40 Comments - frustrated GOP - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 2:19 pm: OK, how can all of the bar and resturant owners in Springfield vote to get that idiot’s approval rating at 25%? Who else would aprove of this insanity? I mean they are the only ones really coming out good on this, right? OK, maybe his actions are good for GOP fundraisers but that’s about it. The rest of us are sick of the games. - Six Degrees of Separation - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 2:42 pm: Isn’t that lower than George Bush? - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 2:51 pm: Sure is. But so is he - Downstater - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 2:59 pm: Finally, a poll that gives us all hope. Somebody needs to show this to Cook Co. they just don’t seem to get it. - Anon - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 3:25 pm: I would give thought to voting for Osama Bin Laden if he ran against anyone allied with Jack Roeser, and I’m a “rank and file” Republican. Denny, come to your senses and run again, at least in the primary. - keepin up with the jones - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 3:29 pm: Jones talking about taxing the media lies; if we could have all the salary and contract payments to the the Jones family could fund a month or more of the guv’s pet projects. That’s right the Jones family is a pet project of Blago’s. - Number 8 - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 3:29 pm: Downstater, I thought we should give you the election results from Cook County since you clearly dont get it. - Dollar USA - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 3:33 pm: Deeper question is; what were the percentages for black police officers? - Crimefighter - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 3:50 pm: The approval column I’ll bet are all Chicago people… - Six Degrees of Separation - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 4:04 pm: Tim Schmitz dropping from contention means the poll #’s weren’t there, even in a 3 or 4 man race. - 1-877-U-TIP-OFF - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 4:06 pm: The U.S Attorney for Central Illinois has figured it out, what’s taking so long for the U.S Attorney, Northern District of Illinois to figure it out? - Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 4:07 pm: Crimefighter, all you have to do is download the poll and see for yourself. No guessing is necessary. - Tweed - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 4:26 pm: Thanks for adding Russ Stewart Rich. Sometimes I forget to check his columns and its top quality. - VanillaMan - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 4:45 pm: What matters isn’t that Blagojevich is an approval rating that low - what matters is that WE have a governor with an approval rating that low. Thanks to the Illinois Democrats, we have a lame duck in office six months after election day - and it is quacking in the governor’s office, that is, when it is at work. Every statewide office and legislative body is controlled by the Illinois Democratic Party. How do you like them now? The only records being broken is the length of time Illinois has done without a budget. Ridiculous. When you have one party in power like we do right now, and that party is falling flat on it’s face like we see right now, then there should be no reason for voters to believe that this party is capable of governing. 30 years out of the governor’s office, and this is what we get? What a bunch of losers. - Levois - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 4:48 pm: It’s cool that you will post some of his columns here. I really enjoy them! - zatoichi - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 4:50 pm: Let me get this straight. On average, if police stop the cars of 100 whites they will search 1 car. If the police stop the cars of 100 blacks they will search 2 cars. So the other 99 and 98 did not get searched. I must have missed that discussion in stats class about when is a number big enough to bring on political action. Nice headline though. - Tom - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 4:58 pm: Thanks for Russ Stewart’s columns. Do you have his July 11 column? His website only contains columns through July 4. - Captain America - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 5:15 pm: I don’t see any good news coming out of County governemnt for the next 3 and 1/2 years. Todd Stroger will never be re-elected. He is simply in way over his head, much like Eugene Sawyer. He also has a peculair genious for bad public relations, which has destroyed his credibility for all time. I would encourage Dorothy Brown to run against him. I could support her, but not Stroger. If one of the three leading Democratic contenders on the Board does not beat him, then Liz Gorman will. I suspect Suffredin will end up running for some other office. I like Mike Quigley, I think he’s got a great