ArchPundit

AND FIRE!

Thank God for Jack Roeser I couldn’t make this stuff up.

We have just a few questions:

If Bill Brady isn?t in cahoots with Judy Baar Topinka and staying in the race just to help her win by splitting the conservative vote ? then why has Brady so frequently attacked only Jim Oberweis? (It?s simply wrong to say it?s because Topinka gets no conservative votes. Polls prove that Topinka gets lots of conservatives ? the uninformed ones ? therefore all the more reason that an honest conservative would take Topinka to task first.)

I’m one of the few who don’t see a bright future for Bill Brady. Yeah, he’s an improvement over Gordon Ropp, but that’s damning at feint praise at best. Gordon was a nice enough fellow, but his biggest concern in the world was the state soil. That said, Brady isn’t in “cahoots” with anyone, but his own ambition–and he might just prove me wrong.

With something like 12 million people in Illinois, Jim Edgar and Bob Kjellander, along with all the other surviving dinosaurs lucky enough not to be wearing orange jumpsuits ? decided to get behind the one person with less integrity than Rod Blagojevich.

Never mind that Edgar handed Roeser his ass in a primary and remains one of the most popular statewide officials to have held office, he’s evil because he’s not as doctrinaire as Jack would like.

Before Jack continues his whinefest, he might notice that while Kjellander might be a schmuck, Jack is the one who seems to think he’s above the law and continues to not comply with fines levied by the State Board of Elections.

It’s really, really tough to break campaign finance laws in Illinois. The only way to do it is to not disclose your donations properly and Jack was talented enough to find a way to do that, but feels he can lecture the rest of the state on ethics.

Most bizarrely, the man has me defending Bill Brady, a guy who has his most notable achievement as starting a Bible Study debate between his supporters and Sam Ewing’s supporters in the 15th District’s Republican primary in 2000 resulting hysterically in the election of Tim Johnson. The Pantagraph has a long history of hysterical letters to the editor, but that series is one of the best I’ve seen.

What’s really beautiful though, is that if Oberweis somehow were able to pull off a win, he’s now angered just about every Republican who won’t vote for him making an already easy task of beating him, even easier.

It’s a beautiful piece of work to watch–from a distance. Sort of like a Supernova.

John Cox joins the fray.

Chris is all upset about a crimp in his style, but despite those problems, he points to Kristen McQueary’s column that brings up Renee Kosel’s challenger, Chris MacNeil. MacNeils’ first site was MacNeilforCongress.com–oddly out of place for a state lege race, but more importantly had a really creepy picture of Pat O’Malley.

The funniest line from the current set of issues is:

Issue #3: A pro-Life / pro-Family agenda.

Chris is unafraid to proclaim opinions on issues of abortion, embryonic stem cell research, expansion of gambling, pornography, and other areas that directly affect Illinois families.

“Unafraid to proclaim opinions”

We know the answers given his allies, but wouldn’t someone who is unafraid, oh, take a position on his issues page related to these subjects?

Previous entry on the site.

Title stolen from someone, but I can’t remember who

Inspired by a comment on Capitol Fax

Since I created NoLaHood.com in late January, we have received a tremendous outpouring of support from conservatives throughout Illinois and received several offers for donations and over a thousand hits in under two weeks time. I?m very pleased to report the interest in the site has far exceeded my expectations. There has been much speculation about my motivations and background from Internet bloggers like yourself so I?d like to clear a few things up.

First off, I suppose it’s true as site creator, I am ?involved from Evergreen Park? which is in Illinois but not in the 18th district. I find it somewhat ironic since the blogger reporting this does not live anywhere in Illinois (see Eric Zorn column) but does an Internet blog exclusively focusing on Illinois politics.

Since LaHood is interested in ?gettting his name out? in northern Illinois and the rest of the state for a possible gubernatorial campaign, I think it is appropriate to create a site so that all Illinoisans can know what LaHood really stands for. I also think it?s appropriate to discuss LaHood?s background in the 18th since he felt free to run around proclaiming that ?Phil Crane hasn?t worked his district?, though I am quite certain LaHood has never lived in Crane?s district for one day in his life. Perhaps he visited and met some folks upset with Crane, and likewise I have met many 18th district Republicans who are disgusted with LaHood.

