Beleaguered Iowa Democrat Bruce Braley can’t seem to catch a break in what many assume has now gone from a sure win to a complete and total loss in his now uphill battle against surging Republican Joni Ernst.
Just as foreign policy and national defense are increasingly in the voting public’s mind as we head toward the November election, it’s come to light that Braley “opposed funding any American military operations in Iraq this year–before he supported them. The three-term House member, who is running for Iowa’s open Senate seat in one of the year’s hottest races, touted his support for military action against ISIS in Iraq and Syria in a recent debate”.
Not so fast, Bruce. Through a series of gaffes, mis-steps and a string effort by the GOP’s Joni Earnst, Braley has gone from a Democrat lock in Iowa, to looking like a deer in the headlights in a year where Democrats are going to be forced to cut their losses in some states early to retain any hope of retaining control of the Senate.
“I recently had the opportunity to vote to give the president limited authority to begin strikes against terrorists in Iraq and Syria,” Braley said during the debate with his Republican opponent, Joni Ernst.
That’s not quite accurate, as Fox News’s Carl Cameron points out. The recent House vote Braley cited was to arm Syrian rebels fighting against ISIS. Authorization for United States’s bombing campaign against ISIS terrorists has fallen under the authorization to use military force against terrorist groups first passed by Congress in 2001, the Obama administration has argued. There’s been no separate vote in this Congress to authorize the recent air strikes.
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