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U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley led news broadcasts today for controversial comments he made in an interview with eastern Iowa’s WMT radio last night.
Sen Charles Grassley listens to Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett testify on estate tax issues at the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Lauren Victoria Burke/wdcpix.com)
In the interview, Grassley lambasted executives of sinking insurance giant AIG for taking large bonuses after receiving taxpayer bailout money. He spoke admiringly of what he said was a Japanese custom of committing suicide after a significant public failure.
“I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they’d follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say ‘I’m sorry,’” Grassley said, “and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide. And in the case of the Japanese, they usually commit suicide before they make any apology.”
Grassley has since moderated his comments but refused to apologize, telling reporters today that he “obviously” did not actually mean for executives to kill themselves. But, in the meantime, he became a national folk hero for saying bluntly what a lot of Americans were probably thinking to themselves already.
After decades of political invincibility, Grassley has become accustomed to saying what he thinks. He is no stranger to controversy, and he most often makes headlines when he wants to draw attention to examples of government waste. Think “Porkulus,” a term coined by Rush Limbaugh to describe the Democrats’ economic stimulus package, which Grassley publicly embraced in a speech on the Senate floor. Before that, it was pornography at the National Science Foundation.
Grassley has even asked executives at failing companies to follow other historical precedent before. In November, he asked the CEOs of the nation’s three major automakers to follow the example set by former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca 30 years ago and accept a salary of $1.00 per year. That request was never taken seriously either; it was meant more for optics than anything else.
Grassley is a veritable quote machine. Google News counts 960 quotes from him in news stories over just the past month. In contrast, Sen. Max Baucus, Grassley’s Democratic counterpart on the powerful Senate Finance Committee, has only about half that many.
Last night’s comments sounded unplanned, but they certainly weren’t out of character.
Iowa’s senior senator has a folksy demeanor that can mask his political motives. If he sensed an opportunity to foment outrage over federal programs to bail out failing financial institutions, he may have intended to create the firestorm that engulfed him.
With his sky-high approval ratings, he will easily withstand it.
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