Senator Charles Grassley's Constituents Tell Him 'Do Your Job'

Senator Charles Grassley in Tipton, Iowa and February 17, 2016

Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) spent some time in his home state last week campaigning for his seventh term in the U.S. Senate.

Not surprisingly, his opinion in favor of leaving Justice Scalia's seat on the Supreme Court open until after the November election was questioned by some of the people at his events. Their comments did not sound like a ringing endorsement for Mr. Grassley or the rest of the GOP in Washington. 

Deborah VanderGaast:

"I think all of us can agree that we are so tired of the partisan politics, and this whole  thing with the Supreme Court nomination is partisan politics... If he makes a good nomination, then let's do the hearings and do it.  If it's a bad nomination fine--that's fair.  But doing it based on the fact that a Democratic president is making a nomination and we're hoping that we can get a Republican president in, so they can do a nomination, so that our party can maintain or control the balance in the Supreme Court, is not representing us.  It's representing your party.  And yes, I know the Democrats have done it in the past, and like I'll tell the 5-year-olds in my care, just because he did it first doesn't make it right."

what eye thynk:  It's "not representing us.  It's representing your party."  I have been arguing this phenomenon ever since I started this blog.  The Republican Party loves to say "the people have spoken" and to claim they are "the voice of the people," but when "the people" demonstrate support for an issue that is at odds with Republican Party mantra--any type of gun legislation for example--the Party chooses mantra over people every time.

Senator Grassley chairs the Senate's Judiciary Committee.  When Larry Hogden asked if Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could keep the nomination out of committee, Mr. Grassley admitted that no, he probably couldn't do that.  His committee could consider President Obama's nomination without McConnell's consent. 

Larry Hogden:

"That means that you have got even more power to control how this works out.  And I would hope that you would consider working with President Obama."

Mr. Grassley is 82 years old.  I'm surprised that opinion didn't kill the man.  

One final Republican constituent comment, and maybe my favorite--

Douglas Klein:

"I was wondering if you could enumerate which of the powers of the presidency the Constitution suspends during his final year in office."

If Senator Grassley was expecting wholehearted support for his no-Supreme-Court-appointment-under-this-president sentiment, he was sorely mistaken.

These comments shed a little sunshine on the shadow that has darkened the Republican Party ever since the country elected a black man to lead us.  It's not much, but looking at the Republican presidential primary race, I'll take what I can get, where I can find it.