Regarding your comments that ?Peter Fitzgerald had horrible poll numbers and he didn’t like being Senator?, I would love to see any ?poll? where Fitzgerald was trailing Obama in a hypothetical matchup, let alone a poll that would show him losing to Obama by 40 percentage points. If no such poll exists, I can state pretty confidentially that LaHood erred in proclaiming we could ?do better? by lynching the incumbent.

Likewise, it may be true that Crane didn?t ?work his district enough?, but I an assure you that here in ?Evergreen Park?, our Congressman, Representative Bobby L. Rush, doesn?t bother to ?work? ANY part of his district except perhaps the Gresham-Englewood area and plenty of Democrats wish they could get rid of him in private. The difference is that Rush is not vulnerable in the general election because guys like Barack Obama don?t stab their incumbent in the back during the general election and provide ammo for the Republicans.

The most perplexing part of your blog is the section that argues 4 out of 5 alternatives to LaHood on my site are somehow ?wet dreams of Democrats and Blagojevich? Apparently you are stating that these candidates are less ?electable? than LaHood because they happen to be conservative, even though many of them have won over areas in the heart of Democrats, Inc. turf of Cook County, whereas LaHood has only proven he?s ?electable? in an ultra-safe Republican district.

Patrick O’Malley thrice won over a heart of Cook County district that is over 60% Democrat ? and is represented by the likes of Bobby Rush, Ed Maloney, Jerry “the iceman” Butler, etc. His district is entirely in Cook — filled with ?minorities? and ?blue collar union workers? and even includes a few parts of the city of Chicago.

Birkett ran neck-and-neck against the Madigan name in the worst GOP year ever and managed to carry over 43% of the vote in ultra-Democrat turf like Chicago’s 19th ward, and, as my site notes, was the STRONGEST non-incumbent Republican candidate on the statewide slate in 2002.

Shimkus, like LaHood, is ?little known outside of his downstate district?, but unlike LaHood, he represents a combined district that was once held by Dick Durbin, David Phelps, and Glenn Poshard.

It?s true that ?John Kerry won the state by 10 points?. I fail to see how a presidential campaign relates to a gubernatorial campaign. I could use the same faulty logic to point out Republicans won 7 out of the last 8 gubernatorial races, therefore any Republican is virtually guaranteed victory. On the national level, the GOP has faired poorly in the Midwest (including Wisconsin, Michigan, etc.) in recent presidential elections, probably they continue to run candidates from ?safe? Republican regions in the south and western U.S. The ?Median Voter Theorem? was ignored when the ?right-wing? Ronald Reagan, a native-born resident of Illinois, was the party?s nominee in 1980 and 1984. The result of this ?error? was the Republicans won all but three counties in this state and carried Illinois by double-digit margins.

In any case, thank you for your interest in NoLaHood.com. I hope my email cleared up some of the misapprehensions and inaccuracies you have about the site.

Yours truly,

Bill M. Leubscher
Creator, NOLaHood.com

==========================

Keep it up. Interparty warfare by the Republicans is great from my perspective. And trust me, I’d love for Pat 0′Malley, Birkett and Shimkus to be the face of the Illinois Circular Firing Squad Team. Keep up the good work.

BTW, the problem with the notion of the site supporting or opposing LaHood is it’s effort to portray itself as a grassroots organization based in his District. Feel free to meddle down there. It only helps the Dems.

Rhodes Scholars are behind the vast environmentalist conspiracy

The Leader, ever factually challenged, has screwed up again and this time at the expense of Modern Vertebrate.

He can join in the long waiting line of corrections. Of course, I’m on Day 241 of the Leader Correction Watch Concerning Jill Stanek’s column that claimed the Jack Ryan divorce case was sealed since the divorce was finalized. And Day 242 of the Leader Lawsuit Watch as to whether they’ll sue to unseal John Kerry’s unsealed divorce files.

