Political Opinion

It is hard to let go, to release one's grasp on power and privilege. Sometimes a top athlete holds on for additional seasons of declining performance; fans watch sadly--and with some embarrassment--for the player who did not leave with their game intact.

The same holds true for political leaders.

Senator Chuck GrassleySenator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) served the nation and his state well in a career of public service: as an Iowa state legislator (1958-1974), three terms in the House, and five terms in the Senate. As ranking minority member of the Senate's Finance Committee, even now he holds a pivotal position in determining U.S. law.

His service and principled actions earned my respect. But, his unprincipled remarks have lost that respect.

This summer he told an Iowa senior citizen that if that man wanted health care equivalent to the health care Grassley enjoyed then he should " go work for the federal government." Turns out Grassley is almost fully funded by the people who would like our health care system to stay just the way it is now.

Sorry, it gets worse:

This week Grassley attacked the public option aspect of the health care bill, calling it "socialism." Then he went on to defend his own participation in government farm subsidy programs. His words speak for themselves as he admits that as a congressman he has "lived off the public tit all these years."

Full Text:

"For the first 16 years I made $3,000 every other year as a state legislator. Now do you expect me to live on $3,000 every other year? No I was a factory worker for 10 years and I was a farmer for that period of time and I farm with my son now. So if you're trying to make a case that I've lived off the public tit all these years, I think you're saying correctly in the years I've been in the Congress but not the years before I came to Congress ." (Watch it above.)

He should have quit while his career was untarnished. Please, Senator Grassley, it's time to step down.