Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Chicago is pretty inhospitable to Republicans...
But this is getting ridiculous: I find this story in today's Tribune rather symbolic of this story that ran Sunday.
There are few of us "elephants" left in the state, so it seems, but I doubt this is a permanent condition. Has Illinois become more liberal? Possibly, but not considerably so.
I contend a solid conservative can win a statewide race. By solid conservative, I am talking about someone with an ideology as right-wing as Phil Crane, Steve Rauschenberger, Jack Ryan or Jim Ryan.
The problem with the Republican Party in Illinois is not ideology. Bedorck conservatives like Peter Fitzgerald and Jim Ryan have won statewide races. Illinois' Democratic Party has the same stupid argument. Do they want a Daley moderate, a Paul Simon liberal or a Jesse Jackson slash-and-burn welfare-stater?
Barack Obama is a Paul Simon liberal, but his success was that he tapped into all three voting blocs in the primary. Pay no attention to his success in the general election. Truth be told, Steve Bartman would be Senator if he was the only alternative to Alan Keyes. Obama deserves credit because he moderated his tone -- not his views, there is a difference -- throughout the campaign so that he didn't nauseate even a right-winger that would never vote for Obama like me. But let's not crown Obama or Blagojevich or any other Democrat in Illinois (except for Mayr Daley) a major star nationally. Blagojevich apparently thinks he's presidential material, and others like to dream of Obama in the White House.
If you saw a kid hit a home run as a 10-year-old, would you proclaim him the next great Major League prospect?
Illinois is not big league right now. It's been a virtual one-party system since at least the start of George Ryan's administration, if not longer. The Republican base will still vote GOP, but to say the diehards are a little disheartened by the scandals and division is an understatement.
(And yes, I am suggesting that the Democrats' base is more likely to tolerate such shenanigans.)
The Democrats have exploited the Republicans' problems. The GOP has turned on itself each time it loses an election. And the Republican-leaning voters in Illinois feel like they have no voice.
It's a good-government perception problem. Right now, Republicans look dirtier than the Democrats. That will change -- soon -- as many close to Daley will take Scott Fawell-style falls. And if this Dick Mell-Rod Blagojevich feud has any truth and legs, look out. Methinks they both have the goods on the other.
Want a good look at Illinois Republican politics? Go to joincrossblog.com. That's a blog written by Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross. While they're a little too married to the "only a moderate Republican can win" theory, they've done a good job battling the Democrats. I guess someone has to.
Monday, January 10, 2005
Covering one's butt: I must say I am really disappointed in the CBS report on the monumental screw-up on the Bush National Guard memo. They missed the point, it is obvious, and tried to find every reason but the real one for the problem.
My friend Kevin and his blog mates at Rathergate.com are much more updated on the whole scandal than I am. Kevin, I think spent most of his work day reading the CBS report, which was released today, and analyzing it.
While CBS doesn't want you to believe it, it is clear to me that some people over there wanted to either smear President Bush or influence the election. The piece ran a just before Election Day and with the polls running close the entire time, anything could have swayed it one way or the other.
But the report doesn't say that. It, vastly summarized of course, says one of the reasons for the error in judgement was the rush to get the story out first. Now, I am a journalist, and I know all about competition (My paper competes directly with one daily paper and a weekly, we also compete with several regional papers, not to mention the occasional radio and TV reporters when a big story breaks.) There is pressure to get the story before anyone else.
But there is equal pressure to get the story CORRECT, as well as first. It does not reporter any good to report a story first if it's wrong. No reporter can celebrate spanking his collegues if he is writing a long correction while everyone else is catching up.
The other problem is errors hurt all reporters' abilities to do their jobs, which is report the news. If our sources and our readers, listeners and viewers can't trust us, what is the point of the free press?
My friend Kevin and his blog mates at Rathergate.com are much more updated on the whole scandal than I am. Kevin, I think spent most of his work day reading the CBS report, which was released today, and analyzing it.
While CBS doesn't want you to believe it, it is clear to me that some people over there wanted to either smear President Bush or influence the election. The piece ran a just before Election Day and with the polls running close the entire time, anything could have swayed it one way or the other.
