* House Speaker and Democratic Party of Illinois Chairman Michael J. Madigan…

* The Question: Caption?

Best comment wins an invitation to my election night party, which is gonna be way cool, with a high-tech twist. Details to come.

       

150 Comments - Strobby - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:25 pm: Go ahead Soy Boy pull my finger - Steve Bartin - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:25 pm: “You, this land is my land and don’t forget it.” - Spliff - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:25 pm: I can pass a pension bill any day i want … with just the flip of this finger! - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:26 pm: “You voted …No?” - L.S. - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:27 pm: “Hey, Skip!…Door’s that way” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:27 pm: “Mr. Speaker, point to who you would like to be Minority Leader, if you could choose … let the record show, Speaker Madigan pointed to Tom Cross …” - Downstate Dem - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:28 pm: Go ahead make my day, try to run some thing without me! - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:29 pm: “Take that Mushroom to the Democratic Caucus Room for …”re-education” - train111 - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:29 pm: Cross me and I’ll map you into a district so hostile that youre own mother would vote against you. train111 - amalia - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:30 pm: Hey, Hahn. You may be the new GM, but, remember, I’m not just in charge of the South Side. - haverford - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:31 pm: Keep heading east, Sandy. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:32 pm: Who let Gary LaPaille sit in my chair???????? - Newsclown - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:32 pm: “You SHALL NOT PASS!” “…Mr. clerk, read the bill…” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:33 pm: “You want to run that Bill … now?” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:33 pm: “You … you are my next Republican opponent.” - QC Lawyer - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:34 pm: “Hey Skip - why is Sandoval now yelling without any clothes on? He knows we are going to get you in ‘14 right?” - I'm Just Saying - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:35 pm: Who bought me this tie Joanne, Point them out to me….. I only wore it because I felt bad…. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:36 pm: “Is that Cross’ new seat? Where is he ?… golfing? … Go. And. Get. Him.” - Makandadawg - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:37 pm: Ah Governor, pension reform is this way - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:37 pm: “Hey, Mr. Speaker, where in the Gallery do you want your ‘Speaker Portait’ hung?” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:38 pm: “No …nah … nope, can’t be … you? … you’re Oswego Willy?” - 10th Indy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:39 pm: By far the best line in the Speaker’s “Saviano Empty Chair” speech was “What do you want me to tell Sandoval? I can’t tell him to do that. I can’t tell him to do that to himself” - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:41 pm: “Mr. Brown, please bring those ducklings to my office.” - Leatherneck - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:43 pm: “State employees and retirees: keep away from your hard-earned pension money.” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:44 pm: “Did you just call me … Mike, …like I know you?” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:47 pm: “Psst. We know you have been gone a long time, but I think the Speaker is telling you .. to go get your Shine Box…” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:48 pm: “Wasn’t your turn to bring down the Cannoli?” - Louis G. Atsaves - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:48 pm: Blame that little group over there. They are called Republicans! - Wensicia - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:49 pm: Madigan to AFSCME reps: “Where’s Quinn hiding? Over there, behind that wall.” - train111 - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:49 pm: Hey Skip Brent Hassert wants to talk to you over there. train111 - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:51 pm: “Speaker Madigan had to call the Sergeant at Arms to escort Master Plummer out. Plummer is still confused about this ‘Congress’, ‘General Assembly’ business.” - Matt Guitar Murphy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:51 pm: Hey…you gonna eat that apple? - Anonymous - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:51 pm: Clint Eastwood only had 1 empty chair. I control 117 of them. You tell me who’s tougher. - Elm Princ - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:52 pm: No, Mr. Quinn, you may not sit in my daughter’s chair. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:52 pm: See that guy to my right? I wiped his face clean off of him. You want some of the same? - x ace - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:53 pm: “Never take your eyes off your opponent, even when you bow” - Anonymous - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:54 pm: This IS my happy face. You should see how I look when Mapes is late with my apple. - Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:55 pm: “Mr. Brown, please cease and desist blogging forthwith.” