Chuck Grassley has been playing at this kindly, avuncular, benevolent image for so long, and it's served him so well (he hasn't had a really competitive race since Reagan was in power), that it's worth reminding people he's been one of the most destructive forces in the U.S. Senate for decades.
As Mike Pearl writes, "that of a wacky-but-folksy uncle who happens to have a job messing with the levers of American power," that Grassley has been in the "vanguard role in reshaping the judicial branch to suit Donald Trump’s whims is, in my view, an act of arson that won’t be extinguished until long after he’s dead." Hopefully this arsonist will see his own mortality in the death of this vacuum cleaner and the ugly legacy he's left for the rest of us to clean up, if we ever can.
Source: New York Times
Beth, a trusty tan Hoover vacuum cleaner with a burgundy cloth dust bag that for years tended to the floors of the Iowa farmhouse of Senator Chuck Grassley, earning admirers in both parties, has died. She was believed to be 49.
The cause was apparently an electrical problem, said Mr. Grassley, a Republican who often admiringly posted images of his cleaning companion on social media around Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and family reunions.
“U willl see Beth no more,” Mr. Grassley, 92 and the oldest senator, wrote on social media on Saturday, attaching an image that showed Beth’s electrical cord connector scarred by sparks. “See black that’s from electrical sparks. It’s not safe to use anymore. GOOD BYE BETH.”
He declared it a “sad day at Grassley household” and recalled that Beth had worked “dependably” for 34 years at his home, and for 15 years before that at his mother-in-law’s house. He wrote of Beth, “U hv been a real workhorse,” adding, “I will miss u.”
Grassley's tweets.
It’s a sad day at Grassley household…. For my 34 years and 15 yrs before that at my mother in law’s home Beth has worked dependably….
— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) August 8, 2026
As an aside, Hoover didn't start making the Concept Two upright until 1983, so his memory is a bit off. And back in those days, appliances were meant to last, not just be disposable like so many things today.