policy/technocratic mind. But either he or Claypool will have to blink again for the greater good of defeating Todd Stroger. Although, I am a committed Democrat,I believe I would consider actively campaigning for Liz Gorman, if Todd Stroger is the Democratic nominee in 2010. - Anon - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 5:17 pm: Consider Pearson’s key observations about Jack Roeser: “Roeser . . . has used his wealth to field candidates and fund staff who repeatedly use withering criticisms to attack the old guard GOP social moderates who control the state Republican Party. But his insurgent efforts have made little progress with the GOP at large and he hasn’t had a very good track record in backing candidates for state office” These observations are accurate. Similar observations could apply to much of the ongoing tactics of the conservative wing of the Illinois GOP. One would think that a change in stategy - towards change through cooperation, and away from the bombthrowers - is in order. But don’t count on it from some of these guys. A helmet-head by any other name still has steel on top. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 5:51 pm: with everything being said and written about the sad state of the republican party, i can’t help but think if they were a little stronger (money, field, actual candidates) against the likes of blagojevich, stroger and emil jones. blago, stroger and jones represent the trifecta of “leaders” of the state’s democratic party who maintain relatively high disapprovals. without them (and dan lipinski) the party would be much stronger. - Squideshi - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 5:52 pm: “Every statewide office and legislative body is controlled by the Illinois Democratic Party. How do you like them now…When you have one party in power like we do right now, and that party is falling flat on it’s face like we see right now, then there should be no reason for voters to believe that this party is capable of governing.” I agree. Problem is, the Republican Party hasn’t proven itself to be much better–after all, their last Governor is a convicted felon! So, exactly what is a reasonable person to do? Need I even state my suggestion? I think you already know. - ArchPundit - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 7:03 pm: ==What matters isn’t that Blagojevich is an approval rating that low - what matters is that WE have a governor with an approval rating that low. ==Thanks to the Illinois Democrats, we have a lame duck in office six months after election day - and it is quacking in the governor’s office, that is, when it is at work. ==What a bunch of losers. Technically, they are a bunch of winners. And I agree and argued your point encouraging anyone not named Eisendrath to run in the primary. But what does it say that the Republicans couldn’t beat that guy? - steve schnorf - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 7:24 pm: I think Chris Lauzen is a good Senator. He and I don’t agree on much in terms of social issues, but I think he has really matured in his years in the GA, and I think he asks the right hard questions in Approp. I hate to see him associate himself with Jack Roeser: Roeser practices the politics of hate, and seems to have no idea that campaigns are about addition, not alienation. - ArchPundit - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 8:04 pm: Great to see Russ’ columns here–I always forget to read them on his site. - ha - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 8:54 pm: You’re really a sad figure Rich, wearing your hippie t-shirts and beard and writing your little gossip column, about an arena you are too afraid to enter for real. Jack Roeser has accomplished more in a typical year than you will in your entire life. And winning candidates? He helped Gary Dahl, Roskam, both Bush’s, Reagan, Hastert, Karmeir, Fitzgerald and many, many others. But go ahead Rich, maybe call on Roeser and other people you hate to leave the state again like you did after the primary last year. Maybe there are still some old cattle railroad cars oversees you can use to cart out the people that remind you of your incredible smallness. - Burt Parks - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 9:07 pm: Zaitochi, you make an interesting point. I have heard cops explain this before, that the context is missing from those statistics. They patrol more where crime calls are more numerous. In said areas, they are going to stop more cars and drivers of ANY type. That the higher-crime areas are typically in depressed areas with a predominant ethnic component can be read as the “correlation is not causation” argument. - A Citizen - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 9:33 pm: The gov’s “approval” or disapproval rating reaffirms my sense of a firm grasp on reality! - Jacques Strappe - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 9:52 pm: Boy, that Schmitz news is old and reported