Usually you have to wait for a term or two to pass before a Congressman gets a case of the Big Head. Not so with Adam Kinzinger the Republican who leads in the 11th over Debbie Halvorson. Maybe it’s not him but it sure is his staff.
Of all the candidates I’ve asked to be on my show (20 years running) only Kinzinger has stonewalled—for three months, yet! Now a stuffy top aide, Brad Hahn. says via remote and detached email that Mr. Kinzinger is too busy to be on the show but he will allow us to interview him on the phone for a cameo.
My own guess is that it’s not Kinzinger but his frosty Big Time aide Hahn. Hahn evidently runs the Kinzinger campaign show—which is not good for people who hope for a philosophical change in that House seat. I’ll talk more about this on the show. Needless to say it’s not good when an aide’s attitude has that much influence—but Kinzinger’s the boss. I hope. All incumbent congressmen including Debbie Halvorson know they have an open invitation to come on at any time.
While I’ve criticized Capitol Fax in the past I’ve always qualified it by saying that it’s indispensable…as indeed it is. It covers state politics like a blanket and is the only publication close enough to the political scene to give oft-times brilliantly accurate pictures of the chaos. Yesterday the newsletter showed the real problem with Pat Quinn. Sure there’s a Republican tsunami coming but Quinn’s out-of-his-back-pocket way of running his office doesn’t help. You can catch the blog at thecapitolfaxblog.com but the newsletter often comes out with the scoops first. Both lean Dem but we’ll grant them that.
Ruling Class Rahm, Warm Dart and Social Conservative Meeks.
After sending my large staff to take an informal survey of public opinion from bar habitués, cab drivers, old men snoozing in the public libraries, fast-walking female shoppers with cell phones glued to their ears, I have discovered that the clear favorite for mayor as of now is the Sheriff, Tom Dart.
Which verifies the statement the late Steve Neal made years ago when Dart entered politics: Dart, he said, is the nearest thing the Democrats have found to Bobby Kennedy. I think he should have said “John Kennedy.” Bobby was tough and abrasive which Dart is not.
Rahm’s ego, reputation for white hot anger and key membership in the Ruling Class, works against him. It looks like my favorite Maria Pappas isn’t going to try. Best “feel” I have now is that Dart and Rev. James Meeks will make it into the run-off—and Ruling Class Elitist Rahm may well fall by the wayside.
Meeks is a courageous supporter of social issues…pro-life…anti-gay marriage…vouchers. He could well be THE minority candidate. If this unofficial impression I have holds up it’ll be interesting.
Sam Zell on Obama.
Sam Zell often appears to be a question-mark politically in Chicago which is amazing since the billionaire is holder-in-bankruptcy ofChicago Tribune (they don’t like the definite grammatical article preceding name of the paper: why I don’t know).
In a lecture at the University of Pennsylvania (where years ago I taught politics at The Wharton School), Zell said these highly interesting things:
OBAMA. “I’m from Chicago. Barack Obama came to my house for dinner. He’s a brilliant man. But he’s an ideologue. When you’re an ideologue you don’t see [business reality]. There’s no question he doesn’t see it.”
OBAMA’S AMERICA. “We have a political situation in the U. S. today that for the first time in my life represents a challenge to the entrepreneur…to the freedom that our society has created. There never has been a society of people who aren’t striving, who aren’t trying to make a difference. What has mdse America different is our individualism…I’m very concerned that the current political environment and current situation is geared toward making the entrepreneur an endangered species.”
WHAT OBAMA SHOULD DO. “Obama could start by announcing he’s going to do nothing for the next 24 months…If I were President Obama, I would repeal health care. I would repeal the Dodd [banking reform] bill. I would go back to where we were in January `09.”
WHAT HE WROTE TO RAHM WHEN OBAMA TOOK OVER.
“Dear Rahm, I met you in 1992. At the time you were working for the Clinton campaign. You sat me down and said `Sam, understand, the theme of the campaign is `It’s the economy, stupid!’ Well guess what? It’s the economy, stupid and you ought to do nothing more than focus on jobs and the economy. He wrote back, `You want to delay health care, you want to delay cap and trade?’ I said, `You bet!’”
Full text to be found on Joseph DeStefano’s PhillyDeals blog at The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Seems to me I’ve been reading about Benedict XVI’s activities in Great Britain for weeks. Now I read the trip is just starting. Wha? Is itme or what? Don’t all jam the lines saying YES, IT’S YOU! Seems to me he was there and canonized John Henry Cardinal Newman already. No? Tell me I’m not senile. On second thought: DON’T—let me continue under the illusion I’m not.
Er, Tom, he beatified Blessed John Henry Newman...
ReplyDelete...and won hearts and minds of a lot of British (and other) skeptics into the bargain.