ASHE SCHOW: Flashback: Joni Ernst’s predecessor, Tom Harkin, actually did lie about his military service.

Decades ago, in 1979, then-Congressman Harkin said during a round-table discussion that he “spent five years as a Navy pilot, starting in November of 1962” and that “one year was in Vietnam.”

His words were quoted in the book Changing of the Guard, and transcribed in a 1991 Wall Street Journal article that is no longer available free online. At the time of the WSJ article, Harkin was engaged in a presidential bid.

“That clearly is not an accurate picture of his Navy service,” the WSJ wrote at the time. “Though Mr. Harkin stresses he is proud of his Navy record — ‘I put my ass on the line day after day’ — he concedes now he never flew combat air patrols in Vietnam.”

Harkin’s lie resurfaced in 2004 when he accused Vice President Dick Cheney of being a “coward” for not serving in Vietnam.

And the bylined Democratic operatives of the press covered for him both times.