elsewhere much earlier. - Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 10:16 pm: Oh, ha, you are quite self deluded if you think those insults will get to me. lol. Also, I wonder if any of those people he “helped” will actually admit that he made any difference, or if they’ll do their very best to distance themselves from him. Roeser is a loser. He will always be a loser. You, on the other hand, are just silly. - Team Sleep - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 10:43 pm: Jack Roeser and his FTN are a joke. He has been a detriment to our party for a long, long time. Oberweis’ candidacy last spring caused JBT to start in the general at a disadvantage, and Jack has been one of Milkman’s biggest backers. I wonder if Lauzen actively campaigned for his support or if Roeser just got sick of Oberweis. Jack Roeser had little to do with any of the aforementioned candidates. How, exactly, did Jack help Bush? Bush 43 lost Illinois decisively each time. Karmeier was able to win due to an all-in effort by the state GOP and a lot of campaign cash. And Gary Dahl was a bit of a fluke, although he is a great senator and a good person. Rich, my brother wears Birkenstocks and he’s as conservative as they come. Don’t take any crap from “ha”. - Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 10:46 pm: Oh, I forgot. JRoeser’s little empire did endorse Blagojevich in last year’s general election. On that, he surely helped somebody win. I’m sure he’s proud of what he accomplished. - ha - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 11:29 pm: Roeser didn’t endorse Blago Mr. Miller. He clearly said both Topinka and Blago were unacceptable. And I challenge you to find a quote from Roeser saying otherwise, not a statement from another reckless reporter, but Roeser’s words. You’re a sad man and a liar. Oh, on the list of wins for Roeser, add WWII. He’s a combat vet from the Pacific Theater. - RMW Stanford - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 11:47 pm: I wonder if Roeser will go through with he threat to find some to run against Bill Brady in the 08 primary. - Burt Parks - Wednesday, Jul 18, 07 @ 11:59 pm: I have it on good authority Roeser once flew slot for the Blue Angels and also beat up Chuck Norris in junior high. Got that the same place ha gets his info. - Bill Baar - Thursday, Jul 19, 07 @ 6:21 am: Stewart nailed Illinois Progressives here with this, Had this [budget cuts] been accomplished while Peraica was president, a thunderous hue and cry would have arisen among liberals and Democrats. Peraica would have been vilified with the usual refrain of “balancing the budget on the backs of the poor.” Yet they were mum on Todd. Ironically, Stroger’s fiercest critic was Peraica, who was incensed that while 712 high-paid management jobs were cut, 827 were added, for a net increase of 115, at a cost of $7.6 million. Spokesmen for Sheriff Tom Dart and State’s Attorney Dick Devine bemoaned the fact that the budget allegedly cut “front-line jobs” while padding high-paid jobs. “The bloat is still there,” said Peraica. Republican county commissioners Gorman, Pete Silvestri, and Gregg Goslin backed the Stroger budget, as did Quigley. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Jul 19, 07 @ 8:49 am: I stand corrected. He did go with “None of the above,” in the governor’s race. However, as we all learned in Poli Sci class, when you refuse to take a position, you essentially endorse the status quo. NOTA is essentially, then, an endorsement of the front-runner. I should have been more clear. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Jul 19, 07 @ 8:54 am: To back up my “NOTA means endorsing the frontrunner” argument, Roeser funds a website that featured this commentary by Doug Ibendahl… ===I’m a staunch Republican, but I’m rooting for Topinka to lose.=== - ha - Thursday, Jul 19, 07 @ 9:04 am: Yep, just keep moving the goal posts when you’re caught being dishonest, right Mr. Miller? Look Rich, you shilled non-stop for Topinka, that was a huge loss for you. Then you got invited on the bus and shilled for Blago and the GRT. Another huge loss for you. You’ve lost this debate too. Looks like loser, loser, loser. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Jul 19, 07 @ 9:22 am: LOL. You guys are so funny. Slightly maniacal, but funny. I retracted it, fully explained my position and you say I lost the debate? Nope. Y’all have lost so many times that you apparenty don’t even recognize it when you are eye-deep in loserdom. BTW, a commenter above made a good point. Is Roeser gonna run someone against Bill Brady in the state Senate race like he promised? That ought to be a hoot. - Team Sleep - Thursday, Jul 19, 07 @ 9:29 am: I don’t think Bill Brady could be beaten. Whom would they even run against him? He is very popular and can raise money and spend his own cash. If Jack Roeser tries to take Brady out, he will look like a fool - again. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.