Grassley: “press…doesn’t love America”

Long-time Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley campaigned last week in Minnesota for fellow Republicans.  KEYC in Mankato covered Grassley's remarks.  The sound quality isn't stellar, but here is what Grassley said in the video clip:  "People love America. Trouble is, we got a press that doesn't love America and America gets blamed for everything, but not by the American people – just by the apologists for our country and we don't need a president of a party who's going to be an apologist for America."

Beth Pellett Levine, a spokeswoman for Senator Grassley, says Grassley "trusts" and "has a very good relationship…with the Iowa media."  But Pellett Levine added that Grassley is "tired of the national media talking about how this country is such a bad place to live. It's the best place in the world to live and we don't need to apologize to the rest of the world for being Americans."

This is the same senator who has championed the cause of journalists in opening America's federal courtrooms to cameras and microphones.  In 2004, the Radio and Television News Directors Association gave Grassley its First Amendment Award for his long record of fighting for public access to government records and protection for so-called "whistleblowers" who go public with their concerns about government agencies, programs or contracts. 

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About O.Kay Henderson

O. Kay Henderson is the news director of Radio Iowa.