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* Maybe it’s because I’m still not feeling well, but I’ve read this three times and I’m still not sure I get the logic behind today’s Kass piece about how state Sen. Kwame Raoul is a spoiler…
Kwame Raoul hates it when you call him a “spoiler,” so I what am I supposed to call him?
The Kwame-Nader?
Kwame-Nader is an homage to Ralph Nader, who took enough votes from weird Al Gore to make George W. Bush the president.
Raoul is Haitian-American, popular among Hyde Park liberals and flirting with challenging incumbent Quinn in the Democratic primary. Quinn is already facing a challenge from mayoral brother and former Obama White House chief of staff William Daley.
So if the Kwame-Nader gets in, will he take black votes from Quinn? Does this help Daley?
“The notion that somebody has characterized me as a spoiler, given my record of achievement, not only advancing policy that impacts the black community, but all communities, is insulting at best,” he told WLS-Ch. 7.
That’s so precious, Sen. Kwame-Nader. You don’t like being insulted? Who are you, the public relations guy for the Chicago Fire?
If you were serious about running for governor of a state in financial ruin, you would have been doing something about it long ago.
If Kwame-Nader was serious, he’d have been out there for months like others, staking out positions, declaring where he stands.
Instead, he’s been running that legislative pension committee, the one that costs Illinois taxpayers $5 million for every day it doesn’t solve the problem. Instead, it keeps meeting and meeting and meeting. And meeting.
Oh, Kwame-Nader. If you don’t like the name, please give me a call (finally) and we’ll think of something else.
Perhaps you can help me understand the logic here.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:07 pm
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My life got easier when I stopped trying to make Kass columns make sense. I recommend it.
Comment by ChicagoR Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:10 pm
It’s Kass, ’nuff said
Comment by retired Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:15 pm
Kass needs to stop sippin’ dat Haterade.
Comment by Random Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:16 pm
There is no logic to it. He does not explain his position. He just throws out childish insults. And terrible writer, to boot.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:18 pm
You can’t make sense from the senseless. What’s more important is for you to get healthy. Our morning was devoid of any stimulation.
Comment by Norseman Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:20 pm
Logic is methodically following a carefully thought out set of principles to make a convincing argument.
Looking for logic in Kass’s attack dog tactics seems futile.
Comment by Cod Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:21 pm
Kass + logic. That’s the problem right there
Comment by Falstaff Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:21 pm
Another thing that doesn’t make sense is how he became a columnist for any media outlet he doesn’t own.
Comment by Norseman Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:22 pm
Here is what I think the logic is…
(Kass’s logic not mine)
If Kwame were serious about running he would have been serious about it a while back…
That in fact the committee is preventing a $5,000,000 a day money saving solution from being implemented. Also logically once the committee emerges with a solution the legislature will pass it the next day and it will take effect that same day. (Obviously, duh)
The Daleys in their porkpie hats and at their power lunches have thought this entire process out from beginning to end and realize they need Kwame to run since every voter of some groups are going to vote for Pat Quinn….
Emphasis Kass’ logic, not mine.
Comment by OneMan Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:23 pm
The comment towards the end on Kwame’s chairing the pension committee was telling. Obviously the columnist dislikes Kwame because Kwame does not want to bludgeon public employees and retirees as much as he does, so he will invent as much negative stuff about Kwame as he possibly can.
Nader ran a third-party candidacy; Kwame may run in a Democratic primary. There is no similarity between the two situations whatsoever.
Comment by Andrew Szakmary Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:23 pm
Logic = Kass is picking a fight.
Illogic = Raoul taking the bait.
In a world full of crazy realities, JK still needs to invent stuff to write about. Weird.
Comment by A guy... Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:25 pm
Logic doesn’t play a role, Rich.
The sole purpose of this column is to christen yet another politico with a “clever” name that no one besides Kass would ever consider using.
– MrJM
Comment by MrJM Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:25 pm
BTW. Feel better. OW called every hospital south of I-80 cause he was worried and frantic. The least you coulda done was call. C’mon man.
Comment by A guy... Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:26 pm
It’s worth repeating: No one involved in or writing about Illinois politics has any idea what John Kass is talking about most of the time.
Comment by Marty Funkhouser Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:27 pm
@ Rich –
Hard to tell exactly what he thinks he’s doing here. But does he give away his logic in the 6th graf?
“You want the recipe for Kass’ Beer Can Chicken? Then go online and find my Tribune video that has more than 400,000 clicks. (Go to [address deleted].)”
Sounds like he’s making over-the-top wisecracks, saying anything that pops into his head about anybody he can think of — Raoul, Quinn, Daley, even Bill Cellini — to create buzz and drive up page views for that barbecue chicken recipe of his.
So I just went back and deleted the address from his quote because I don’t want to be a party to increasing his traffic.
Comment by olddog Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:28 pm
Kass has been trying to find someone new to hate on since Jimmy DeLeo left the senate. Maybe he is settling on Raoul.
Comment by Spliff Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:28 pm
A pol. ignoring Kass makes my day. Kass whining about it makes my week.
