Video captures Braley criticizing Grassley as 'a farmer from Iowa'

[alp227]

Source: Des Moines Register

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Braley apologized this afternoon for offending Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley after video footage surfaced that shows Braley mocking Grassley asa farmer from Iowa who never went to law school."

In an effort to embarrass Braley, Republican operatives today began to circulate the video of him warning some out-of-state lawyers that Grassley might become the next judiciary committee chairman if they didn't contribute money to help elect Braley.

The remarks by Braley, a trial lawyer and congressman who is running in the high-stakes open race for retiring U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin's seat,quickly caught fire on Twitter and various national news sites, as politics watchers predicted that this incident will bruise a campaign that they've been confident would see victory in November. And Grassley's staff pulled no punches in responding this afternoon.

"If you help me win this race," Braley says in the video, posted online by a donor after the Jan. 23 fundraiser in Corpus Christi, Texas and released today by the conservative America Rising PAC, "you may have someone with your background, your experience, your voice, someone's who's been literally fighting tort reform for 30 years in a visible and public way on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Read more: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20140325/NEWS09/303250120/Video-captures-Bruce-Braley-criticizing-Chuck-Grassley-farmer-from-Iowa-

[Iliyah]

1. Braley will pull it out.

All the crapola coming out of gopers mouths especially the closer we get to elections . .

[Dawson Leery]

3. +1

[exboyfil]

5. A perception of elitism will hurt

a candidate in Iowa. He is not running against Grassley so he really should not be talking about him anyway. Most people including me think we already have too many lawyers in Washington. I support Braley, but this can be very damaging. He will have a tough fight - remember the western part of our state is crazy (how else can you explain sending King back to Washington multiple times).

[karynnj]

6. I suspect it is a terrible use of XXX will become the chair of XXXX if the Republicans take the

Senate. Here it is terrible because Grassley is likely not to be a scary prospect to Iowan voters. ( For some swing voters, saying Inhofe would head the Environmental committee would be a claim that could work.)

It works better when the state is your "color" and chairs from the other party could be scary.

[blackspade]

2. Dumbass

[groundloop]

4. My entire family are farmers who never went to law school...... that was a stupid thing to say

Last edited Tue Mar 25, 2014, 09:50 PM - Edit history (1)

I can't stand elitists no matter which side of the aisle they sit on.

[DallasNE]

7. I Don't See It As That Big Of A Deal

Grassley prides himself in being a farmer (as though owning a farm makes him a farmer). I also don't see how it is elitist to point out that Grassley, who does not have a law degree, would become Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Yes, I think it is something that would have better been left unsaid and there are clearly better ways of expressing that view but this should blow over with scant damage.

[rpannier]

8. Grassley is extremely popular in Iowa and there are lots of farmers

His comments sound dismissive toward farmers
The guys an idiot

[murielm99]

10. We used to farm.

We own farm property in Illinois and Iowa. My husband retired, and now we have someone else farming for us.

I guess we aren't farmers, either? A lifetime of owning the property and making those decisions is nothing?

I have a feeling that Grassley knows a lot about agriculture and the people who work the land. Most rural people who own farmland do, even if they are not involved in the day-to-day operations. I can't imagine anything more offensive than criticizing Grassley for something that people in my part of the world are proud of!

We used to be proud of sending ordinary citizens to Washington to make decisions for all of us. (Mr. Smith goes to Washington and all that). Grassley has been around long enough to know how to make decisions and to get legal advice if he needs it. Okay, he is a Republican. But I find the comments offensive, and your reactions to the comments even more so.

[DallasNE]

11. My Parents Were Iowa Farmers

So I grew up on a farm. But I am not nearly so thin skinned about someone far removed from farming having fun poked at him for claiming to be a farmer. An aunt and her family were farm workers for an owner that his primary business interest was a heavy construction company and Grassley is just like that construction company owner in that his primary interest is as an investor. I also saw how my aunt and her family were treated -- long hours, hard work and low wages, forcing them to find a new line of work as his body couldn't take that kind of pounding.

I also said that there was a better way to make the point he was trying to make. That you somehow find that offensive is your problem, not mine, so I guess we will have to say we agree to disagree.

[KinMd]

9. Insulting farmers in Iowa doesn't seem to be a real good strategy

[quadrature]

12. bigotry against non-lawyers...nt

[FrodosPet]

13. Isn't he just putting out a simple fact?

Farmers work with farms. Lawyers work with laws.

What is someone who does not have any experience in the legal profession doing on the judicial subcommittee? Shouldn't membership be limited to people educated and tested on their knowledge of the law?

Anyhow, here is the video for anyone interested: