That State of the Union Address, though...

If you missed it, here it is -- President Obama takes what can only be described as a victory lap as he outlines his two year plan for the nation. Jump to 21:53 for the start of the speech. To read along, click here. 



The response from Republican Senator Joni Ernst -- proud Iowan, wife, mom, military veteran, pig farmer and former child hog castrator -- is not to be missed.  That bread bag remark alone launched a jillion well-aimed memes.

Who is Senator Joni Ernst? Five minutes ago, she was a rural county auditor. Once she landed in the Iowa legislature, the Koch brothers came along -- and yes, so did several other billionaires -- to bankroll her political rise. A scant three years later, she's a senator -- the first woman to represent Iowa and the first female veteran in the Senate. A week after being sworn in, she's tapped to give the Republican response.  Coincidence? Not according to Senator Ernst, who (along with several other Republican politicians) credited the Koch brothers for their success. 

Cindi Lauper was right. Money changes everything.

When you realize Senator Ernst is working hard to strengthen the agenda of a few very powerful billionaires who, like Simon Bar-Sinister, would like to take over the world, it really puts all that folksy, homespun, rural, (lower) middle-class talk in a different light. To my ears, it sounded sardonic. They don't call her Exxon Ernst for nothing.

Here's the must-see political ad that put Senator Ernst on the map.  Because going on and on about liberals and government waste of our hard-earned tax dollars and such is more than enough to distract people from the fact that you're basically an ambitious tool.

That should be enough to make anyone squeal.