Comment by he just got my vote Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:32 pm
The only reason why Senator Raoul is even contemplating running is because the voters keep telling pollsters that they want another choice. If either Dem candidate was stronger, I’m not sure he’d be thinking about it at this late stage.
Politics is partially about opportunity. He not only has to consider this, he owes it to himself and to Dem primary voters to think about it.
Kass has done more to damage the Chicago Tribune’s credibility as a newspaper than the Editorial Board. That’s saying a lot.
Comment by siriusly Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:35 pm
Reading Kass three times is not going to make you feel any better, Rich.
Comment by Snucka Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:35 pm
This is interesting. Turns out Rich Miller reads Kass’s column.
Which means that Kass has one more reader than I thought he had.
Comment by Skeeter Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:37 pm
Actual headline on the Trib website: Kass can’t stand “Divvy people”. What an utter shock. A new, seemingly helpful/innovative idea comes along and John Kass hates it. What an original idea for a web video. He’s pretty much become a caricature of himself at this point.
Comment by Snucka Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:40 pm
Kass is so full of himself that he doesn’t realize his nonsense has meaning only to him.
Comment by Cheswick Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:40 pm
John Kass is politically tone-deaf. He writes for the audience and not for himself. That’s why he will never be what he has always aspired: next coming of Mike Royko.
Comment by MrGrassroots Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:40 pm
If Kass knew anything about the makeup of the Illinois Democratic primary, the math is pretty easy for Sen. Raoul. If he can get atleast 50% of the African American vote and run evens with whites, Latinos and Asians around 33% he wins hands down.
Harold Washington showed it is realistic to put together a coalition of minorities, young people and white collar liberals.
This race will shape up more like the 2008 Democrati. Presidential primary with a flawed progressive, an estiblisbment Democrat from a prominent family and a “something new” guy with a funny name and we all know how that turned out.
Take all that and put the 40 member Dem Senate caucus, a few labor unions and some lake front money together and things can come together quite well for him.
Comment by Citizen Carl Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:43 pm
Not surprisingly, Kass comes off as a dumba–. Nader wasn’t a spoiler, Pat Buchanan was. Has Kass ever seen those Palm Beach County ballots? Has Kass ever wondered why Gore didn’t carry Tennessee? I doubt it because the man doesn’t have an original thought based on preparation or research, but only belittling and bullying. Nickname Nitwits columns aren’t even good enough to line a pet’s cage.
Comment by Precinct Captain Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:51 pm
Laura Washington and Kass are the two Chicago columnists who have pushed this Kwame-as-a-spoiler routine. It’s not surprising. Both are well-versed in City Hall politics, and not so well-versed on Illinois state politics. Both got involved in covering politics during the Harold Washington era and still view elections through that prism…a time when talk of election “spoilers” was constant. This outdated, Chicago-centric world view also causes them to see Bill Daley as being a much more viable statewide candidate than her really is.
I think most CapFax followers agree that Kwame has a very legitimate shot at winning the primary, mostly because Quinn and Daley are weak candidates who have little chance of firing-up the activist Democratic core who vote in primaries.
True, Kwame may stumble — having never been tested in a big league campaign before — and that might be a good thing for Daley and actually give Billy a shot at winning. But to brand Kwame a “spoiler” is to say at the outset that he has absolutely zero chance of winning. Anyone who believes that doesn’t really understand Illinois politics.
Comment by Frank Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:52 pm
Citizen Carl, have to argue with your comparison, but not your conclusion. I too think Raoul can win, but it’s nothing like the Harold Washington election which was primarily about race. You’re right it is a lot more like 2008.
Raoul is credible, smart, experienced and likeable. He will attract a lot of moderate and left-leaning Democratic voters from the suburbs, mostly whites.
Comment by siriusly Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:54 pm
I am looking at this from the idea that Kass needs “something” to make people talk about him. There is nothing logical to connect any dots, to any thoughts.
Everyone needs a calling card, that is Kass’ I guess.
Giving this a second though might be as loony as writing it to begin with, so … are we all enabling this lunacy?
So, since its Friday, and it’s Kass, and it makes no sense, and the Bears play tonight, late, on the West Coast, I am just going to giggle, point, and move on I guess.
Kass - a caricature of who Kass hoped he could if would be, but missed the ‘mark’ and we are all now punished for it I guess.
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:54 pm
He bet a colleague he could get Poultry, Haiti, Nader, Daley, Quinn, Metra and madigan into the same column.
Next week Pat Buchanan, somalia, filet o’fish, lisa, judy baar topinka, rauner, dillard, brady.
Comment by shore Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:57 pm
Kass sadly has become a cartoon character.
Comment by Anonymous Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 1:59 pm
I just watched the Kass Divvy people video this video comes to mind….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfYJsQAhl0
Also applies to the column
Comment by OneMan Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 2:00 pm
I’d call John Kass a spoiler of the Chicago Tribune, but the paper basically sucks.
How bad does the Trib suck?
They found two guys who give away tens of millions of dollars to influence elections, and they wouldn’t buy the Tribune.
