Repeat! Illinois has most liberal senator

Illinois is the Land of Liberaldom.

For the second straight year one of its U.S. senators was ranked most liberal in the nation. In 2007 it was Barack Obama. The year before, Dick Durbin.

Do you think the news media will dare ask Barack how he can be a "uniter" when he has the most partisan voting record of 100 senators? Do you think the media would be silent if a top Republican nominee for president was campaigning as a uniter and had the most conservative voting record in the senate?

For those who are wondering why there's no chance in hell the Bush administration will award the FutureGen clean coal project to Illinois, you might look at these rankings. If you were president and it was a close call between various states, would you give it to the one whose two senators have done nothing but wildly criticize you for months?

Speaking of FutureGen, the governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, had the stones to ask presidential candidates to give their position on bringing the project to Illinois. This from a governor who has been ducking reporters for more than a year because of the burgeoning federal investigation of corruption within his administration.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, Barack Obama, corruption, Dick Durbin, Illinois, liberals, Rod Blagojevich

Rezko web cleansing

This report indicates that websites are trying to purge coverage of the 2004 visit of Tony Rezko pal Nadhmi Auchi to Illinois. It was Auchi's company that wired Rezko's law firm $3.5 million last year. The wire transfer led to Rezko's bond revokation this week.

The controversial Iraq-born billionaire Nadhmi Auchi visited the state of Illinois in 2004 at the behest of Antoin "Tony" Rezko, the businessman and political player who helped raise money for Senator Barack Obama's early political campaigns. During the visit, Auchi met with the state's Democratic Governor, Rod Blagojevich, and other political figures. In what appears to be a clumsy "cleanup" operation, evidence of Auchi's visit to Illinois has now been deleted from two websites linked to his company, General Mediterranean Holding.

There will be a lot more website purges in the months ahead when it comes to Rezko related items.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, Barack Obama, corruption, Illinois, Iraq, Rod Blagojevich, Tony Rezko

Rezko link to Ohio

The Democratic Secretary of State in Ohio, Jennifer Brunner, who single-handedly is trying to throw the state into electoral chaos in about a month, also is being criticized for her link to Individual H (Myron Cherry) in the Tony Rezko indictment.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, ballot, Illinois, liberals, Tony Rezko

The McCain trap

For those Republicans and Independents who plan to vote for John McCain because you like the way the news media likes him—reconsider.

When it comes to the news media, it only likes McCain as a foil to conservative Republican doctrine. When McCain was opposing President Bush's tax cuts, or pushing campaign finance, the MSM couldn't get enough of the Arizona senator. The media likes him again because he's the anti-Mitt Romney.

Once the primaries are over, the MSM will turn on McCain again, just like it did when McCain was pushing the surge. Supporting McCain for his media support—it's fool's gold.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, John McCain, journalism, liberals

Tribune endorses JFK legacy

If you think the Tribune's endorsement Sunday of Barack Obama's candidacy in the Democratic primary for president was a nod to John F. Kennedy, guess again. The Trib used its Republican endorsement of John McCain to talk about the JFK legacy.

To hear McCain speak of honor, of duty, is to wake up the echoes of John F. Kennedy urging Americans to ask not what their country can do for them. A President McCain would engage challenges domestic and foreign with the candid conviction that doing what's right may cost us. Maybe plenty.

His unswerving commitment to victory in Iraq is the likely template. He has never brooked defeatism because the consequences of defeat are so severe. McCain instead urged a troop surge to calm Iraq and, now that it's working, he deflects the credit to the general who executed it.

We've pointed out many times here how JFK wouldn't recognize the Democratic Party today. Here, again, are some differences between Barack and JFK.

* JKF was for a strong national defense.
* JFK won at least one political debate.
* JFK favored tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
* JFK escalated a pre-emptive war on foreign soil without an exit strategy.
* JFK ran the dirtiest campaigns of his time.
* JFK once said America would, "pay any price, bear any burden."
* JFK once said "…one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission."
* JFK's superior "judgment" included sleeping with the mistress of America's most powerful Mob boss.

Apologies to that noted agent of change, Ted Kennedy.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Illinois, John McCain, journalism, kennedy, liberals

Rezko bomb ticking even louder

This is bad news for two of Illinois' most prominent Democrats.

