January 2008

New 10th Poll from Seals

ArchPundit January 11, 2008 4 Comments

Shows about the same race as in November with Seals steady at 58% and Footlik up from 6% to 10%.

This memorandum is based on a survey of 303 likely Democratic primary
voters conducted in the Illinois 10th CD on January 7 and 8, 2008.  This
survey, which was fully representative of a Democratic primary electorate,
has a margin of error of ±5.7 percentage points.

Doings Western Spring Endorsement for Pera

ArchPundit January 11, 2008 1 Comment

Quite nice

Pera, who is president of the Lyons Township High School District 204 Board, provides needed vision for the district. While all four candidates say they oppose the war in Iraq, Pera is prepared to use congressional funding authority to force a change. While all four pledge to get transportation dollars to the district, Pera acknowledges the inevitability of funding in such a busy transportation hub, and sees support of larger ideas such as the 2016 Olympics in Chicago as a way to spark new projects for the region.

He believes in securing the borders and requiring illegal immigrants to go through a process in order to stay, but recognizes reform can’t come by making 12 million people felons or keeping them as a permanent underclass.

Pera’s school governance background provides needed reality for federal mandates on education, notably the No Child Left Behind Act, which he rightly notes puts too many penalties on high-performing schools. The federal government helps funds local schools and should offer some standards, but Pera sees heavy-handed government intervention in local schools as a detriment to success.

Lipinski was elected in 2004, inheriting his father’s seat through political maneuvering. He suggests too much was expected of the Democratic majority this past year, going up against an incumbent president and commander-in-chief. But he acknowledges not enough was done by Democratic leadership to push the party’s agenda.

Mark Pera is the type of candidate who will spur party leadership, and eventually move to the top tier himself. He deserves the Democratic nomination on Feb. 5.

Just Kidding

ArchPundit January 11, 2008 No Comments

One of my daughters likes to ask to do something and when told no, say “Just Kidding!”  This is usually something like have a bowl of ice cream before dinner.  She isn’t kidding, of course, and for a five year old it’s kind of a cute habit.

Not so cute when it’s a guy running for Congress:

Less than a week later, Schock retracted, saying he “went too far.”

On Tuesday, he told the editorial board of the Peoria Journal Star, “When I made the statement, the tone in which I made it was more in jest.”

“Well, if the Chinese want to sit on their hands and allow Iran to have nuclear weapons, then perhaps we should sell nuclear weapons to Taiwan,” Schock told the board in explaining why he said what he did and the tone in which it was made. “That’s why reporters in Peoria, Jacksonville and Springfield, television, radio and print media, nobody thought two seconds about what I said. But when you read it in black and white and take it as a serious proposal, then obviously it puts it in a different perspective.”

In a phone interview with the Journal-Register’s political writer, Bernard Schoenburg, the day Schock retracted the statement, his campaign manager, Steve Shearer, said Schock’s proposal was “not just something that he pulled out of his pocket. … It’s a deeply thought-out policy.”

“It’s irresponsible, it’s reckless and it’s downright frightening to discuss nuclear warfare in jest,” said Matt Bisbee, spokesman for Jim McConoughey, one of Schock’s opponents to replace U.S. Rep Ray LaHood, R-Peoria, for the 18th Congressional District seat. “It’s unbelievable to me that you can discuss something with such severe consequences in a campaign for U.S. Congress in jest. It just doesn’t make any sense and screams irresponsibility.”

Schock went on to tell the editorial board that he penned the initial comments himself, he “overstated the case,” and that he doesn’t want to sell nuclear weapons to Taiwan.