Guess the Koch brothers decided the Trib has negligible power to influence elections. Is that why the Trib hired John Kass? Or is it why the Trib hasn’t fired John Kass?
Comment by Carl Nyberg Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 2:11 pm
What does Kwame Raoul being Haitian-American have to do with anything at all?
Is Kass trying to say his ancestry makes him more of a joke/spoiler candidate? Or that he may have black skin but he’s not a “real” black if not African-American. Because I feel like that is what he is implying and I really don’t care for it.
I mean its not like there is some Haitian-American voting block and I can’t see how that would be relevant to his legislative career or possible gubernatorial campaign so why throw that out except to gin up some racial/ethnic prejudice. Or has Kass been referring to his candidate as German-American Bruce Rauner all along and I just missed it?
Comment by hisgirlfriday Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 2:14 pm
Is Kwame-Nader suppose to sound enough like “terminator” that I notice or is that just a happy accident?
Comment by MEP Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 2:15 pm
Daily could just as easily be a spoiler that gets Raoul elected.
Comment by Joe M Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 2:21 pm
===please give me a call (finally)===
There’s your logic. Kass’ feelings are hurt because nobody takes him seriously enough to return his calls. Somebody call the whaaaambulance.
Comment by 47th Ward Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 2:35 pm
Logic + Kass Piece = Oxymoron
Comment by sal-says Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 2:40 pm
I think he is trying to call Raoul an opportunist who is not prepared to be governor and would be merely trying to get elected by exploiting race, however, he didn’t say it
Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 2:42 pm
Kass is to politics as Mariotti is to sports
Comment by Stu Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 2:49 pm
Let me do it like you used to do some of these, Rich.
Kass is to logic as Guiness is to Sharps - or as Vodka is to Water
Comment by low level Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 2:50 pm
From my sense of the populace on this, if the good Senator got into the race, and had a credible campaign, it might be Mr. Daley that was the spoiler.
Comment by titan Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 2:52 pm
Or, in a nod to my favorite guy, OW -
Kass is to logic as Cross was to a majority. Oh man we could go all day with this
Comment by low level Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 2:55 pm
I knew Royko, He was rude to me on several occasions. And he was the smartest political observer I have ever meet. Royko would immediately have understood Kwame’s potential path to victory (I’m not saying he’ll win; I’m saying he has a path). He also would have understood that it costs $5 million a day until the pension reforms are IMPLEMENTED - and the latest numbers suggest that the cost is no longer $5 mm a day. (And the pension plans are always going to cost SOMETHING per day, right?) Kass, consider math camp…
Please stop mentioning John Kass in the same breath, sentence, or paragraph as Mike Royko. He was one of a kind, and I still miss the SOB.
Comment by Soccermom Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 3:10 pm
Rich and Kass do have one thing in common: their love for the White Sox.
Comment by None of the Above Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 3:12 pm
No candidate owns anyone’s vote; all votes must be earned. If a candidate (Gore in 2000 and Daley now) cannot win, that’s their fault and not another candidate’s. Refering to a candidate as a spoiler fails to understand this basic truth.
Comment by SirLankselot Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 3:16 pm
Kass has many obsessions. I have seen this statement repeatedly in various forms in his columns: “If they’re the grill masters, what are we taxpayers? We’re the poultry.” Or how about this classic “At least taxpayers know something about taxes: Every time taxes are raised, a liberal gets his wings. It’s kind of like the bells for angels in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” only this one comes on April 15, and it doesn’t ring. It tolls. It tolls for thee.”
Over and over he beats that drum, because of the “combine” Republicans, Democrats, liberals, conservatives, all be damned. Really assuming all politics are a charade controlled by various puppet masters makes everything easy.
In Illinois there is a legitimate place for cynicism, but Kass takes it to a level that really leaves you wondering.
Comment by Rod Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 3:29 pm
- low level -,
Appreciate the props, to follow you lead for one;
Kass is to logic as Plummer is to political acumen!
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 4:11 pm
I am in a Republican county where there is barely a Dem ballot in the primary. I would cross for Raoul. I think others would too.
Daley is too DC and too Daley, Quinn is too Quinn. Time for a change, even if its an unknown.
Comment by CarrollCounty Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 4:34 pm
Sorry, should have tied this comment to Kass. He has no idea what happens outside. Raoul has a shot at this, esp in the general.
Comment by CarrollCounty Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 4:35 pm
To answer Rich’s question to the best of my ability:
Kass believes that Raoul entering as a candidate would give the race to Daley. He is also claiming that his opinion should not be considered an insult to Raoul and is highly annoyed that Raoul took it that way. Kass invented the term Raoul-Nader as a phrase that Raoul might approve of.
If Raoul had entered the race earlier, he would have considered Raoul a candidate, not a spoiler.
Comment by Dan Bureaucrat Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 4:38 pm
@ Snucka - it is possible to hate Kass AND cyclists. Particularly on a day when, in the course of walking two blocks, you’ve had to point out to four cyclists, in three separate incidents, that at their age they should be riding in the street, not on the sidewalk.
Yeah, I’m feeling grumpy about it.
Comment by Joan P. Friday, Aug 23, 13 @ 5:50 pm