Burlington Hawk Eye Spanks Grassley, Endorses Conlin

[Frustratedlady]

http://www.thehawkeye.com/story/U-S--Senate-endorsement-102810


Against Grassley, Roxanne Conlin is our choice by default.

Iowa has long been fortunate to have two high-profile U.S. senators who represent opposite ends of the political spectrum. It doesn't make the state schizophrenic; it demonstrates how Iowans pay attention to reasoned arguments and notice the nuances coming from each political camp. That Iowans can sort through the chaff and find the kernel of the truth is a tribute to their political astuteness.

--snip--

His opponent, Roxanne Conlin, has had a long and distinguished career as a lawyer in both the public and private sectors. Those with memories long enough will remember her as Terry Branstad's first gubernatorial opponent. She knows how to mix it up in the political trenches.

Conlin is quick to point out Grassley's days of criticizing the purchase of $500 hammers were a long, long time ago. And despite his protests, Grassley has become more of the Washington establishment than he cares to admit.

Twice in this decade, Grassley has been in the unique position to alter health care coverage for millions of Americans for the better and twice the senator blinked.

Grassley was a major player crafting President George W. Bush's flawed Medicare Prescription Plan D in 2002. It was the largest overhaul of Medicare in its 38-year history. Passage of the bill was a gift to the pharmaceutical industry as it prevented the government from bargaining for discounts on drugs. We pay full freight.

Bush promised Grassley it would cost no more than $400 billion over 10 years. As passed, the bill is projected to exceed that by 35 percent. Those aren't good numbers for someone who fancies himself as a fiscal conservative.

The senator had the opportunity to redeem himself in early 2009 when President Barack Obama gave Congress the opportunity to craft the health-care plan critics call Obamacare. Grassley and his fellow Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Max Backus, were charged with doing the heavy lifting setting the parameters of the bill.

Whether Grassley was serious about putting a bipartisan stamp on the legislation we'll never know. But after months of playing footsie, when he decided to walk away from it, he did so with a flourish. His "pull-the-plug-on-grandma" comment not only was wrong, but framed the subsequent debate and has epitomized the partisan rancor that divides the country. To think we were so close to a more unified country is heartbreaking

--snip--

Roxanne Conlin has not earned this endorsement so much as Grassley has turned his back on it.

[rurallib]

1. Also endorsed Loebsack, making it a clean sweep for Dave

I hope these both translate into votes.

Should Grassley be re-elected I think we can look forward to more and more strange statements

[emulatorloo]

2. He's in "Reasonable Mode" now. He'll switch back to Teabag mode after the election.

[bullwinkle428]

3. "Grassley protects whistle-blowers" my ass! Sadly, too many of

our electorate just eat that stuff up!

[WI_DEM]

4. She and Culver are going to do better than expected on Nov 2