Call It A Comeback
While most of his cowboy antics of George drive me crazy, the appropriate response to an offer of a truce from bin Laden is
I got your truce right here buddy
He shouldn’t mistake opposition to Iraq as any sign that the vast majority of Americans don’t think him being dead would be a really good thing.
Oh, yeah, dead or alive…..
And the conventional wisdom is wrong. I’ve spent more than a few hours teeing off on the guy, but he’s a good campaigner and while his numbers are in the toilet, he found the institution with lower approval ratings headed by a Republican President with lower approval in Illinois than Rod has.
Running against Bush and the Republican Congress papers over problems within the party and puts Eisendrath in an uncomfortable position of responding with “I agree, but” (to his credit Eisendrath seems to have already moved around that trap with soundbites about how G-Rod’s criticisms of Bush are Eisendrath’s criticisms of Blagojevich).
Sure, it’s another bogeyman, but bogeymen work when their polling is below his own. Everyone decries negative campaigning, but people keep using it simply because it works.
It also sets up an uncomfortable position for a moderate Republican who wants to hold on to the Republican base that dearly loves Bush, but also wants to attract moderate swing voters who, in Illinois, increasingly dislike Bush. Any sort of attack on All Kids, environmental regulation, child care (an underreported portion of his speech) or the like gets to have the reply be, just like Bush and the Republican Congress…
For the Republican conservatives in Oberweis and Brady, they already buy into the ideology of the Republican Congress so the set-up there is obvious.
It’s good politics and if I were advising him, I’d tell him to do it. He’s never going to have an overwhelming approval rating between now and the election so setting himself up as the better alternative may well be enough. It will be if the Republican nominee is Oberweis, or by miracle Brady. Against Judy, it’ll be the most effective attack on her for a general election audience.
It does give Eisendrath the opening to argue he is both honest and stands for those things, but Eisendrath is pretty much a wild card at this point. Until he shows his hand concerning the money he’ll spend and how well he can quickly connect with voters in under two months, that is moot.
If Republicans think Jake’s a problem, Republicans have a real problem. But, you know, Jake, you are always welcome to cross over. 😉
The $500 Sales Tax Credit for buying a fuel efficient/alternative fuel car. Jack has the details again.
The Mercury restrictions. Jack Darin covered it over at the Sierra Club blog . Mercury pollution is a pretty straightforward problem of, if it costs more to remove it, then those using the power should pay more to remove it. The technology is there and doing it in short order makes a lot more sense than 2018. Frankly, if the specific plants can’t be retrofitted, it’s time to build new plants.
It also produced the best quote of recent weeks from Steve Rauschenberger:
“I like clean air, but…
And it didn’t get better in context:
….I’m not sure what he’s talking about is practical or affordable,
The question isn’t whether it is practical or affordable, but whether it is important to protect human health. Practical or affordable goes to methods to reach a goal, not what the goal should be. That is the basis of the Clean Air Act and the State of Illinois is clearly going to have to move ahead since Bush seems to think a twelve year phase in is reasonable.
On the pharmacy rule–G-Rod has 80% approval nationally on the issue
It’s a great issue for him and expect him to keep highlighting it to secure the base and get conservatives foaming at the mouth over it.
Bush’s numbers in Illinois are at 35% The same as December, up slightly from October/November.
It’s what you do when the President’s approval is even below yours in Illinois.
“I’m not opposed to gambling at all. I just object to using children as casino chips.”
–Phil Kadner AKA the only man with more of an obsession over school funding than I do.
In the Daily Southtown
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