So I Guess Senator Grassley Doesn't Like Questions

I'm so disappointed. (0.00 / 0)

I guess it was easy for Senator Grassley to look reasonable when the White House had his party's back and he could be the least of the extremists (such as when he stood up for the SCHIP legislation in 2007).  Since January, though, he seems to be drifting more and more into the reactionary wing of his minority party.  
He's an intelligent man, and if he has well-reasoned, intelligent reasons for voting against the stimulus I'd like to hear them.  But to re-spout the Republican talking points about slow-spending, too few tax cuts, and "porkulus" just insults my intelligence and his.
As I said, disappointing...

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by: UrbandaleforObama @ Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 14:23:21 PM UTC

it's all so confusing (4.00 / 1)

Republicans say spending won't help stimulate the economy, but they also say spending in the stimulus won't come fast enough to help the economy, and now Grassley says Republican governors should "think about their constituents" before declining the stimulus money--so I guess he understands that the spending is beneficial.

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by: desmoinesdem @ Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 15:59:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Exactly. (0.00 / 0)

And those conflicting messages are what makes his explanation so disingenuous.  At least give the American people credit for being able to understand the governing philosophy behind your vote.  Unless, of course, it's not a governing philosophy that's motivating your vote but other political considerations.  Then talk in sound bites, refuse to answer questions, and hope nobody notices.

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by: UrbandaleforObama @ Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 16:13:10 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Well, I highly doubt I was the first (4.00 / 2)

to say I disagreed with his stimulus vote. Of course, since the vast majority of people there seemed to be "invited" by his office, I'm guessing those attending these events are almost all Republicans who would tend to agree with him on the stimulus just because they share party values - which we've basically seen these past 4 weeks means - they vote the way Rush Limbaugh tells them to vote regardless of how bad it will be for the country.  

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by: Elise @ Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 19:06:48 PM UTC

presumably self-selection (0.00 / 0)

is skewing the political makeup of the the typical Grassley audience.

I would imagine that most people don't even know about these events unless they are on Grassley's mailing list because they've supported him in the past.

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by: desmoinesdem @ Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 20:32:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I have written to Senator Grassley (4.00 / 1)

so I should be on any inclusive list that he keeps.  But I never get notice of his events.

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by: riverdog9 @ Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 21:03:33 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

maybe people who have donated (0.00 / 0)

to his campaigns or are registered Republicans are more likely to hear about the events.

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by: desmoinesdem @ Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 23:35:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

monticello (4.00 / 1)

i can tell you that monticello had done it's work to get it's conservatives out. several were clutching mailed invitations to this town hall. the hostilities were overwhelming. i had to park close to the building where it was held as i took my mother with me, and i think they looked for me and then refused to acknowledge my hand waving in the air for the last half of the event, and he really tried hard not to see me; especially when others (including the press in the back of the room) started pointing to me when he started looking around for someone with a question.

i had hoped to ask him that, since he had refused to support our security by vetoing SCHIP, refused to support his state by vetoing the jobs package that he had helped to craft, and had not signed on to the legislation to stop their automatic pay raises, and since i was forced to work approximately 80% fewer hours in the past year than i have in the last 5 just because of the economy, would he mind sharing some of his raise with me; unfortunately my purple coat may have convinced him that i was the one driving the car with the SEIU for obama sticker on the back of it, and the obama stickers all over it, parked across the street.

he also routinely called on retired men, and in spite of half the audience being women, he only called on three of them through the hour that he spent. i had a friend on the other side of the room who actually got to talk to his press secretary, and she knew that she had an urgent question; but i'd bet since her complexion matched "that one" they both knew better than to call on her.

he was also extremely disrespectful of a sitting president. the fact that the crowd was more respectful than he was did not inspire empathy. and just to be clear, i don't think any national elected official should say anything about the president that was as disrespectful as he said today, repeatedly.

the crowd was openly hostile, one "gent" was talking about "illegal ailens" and called them repeatedly "minorities" and used the terms interchangeably. many many of them seemed to have no other news source than rush and faux.

so believe me, senator grassley will get to hear from me in a written letter; something that he insists on sending me whenever i email him no matter how many times i tell him not to write me back, please save our nation's resources for important work (but apparently he takes bragging rights from answering "every" constituent message all these years, and not answering me would ruin that record. OH VANITY!!)

i said on my way out a number of times that he refused to call on women, i wondered what his issue was with women.

so it is really absolutely NO WONDER that no one said they objected to him voting for the stimulus pkg.  

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by: marytnurse @ Sat Feb 21, 2009 at 05:12:29 AM UTC

thank you for that first-hand account (0.00 / 0)

which doesn't surprise me at all.

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by: desmoinesdem @ Sat Feb 21, 2009 at 13:37:50 PM UTC

[ Parent ]