Letter from Vets for Freedom

From: Joel A. Arends
National Field Director
Vets for Freedom
www.vetsforfreedom.org

Help us support Senator Grassley by attending a town hall meeting that he is holding in Cherokee on August 23 from 9:30 to 10:30 at the Cherokee County Courthouse:
Below is what Moveon.org is doing to him. Let's show the Senator that we have hometown heroes who support our troops and the mission by showing up and thanking the Senator for his voting record. Let's not allow out of state liberal interest groups to one up us this most important of issues!

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) might differ with the anti-war activists who have been shadowing him as he criss-crosses Iowa over the August recess, but that didn't stop him from breaking bread with them, or at least a few hamburger buns.
Part of the job of field workers for the anti-war campaign "Iraq Summer" is to tail Members of Congress who support the war, showing up at public appearances to record them and ask questions about their pro-war stance. Sponsored by a coalition called Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, the campaign is aimed at "turning up the heat" on Members who have opposed a timetable for troop withdrawal.
Two workers in Iowa were doing just that on Aug. 7, bird-dogging Grassley as he worked his way across the state, hitting six (whew!) town hall meetings in one day. About three meetings into the day, the Senator had become accustomed to seeing Liam Gallagher and John Slaight shadowing him around. According to Jeremy Funk, spokesman for Americans United for Change, one of the groups in the coalition, the amiable Senator finally turned to the two fellows during a stop in Leon, Iowa, and asked if they planned on trailing him to the last stop of the day, a town hall in Mount Ayr.
When they answered in the affirmative, Grassley surprised the two by suggesting not that they leave him alone, but that they all go out for burgers afterward, according to Funk. Grassley made good on his word, and the unlikely party adjourned to Sue's Roadside Cafe in Mount Ayr, where they dived into the joint's famous (mmkay) burgers and had a cordial, down-home conversation about Iraq,Funk said.
The only-in-Iowa moment amazed Gallagher and Slaight, and according to Funk, it showed they were able to get their message across civilly.
"I think he figured that ... if you can't beat 'em, join 'em... for burgers.