Senator Charles "just call me Chuck" Grassley made a stop in Kalona last Wednesday evening. When I arrived at quarter till five Grassley was already taking pictures and talking with a few people. At five, he introduced himself to the room full of approximately 100 people. Quite a few of us had to stand along the walls as the seats were all full.
Grassley has been a Senator for 35 some years so he is good at relating to people and excellent at responding to questions without really answering the question asked. Since there were so many people present he said there would be no follow up questions which was also to his advantage.
The first question was about the bio-diesel tax credit, but the second related to health care which then dominated most of the evening. In between Grassley's explanation of why he didn't vote for the current Senate bill, "even though it has some good things," we were treated to the occasional outlandish statement by random audience members. "Democrats are treating the constitution like a damn beer can," stated a guy who looked like he has tossed his share of Busch lite cans out of a car. This guy added, "if I have a chance I'll chase them out, and I won't be using no damn pitchfork neither." His statement seemed to embolden the large women who kept blurting out at random times, "why can't real Americans vote on this health care bill?" or "Can't we just change the Constitution to stop these Democrats from ruining our country?" To his credit, Grassley didn't do anything to add to their anger or passion and at times he seemed to go out of his way to mention bipartisanship or a Democrat who had worked with him on some legislation.
According to the Washington Evening Journal, a paper I have a hard time believing anyone subscribes to, "the audience was almost all Republican based on the questions." Either the reporter didn't know many people or she wasn't paying attention to some of the questions which were asked. For example an older man asked if the Senator believed the government could reduce the deficit without passing some type of health care reform. Grassley admitted it would be difficult but then added he didn't want to do anything which raised taxes and with that he evaded the question. A younger man made a comment about abusive insurance practices. Grassley rattled off some of the ways the current bill addresses these issues, which brought the next question, "if it as all these good things, why didn't you vote for it?" Another person asked if he would still vote for term limits. We were treated to an answer explaining why after 35 years in office he is running for re-election, and oh-yes, he has changed his mind on term-limits.
Towards the end we were exhorted by a Navy veteran to "be in prayer for our Constitution because prayer is the only way it will be saved." ( I suppose this could be an argument to cut the military budget) Grassley responded by referring to I Timothy 2:1-2 telling us that he felt strengthened by all the people praying for him.
It was an interesting evening. For the most part the people in the room were polite to each other and to the Senator. On my way in I did have one man I know ask, "What are you doing here? He then added, "you're just a dirty Democrat, you better not cause any trouble." I told him his attitude is what is wrong with our country. At first he seemed to think I was kidding, but I decided to pile on, and added that his attitude is also what is wrong with the Republican party.
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