Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Democratic Senate candidate Roxanne Conlin, who is vying to unseat U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, is reminding Iowans that Thursday was the one-year anniversary of Grassley’s infamous “pull the plug on grandma” pronouncement. The line, which has been repeatedly criticized, has often been cited by Conlin as her reason for entering the race.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, speaks to a town hall crowd in Winterset Aug. 12, 2009. (file photo).
Conlin’s latest attempt to label Grassley an extremist comes two days after a Rasmussen Reports poll found 56 percent of voters consider Grassley’s views as mainstream. Only 29 percent think they are extreme. For Conlin, 34 percent said her views are in the mainstream while 42 percent feel they are extreme.
“This is just one of many incidents where Iowa’s senior Senator has proven that he agrees with the extremists in his party who will tell any lie and make up any distortion in order to prevent the passage of progressive and needed legislation,” said Paulee Lipsman, Conlin’s communications director.
Back during the August recess of 2009, Grassley was addressing a question about illegal immigrants having access to health care under proposed reform legislation. His remarks eventually turned to a portion of the bill that would have required Medicare to pay for end-of-life counseling sessions if they were requested. Grassley told the crowd they have “every right to fear” the provision.
“There’s some fear because in the House bill there is counseling for end of life. From that standpoint, you have every right to fear,” Grassley said at the time. “You shouldn’t have counseling at the end of life, you should have it 20 years before you’re going to die. You ought to plan these things out. I don’t have any problem with things like living wills, but they ought to be done within the family. We should not have a government program that determines you’re going to pull the plug on grandma.”
Grassley went on to repeat the euthanasia assertion later that same day in Panora. For the next few months, Grassley was dogged by criticism over spreading the debunked conspiracy theory, which eventually was named “Lie of the Year” by the Pulitzer Prize winning staff of PolitiFact.
By the end of the year, Grassley was blaming media reports for his association with the death panels meme. In a letter to a constituent forwarded to The Iowa Independent, Grassley said some “commentators” took his comments and twisted them as saying that health care reform would establish death panels.
“I said no such thing,” Grassley wrote. “As I said then, putting end-of-life consultations alongside cost containment and government-run health care causes legitimate concern.”
Follow Jason Hancock on Twitter
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter