My Free Advice to Terry Branstad

My good friend Kathie Obradovich recently wrote an article in which she calls on Terry Branstad to apologize for comments he made about blind people. Her article was spawned by the Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Mike Kiernan’s press release asking Branstad to apologize. In a private meeting a week ago, Branstad said that the commission of the blind didn’t get cut back in the day because legislators couldn’t deal with the tap-tap-tap of the white canes.

As you know I can at times be a little insensitive, but I find the remarks to be kinda funny. Is what Branstad said really offensive to blind people? Well guess what, the spokesperson for the commission of the blind that it was a complement to their organization’s effectiveness. He did not demand an apology at all.

Still, Branstad has had a tough week. Since its Friday and I’m in a giving mood, I thought I’d help the guy out. You can always count on me to defend you when Mike Kiernan teams up the Des Moines Register. I don’t care who you are, if they gang up on you give me a call or stop by the World Headquarters.

So here is how I would handle the calls to apologize for the remarks.

I’ll say I’m sorry to the blind folks that I didn’t offend when…

1. Mike Kiernan and the Iowa Democratic Party give back or donate to charity the $5000 they took from Hassan Nemazee. Nemazee was indicted by a grand jury for defrauding Citigroup, HBSC Holdings and Bank of America of $292 million.

2. Mike Kiernan and the Iowa Democratic Party give back or donate to charity the $11,250 ($10k to their state account, $1,150 to their federal account) in contributions from Phyllis and Marla Stevens.

3. Mike Kiernan and the Iowa Democratic Party actually punish State Senator Jack Hatch for using the word Ni@@er on the floor of the Iowa House of Representatives.

4. Mike Kiernan and the Iowa Democratic Party actually punish State Representative Kerry Burt for drinking and driving and defrauding the state of thousands of dollars when he lied to get cheap tuition at Price Laboratory School in Waterloo.

Personally, I find it a little hypocritical for Kathie to demand an apology from Branstad when she hasn’t demanded an apology from any Democrat on any of the above scandals mentioned above.