When you are challenging an incumbent in your own party, errr…you might find a motivating factor other than someone who was probably killed by friendly fire.

You might also just use one web address appropriate to the office you are running for instead of a bunch that make it look like you’ll run for anything.

Brought to you by the fine people of the

*Renew Illinois
*The Family Taxpayer’s Network
*The Illinois Center Right Coalition
*Republican Young Professionals of Illinois

Property Rights are threatened so attend meetings.

Because, you know, meetings help a lot.

From comments, more on the Proft/Pascoe brain trust in naming themselves after a character on House of Cards (which I have not seen)

Choosing the name “Urquhart” is interesting. In the first of the series, “House of Cards,” Francis Urquhart ends up murdering a young journalist, Mattie Storin, with whom he had an affair. Throughout the series, Urquhart routinely blackmails and frames his political enemies, and arranges murders of his opponents.

Urquhart’s murderous political games continue in “To Play the King” and the “Final Cut.” In none of the installments does Urquhart come close to being human, let alone someone to emulate.

Urquhart meets his end when his wife arranges to have him assassinated in order to avoid public revelation of his murderous past.

Anyone who has watched the series — and it is a great series — must wonder why a communications professional would want to be associated with Francis Urquhart — or FU as his confidants call him.

On the good side, no one appears smart enough in real life to successfully murder someone and get away with it.

You know except for the talent and judgment thing.

Leave it to a bunch of brainiacs to launch a company with a name like Urquhart Media, pronounced “Err-kit.”

Rhymes with … nothing.

The behind-the-scenes team of Dan Proft, Brian Timpone, Jeff Davis and Bill Pascoe formed a public affairs and consulting company they hope to grow into a David Axelrod-esque firm for Republicans. One of their specialties will be crisis communication, and they’ve certainly got experience there.

Two words: Alan Keyes.

Proft and Pascoe met while steering ? or shall I say rearing ? the self-destructive Keyes campaign.

The company is named after character Francis Urquhart, the loathsome but likable character in an early 1990s BBC series “House of Cards.”

“He’s a classic political figure,” Proft said.

No word if Axelrod has filed a defamation suit. I hear Proft likes to sue people. How is that John Kerry suit going by the way?

Pascoe is the king of bad press releases and oppo research that was nearly as bizarre as Keyes himself.

One of my favorites was this

“Alan Keyes does not need a prime time slot at the Republican National Convention to get his message across,” Pascoe said. “Barack Obama needed to be pumped up by Democrats in Illinois and nationally because he is just so much hot air.”

To which State Democrats just have to respond with

SCOREBOARD!

Pascoe seems to be distancing himself from Keyes scorched earth strategy, but the problem is that is Pascoe’s strategy too.

Actually, the Illinois Democrats ought to fund them. Both Pascoe and Proft believe going to the right to win a primary is the way go and it’s working great so far in both New Jersey, where Pascoe managed Bret Schundler and worked with Doug Forrester and in Illinois where Proft has suggested that Senate Minotity Leader Frank Watson isn’t conservative enough in the Illinois Leader.

The right wing threatened it in the Leader, Petey LaBarbera takes it a step further by ‘outing’ Dan Rutherford. Is Dan gay? Well, we don’t know though rumors have long held that he is. But don’t let that unconfirmed rumor stop you from using him in your attack on gays.

In November, I wrote Mr. Rutherford asking him to answer the widely assumed questions surrounding his sexuality, and he never responded. Here is the text of my e-mail letter to him, dated 11-18:

Dear Sen. Rutherford: There is an awful lot of speculation…

…about you being a homosexual. In the interest of full disclosure, I’d like to know if it’s true, so that your constituents and others in Illinois can be better informed about you.

I believe in this day and age, this issue should not be something that is relegated to secret discussions and gossip. Indeed, the other day I had a conversation with Mike Rogers, a homosexual activist in Washington, D.C., who is in the business of “outing” any perceived homosexuals who are NOT sufficiently supporting the “gay rights” agenda (e.g., opposing “gay marriage”). Interestingly, he and his friends seek to expose only those “homosexuals” who are voting or acting publicly IN OPPOSITION to “gay rights.” This strikes me as tantamount to political blackmail, but they are forcing the issue: “homosexual” legislators now know that they could be exposed if they speak out against homosexual agenda goals. Clearly, it is not fair to a legislator’s constituents if, unbeknownst to them, he or she could be subjected to such political pressures from liberal militants.

