TPM LiveWire

Sen. Grassley on Health Care: 'The Government Is A Predator'

Rachel Slajda | August 17, 2009, 11:17AM

Chuck Grassley, Death panels, Health care

Send to a friend!

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) dug in against a public option today, telling MSNBC this morning that "the government is a predator."

"When you have the government running something, the government is not a fair competitor," he said. "The government is a predator, not a competitor."

Grassley, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee and key Republican negotiator on the health care reform bill, said he wouldn't vote for a plan without widespread Republican support.

"I'm negotiating for Republicans and if I can't negotiate something that gets more than four Republicans, I'm not a good representative of my party," he said. "It isn't a good deal if i can't sell my product to more Republicans."

"It oughta be done ... in a consensus sort of way, where it passes with an overwhelming vote in the United States Senate," he added.

He also addressed the controversy over his comment that a government plan would "decide when to pull the plug on Grandma."

Grassley said the idea of him validating the "death panel" idea is a "distortion from the far left."

"It's not the issue we need to be talking about," he said.

Grassley added that he's not worried about his legacy.

"Forget about my political career. It could be over tomorrow or it could last another term," he said. "Good policy is good politics."

Join the Conversation!

9 comments

Recommend Recommend (0)

MAX TARDCORE

August 17, 2009 11:40 AM

Projection, much, Mr Grassley?

Reply | Flag Abuse

Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?

TheGreenMiles

August 17, 2009 12:06 PM

"It's not the issue we need to be talking about"? Buh-wha? He's the one who brought it up!

Oh, wait. It's the issue we need to be talking about when Grassley is trying to win points with the crazies. It's not the issue we need to be talking about when Grassley is trying to look like a non-crazy on TV.

Reply | Flag Abuse

Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?

draftedin68

August 17, 2009 12:13 PM

Chuck, you're the walking confirmation of The Ronnie Raygun/Dick-`n-Duhhbya mantra: "The Government's all screwed up and we're here to make sure of it."

Reply | Flag Abuse

Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?

DiogenesJr

August 17, 2009 12:45 PM

Grassley is the Government. Or is a Senator no longer an agent of the Legislative branch? This is pure schizophrenia, on his part.

I am sick of hearing people complaining about the government when the services the government provides on a daily basis are the glue that binds the whole of our society together and makes life, liberty and the pusuit of profit possible, to begin with. Grassley is worse than a fool--he is a socially irresponsible fool who speaks nonsense...

Reply | Flag Abuse

Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?

Rich in NJ

August 17, 2009 12:58 PM

Grassley needs a checkup from the neck up.

Reply | Flag Abuse

Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?

ogliberal

August 17, 2009 1:41 PM

I'm not shocked nor bothered by Grassley's statment re: the government being a predator. He's a conservative - that's what they think...or at least that's what they say. Of course, they say this while trying to preserve the parts of "big government" they like - eg, insane military spending, laws against gays serving in the military or getting the same benefits as hetero married couples, etc. Diogenes has a good point. If Grassley thinks government is a problem then perhaps we should shrink it in half. And if it's half the size, we should only need half as many people to run it. So we should then amend the Constitution to re-work the representative numbers in Congress. Maybe go from 2 senators/state to one. Would Grassley be willing to go up against Tom Harkin in a head-to-head contest for a single seat? I think we know the answer.

Re: death panels. So what he's saying is that the Dems are unfairly tying him to the "death panel" charge. That means he must think Goddess Sarah was wrong for calling them that and that Limbaugh was wrong for saying that Palin's arguments re: the "death panels" carried a lot of intellectual heft. Seems like Grassley should be apologizing to the leaders of his party soon, huh?

Reply | Flag Abuse

Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?

jckby

August 17, 2009 1:46 PM

If you would like to know why Grassley has become so anti-health care reform, check his contribution receipts from the big insurance carriers in Des Moines.

Reply | Flag Abuse

Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?

fkaZk0sm0

August 17, 2009 7:58 PM

oh! fun with metaphors!

my turn:

if the gov't is a predator, then grassley is a parasite who has lived for FIFTY long years getting FAT (multi-millionaire fat) in the bowels of that predator.

Reply | Flag Abuse

Are you sure this comment violates TPM's Terms of Service?