Comments on: An Admission http://archpundit.com/blog/2006/10/30/an-admission-2/ Illinois, From Misery Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:40:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Carl Nyberg http://archpundit.com/blog/2006/10/30/an-admission-2/#comment-10887 Carl Nyberg Tue, 31 Oct 2006 22:07:34 +0000 http://69.89.31.63/~archpund/2006/10/30/an-admission-2/#comment-10887 Ray LaHood as a candidate? C'mon! It would have been dirt easy to tie LaHood to Bush and Hastert. And Bush and the national GOP are part of Topinka's problem. What the GOP needed was a self-financer without ties to Bush or George Ryan who could have cut into Blagojevich's base. The trouble with a Republican supporting a tax swap is that Blagojevich stood to gain as much support from anti-tax Republicans as he stood to lose from rah-rah school spending Dems. But Bush gets a good chunk of credit for Blagojevich winning. By polarizing the country as much as possible and engaging in scorched-earth politics, it made it hard for any Republican to score crossover votes. Ray LaHood as a candidate? C’mon! It would have been dirt easy to tie LaHood to Bush and Hastert. And Bush and the national GOP are part of Topinka’s problem.

What the GOP needed was a self-financer without ties to Bush or George Ryan who could have cut into Blagojevich’s base.

The trouble with a Republican supporting a tax swap is that Blagojevich stood to gain as much support from anti-tax Republicans as he stood to lose from rah-rah school spending Dems.

But Bush gets a good chunk of credit for Blagojevich winning. By polarizing the country as much as possible and engaging in scorched-earth politics, it made it hard for any Republican to score crossover votes.

]]> By: Sammy Esposito http://archpundit.com/blog/2006/10/30/an-admission-2/#comment-10886 Sammy Esposito Tue, 31 Oct 2006 20:44:20 +0000 http://69.89.31.63/~archpund/2006/10/30/an-admission-2/#comment-10886 I still think the lasting lesson of this campaign is that if you have millions to spend on months of negative advertising you can make Mother Theresa look like a whore, but there is some truth to what you're saying, Arch. JBT brassiness and quirkiness are endearing to voters -- and the press -- when she's running down the ballot, but when you're at the top of the ticket, you're held to a higher standard. I have a feeling Jesse White would be judged differently if he ran for governor or senator, too. Voters would pay more attention to nepotism in his office and suddenly the tumblers wouldn't seem so charming. I still think the lasting lesson of this campaign is that if you have millions to spend on months of negative advertising you can make Mother Theresa look like a whore, but there is some truth to what you’re saying, Arch.

JBT brassiness and quirkiness are endearing to voters — and the press — when she’s running down the ballot, but when you’re at the top of the ticket, you’re held to a higher standard. I have a feeling Jesse White would be judged differently if he ran for governor or senator, too. Voters would pay more attention to nepotism in his office and suddenly the tumblers wouldn’t seem so charming.

]]> By: DownLeft http://archpundit.com/blog/2006/10/30/an-admission-2/#comment-10885 DownLeft Tue, 31 Oct 2006 16:57:26 +0000 http://69.89.31.63/~archpund/2006/10/30/an-admission-2/#comment-10885 Well...I told you so. The Republican theme this year should have been cleaning up corruption but they picked a nominee who has twice been investigated for corruption in office and is too tied to the old system. I wrote nearly a year ago that Ray LaHood would have been the best Republican candidate because he is fairly moderate, could harness central and western Illinois swing voters, and he hasn't been part of the corrupt system of state politics. Does anyone think Rich Whitney would be polling at 20% in central Illinois if LaHood had been the nominee? Picking Topinka was a moronic move on the Republicans part, but I don't mind since I'm a Democrat. Well…I told you so. The Republican theme this year should have been cleaning up corruption but they picked a nominee who has twice been investigated for corruption in office and is too tied to the old system. I wrote nearly a year ago that Ray LaHood would have been the best Republican candidate because he is fairly moderate, could harness central and western Illinois swing voters, and he hasn’t been part of the corrupt system of state politics. Does anyone think Rich Whitney would be polling at 20% in central Illinois if LaHood had been the nominee? Picking Topinka was a moronic move on the Republicans part, but I don’t mind since I’m a Democrat.

]]> By: Ralph http://archpundit.com/blog/2006/10/30/an-admission-2/#comment-10884 Ralph Tue, 31 Oct 2006 13:25:15 +0000 http://69.89.31.63/~archpund/2006/10/30/an-admission-2/#comment-10884 The fact is that Rod isn't as bad as you thought, and Judy isn't as good as you thought. Have there been stumbles along the way? Sure. But no one could be convinced that Judy was the solution to that. In fact, Blago is FAR better than Thompson, Edgar and Ryan, no doubt about it. The Illinois GOP is a shambles right now, while the Democrats are more organized than ever. One more election and we'll see what the 2012 map looks like. The GOP better hope they have Blago as a whipping boy next time and they can get their act together. Because if Lisa draws the map their doomed you might as well change the license plates to the Land of Douglass. The fact is that Rod isn’t as bad as you thought, and Judy isn’t as good as you thought. Have there been stumbles along the way? Sure. But no one could be convinced that Judy was the solution to that. In fact, Blago is FAR better than Thompson, Edgar and Ryan, no doubt about it. The Illinois GOP is a shambles right now, while the Democrats are more organized than ever. One more election and we’ll see what the 2012 map looks like. The GOP better hope they have Blago as a whipping boy next time and they can get their act together. Because if Lisa draws the map their doomed you might as well change the license plates to the Land of Douglass.

]]> By: Nicholas Beaudrot http://archpundit.com/blog/2006/10/30/an-admission-2/#comment-10883 Nicholas Beaudrot Tue, 31 Oct 2006 07:32:43 +0000 http://69.89.31.63/~archpund/2006/10/30/an-admission-2/#comment-10883 I think Rod gets some credit for his May campaign, where he did a good job of acknowledging the scandal just a little bit, saying "we've been through some tough times", rather than going into a state of denial. I think Rod gets some credit for his May campaign, where he did a good job of acknowledging the scandal just a little bit, saying “we’ve been through some tough times”, rather than going into a state of denial.

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