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Sunday, June 26, 2005
Blame Daily, Dick Daley
Posted by Bob BrighamIn retrospect, a contrast of Durbin's apology for telling the truth and Rove's lack of an apology for an outright slanderous lie shows the extreme folly of Senator Durbin's apology.
The new White House effort to brand Democrats as weak was launched following Durbin demonstrating that a Democratic leader was personally weak.
While Rove took advantage of the situation and should be fired, the blame should be placed squarely on the shoulders of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley -- and it should be remembered and treated appropriately.
Daley is going to be on the ballot again and when that time comes, I hope he will be treated by the netroots in the way he deserves. His father had a similar folly after gooning up the Democratic National Convention, but politics moved slower in those days and the protesters whose heads were smashed didn't have nearly the power that the emerging blogosphere and netroots will have by the time Daley starts asking for support. And judging by the polls, he's going to need it...from the Chicago Tribune:
The persistent drip, drip, drip of scandal at City Hall has taken a serious toll on Mayor Richard Daley, eroding his support, cutting sharply into his popularity and making him potentially vulnerable to a challenge by U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., according to a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll.If a head-to-head Daley-versus-Jackson contest for mayor were held today, it would be a tossup, according to the survey of 700 registered Chicago voters.
Daley won every city ward and nearly 80 percent of the vote when he last was re-elected in 2003. But the poll found that slightly less than half of voters now say they would like him to run again, and 39 percent said they would prefer he not try for another term.
When Mayor Daley runs again, I think he'll quickly be reminding of this quote, from Kos:
As for Mayor Daley, who cut off Durbin at the knees -- a pox on his house.
Bob Novak's column today has some more background on how Daley's hatchet job on Durbin:
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin may never have apologized for his remarks about the Guantanamo detention camp had his fellow Democrat, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, not described his comments as a ''disgrace.''Durbin did not personally call Daley, but his frantic staffers were on the phone to the mayor's office Tuesday asking that Daley tone down or even retract what he said. Daley made clear he would do no such thing. Durbin's staffers claimed that the senator's expression of regret the previous Friday should suffice, but the mayor insisted on a full-fledged apology.
Yes, Durbin made a mistake. But his hand was forced in his home state by Mayor Daley. Comparing the fallout from this scandal to the fallout from the other Mayor Daley's attack on Democrats at the '68 Convention will serve as quite a case-study in the new power of the Democratic base. Yet another generation of Democrats now hate a Mayor Daley and this time, the grassroots have the power to provide proportional retribution...I pity the fool.
Posted at 12:55 PM in Illinois | Technorati
Comments
Only in fascist America is it a mistake to tell the truth.
Daley should have stood behind Durbin's comments and reinforced the fact that American behavior was weakening the US throughout the world and endangering the troops on the battlefield, and not the truth of recognizing that.
Posted by: stumpy ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.swingstateproject.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at June 26, 2005 02:01 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
In these times we have to be so careful what we say. Sen. Durbin simply said that seeing the pictures of prisoners shackled to the floor reminds one of totalitarian regimes. He never said Guantanamo was at all comparable to what the Nazi's or other regimes did. But the right-wing will twist this and they have lots of media airplay now to do so. I still feel Kerry would be President if he had never said "I voted for it before I voted against it." With 40% of Americans identifying conservative and 25% identifying liberal, the public's gut reaction, fed by the media, is often against liberals. It doesn't help that Ward Churchill's Nazi comments, for example, get weeks of media play while the televangelists blaming feminism and gay rights for the 9/11 attacks, for example, don't.
For Daley to reinforce the attack on Durbin rather than clearing the air on what was really said is sad. Perhaps the inabiltiy of the Democratic party to shake these perceptions and emerge with bold ideas explains why the sharp decline in support for Congressional republicans has not been accompanied by much of an increase in support for Dems in many of the polls.
Posted by: mcittone at June 26, 2005 05:48 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment