By Steve Rhodes
I’m hopelessly behind. Please send food and beer. Also, I haven’t had a pair of socks to wear since Friday. Not even dirty ones. Don’t ask.
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I’m gathering reaction, which I will post soon, to my initial piece about the Chicago Journalism Town Hall. I’m going to clean that one up a bit and write up a second part as well, I’m just not there yet. Be patient.
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First, let’s take a look at the news.
The Daley Show
“Mayor Richard Daley alleged today that federal authorities ignore blatant drug and gun trafficking but are overzealous in prosecuting star athletes such as Barry Bonds and Michael Vick,” the Tribune reports.
“They can find Barry Bonds and Michael Vick, but they can’t find a drug dealer?” Daley said.
Um, I don’t know. Should I? I mean, it’s a such a big, easy lob . . . I’m just standing at the plate thinking about how many different ways . . . to knock it out of the park . . . but it’s coming at me so slow, so big . . . it just seems too easy.
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Oh, what the hell. Barry Bonds and Michael Vick had scheduled appearances every day/week! Not hard to find! They are listed! You can get a press pass to go see them naked!
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Nice diversion from the Sorich appeal being denied by the U.S. Supreme Court, though. That’s what was really going on.
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Of course, the federal government has put the leaders of just about every major Chicago gang in jail in recent years. It’s not enough to just put people in jail. Our jails are bursting at the seams; our incarceration rates lead the Western world.
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“Daley said the public realizes that criminals are getting a pass: ‘They think it’s corrupt’.”
The public thinks the Chicago Police Department is corrupt, not federal investigators. And it is – from the top down.
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“Of course, federal agents in Chicago also not infrequently target wrongdoing in local government,” the Trib’s Dan Mihalopoulos writes. “Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Chicago police in the past routinely tortured murder suspects and are expected to soon bring a major indictment against a disbanded special police unit whose members were accused of kidnapping and robbing people with impunity.
“But the mayor did not say where exactly such crimes should rank in the federal list of priorities. Daley dodged when asked if he thought the federal case against his longtime patronage chief Robert Sorich and two other former aides represents a good use of law enforcement power and resources.”
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In the print version of the story, Mihalopolulous reports that “The mayor quickly cut off a question about the patronage case, saying, ‘They can prosecute any case they want. It doesn’t matter.”
But you just told us it did.
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The public thinks you are corrupt, Mr. Mayor. They’re just (wrongly) satisfied with the trade-off.
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“‘How can [drug kingpins] accumulate money every week, every month, have three or four homes, drive the best cars, have the best nail shops, and a lot of other things, the best girls, all the jewelry and nobody says anything?’ said Daley, his voice at times rising to a high-pitched squeal.”
As John Kass writes this morning, the best girls? And let me add: The best nail shops?
And yes, nobody says anything. I never hear anyone decry gangs and drug dealers.
“But if someone takes $100, it could be a Chicago policeman or anybody else, the feds are right there knocking on your door,” Daley added.
Or, as Mihalopoulos notes, if you rig “the city hiring and promotions process in favor of campaign workers who showed loyalty to the mayor and his favorite political candidates.”
The Burris Show
“Roland is not really the junior senator if you look in terms of knowledge,” new Burris strategist Delmarie Cobb just said on Fox Chicago’s Good Day Chicago.
Delmarie Cobb, you are today’s Worst Person in Chicago.
Cobb also noted that nobody wanted Roland Burris to have this seat, without explaining how he is nonetheless entitled to it. She also repeated her provably wrong statement that Burris was needed to help pass the stimulus bill, and criticized Dick Durbin for taking a “vacation” to Greece while Burris was left behind as the state’s only working senator.
Oh my God, how did the state run with only one senator on its soil?!
Finally, Cobb got away with saying that there weren’t any negative media reports about Burris until the amended affidavits gave the press an opening. While there wasn’t enough negative press, we’ve tiresomely described here the scope of Burris’s crappy and controversial career. Cobb also never explained what is motivating everyone to align against Burris, except to imply that we’re all racist. Again, just implausible to the highest order and on multiple levels.
The Durbin Show
Still, Dick Durbin is a pussy.
“Durbin, in keeping with the chummy ways of the Senate and the political sensitivities of home-state constituencies, used carefully parsed words to put himself on record suggesting Burris leave the Senate. But by summoning reporters to a press conference he made the public break clear,” Mike Dorning reports in the Tribune.
“‘Get the quote carefully,’ Durbin said at one point, before repeating a formulation that he used again and again in the press conference: ‘What I said was, you know, if I were in your shoes, I would consider resigning’.”
So Durbin didn’t actually tell – or even ask – Burris to resign, though he got the headlines he wanted implying that he did. Nice job, Dick.
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“We had a great conversation,” Burris said.
Does this man ever stop lying?
In Today’s Beachwood
Let me catch everybody up one more time; we had some late posts yesterday.
* Burris Clergy Speaks With Forked Tongues. A group of ministers that calls itself Clergy Speaks reacts to Dick Durbin’s (apparent) call for Roland Burris to resign – and we’re there!
* Open Letter: Dear Illinois African-American Community. How on the ball are we? Very!
* Intimations. The tyranny of assaulting air.
* What I Watched Last Night: Jockeys. Jimmy the Hat, sex in the saddle.
And on NBCChicago.com
Including a couple of new posts this morning, with more to come.
* Northern Trust Bust. How else they’re spending our money.
* Jody Weis: Above the Law.
* High-Speed Stimulus. CTA funding at risk?
* Bumping Burris. Why is he still here?
* Pat Quinn: The Adult Governor
* Coming Soon On YourMayorTube
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More to come all the way around, be patient, dear readers! Send money!
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The Beachwood Tip Line: A winding road.
Posted on February 25, 2009