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:56 pm: “Hey … didn’t I ‘promote’ you to the Senate? No? You sure …?” - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:57 pm: “Bathe Bruce Dold and bring him to me.” - Just Me - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:58 pm: (In Oprah voice): “And you get a well funded opponent, and you, and you, and you too get a well funded opponent!” - Jeff Trigg - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:58 pm: “Yes, with our state budget and pension benefit obligations a complete mess, this Assembly has been living in Neverland. Now, guess which character I am before you say another word about it.” - unspun - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 12:58 pm: “With the assistance of an index finger that would make Wilt Chamberlain envious, Speaker Madigan can see around the corner”. - jsg - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:00 pm: “If you will not be vote with me, you will be destroyed!” [shoots Force lightning] “Conservative fool… Only now, at the end, do you understand the power of the Madigan side of the Force” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:01 pm: “You want to vote … to reconsider … my … motion?” - Eddie - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:01 pm: Tom, “this to shall pass….” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:09 pm: “Hey …you ordered lunch without asking?” - nickypiii - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:11 pm: LINE FOR JOB REQUESTS STARTS OVER THERE! - Carl Warlock, Protector of the Universe - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:14 pm: (to Admiral Motti, I mean Skip Saviano) “I find your lack of faith disturbing.” - Irish - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:15 pm: Did he say no once or did he say it twice? Question you need to ask yourself are you feeling lucky? Well punk, are you? - anon sequitor - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:16 pm: Is that what Rich looks like in the daylight? - Ivory-billed Woodpecker - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:17 pm: “Yes, you over there with the question: we’re not taking questions.” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:18 pm: “Did you just suggest, out loud, term limits for …Speaker?” - Irish - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:18 pm: Oh..look,…a kitty. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:20 pm: === - Ivory-billed Woodpecker - “Yes, you over there with the question: we’re not taking questions.” === I had my beverage go OUT my nose … coffee burns! Well done! - Spiney Norman - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:22 pm: Chewing gum in line eh….Well I hope you brougt enough for everbody. - been there - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:23 pm: Voldemort spots a wizard. - Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:27 pm: Would the gentleman who just called me Dean Wormer please come forward and identify himself to this body. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:27 pm: “You keeping using that word, inconceivable… in your speech … I do not think it means what you think it means …” - Long Time Listener - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:27 pm: You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose. But you can’t pick your friends’ noses. - Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:28 pm: Lose another shirt, Willy? - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:31 pm: “Sergeant at Arms, please remove the woman with the blurry face to my right. Mapes, I think I need another apple.” - Dee Lay - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:32 pm: See the Tribune editor over there? Yes him. Release the hounds. - MrJM - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:34 pm: Michael J. Madigan: “Have the Rolling Stones killed.” Duckling: “But sir, those aren’t the…” Michael J. Madigan: “DO AS I SAY!” – MrJM - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:35 pm: That Plummer Dry Cleaning is going to be busy. Wasn’t expecting that, caught me flat-drinking. “Are you wearing a ‘Fire Madigan’ sweater.. and drinking from a ‘Fire Madigan’ mug … on purpose?” - walkinfool - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:35 pm: “Do I have to say it?” - Anonymous - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:41 pm: “Now look, boys, I ain’t much of a hand at makin’ speeches, but I got a pretty fair idea that something doggone important is goin’ on back there. And I got a fair idea the kinda personal emotions that some of you fellas may be thinkin’.” (Apologies to Major T. J. “King” Kong.) - Joe from Joliet - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:41 pm: Listen, Sue. When I tell you to vote a certain way, I won’t want to hear any of that ‘independent-minded’ stuff from you. - Casual Observer - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:41 pm: There’s a tough pension vote coming up…the bathroom’s that way. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:41 pm: “You want to call us to a Caucus? Did I ask you to do that? No? … oh… you still want to call us to Caucus then?” - Deep South - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:42 pm: After three transplant attempts, Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan tells Mayor Emanuel he’s done, “Hey Rahm, if the first three didn’t take, I doubt this one will - so I’m gonna keep it.” - 32nd Ward Roscoe Village - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:43 pm: You. Yes, you, what are you looking at? Wipe that face off your head. - 32nd Ward Roscoe Village - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:45 pm: That’s it. Skip goes on double secret probation. - Jake From Elwood - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:45 pm: Is that a Twisted Sister pin on your uniform? - Irishpirate - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:48 pm: “Bring Cross to me for the prostate exam”. - siriusly - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:49 pm: Representative Willis, your seat is over here. With the Democrats. - Irish - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:51 pm: “Here’s lookin at you kid.” “I am smiling!” “Yeah, you, hurry up! That apple is startin to work.” - ac slater - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:51 pm: I thought I got rid of him. - Left of Central IL - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:52 pm: “By the power of GraySkull, I am Master…wait…where are the lightning bolts…what wrong with this thing?” - Rufus - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:53 pm: There is no tip of the hat, just the wag of a finger. