1200 Times
George Bush as 1200 pieces of anatomy
He’s still a bigger one than all of them put together
Call It A Comeback
George Bush as 1200 pieces of anatomy
He’s still a bigger one than all of them put together
60 Minutes investigated the clamp down on NASA scientists including James Hansen, one of the foremost experts on global warming. Watch the video over at Think Progress and notice that Hansen has to have a minder present to talk to the press.
One of the foremost experts on the Earth’s Atmosphere has a minder from the PR department. In America.
is probably the GOP primary in IL-08. Salvi and McSweeney are firing wildly at each other with tons of cash. If Churchill had done some serious fundraising, he might have been able to thread the needle while these two battle it out–he still might have a chance with a low enough turnout since he has built in name recognition from being an office holder.
Cal is following the race closely and has a lot of the mail from the race.
Oberweis for the Republican Primary
Not for any serious reason—I just want good material and I don’t have to try hard when he’s around.
I’ll be writing columns and blog entries on the gubernatorial campaign for seven months or so, and, as Oberweis continues to show again and again, he’s better copy than any of his opponents.
It is like when I asked whether God could like me enough to really have the Illinois GOP bring in Alan Keyes. It ended up not taking divine intervention, but just a couple crazy State Senators.
Eric predicts an Oberweis victory and I’m not sure he’s wrong. Yesterday I would have said it was possible, but Judy had the upperhand–with a winter storm in spring on the way, the motivation of movement conservatives may be high enough to trump the less committed voters in the center of the spectrum.
I don’t know if AFSCME is phone banking for Judy and Joe, but she is going to need all the help she can get if it is as bad as weather as some of the forecasts suggest.
On a more serious note, I think it is important for the two parties to put up candidates who will hold the other party accountable. Oberweis isn’t that guy. Blagojevich won’t have to paint him as a nut, he is a nut and he’ll be batting practice for Blagojevich who is one of the better campaigners I’ve seen in Illinois. Not so hot at the governing thing, but a hell of a campaigner.
I actually think Feingold’s motion is being handled well by the Party–not worrying about the specific motion and discussing the substance of the President making up bizarre Constitutional Law is a great way to keep that discussion going.
That the Republicans are avoiding having hearings over a serious breach of the separation of powers is mind-boggling.
Kadner offers up one of the classic defenses of corrupt machine politics. It’s not a horrible point in one sense. Individuals do get an efficient mechanism to solve their problems.
But weren’t these argument addressed back in Boss?
Why does the Machine act like it does?
Despite all those safeguards and its lopsided superiority over local opposition, the Machine never fails to run scared. For this reason, or maybe out of habit, it never misses a chance to steal a certain number of votes and trample all over the voting laws
The Machine isn’t the Machine of Royko’s Boss. The Machine has lost a lot, if not most of its power, but the remnants still exist and they still play the same games, just not as successfully. While everyone wants to point to Madigan’s effectiveness as a sign of the Machine, Madigan long ago evolved and created an actual sophisticated political operation and brought in new interests in his own area. One should remember his Ward is relatively well integrated because he’s found ways to make the whites feel comfortable with integration on an economic level.
Others, like Lipinski just kept on playing the same game–planting candidates, burying the opposition, and tricking voters into not having a choice.
Sure, the old man ran paranoid and provided lots of services, but those services come at a price.
20% of the 3rd District is Latino—why aren’t the Lipinski’s at the forefront of issues affecting the Latino community? Is the office that responsive if it ignores a growing base of citizens and voters in the District by clinging to politics of the past? The District is far more progressive than in the past, is a social conservative really the best way to represent them?
Machines put hacks into public positions–so those who don’t know to complain to the right person are stuck in substandard public housing. Or they get a toxic site next to their house, or they get bureaucrats in the proper office too busy with those who went to the Congressman.
Even if you accept Lipinski’s people help people out individually, the patronage and the corruption saps money away from legitimate governmental functions.
And Dan Lipinski understands of all this and that’s why I don’t give him a pass. He’s a good scholar who has done some good political science. To do that, he has to understand democratic theory, and yet he went along with this fundamentally anti-democratic move. He might not seem evil, but his actions undermine the integrity our electoral system and the legitimacy of the political system as a whole. And that hurts us all.
Regular readers know that yard sign wars drive me batty as the primary purpose of yard signs in most campaigns appears to be to give volunteers something to do more than influence votes. There’s a mild impact of yard signs in giving a sense of momentum, but generally they aren’t that useful.