For Barack Obama, it just draws more attention to the worst stain on his public career.

For Governor Rod Blagojevich, it locks Tony down in jail until his Feb. 25 trial date. A few days in the notorious Metropolitan Correction Center in downtown Chicago and he might be more willing to testify against Rod. In the government's filing today, it alleges that Rezko was clandestinely funneling assets to family and friends, including Rod's other top indicted fundraiser, Chris Kelly.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, Barack Obama, Chicago media, Chris Kelly, corruption, Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, Tony Rezko

Hey, Hillary, picture quiz #2?

So, Hillary, you don't know Rezko, eh?

What about the guy above? His name is John Burgess, founder of International Profit Associates. You have taken more than $150,000 from him, ridden on his company's corporate jet and spoken at a company event. He's accused by the federal government of "egregious" sexual harassment and is under investigation by the state of Illinois for fraud. He's a convicted criminal and disbarred lawyer. Do you not know him, too.

By the way, IPA's lawyer is implicated but not charged in the Rezko indictment.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, Barack Obama, Chicago media, corruption, Hillary Clinton, International profit associates

Blago's money machine sputters

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's unprecedented fundraising operation, under heavy investigation from U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, finally broke down in 2007, newly filed reports show.

For the first time since he became a candidate for Governor in 2001, Rod's yearly fundraising total was dramatically diminished:

2007 -- $2,428,624
2006 -- $11,431,592
2005 -- $6,567,298
2004 -- $5,911,658
2003 -- $5,298,717
2002 -- $19,150,973

So, fundraising is tanking. And, legal defense bills are rising. Rod incurred $965,352 in charges from defense lawyers last year to defend against Fitzerald's probe. That means for every dollar a donor gave Rod, 39.7 cents went to Jim Thompson's law firm.

Rod's 40-cent corruption tax is driving customers away.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, corruption, Illinois, Rod Blagojevich

MSM is lying about Bush lying

Media bias tactic #1: Sanitize left-wing groups when they put out a report. It is a lazy, dishonest practice and exposes the MSM as nothing more than a propaganda tool of the left. No wonder most media outlets are losing money rapidly and public distrust continues to rise.

Yesterday, almost the entire MSM jumped on a study from a George Soros-funded group that said Bush lied. The information was nothing more than recycled old charges. But the MSM liked the message so it abandoned its definition of news and forget to mention the study was funded by a left-wing kook.

AP, MSNBC, CNN and the New York Times on Wednesday all promoted a "study" by a couple of affiliated far-left groups, supposedly documenting "935 false statements" about Iraq made by Bush officials, but in hyping the proof of "lies" which led to war, the news outlets disguised the ideology of the groups -- led by a former ABC and CBS reporter/producer -- and how many of the "false" statements were about Iraq possessing WMD, which FNC's Brit Hume pointed out was "a concept nearly universally accepted by most of the world's intelligence services at the time."

I would like someone in the MSM explain to me how it is fair to ignore the group's motivations. It's not like the same standard holds true for the right.

Keith Olbermann, who in 2006 slammed the Media Research Center as a "rabid right-wing spin group," Wednesday night on Countdown with "935 lies" on screen on top of a picture of Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney, described the Center for Public Integrity and Fund for Independence in Journalism as merely "two non-profit groups" who have "done the algebra" on "the administration's countless lies about Iraq." Last September, CNN's Jack Cafferty accurately described the MRC as a "conservative media watchdog outfit," but he euphemistically tagged the left-wing groups as "two non-profit journalism groups" with a study which "found President Bush led the pack with 260 lies." Cafferty's labeling echoed AP's reference to "two non-profit journalism organizations."

What a nakedly dishonest day of reporting it was yesterday for most of the country's "respected" press.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, journalism, liberals

Major Hillary donor tries to silence victims

Hillary Clinton says she wants to usher in a new era of openness as president. Maybe she ought to have a little talk with one of her largest donors.

That donor, troubled consulting firm International Profit Associates of Buffalo Grove, IL., has filed suit against 40 small business owners across the country who claim they were defrauded by IPA. The small business owners' and their lawyer's offense: They posted their pending federal racketeering lawsuit on a low-key internet site! I wonder whether IPA also plans to sue the Department of Justice, which posts its legal documents on the Internet as well. Read the whole thing below and decide whether it is legitimate or an act of legal thuggery.