Even I disagree with the other side’s tactics, it seems that due to an array of factors the days of “closeted” homosexuality are coming to a close. Perhaps this is best given that so many on the “gay” side seem intent on making this such a public matter.

Some time ago, Dem operatives claimed they had footage of Dan coming out of a gay bar. Now, even if such footage existed, it doesn’t make him gay. I suggested that such a move to out him was against the values of the Democratic Party. At the time, I never expected idiots like LaBarbera to pull this kind of crap, but here you go.

Dan Rutherford is smart, ambitious and clean in terms of corruption. He’s more conservative on issues like choice than I prefer, but he’s a decent guy. He deserves every consideration for statewide office. Who he loves is absolutely irrelevant to any of those jobs.

As a side note, I have put off discussing this for some time because I think it’s irrelevant to Rutherford’s public career. Given this move by LaBarbera it seems the dam has been broken and I think the focus should stay squarely on the jackass who brought it up, not on a decent office holder.

Apparently, environmentalists practice fear and I’ll demonstrate it by pointing out bad acts by

1) Local school administrators
2) Local Police
3) TSA
4) Border Patrol
5) FBI

But nothing about environmentalists.

Just say no to the stream of consciousness column.

Okay, look at it and notice that as you move your head, his eyes seem to follow you

Go to Dave Syverson, Steve Rauschenberger and Don Manzullo for unleashing this idiot on the good people of Illinois

In the article there is some hysterical background:

State Rep. Angelo “Skip” Saviano was mad.

His face red and his nerves frayed, Saviano glared incredulously at the political creme de la creme of the Illinois Republican Party arrayed around the horseshoe-shaped table in the Union League Club, Chicago’s posh and historic rendezvous for the rich and powerful.

The Illinois Republican State Central Committee once seemed as well suited to the Union League as the painting by Monet that accents the club’s wood and leather sitting rooms.

On Aug. 4, though, Saviano and the other leaders of the Illinois Republican Party seemed out of place in the rarefied atmosphere of a club dedicated to ideals like honesty and efficiency in government. The Republicans were engaged in a political scavenger hunt, desperately searching for someone to run for the U.S. Senate after their primary winner, Jack Ryan, dropped out of the race after embarrassing details from his divorce file became public.

“We need a name, we need a name,” state Sen. Dave Syverson, a Rockford conservative and the state GOP treasurer, chanted to his colleagues, urging them to select Alan Keyes, the controversial Maryland talk show host, to embark on the party’s “Mission Impossible”–running for the U.S. Senate against Democrat Barack Obama, who was seen as unbeatable.

But Saviano, an Elmwood Park lawmaker and one of the party’s moderates, would have none of it.

“If you had only recruited better candidates, you wouldn’t need any help,” Saviano yelled as he rose to his feet and leaned across the table. “It’s too late to worry,” he snapped as he stalked from the room.

Saviano gave Syverson the Daniels Treatment. When Daniels was the House Leader he wasn’t terribly popular with the troops, but they feared him because he had the cash. Skip didn’t because his support is pretty strong and localized and whenever Daniels would go to far, Skip would scream at him in front of the House Caucus and Daniels did what? Stood there like a doofus.

Sort of like Syverson.

The weird part of the story is that conservative candidates weren’t hurt by Keyes much–but helped by Bush. Keyes alienated a record number of Illinois voters in both raw numbers and percentages, but the grassroots conservative support for the President seems to have stopped the Illinois GOP from imploding. With the broad effort to turn out votes decentralized to conservative evangelicals, any drop off that might have happened with that loon running around the state was staved off.

But don’t worry, Keyes decided to stay so there will be plenty of time for him to screw up more elections.

Interested in being Governor, Alan?