and an MBA who started writing political news and commentary when people stopped listening to his rants in person.

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