The [Thursday] Papers

Though it had its stretches of boring demagoguery, last night's Republican debate was pretty interesting all-in-all. Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney engaged in actual debating, and Fred Thompson finally made a decent showing. Yet, if you are a Sun-Times reader, you got three paragraphs on page 20 just above the Garage King ad.

Think of that the next time the paper's editorial page chastises the public for their lack of political participation, knowledge and engagement.

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The Tribune put their debate story on Page One. But nobody in Chicago is offering as extensive, witty and insightful coverage as The Beachwood Reporter. Imagine that.

Beaver Cleaver
Forrest Claypool on the most coincidental ward in Cook County history.

Deed Creed
"I manage a bunch of knuckleheads on a daily basis."
- Debra Williams-Burnett of the Cook County Recorder of Deeds office, on employees who apparently solicited tips from the public by hanging Christmas stockings at their work stations

Obamaland
Who's the insider with an ethical compass bent by ambition?

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"Let me get back to you on that," Obama spokesman Bill Burton told the Sun-Times about two weeks ago. The paper is still waiting.

Who's that talking about straight answers to tough questions again?

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"But Burton defended Obama's voting to invest the [Woods Fund] charity's money with [clouty developer and campaign contributor Allison] Davis rather than abstaining to avoid the appearance of a possible conflict of interest.

"It was a worthwhile project," Burton said. "It's not a conflict of interest to do what's right for your community."

So you only abstain from a vote because of a conflict of interest when you are opposed to something?

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"Davis declined to comment."

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"His son Cullen Davis is paid to manage the building [funded by the charity on whose board Obama once sat]."

Nice.

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While Obama saw no conflict-of-interest in voting to deliver a lucrative bounty to his former law firm employer and campaign contributor, the board's chairman abstained from voting because of his own ties to Davis. Maybe the wrong guy is running for president.

Risk and Reward
"Mayor Daley's Department of Streets and Sanitation has awarded a five-year, $55 million contract to Lindahl Brothers Inc. for 'emergency rental of heavy-duty snow equipment with operators,'" the Sun-Times reports.

"Lindahl was one of the companies that used an illegal dump that FBI mole John Christopher created at Roosevelt and Kostner."

Richie Daley: The Green Mayor.

Greatest Hits
Let's take a look at some recent stands made by the Sun-Times editorial page.

* November 13: In "Detectives Need To Get A Clue," the paper comes out against bad detectives. "Even a novice CSI viewer could have seen that Kathleen's bathtub death in 2004 was suspicious."

Yeah! Don't any Bolingbrook cops watch that show?

* November 18: In "Woman-Bashing Is Caveman Defense," the paper comes out against murder suspects blaming their missing wives' bad moods on PMS.

Yeah! Someone of Drew Peterson's influence has no business making statements like that.

* Also November 18: In "Great American Male Psych Out," the paper comes out against men who don't want to date women who make more money than they do.

"Guys shouldn't let Monika Lotter's Burberry bag threaten them," the paper says. "She's got an MBA, lives in a hot North Side neighborhood and works for Donald Trump."

Threatened? How about disgusted? Three strikes and you're out, Monika. And that doesn't even count the Burberry bag.

The paper even manages to blame Stacy Peterson's presumed death on this "syndrome." Wait, was there a CSI episode like this?

* November 21: In "About Those Other Women . . . ", the paper chastises the media for its focus on Stacy Peterson when "we hardly hear a mention of the cases of two women whose charred bodies were found on the South Side."

Without even the slightest acknowledgement of its own paper's frenzy, the editorial board asks "How is it that we know so much about the Peterson family and their Jerry Springer-like story arc and yet we know virtually nothing about these other missing women."

Yes, how is it?

The paper goes on to muse, "We hate to even bring this up, but could a serial killer be on the loose?"

Could be! Or maybe there are several killers on the loose! Or, how's this one, maybe Drew Peterson burned those women? I hate to bring it up, but you have to admit it's possible!

The Beachwood Tip Line: Burberry-free.

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