43 Comments - Adam Smith - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 12:20 pm: Pretty straightforward and accurate assessment. - ??? - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 12:20 pm: Okay, Bill. Your downfall in 2010 was simply due to Quinn’s “honeymoon period.” Got it. Sheesh. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 12:23 pm: That is spot-on. Well said. The tone of it is less harsh to the ears as Rauner’s rhetoric, but the picture is there to be framed. The mistake of this quote and just riding it home is what Brady forgot in 2010, and what Brady is kinda missing in his very accurate assessment of the 2014 race; This isn’t a referendum on Quinn and Quinn alone. There is a choice, and while Brady is spot-on, right on the money, in this quote… …how voters see Rauner too, will factor in to the decisions made come voting time. That is the missing rub that simplistic thinking gets, when you try to make a race a referendum, when it’s not a referendum in its practicality. - Norseman - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 12:25 pm: Revisionist history to make Bill feel good. Quinn was well out of his honeymoon by the 2010 election. If the Republicans had put forward a better candidate, we would be talking about whether a Democrat could win back the office. - flea - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 12:26 pm: combination of sour grapes and RIGHT ON! - phocion - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 12:34 pm: Quinn was Governor for 18 months when he was elected in his own right. People wanted him to succeed. He had the right “reformer” background to make them believe that he would be different. And Bill Brady ran a bad campaign. - NotRMiller - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 12:43 pm: Quinn was viewed as a nice honest guy..I think the IDOT scandal, and the violence grant abuse will cost him some suburban votes..and if the Rauner campaign runs a few ads about the firing of the IDOT Secretary while she was battling health issues,am lot of the suburban soccer moms who bailed on Brady last time will snuggle up to Uncle Brucie - Bemused - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 12:54 pm: Can’t argue with his logic. I have to say, this is one year I can see myself going into the voting booth and staring at the ballot while scratching my head for awhile. - Arizona Bob - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 1:12 pm: A competent candidate for Guv could’ve made that “honeymoon” over pretty quickly. People wanted change from the crooked, patronage driven pols of the recent past. It was Brady’s campaign’s responsiblity to define Quinn as what he is…a patronage driven, incompetent, career politician completely unable to provide the inspiration and leadership to govern the state in those perilous times. Brady’s team wasn’t smart enough to do that. Take the bullet, Bill. No excuses. - zatoichi - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 1:17 pm: Nice assessment, but state government is also not a one person show. Where are the Rep, Dem, Lib, or Green candidates/ideas that have really caught the voters ear? Drop the Blago excuse. Lots of honeymoons in the GA also who have now had full terms. What have they done? - Arizona Bob - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 1:21 pm: @Norseman =If the Republicans had put forward a better candidate, we would be talking about whether a Democrat could win back the office.= The candidate wasn’t the problem, my fellow Viking, it was the campaign management. Brady and his wife are charismatic, likable people, who are good looking and had very little baggage. The campaign needed to define Quinn as the typical Chicago style pol that he is, campaign SERIOUSLY in Cook County, and get past the “puppy gasser” nonsense. If Brady had a Rove or an Axelrod type running things for him, he’d be looking at his second term. Just like Lincoln’s incompetence took what should have been a quickly ended War Between the States if he had any skill in picking commanding generals, if Brady got the right campaign manager who’d keep him running like he was behind until election night,and understood that there IS and Illinois North of I-80, it was all his for the taking. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 1:26 pm: Not much of a honeymoon when you’re running on increasing taxes in the middle of a recession. Brady’s actions in the closing weeks certainly didn’t seem like he thought Quinn was getting the benefit of the doubt from voters. A better analogy would be the Tortoise and the Hare. - Endangered Moderate Species - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 1:41 pm: “Just like Lincoln’s incompetence……” A description of Lincoln that you don’t see often in Illinois. - Demoralized - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 1:44 pm: Jeez Bob, now we’re piling on Abraham Lincoln. You really are an expert in everything. Anywho, you are completely right in this instance (I know, will wonders never cease), though I might disagree with you somewhat on Brady’s charisma. Perhaps you know him personally and can speak to that, but he didn’t really seem to be very charismatic on the campaign trail. He seems stiff. And his campaign I think suffered from the belief that a victory was inevitable (Mitt Romney’s campaign learned that hard lesson as well). Brady comes off as sort of a whiner here. We’ve heard all kinds of excuses as to why he lost, but none of them have been that the campaign stunk. Rauner, as far as I can tell, isn’t taking anything for granted and has learned the lessons of the Brady campaign. