Republicans have it both ways, no questions asked.

I knew there was a reason why I saved reporter Charlie Pierce’s clip below. For one, the guy clearly articulated the problem we’re seeing with Republican fear mongering and flip flopping positions. 

Having it Both Ways GOP Politics: Republicans are allowed to have it both ways. Like my conservative friend in Milwaukee who doesn't like the Affordable Care Act because government is involved. When I asked him how he would deal with preexisting conditions in the private market, he said government should mandate coverage for that too. Huh? Conservatives have no self-awareness when it comes to their contradictory positions. And don’t confuse their "answers" with actual solutions, because they don’t have any. Politicus USA:

Joni Ernst Goes all Palin, Calls Obama an Apathetic Dictator: MSNBC’s Ben Terris reported yesterday that Joni Ernst’s latest foray in self-contradiction is that President Obama, whom she has previously called a dictator, is “apathetic.”

“We have an apathetic president,” she told a crowd in Newton, Iowa. When the press got to her afterward, she tried to explain, relates Terris, without much success, what she meant: “He is just standing back and letting things happen, he is reactive rather than proactive,” she said. “With Ebola, he’s been very hands off.”

Esquire blogger Charlie Pierce asked her: “What should he have done about Ebola? One person in America has Ebola.”

Ernst: “OK, you’re the press, you’re giving me your opinion.”

Pierce: “It’s not an opinion, only one person in America has it.”
Ernst: “But he is the leader, he is the leader of our nation. So what he can do is make sure that all of these agencies are coordinating together, to make sure he is sharing with the American people he cares about them, he cares about their safety.”

Pierce: “You don’t think he does?”

Ernst: “I don’t know that he does, he hasn’t demonstrated that.”

Pierce: “You don’t think he’s demonstrated that he cares about the American people?”

Ernst: “He hasn’t. I’m done. So anybody else?”

This is the woman who, back in January of this year, was saying Obama should be impeached for acting without the approval of Congress. As Yahoo News reported:

Ernst told a crowd that she believed Obama had “become a dictator” and that he needed to face the consequences for his executive actions, “whether that’s removal from office, whether that’s impeachment.”“He is running amok. He is not following our Constitution, and unfortunately we have leaders who are not serving as leaders right now, they’re not defending the Constitution and they’re not defending you and me.”

MSNBC’s Steve Benen quipped: “Oh, I see. Joni Ernst wants Obama to lead more and lead less. She wants him to be more proactive without Congress and more reactive waiting for Congress. She’s looking for him to do exactly what he’s already done, but Ernst pretends not to notice.” (Ernst) is all too common in a media landscape where Republicans are allowed to lie with impunity, no matter how divorced from reality their comments.