If Charles Grassley Is Cesar Chavez, Is Duke Cunningham Now William Proxmire?
Never – and I mean never – underestimate the willingness of Beltway journalists to fabricate power-worshipping, politician-glorifying storylines out of thin air. I say that after reading the Wall Street Journal’s piece today that describes a top U.S. Senator as “A plain-spoken populist [who] is a frequent critic of powerful entities, including big companies, that he views as putting regular people at a disadvantage.” Is it a profile of Jim Webb or Bernie Sanders or Sherrod Brown or Russ Feingold? Why, of course not – it’s an article about Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, who over his career has served as one of Corporate America’s most steadfast allies in beating back almost every major piece of legislation that proposed to challenge the economic status quo. Yes, the Charles Grassley who, as chairman of the Finance Committee, wrote the Medicare prescription drug bill that gave away billions of dollars to his pharmaceutical industry donors, the Charles Grassley who has championed