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 1:46 pm: ===Just like Lincoln’s incompetence took what should have been a quickly ended War Between the States if he had any skill in picking commanding generals=== Dude… Really? - Anon - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 1:47 pm: If Quinn had a honeymoon in 2010, then how many Republicans voted for the budget? I bet Sen. Brady didn’t. - lake county democrat - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 1:49 pm: A bit (ok more than a bit) of a tangent, but here’s some good news for Quinn: the Dems are giving up on winning the Ohio governors race, so maybe they’ll deploy some of those resources in Illinois. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/08/26/the-remarkable-implosion-of-ed-fitzgerald/ - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 1:56 pm: - Arizona Bob -’s “History for the Ages!” * George Washington wouldn’t won a 3rd term anyway, given his poor polling numbers. * George Patton wasn’t made Supreme Commander in Europe due to his too nice persona. * Richard Nixon, if he would have done a decent head count, wouldn’t have been convicted by the Senate. * Roland Burris was doing incredible things in the US Senate, it was just a shame he didn’t get a full term. * Dwight Eisenhower’s golfing enhanced his presidency. “This was ‘History for the Ages!’…” - Wumpus - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 2:09 pm: Maybe Brady should have said the hangover period. people must have been drunk to think the guy riding shotgun with blago was a real reformer. plus, his cmapaign was horrible and he never wore socks. - Sir Reel - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 2:41 pm: I don’t recall Quinn blaming Blago for much. He usually just says, “I’ve ordered State agencies to stop doing (fill in latest scandal) so all is better now!” - Da Moat - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 3:18 pm: Lincoln replaced one of his Generals with McClellan because, when asked, he said, reportedly, “He fights.” - Arizona Bob - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 3:50 pm: Not to get too far off track, but I’m not a real Lincoln lover, and I don’t think most people who study the guy would be if you look at what he had and what he did with it. The North had OVERWHELMING superiority in finance, troops, weaponry, naval resources and industrial production capacity. Both sides had incredibly brave troops, who stood their ground and took the bullets for their cause. The union just had a lot more of them. The casualty rate in the Civil War was amongst the highest ever seen in then modern combat. In a typical European War at that time, a 10% casualty rate was cause for withdrawal. Many Civil War battles had upwards of 40% casualties. That horrendous bloodbath played a very large role in keeping the Europeans out of the War. That wanted nothing to do with something that bloody. Lincoln signed the Emancipation years into the War as an attempt to start slave rebellions. He would have done it much sooner if abolition was his top priority. He suspended Habeas Corpus and kept his political foes in prison without trial or cause. Even FDR didn’t sink that low. Regarding McClellan, wasn’t he the general to whom Lincoln wrote asking, “If you’re not going to use the army, would you mind me borrowing it for a while?” All should visit Salem and Springfield to learn about the guy. He was a failure at just about everything until he got a patronage job as a postal worker. He wasn’t very successful until he was elected as a rep and all of a sudden his legal business went through the roof, and he became a wealthy man. He was the “Madigan” of his time, although I don’t think he was ever Speaker. A great president would’ve been able to convince the South not to go to war. A good president would’ve won the war quickly given the overwhelming superiority of Northern assets. A principled president would’ve freed the slaves once it was clear that the South wouldn’t re-unite without being driven to desperation. Gettysburg should’ve broken the South, but lack of strategy and tactics by Lincoln’s people let the war linger for years afterward. “Land of Lincoln”? The guy came from Kentucky. Funny stuff, Oswego. You have a keen sense for the absurd! Lincoln really wasn’t that much different than an Obama. He wrote good speeches, communicated well ,but really wasn’t up to the task of governing in tough times, he broke the law when it suited him by proclamation or fiat. “Great”? I think not. - Da Moat - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 3:55 pm: Bob: The textbooks in this country are full of revisionist history. Thank you for making a principled stand. - Bored Chairman - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 3:55 pm: Oh, Bob… - Da Moat - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 3:57 pm: Most of the casualties in what is commonly referred to as the “Civil War” were from disease, not ammo. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 4:00 pm: - Arizona Bob - I guess if my teacher taught me that, I wouldn’t like teachers too(?) Whenever I think to take you… seriously… I will search this post, and your comment. - A guy... - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 4:01 pm: Getting back to what Brandy said. One word: True. