(PresidentialHill.com)- On Wednesday, at a confirmation hearing, Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa called out one of President Biden’s nominees for the Tennessee Valley Authority for saying she was “hideous” in a tweet.
Ernst said that Beth Geer expressed in a written statement that her ability to build relationships and work together is one of the reasons she feels she should serve on the TVA.
After Geer agreed that civility is essential for working on the TVA board, Ernst revealed a 2015 tweet in which she said “hideous” in response to an image of the senator and a quote from her State of the Union response that year.
When asked whether she could explain the tweet, Geer said she didn’t understand it and had Ernst read it to her.
Geer apologized for upsetting her and appreciated bringing it to her attention; and she believes civility is important, and she was sorry if she didn’t convey that with her tweet.
Ernst was unhappy with the response, and she brought up the tweet again during the nomination process.
“Perhaps you’ve had some time to refresh your memory,” Ernst asked; she asked if it was common practice for her to characterize women who disagreed with her as hideous, or if it was just an outlier.
Ernst then reminded the audience that the tweet was sent before former President Donald Trump entered office; thus, it couldn’t be blamed on Trump’s poor Twitter behavior.
“This is before that. This is not Iowa nice, folks. And I’m calling you out,” said Ernst.
“Miss Geer, when you called me hideous, were you referring to my appearance or to the views that I held and are held by many Americans across this country?”
Geer denied that the senator’s appearance influenced her statement.
Ernst instantly refuted that assertion, noting that even if Geer were referring to the content of Ernst’s speech, it would be a major issue.
Ernst dressed down Geer- “Ma’am, I’ll cut you off right there. How else could this come across? The word hideous, to me, only has one meaning. And the views I expressed in my State of the Union response was personal experiences. So maybe you didn’t appreciate that I grew up on a small, rural farm in an economically disadvantaged area of Iowa. Maybe you didn’t like that my mother had to put bread bags on my shoes when I went to school. Maybe you didn’t like that, but a lot of Americans have had the same experiences that I have had. And so to call my personal views as hideous is an affront to half of America.”
Ernst concluded by saying that she would be voting against Geer.
