Hillary Clinton, campaigning in Wisconsin Monday, is hitting Chuck Grassley for his refusal as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman to hold hearings for President Obama's Supreme Court nominee. The campaign says this is part of a "sustained effort to rip into Senate Republicans for failing to hold a hearing for a qualified court nominee." The increasingly irascible Grassley peevishly returned fire on totally predictable ground.
"With all the troubles she's getting on e-mail, and the FBI's going to question her, I would imagine she'd want to change the tone of her campaign," Grassley (R-Iowa) told POLITICO in an interview here. He was apparently referring to a Los Angeles Times story Monday that indicated an FBI investigation of the private email server she used as secretary of state is entering a final phase that will include interviews with her advisers. […]
"I want to spend my time on doing things we're going to accomplish and you know ahead of time that this isn't going to be approved," Grassley said, referring to Garland being confirmation. "So spend your time on things that …we can do in a bipartisan way instead of in a partisan way."
So what "bipartisan" things have been taking up Grassley's time lately? He spent the better part of last year blocking almost all of President Obama's State Department nominees because, what else, Benghazi. So there's that. Not very bipartisan, however.
Seems like Grassley's spring recess isn't very bipartisan, either.
The senator, known for his tradition of visiting all 99 counties in Iowa every year—aka the "full Grassley"—is not spending so much time with his constituents now. At least not with any who might prove hostile. He's having 16 "private" meetings at "public schools, workplaces and service clubs." Those events are not being publicized, says a spokeswoman, because "it would be unfair to the people who wish to attend and who want to ask their senator a question if the event is taken over by protesters." So much for letting the people decide.