Sen. Chuck Grassley to Senate Republicans: Use Props
By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers.
They form a smaller, less influential group, thanks to the elections. And when Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th president, the club of remaining Republican senators might find it hard to get a restaurant reservation or tee time, no less attention for their arguments on the Senate floor. So what's the minority to do?
Get jiggy, says folksy longtime Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa. "The Senate's a pretty staid place, and it needs to loosen up a little bit," he says. Grassley's idea: Use props, specifically cartoon and fairy tale characters and popular movies. "What it's all about," he says, "is to get people to pay attention. It's kind of shock therapy with a smile. It's an attempt to get people who otherwise wouldn't pay attention to what you are saying to listen."
He should know, as his sometimes goofy props have worked. Like the times he's arrived on the Senate floor with a poster from Groundhog Day. "I think the groundhog is pretty legitimate," he says. "How many times do we go over arguments over and over and over and over again?" he asks, suggesting that it's just like the movie that repeats the same day until star Bill Murray finally gets the girl. "And then there are the threats that you get from the other side," he explains, "so I've got the Big Bad Wolf blowing down the house." Sometimes it's the enlarged picture of a thermometer at his side showing the heat of threatened Democratic tax hikes.
Other favorites include Huckleberry Hound, Rip van Winkle, and Trigger, Roy Rogers's horse. He used Rip van Winkle during the presidential campaign, warning Americans that Obama's tax cut promises sounded like those made by Bill Clinton but deferred. "I wanted to use the speeches and graphics for people to wake up that maybe Obama is not going to keep his promise any more than Clinton," says Grassley.
Illustration by Joe Ciardiello for USN&WR
Tags: Republicans | Senate | Barack Obama | Charles Grassley | 2008 Senate election
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Reader Comments
Senate = pre-schoold ?!
People like Sen. Grassley should go and teach in pre-school, they seem to be good at it.
The way he shows his props makes me wonder that, either he thinks that Senate is a bunch of kids in need of illustrated tale telling or Senate is indeed a bunch of preschoolers who lack imagination... Though I need to note that real kids are much smarter, they do not lack an imagination...
Anyway, I see people are concerned about taxpayers money, how do you think Sen. Grassley paid for his Groundhog Day posters? I do not think his staff made those using his own money. It takes a bunch of people to make those props... What a waste...
And I do really hope that Senate is smarter than that...
How about a joke?
Since Grassley is from Iowa how about a joke... like ETHENOL from CORN!!! that's a joke perpetuated on the American people as an alternative to fossil fuels Or how about farm subsidies They are a joke. Billions of tax dollars go to rich farmers to produce crops nobody needs and nobody wants. Or how about "TAX CUTS" They are a joke. There is NO SUCH THING as TAX CUTS while running a deficit. It's called BORROWING You know from those people we live for "the children" you know the same ones we won't pay for health care or a decent education. Yes we have a service economy...LIP SERVICE!!!
If it gets the job done
any thing that breaks the log jam up in congress - the senate is a great thing! I don't care who thinks of it! Fix what needs to be fixed - less government in our private lives please. Regulate that which otherwise human greed would otherwise take advantage. Lastly and perhaps most importantly - if you must "bailout" with taxpayer money DO NOT GIVE THE MONEY TO THE SAME EXACT PEOPLE WHO MADE THE MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE. They should be the very first people to lose their jobs because they are in fact the cause of the mess. This is business 101 - don't let them mess it up again with the taxpayers (OUR) money. (shaking my head, wondering why...)
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