IPA.Defamation-1.doc

One of the ironies is that IPA's lawyer is Myron "Mike" Cherry, a man who says here he linked IPA to the Clintons. Cherry has been identified in published reports as "Individual H" in the indictment of Tony Rezko.
Just this weekend, Hillary's opponent Barack Obama donated more than $40,000 to charity that was linked to Rezko.

Hillary has taken more than $150,000 from IPA, including a ride on the company's corporate jet, and the acceptance of a contribution from a high school age child of an IPA executive. She also spoke at an IPA event while the largest and "most egregious" sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the Chicago office of the EEOC was pending against the company.

She has not been questioned about IPA money since 2006, when her staff said she was reviewing the situation.

IPA money has become an issue in the GOP primary in Illinois' 14th District Congressional race, where Jim Oberweis has hammered opponent Chris Lauzen for taking nearly $100,000 in IPA money before returning it recently.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, Barack Obama, corruption, Hillary Clinton, Illinois, International profit associates, journalism, Rod Blagojevich, Tony Rezko

Rude reporter? Nah, just dumb

Lots of ether-ink has been spilled on the little verbal tussle between Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and AP reporter Glen Johnson.

Sorry to say, despite this left-wing media group's attempt to paint this in loftier terms, the reporter was the bad actor here. First, he was unnecessarily rude. As a former reporter, I can tell you the best reporters usually aren't the rudest reporters.

The reporter's biggest problem, however, was the English language. Romney said he doesn't have lobbyists running the campaign. The reporter objected by suggesting one of his Romney advisors was a lobbyist. Romney said the advisor was more or less a friend and wasn't running the campaign. He was right. The reporter stubbornly stuck to his imprecisely worded question.

Johnson should have shifted his question to: "OK, so they don't run your campaign but they are with you on the airplane. Isn't it disingenuous to say you are an outsider with all your insider lobbyists on the campaign?"

Then, Johnson would have forced Romney to answer a tougher question and Johnson might have had a real story instead of the contrived little confrontation that did nothing other than to showcase his lack of intelligence.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, journalism, liberals, Mitt Romney

Rudy can't use 9/11?

Complete loon Keith Olbermann just ridiculed Rudy Giuliani for using 9/11 imagery in a TV ad. What possible logic exists that says it's improper to use images of yourself in the midst of one of the seminal moments in American history? That's real, Keith, as opposed to say, a Barack Obama speech or a Hillary Clinton claim of executive experience.

Shades of 1967

Admit it, football fans. We all like to see big games in miserable conditions. At 5:30 p.m. Sunday, it will be frigid in Green Bay for the NFC championship. Not -13 like in 1967, but reasonably close.

Looks who's making stuff up

All political debates produce distortions. But look at the difference between the whopping distortions told by Democrats in a recent presidential debate compared to the less blatant ones told by Republicans at another debate. As a reporter friend once told me, "They are Democrats. They lie."

Credit goes to the Tribune's Swamp for pointing this out. The comparisons were done by the Annenberg Public Policy Center's factcheck.org.

Democrats

Clinton once again mischaracterized the 2005 energy bill, saying it had "enormous giveaways" to oil and gas companies. In truth, the measure raised taxes on those industries.

Obama accused the Bush administration of failing to make "any serious effort" to encourage use of alternative fuels or raise fuel efficiency of automobiles. In fact, President Bush has signed major bills that do both.

Edwards said he dropped his support for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage site in part because of a scandal over forged documents. But he switched his position in 2004, and the scandal came along a year afterward.

The three candidates made sweeping claims about their intentions to remove troops from Iraq quickly, but all three admitted under questioning that they could have U.S. combat troops fighting in Iraq for years to come.

Clinton puffed up her role in stopping the "Bush administration" from taking back signing bonuses from those later wounded too seriously to complete their enlistments. Actually the Pentagon said its policy has been not to reclaim such bonuses and that a bill the Army sent to one soldier was an isolated case that was reversed.

Edwards said "you should learn to speak English" before becoming a U.S. citizen. In fact, the law already requires, with few exceptions, that applicants for citizenship "must be able to read, write, speak, and understand words in ordinary usage in the English language."

