We'll See Sen. Charles Grassley on the Dark Side of the Moon

It was Pink Floyd who famously sang…

And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too
I'll see you on the Senate Floor to debate tax legislation.

Words taken to heart by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), who, according to Capitol Hill's Roll Call, managed to frame a debate over the alternative minimum tax with references to Floyd as well "Dude Where's My Car? "…

Grassley… stood before a blown-up poster of the Pink Floyd album cover, which features a large prism against a celestial background with a beam of light passing through it…

The Iowan was trying somehow to say that the prism image was a metaphor for the compromise Republicans and Democrats should make on tax legislation…

Grassley was on a roll with the stoner allusions, including a glance at the 2000 movie "Dude, Where's My Car? " starring Iowa native Ashton Kutcher, which follows the travails of two potheads who can't remember where, um, they left their car.

"If you do see anyone else driving my car, please call the police, because someone has stolen my car," he said. "I'd like to refer to Ashton Kutcher here, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, saying 'dude, where's my car?'"

A staffer changed the sign behind Grassley to a scene from the flick.

Given that Grassley is, by his own description, "not of course a big fan of rock music… its lyrics and its culture," this sounds like the greatest congressional staff prank since one of Rep. Mark Foley's pages tricked the him into believing he was a professional online hooker.

And let's hope it's not the last time a politician uses state pride to humiliate himself on the Senate Floor. May we all live to see the day when Buffalo Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY) projects album Cannibal Corpse album covers to note the band's origin in his district, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) quotes lines from her home state's classic film Up and Cummers 46.

Tags: Chuck Grassley, Economy, Iowa, Senate, Taxes