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:55 pm: “Holy Toledo! Did I just swear-in … Derrick Smith?” - Rufus - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:55 pm: My finger is more lethal than any gun. - Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:57 pm: “Mr.Sergeant at Arms, secure the bathrooms. Mr. Mapes, call the pension bill.” - downstate commissionet - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 1:59 pm: Irish Pirate Re: Cross and the prostate exam- OUCH!! The rest of you go back and look at the picture… - Bakersfield - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:04 pm: “Hey Marty, go stand on a chair over there and go freaking crazy.” “Yeah, that’s it, just like that” - 47th Ward - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:10 pm: He’s contributed, she’s contributed, he’s contributed, he still owes me, she owes, he’s contributed, he’s contributed, he still owes… - 32nd Ward Roscoe Village - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:10 pm: “I will show you the way of pain–or at least the finger of pain.” - Anon - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:10 pm: Hoffman you’re down to your last life. - Steve Bartin - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:13 pm: “I’m your pension, I’m your tax increase, I’m your highway program, I am your property tax appeal, I’m God on earth and don’t you forget it.” - ac slater - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:15 pm: Bost, get down off that chair. We do not throw tantrums in the House! - Skeeter - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:17 pm: Until a week from today, we move that way. Then we all move back left. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:21 pm: Never underestimate the power of the dark side. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:22 pm: “Dupage County, I’m coming for you.” - just sayin' - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:28 pm: First place went to Speaker Madigan for his Grim Reaper costume. - Anonymice - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:29 pm: “Cardinal Fang, the comfy chair . . .” - unclesam - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:30 pm: “I’ll retire just after you go through that exit, stage right, through the door marked ‘Hell.’” - just because - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:31 pm: you over there…that is not how I told you to vote. - Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:35 pm: Just wait until all these wiseguys find out I’m co-hosting Rich Miller’s election night bash. They think this finger is bad. - BentheDem - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:46 pm: “TC… Phone Home…” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:52 pm: “Miller, you better pick a good winner …I would like to ‘congratulate’ them as well …” - Nickname99 - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:53 pm: I know what you’re thinking. “Did he fire six shots or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, punk? - Jimbo - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:55 pm: Pekew! Pekew! I got you. You’re out. Sit down Marty. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 2:55 pm: “Orange Whip …?” - Todd - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 3:01 pm: Senator Sandoval, here’s your cue. . . - Jaded - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 3:11 pm: “House Speaker Mike Madigan shows off the only finger in American that can vote 64 switches in less than 5 seconds” - AFSCME Steward - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 3:16 pm: I’m not gonna tell you again Rich Miller, this is the last time you use me in a caption contest. Got it ? - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 3:17 pm: “Saviano, I knew it was you. You broke my heart.” - CircularFiringSquad - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 3:20 pm: “Miller, yeah you Miller. You can smoke in my office after The Big Sav is done.” “That should about wrap it up right?” - unclesam - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 3:21 pm: “Mr. Ramis, director, let me get this straight…you want this guy, Mr. Walken, to play me in your movie. Well, he’s got the hands for it.” - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 3:28 pm: “Yes, I have freakishly long fingers. What of it?” - Carl Nyberg - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 3:29 pm: “The voters send me idiots and I make legislation. You may hate me, but you know you need me to keep Illinois functioning.” - VanillaMan - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 3:31 pm: “Blagojevich? Is that you?” - Demoralized - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 3:31 pm: “Please place Mr. Smith’s desk outside of the chamber doors.” - Demoralized - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 3:33 pm: “This is the only handgun approved for conceal/carry.” - RFR - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 3:35 pm: When I’m finished