Joni Ernst told a touching tale of how she only owned one pair of shoes as a child, and how she had to wear bread bags on her feet to keep her shoes dry when it rained.

When was that? During the Great Depression? Not so much, since Ernst was born in 1970. No, her time in bread bags was during the Reagan era -- 1980 to 1988. Even allowing for the possibility that there was some flow-through from Carter into the Reagan years, Ernst's tale of "we didn't have much but we didn't need much" falls squarely into Reagan's trickle-down years.

Senator Ernst's follow-up statement: "These days though, many families feel like they’re working harder and harder, with less and less to show for it." That just further indicts Republicans and the whole trickle-down theory, given that it's been the operative economic theory for the past 30 years.

Other than that little wrinkle in time, Ernst's rebuttal was safe and quite white bread-ish. No terrible gaffes, but no details either. Not a one. Just some warm fuzzies about how Republicans understand that mean Uncle Washington isn't working, and how they'll kick his butt. It was like she was reading all the kids a chapter out of the conservative coloring book.

The only takeaway anyone should remember is Ernst's affirmation that what Reagan and his league of conservatives left her with is bread bags on her feet.

(Full transcript of Ernst's speech)