Republicans

Huckabee repeated his claim to have made 94 tax cuts including the "first broad-based tax cut" in the history of Arkansas, though he actually signed tax bills that resulted in a net increase in taxes of $500 million.

Romney said his increases in "fees" only amounted to $240 million in Massachusetts. But his own administration and others have put them higher. He also failed to mention $174 million in corporate tax "loophole" closings.

Giuliani falsely claimed that one of his tax cuts more than paid for itself, and he generally used incorrect figures when boasting of his record on taxes in New York City. And he claimed credit for too large a reduction in welfare cases.

Thompson said, "I never said that I was cutting Social Security." That's true, but he is proposing to slow the growth of benefits to those who retire in the future.

McCain said he had never asked for a single "pork barrel project" for Arizona, but we find a few that could qualify for that characterization.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, liberals, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani

Oberweis lights up Lauzen on IPA

[youtube]qokcUc6pJNQ[/youtube]

In a 14th District GOP congressional debate tonight in suburban Chicago, businessman Jim Oberweis used his two-minute opening statement to give state Senator Chris Lauzen a verbal lashing over his acceptance of about $100,000 in campaign contributions from scandal-plagued International Profit Associates.

Lauzen returned the money a few weeks ago, but what about Hillary Clinton? She took more than $150,000 from company officers, rode on IPA's corporate jet and spoke at an IPA event. She continues to dodge the question. It was a letter from victims of IPA to Hillary that caused Lauzen to return the money, he said after the debate.

Much of the disputed money was given to Lauzen's state fund, not the federal fund in his congressional bid. After the debate, Lauzen acknowledged to the Chicago Tribune that he had heard "whiffs" about the company before, but decided to return the money recently after seeing a detailed letter small business owners wrote to a presidential campaign.

That letter can be found here.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, Chicago media, Hillary Clinton, International profit associates, journalism

Even the Left scoffs at NOW

Glad to see my Missouri brother on the Left, Archpundit, come to the conclusion that the National Organization For Women is a fraud. I guess he didn't take my word for it. It took an attack on Barack Obama, the kind of smear job it launches every year at Republicans.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, Barack Obama, blogs, Hillary Clinton, Illinois, liberals

Protecting women, Hillary style

[youtube]b8-zbmZTTM0[/youtube]

Hillary Clinton said yesterday on Meet the Press that people should judge her on her record, not the rhetoric.

Look at what I've done my entire life. I have been working on behalf of civil rights, women's rights, human rights for years...

Well, this is part of her record: cozying up to one of the most notorious companies in the country, at least in terms in sexual harassment and fraud allegations.

It would be interesting if the news media asked the woman above how she feels about Hillary's "record" of protecting "women's rights."

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, Hillary Clinton, Illinois, International profit associates, liberals

Hillary's triple axle on Iraq

I can't imagine Hillary Clinton on figure skates but today on Meet the Press she completed the triple axel on Iraq. She was for the Iraq war when it was popular, against it when it wasn't, and now, incredibly, is claiming credit for a surge she didn't support. The Republican nominee, whoever it is, will be ready to pounce on this if she wins the nomination.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, liberals, terror

In Barack's world, 'change' has other meanings

One of Barack Obama's headline supporters tonight at a big fundraiser in Chicago is John Rogers Jr., a man who benefitted from "change." That change was a clout-inspired decision to keep a state pension investment contract even though pension holders were getting short-"changed."

Read all about it here. I added my two cents here.

Oh, and Rogers also was a huge pay-to-play recipient of the Rod Blagojevich fundraising machine, which the federal government is in the process of declaring illegal.

Look for NBC and the rest of Obama-fawning MSM to jump right on this story.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, Barack Obama, Chicago media, corruption, Illinois, journalism, liberals, Rod Blagojevich, Tony Rezko

Rod looking for new spinner

According to the world wide Internet, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is looking for a new press secretary. I wonder if the interviewer will ask potential hires how they'd handle press relations on the day Rod gets indicted. That question is not included in the ad:

Position Summary:
The Press Secretary plays an integral part in creating the administration's message and disseminating it to the media. The successful candidate will have strong oral and written communication skills; strong record in media relations and crisis communications; and ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment.