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 4:04 pm: ===Funny stuff, Oswego. You have a keen sense for the absurd!=== Coming from - Arizona Bob -, who commented… ===“Land of Lincoln”? The guy came from Kentucky.=== Really? Leaving Springfield… My friends, no one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell. - A. Lincoln Maybe you need to take up with President Limcoln where he’s “from”. Dope. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 4:09 pm: ===A great president would’ve been able to convince the South not to go to war.=== Wow. Just wow. A pro-slavery president could’ve done that. But not a Republican in 1861. - Cheswick - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 4:16 pm: Nothing like being schooled on Lincoln by a Confederate sympathizer. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 4:24 pm: ===He was the “Madigan” of his time, although I don’t think he was ever Speaker.=== “Are you asking me, or are you ‘teaching’ me?” You need to sit out a few plays, maybe a dip in a pool, a steam… - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 4:27 pm: ===He was the “Madigan” of his time, although I don’t think he was ever Speaker.=== Minority Leader. Whig. After a very brief period as an incumbent. - Lincoln Lad - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 5:21 pm: I’m dumbfounded by AZ Bob taking his time to write such nonsense (first) and then posting it where someone else could read it (second). Check your meds Bob - I think you took too many of the small pills. - JS Mill - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 6:14 pm: =Brady and his wife are charismatic, likable people, who are good looking and had very little baggage.= Umm..totally disagree. If your eyes are clouded by the cool aide maybe, but he is poorly informed and a terrible speaker. I will give you a pass on his wife, families are off limits in my world. - Da Moat - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 6:39 pm: JS: I completely agree that families should be off limits-no question. However, how should they be handled when they are used by the candidate as a shield or a sword? - Demoralized - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 8:17 pm: Wow Bob. You’ve completely lost it. Lincoln as Madigan? As Obama? I think I’ll stick to my guns that I’m glad you aren’t a teacher anymore. I’d be spending my time getting your nonsense out of my kids head and teaching them actual history instead of your pathetic political revisionism. - VanillaMan - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 8:22 pm: It’s about time Brady read what I’ve been posting over the past year! Anyone thinking that 2014 is going to be similar to 2010 and uses that election as some kind of bellwether for this November is not thinking very hard. Quinn had to prove that the second chance voters gave him four years ago was worth it, and he hadn’t. This election is about that failed second chance given him. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 8:28 pm: ===Quinn had to prove that the second chance voters gave him four years ago was worth it, and he hadn’t. This election is about that failed second chance given him.=== Sorry… ===The mistake of this quote and just riding it home is what Brady forgot in 2010, and what Brady is kinda missing in his very accurate assessment of the 2014 race; This isn’t a referendum on Quinn and Quinn alone. There is a choice, and while Brady is spot-on, right on the money, in this quote… …how voters see Rauner too, will factor in to the decisions made come voting time. That is the missing rub that simplistic thinking gets, when you try to make a race a referendum, when it’s not a referendum in its practicality.=== - Demoralized - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 9:04 pm: By the way Bob, it’s NEW Salem. You sure have a crappy grasp of Illinois history being from this state and all. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Aug 26, 14 @ 10:27 pm: ===A good president would’ve won the war quickly given the overwhelming superiority of Northern assets.=== Tempted to toss in Iraq and W here, but I won’t. I want to. But I won’t. - VanillaMan - Wednesday, Aug 27, 14 @ 7:20 am: A good president would’ve won the war quickly given the overwhelming superiority of Northern assets. I ignored the entire Civil War stuff in this blog, but second guessing Lincoln isn’t a historically responsible thing to do, especially 150 years later. - Robo - Wednesday, Aug 27, 14 @ 8:50 am: Lincoln didn’t have the advantage of a strong federal government that modern presidents enjoy. The states; South, North and Border; played a much more influential role in prosecuting the war. He also inherited an entrenched War Department bureaucracy while the South got the best of the officer corps. - Da Moat - Wednesday, Aug 27, 14 @ 9:01 am: Another interesting point is that the six (or eight?) southernmost counties in Illinois were going to go with the Confederacy. Also, the “Civil War” is a misnomer because it was fought along geopolitical boundaries, not racial or ethnic lines, like true civil wars (e.g., Bosnia). Finally, you can’t call it the “War of Northern Aggression” when it was the South that fired the first shot. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.