But the report doesn't say that. It, vastly summarized of course, says one of the reasons for the error in judgement was the rush to get the story out first. Now, I am a journalist, and I know all about competition (My paper competes directly with one daily paper and a weekly, we also compete with several regional papers, not to mention the occasional radio and TV reporters when a big story breaks.) There is pressure to get the story before anyone else.
But there is equal pressure to get the story CORRECT, as well as first. It does not reporter any good to report a story first if it's wrong. No reporter can celebrate spanking his collegues if he is writing a long correction while everyone else is catching up.
The other problem is errors hurt all reporters' abilities to do their jobs, which is report the news. If our sources and our readers, listeners and viewers can't trust us, what is the point of the free press?
Sunday, January 09, 2005
It's that time of year: I live in the windy city, but I hate snow and I hate cold weather. I am a person that is always cold, so the warmer climate I can find the better, preferably one with a golf course nearby.
But as this is the area I have chose to live in, I must deal with snow issues for four months every year. Last week's 10-inch snowfall brought problems for me. I worked the night shift that day, bringing the latest information about the storm to my readers.
I got home at 11 p.m., ate something, and then had to go out at about midnight to shovel my driveway entrance so I could get out the next morning. It was interesting watching my neighbors look out their window at me shoveling. I think they may have been snickering or wondering what crazy idiot was shoveling the driveway in the middle of the night. Then of course, was a awoken suddenly later that morning by my other neighbors using their snow blower. Ah the joys of winter -- I need to get to that warmer climate near the golf course.
But my friend Cely (as in Aracely) had much worse problems with the killer white stuff that fell from the sky. Here is her account of the aftermath of the storm:
But as this is the area I have chose to live in, I must deal with snow issues for four months every year. Last week's 10-inch snowfall brought problems for me. I worked the night shift that day, bringing the latest information about the storm to my readers.
I got home at 11 p.m., ate something, and then had to go out at about midnight to shovel my driveway entrance so I could get out the next morning. It was interesting watching my neighbors look out their window at me shoveling. I think they may have been snickering or wondering what crazy idiot was shoveling the driveway in the middle of the night. Then of course, was a awoken suddenly later that morning by my other neighbors using their snow blower. Ah the joys of winter -- I need to get to that warmer climate near the golf course.
But my friend Cely (as in Aracely) had much worse problems with the killer white stuff that fell from the sky. Here is her account of the aftermath of the storm:
So I get to bed early -- or relatively early. I get up early iron some khaki's. I make sure they're all starched and stiff. My dress shirt collar and sleeves are also starched. There are few things that are better than a cotton shirt that has been ironed and starched. I actually take time to blow dry my hair this morning. For some reason the curls look all nice. I'm kinda pleased with my appearance. Anyway I go out and start up my car. I sit in it for awhile for it to warm up. The St.Elmo's Fire theme song is playing (if you don't know what it is -- it's from some 80s brat pack movie. If you don't know what the brat pack is, then I just give up)I back out of the driveway. I'm happy. I'm actually going to be work on time.
Then, I get stuck. Zoom ... I try to move forward. Nothing. Zoom ...
I try to move back. Nothing. Smoke Burning rubber. Fuck!The snowplows have piled
snow along the entrance to the driveway and I thought I could just drive over it. I can't. I look for a shovel. I don't have one. I have to run, or attempt to run in high heeled boots,through knee-deep snow in the yard to the back of the house where there should be a shovel. All I find is some flimsy thing that bends every time I try to move snow with it. I attempt to dig the front of my car out, but because it's soo low and there's too much snow I can't get under it, at this point I'm on my knees. My pants are wet. Snow seeps in through the side zipper of my boots.I want to cry. One of my housemates walks out. I don't know her name."Hey, are you in a hurry or you gonna help me out?"She starts her
car. She is going to help me. Even if she wanted to she can't leave without me getting out of the way. We put the car in neutral and attempt to push. We're dumb asses. I tell her to get in the car and put it in reverse while I push. I am not very good at this. I start to get sweaty and my hair is now a mess. She starts to move the wheels, I dig under it. I'm not used to this manual labor. She pulls it forward. Nothing happens. She's ready to have me call a tow truck. No. I ain't gonna call no man to get me out of my mess. I get really angry and I push harder. Finally the car is out of the driveway. We cheer. I hug the nameless girl. I get into my car and got to work 45 minutes late.