Position Responsibilities:
* Build and maintain relationships with members of the press
* Act as a spokesperson, proactively pitching stories and developing/delivering reaction to reporters' inquiries
* Collaborate with Governor's press staff and agency press officers to generate ideas and develop media strategies
* Assist in organizing press conferences and other media-related events
* Draft and edit press releases and other materials for distribution
Job Requirements
Competencies/Qualifications:
* Bachelor's degree in journalism, communications or relevant field
* Five or more years of experience in media relations and/or public relations
* Demonstrated record of success in pitching and placing stories in major media outlets
* Ability to work under tight deadlines
* Ability to implement long-term media strategies, as well as react to rapid-response needs from internal and external sources on a daily basis
* Desire to work in a team-based, cooperative environment
* Experience in government or political settings a plus

How To Apply:
Interested candidates should submit their resumes via email to Rebecca Rausch, Deputy Director of Communications by clicking the Apply Now button.

Some other questions interviewees might face:

1. Do you have any problem saying things that are obviously not true?

2. Do you believe it is better to say "no comment" to sticky press inquiries or simply to berate the question?

3. When the governor is indicted, would it be too brazen to say that regardless of what the feds say, Rod Blagojevich continues to try to help "people."

4. Can you say Governor Quinn?

Technorati Tags: Chicago media, Illinois, journalism, pr, Rod Blagojevich

Romney's brilliant performance

Tonight's performance by Mitt Romney was the by far the best of any candidate of either party in any of the presidential debates this year. He was polished, sharp, focused, substantive and in complete command.

I don't expect the MSM to notice much, because it has been more unfair to Romney than any other candidate. My sense is that the liberal media understands deep down that he could be enormously formidable in the general election and haven't wanted to boost his candidacy in any way.

If Romney were a liberal Democrat, he'd be a rock star. But he's a Republican and the MSM doesn't allow GOP phenoms among presidential candidates. If you doubt this, name one.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, Barack Obama, Illinois, Iraq, liberals, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani

Romney's opening

My quick observations about tonight:

1. If indeed Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee, my sense is that the GOP's best matchup against him is Mitt Romney. He can negate some of Obama's obvious star quality edge over most of the Republicans and can start hammering away at Obama's big weakness—that behind all that hope and sizzle lies a mediocre or weak executive.

2. TV buffoon Bill Schneider of CNN would flunk a high school political science class. He exclaimed this evening that Republican caucus goers were "very conservative" while Democratic participants were "moderate." How did he know? That's how they described themselves. It doesn't take a genius to know that people label themselves incorrectly and that liberals know that the label liberal is not flattering so they tend not to claim it.

3. TV buffoon extraordinaire Keith Olbermann was not happy that Hillary Clinton came in third. He kept saying if independents were taken out of the equation, Hillary and Barack would have been tied. That's like saying that the Cardinals and Cubs would be tied if you didn't count the Cardinals' home runs. In other words, vapid analysis.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani

Blagojevich: Corruption not relevant

Rod Blagojevich may have been the luckiest gubernatorial candidate in Illinois history. The obscure congressman rode to victory against a candidate in the other party who had the same last name of the corrupt incumbent governor. Nearly every word out of Rod's mouth in 2002 was about corruption in state government.

Now, today, as he's being engulfed in his own corruption scandal of even larger proportions, he states that corruption doesn't matter to "people."

Pointing at reporters trying to ask a question about the federal investigation, Blagojevich said: "If you guys want to cover this issue and cover the substance of it, then we can get that message out. But if you want to cover tangential, collateral things that have no impact or relevance to people, then you don't get that message out.

"The reality is," the governor continued, "they like to sell newspapers. They're not interested in concrete solutions to problems for people. They just like controversy and tangents that have no relevance to the quality of life for people."

Here's what Rod said in 2002 on WBBM's At Issue, while being questioned by guest host Mike Flannery.

I think we have to restore confidence and integrity in state government. And we need real ethics reform. But most also, I think the voters and the taxpayers have to believe those of us who want to lead them. And understand that were not just going to look the other way at corruption or be corrupt ourselves, but that we ought to leaders that are also honest with them about the tough issues that confront us as people.

It's a new year. For Rod, it might as well be a new century.

Technorati Tags: Chicago media, corruption, Illinois, journalism, Rod Blagojevich