Former Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan called Joni Ernst an “enormously attractive figure,” just days after the Iowa senator-elect rebuked Sen. Tom Harkin for calling her “good-looking.”
“I think she’s an enormously attractive figure,” Mr. Buchanan said in an interview with Newsmax TV, Mediaite reported. “She’s a gal with a real sense of humor and a fighting spirit.”
“I think she’s got a real opportunity to be something of a national star,” he said. “I think she has the same kind of attractiveness that Sarah Palin had at the start and that Michele Bachmann gained in the Iowa caucuses. I mean, being a very attractive, outspoken person, a woman in the GOP full of passion and full of hard-core philosophy.”
On Monday, Ms. Ernst condemned Mr. Harkin, Iowa Democrat, for implying that she is “as good-looking at Taylor Swift.”
“I was very offended that Sen. Harkin would say that. I think it’s unfortunate that he and many of their party believe you can’t be a real woman if you’re conservative and you’re female,” she said on Fox News. “I believe if my name had been John Ernst attached to my resume, Sen. Harkin would not have said those things.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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