As in flapping gums. The Politico asks if Democrats are losing in August. Their article is concentrating on a Republican, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, but there is real fear revealed here.
After an intimate White House lunch last week, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said he was confident President Barack Obama was working toward a truly bipartisan health care reform bill.
But then he went home to Iowa, and the message changed. In a series of tough town halls, he fueled fears of death panels and benefits for illegal immigrants. He suggested the White House would push a purely partisan bill. And he proclaimed himself an outsider in health care negotiations.
“I’m not walking away from the table; I’m being pushed away from the table,” Grassley said in Afton, Iowa, warning that Democrats might go it alone on health care.
Grassley’s Iowa road show shows just why Democrats feared this August recess.
If the Democrats lose Grassley, the top Republican negotiator on the Senate Finance Committee, they very likely lose any hope of a bipartisan bill. Even worse, if Grassley bails, then conservative Democrats like Ben Nelson may follow.
While Grassley has always criticized the process in the Senate, his fresh criticisms, before the home state crowd, are magnified as contentious town hall scenes are repeated across the country. And if the August unrest has spooked a safe, respected senior senator like Grassley, it can’t be good sign for the dozens of much more vulnerable moderates from both parties, who worry that the wrong vote on health care could cost them the job next year.
If Grassley is worried – and he obviously is – then Democrats holding office in red states or districts should be terrified. This is why the White House and Nancy Pelosi have pulled out the stops, first demonizing, denigrating and diminishing protests, then today trying to claim they don’t actually exist.
But they do exist, they will ensure that a yes vote on ObamaCare will mean a rapid retirement for an awful lot of Democrats. Grassley has served five terms in the Senate, enjoys pretty solid support in Iowa and he is treading very, very lightly – that says a lot about how fragile Democrats are on this one.
Keep up the pressure, folks. We have to stop this – really stop this – cold. Do not give them an ounce of relief over this. Make it stop. Make sure Democrats – and Republicans – understand that they can either listen to their voters or they can toe the line for their masters in Washington.
But only one choice means a future in politics. And it is not the Obama/Pelosi way.
