Grassley embarrasses Iowans

Sen. Chuck Grassley stepped into the biggest cow pie you’ll ever find on a farm by his response to a Huffington Post reporter’s query as to whether ICE agents can legally enter a person’s home or private business without a legitimate judicial warrant issued by a judge or magistrate.

Grassley replied: “Ask a constitutional lawyer. I’m a farmer.”

Any American with just a passing familiarity with the Constitution knows that no law enforcement officer has that authority, except in extreme circumstances, i.e., knowledge that a serious crime is or is about to be committed on the premises, such as a murder or grand larceny. Grassley’s reply made himself and, by association, us Iowans and, especially, all farmers the laughingstock of the country. To the nation, we’re all just a bunch of hicks. Think: Ma and Pa Kettle. It was an egregious slap in our faces and an explicit reinforcer of the old hayseed stereotype of farmers. Farm folk are fond of saying: “There are fools. And, then, there are damned fools.” And Grassley just made himself out to be one.

Steven Pokorny

Urbandale