Even better, McQueary touches on the issue today. First, I can vouch for John, I talked to him well before he got in the race and was seeking out help and assistance from other relatively successful grass roots candidates so the notion he is a plant is incorrect–and he did put out the yard signs, but apparently Mike Joyce didn’t have anything else to do with his life because:
REAKING SULLIVAN NEWS- Kelly Campaign Guru Mike Joyce
Caught in the Act….AND THE ILLEGAL ACTIVITY CONTINUES …. thought you’d
all want to know the latest!Last night, John Sullivan’s campaign for Congress in
the 3rd Congressional District put up 1,000 yard signs
in the 19th Ward and Oak Lawn. This morning about 3
were left. The signs had been torn down over night.That, evidently, was not enough for Sullivan’?s
opponent John Kelly. This afternoon, Kelly Campaign
guru Mike Joyce, drove his official Cook County car
around the district to tear down more signs. He
stopped out in front of the Sullivan campaign
headquarters and his accomplice got out and ripped
down all of the Sullivan signs in front of the
Sullivan campaign office. Campaign Manager Andrew
Moore ran out of the office and stopped the thief with
signs in hand. In an act of courage, Mike Joyce drove
off in his county car and abandoned his young
accomplice. Later he called the kid on his cell phone
and told him to take the bus home.John Sullivan, who at the time of the sign theft was
receiving the endorsement of the Concerned Latino
Voters, said, “I can’t believe that my opponents’
campaign is more interested in campaign thuggery than
in talking about the important issues in this campaign
like the need for universal health care, a plan to get
of Iraq, safeguarding pensions and protecting civil
and human rights for all.”Sullivan went on to say “The county policy about use
of cars is clear. They are only to be used for
official county business, not political shenanigans.
That county business hopefully does not include theft,
vandalism and electioneering on a Sunday afternoon.”Sullivan received the endorsement of the Concerned
Latino Voters because of Congressman Dan Lipinski’s
vote in favor of HR 4437. (Lipinski is Sullivan’s
other opponent in the race.) That bad vote by Lipinski
served as the catalyst for the March 10 protest march
in Chicago. Sullivan is strongly committed to the
cause of justice and integral immigration reform that
respects the human and civil rights of ALL immigrants.
You could at least have the respect to go pick up the poor kid….
Jack Darin makes a case for several of the candidates the Illinois Sierra Club has endorsed
It’s a good bi-partisan list–make sure you know whether your legislature is on there.
RADIO — 60 SECONDS
ON TUESDAY, REPUBLICANS WILL VOTE FOR THE HEART AND SOUL OF OUR PARTY. THIS IS PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY, PRESIDENT OF EAGLE FORUM. MANY OF YOU KNOW ME FROM MY YEARS WORKING FOR CONSERVATIVE AND PRO-LIFE CANDIDATES. TODAY I AM ASKING YOU TO SUPPORT JIM OBERWEIS FOR GOVERNOR.
REPUBLICAN VOTERS NEED TO RALLY BEHIND ONE CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE. JIM OBERWEIS IS THAT CANDIDATE. HE WILL PROTECT THE SANCTITY OF INNOCENT LIFE, SUPPORT THE PRO-FAMILY MARRIAGE AMENDMENT, STAND UP FOR OUR 2ND AMENDMENT RIGHTS AND LEAD THE FIGHT HERE IN ILLINOIS AGAINST ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.
IF THESE ARE ISSUES THAT YOU CARE ABOUT, THEN IT IS IMPORTANT THAT JIM OBERWEIS GETS YOUR SUPPORT. JIM IS THE ONLY CANDIDATE WHO CAN BEAT LIBERAL JUDY TOPINKA IN THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY. DON’T BE FOOLED BY OTHER CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATES WHO SAY THEY CAN WIN. A VOTE FOR ANYONE OTHER THAN JIM OBERWEIS IS A VOTE FOR JUDY TOPINKA.
PLEASE VOTE FOR JIM OBERWEIS FOR GOVERNOR IN THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY ON TUESDAY, MARCH 21.
Hmmmm…so if I lose money at the Blackjack table, what does that mean God wants? Does it mean he wants Jennifer to kick my ass? Just a thought, but for those of you confused, the Uberweis suggested a game of chance to his earnest rivals Gidwitz and Brady which would decide who remained in the race.
Not satisfied with just playing a game of chance, Uberweis suggested he have 10 chances to one chance for each of them.
The best is this though:
Oberweis said that he called Brady and Gidwitz and asked them to “pull out and support me” but refused to confirm the details. He said he was “stunned” Brady would discuss a private conversation.
I have this image of him being put in a nice straightjacket saying, “I’m stunned that Bill Brady told everyone I am Jesus Christ and that I was going to strike down Judy with a lightning bolt. I mean, can you imagine sharing something told to you in confidence?”