with you, you will have an entirely new understanding of the phrase “anatomically impossible.” - palatine - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 3:36 pm: Skippy there’s only one boss in Illinois, and it isn’t yous. - Dirty Red - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 3:36 pm: Scott Lee Cohen walks into Chairman Michael J. Madigan’s office after the media widely reports about the party’s newly elected lieutenant governor nominee’s troubled history. “You’re the guy who used to own a chain of pawn shops, aren’t you?” the chairman says. Sheila Simon is nominated to fill Cohen’s post in the following weeks. - Foxfire - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 3:48 pm: Hey! Look! I can use this finger to point. I always used my middle finger for that, but this one works too! That is all. Go there and talk among yourselves. - Telling It Like It Is - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:02 pm: Governor Quinn, I served with Rod Balgojevich. I knew Rod Blagojevich. Rod Blagojevich was a friend of mine. Governor Quinn, YOU’RE NO ROD BALGOJEVICH! - Nice Kid - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:05 pm: You guys can’t win. - sal-says - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:06 pm: “All this power. All this money. I’m an attorney. And I STILL can’t buy a suit with proper length sleeves. Sheesh.” - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:08 pm: “Now youse can’t leave.” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:11 pm: A Bronx Tale! Well Done! - dupage dan - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:12 pm: Mlad the Impaler points to his next victim. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:15 pm: It’s Skip’s favorite line, Willy, so I figured it was appropriate today. - Esquire - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:17 pm: “You’ll get nothing and like it!” To quote, Judge Elihu Smails (”Caddyshack”). - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:20 pm: We need more Savianos … and we need the original Saviano too. (This was brought to you by Oswego Willy PAC, not affiliated with Friends for Saviano) “You got ‘Mushed’ …” Keeping the theme goin’ - schwartzee - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:21 pm: Rich, you’ve won your own contest for best comment. - Independent - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:21 pm: Oh crap, there are three fingers pointing back at me. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:24 pm: ===And I STILL can’t buy a suit with proper length sleeves=== Those are his Spfld suits. His Chicago suits are much nicer. - Blizzard of '76 - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:25 pm: “Hey wait!…this is a campaign office…aren’t you one of my staffers? How did that happen?” (shrugs) - Anyone Remember? - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:27 pm: You, over there - remember, as Mayor Richard J. Daley told me … “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” - Get 'Er Dunne - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:29 pm: “And we’ll take that seat…and that one…and, yes, she’s gotta go…muahhahaha” - Independent - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:33 pm: Boy do I have a primary opponent for you… - unclesam - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:34 pm: “The line to kiss the ring and receive your parking assignment begins over there.” - Crafty Girl - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:36 pm: “YOU!Yes, you! I’m WATCHING YOU!” - Jaded - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:39 pm: LaPaille (pinky), Farley (ring finger), Capparelli (middle finger), Bugielski (thumb), and now you Skip. Of all people, you should have known better. - Skeeter - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:39 pm: Marty, head over there and do something crazy. Jump on a table or something. Act like you don’t have a brain in your head. That way they will talk about you and not me. - Irishpirate - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:41 pm: Flounder, I am appointing you pledge representative to the social committee. Flounder: Gee Mr Speaker, thanks. What do I have to do? Madigan: It means you have to drive us to the Food King. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 4:57 pm: Jaded wins. Send me an e-mail and I’ll get you an invite. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 5:03 pm: This was a good Contest, I have a coffee burned nose to prove it! - rjg - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 5:38 pm: You see that guy John Kass at the Chicago Tribune who keeps writing mean articles about me GET HIM! - Eilean left - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 5:39 pm: I cast my vote for Mr. Cross for speaker. - railrat - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 6:08 pm: professional “launch a booger” winner, hits rep. from chicago that wants a name change at a transit stop - Valerie F. Leonard - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 6:58 pm: Make my day… - aufjunk - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 7:07 pm: “When Alexander Haig said he was in charge, he was lying. I’m not.” - Zoble21 - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 8:50 pm: Quinn, your out… My daughter Lisa will take it from here. - muon - Tuesday, Oct 30, 12 @ 8:55 pm: I Want YOU For the House Democratic Caucus - Karl - Wednesday, Oct 31, 12 @ 2:23 am: We don’t need CCW laws in Illinois. Every Illinois citizen is already armed with a finger gun that can be used to deter criminals. - ah HA - Wednesday, Oct 31, 12 @ 8:13 am: If you don’t like the way I run this State, There’s the Door. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.