73 Comments - Ducky LaMoore - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:01 pm: Thanks Baghdad Bill! - Wow - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:02 pm: I see the Speaker and Cullerton cowering in a bus shelter on LaSalle Street every morning.. Really Bill, I know plenty of House R’s nervously waiting for the negative mail pieces on their Rauner mandated votes - Juice - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:02 pm: Well, I don’t think “dismay” is necessarily the wrong word there. Not sure if that’s what the Senator meant though. - Apocalypse Now - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:03 pm: OH, the $30 million plus what else could be raised next year. - phocion - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:04 pm: I find this statement no more laughable than Democrats who say they have Republicans on the run. This is the kind of spin politicians put on things. End transmission. - How Ironic - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:04 pm: Hmmmm. I wonder if that’s why all the GOP voted against the school funding, before the Gov threw them all under the bus? Dem’s in disarray? Yeah…not so much. But whatever, the GOP can feel good about gutting social services, throwing grandma out into the cold (literally), having wage earners turn to welfare after their childcare is taken away, and FREE MOTORCYCLE TRAINING CLASSES! Yes, the GOP sure is workin’ hard at hardly workin’. - Qui Tam - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:05 pm: “The ability Governor Rauner has to personal finance campaigns and to raise money from other interested parties has got them very much in dismay.” Is Brady saying that if you have enough you can fool enough of the people all of the time? Sounds like he’s all in on the Rauner frat boy mischief. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:06 pm: It’s a macro message in a micro playing field. The first major test will be if Democrats can “identify” for voters “who” a candidate is that is backed by IllinoisGO in their Primaries and see how well their own local ground games, while unifying against the Turnaround Agenda (Democrats, the Labor Movement, and Social Service groups and their Advocates) and they all going… precinct by precinct, block by block, house by house, even apartment by apartment… Can a coalition, of galvanized people, with a political foe (Turnaround Agenda) deliver in March? Can they learn from March to win ,with that knowledge, in November? - Montrose - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:07 pm: As long as they are focused on winning elections instead of governing the state. Good to see they have their priorities straight. - Honeybear - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:07 pm: Dude…you keep tellin yourself that. Yep, they are scared all right. That’s just so funny. - Take 2 - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:07 pm: The fun part is when a few judges come down and says you have to pay certain items. Rauner should start to govern, not complain why he isn’t getting his way. What he is saying is falling on deaf ears. - @MisterJayEm - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:09 pm: “The Democrats are literally scared for their lives when it comes to the next election cycle.” I’m sure that Brady’s claims about the state of the Democratic party are at least as accurate as his use of the word “literally”. – MrJM - Honeybear - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:12 pm: Impoverished voters mind: hmmmm….the social services I need and utilize somewhat underfunded under Quinn a Democrat…or….the social services I need and utilize…GONE under Rauner. Hmmm which administration should I go with? Yep, Rauners fault. Oh but wait, maybe I should give Rauner credit for “giving” so much throughout his life? Hmmmmmm…such a tough one..but I think I’m still going to blame Rauner. - quicknote - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:12 pm: Literally? - Hamlet's Ghost - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:16 pm: Let’s check back on December 1st and see who has filed for the various General Assembly races. If Team Rauner files a slate of candidates that has a realistic chance of winning a majority of the General Assembly then it will be “Game On!” However . . . If Team Rauner is capable of doing that, it also seems unrealistic to believe any level of appeasement by the Democrats would dissuade Team Rauner from increasing their demands, regardless of concessions made by the Democrats. Give an inch and more will be demanded. Anyway, the November 30th filing deadline is when Team Rauner will need to show its cards. Until then, its all pre-season chirping. FWIW & IMHO - Curious Georgina - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:16 pm: Thank you, MrJayEm. I hate misuse of the word “literally.” I’m quite sure none of the Dems are expecting to physically die during the campaign. - Frenchie Mendoza - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:17 pm: The problem that no one is talking about — and this is maybe what’s making Brady so confident — is that there might a lot — a lot — of voters happy that the social services are slowly being disbanded and decimated under Rauner. There is a perverse kind of giddiness when vast populations are forced out of the picture and your leader says, “Hang in there.” - SuperStars - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:18 pm: #YOLO - Norseman - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:19 pm: Sure Bill! Remember that one of the best ways to deal with a campaign cash disadvantage is to have a large motivated volunteer base. Seems to me that Rauner and his employees are creating a lot of angry motivated people. - Chicago Cynic - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:20 pm: The disconnect from reality of Rauner and specific legislators like Brilliant Bill Brady is truly disturbing. Obviously there are polls showing massive bleeding in the gov’s support, which they apparently write off. But there are certainly other data points. I know some senior GOPers who are very concerned about losing seats in the next election. Don’t know many Dems who are similarly concerned…or concerned at all. - Austin Blvd - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:20 pm: From a GOP ‘Careerfella’ to a ‘Raunerite Careerfella.’ - former southerner - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:23 pm: Frenchie, Some of the louder citizens of McLean county fit your description and these are likely some that have caught the goofy one’s ear but I think they are a minority. If you want to have a laugh read some of the comments posted to the Pantagraph online articles. Actually some of them are so far out they may “literally” scare you to death I will assume the “has to personal finance campaigns” is a typo in the WJBC quote and not indicative of further Brady grammatical shortcomings. - Get a Job!! - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:27 pm: =“The Democrats are literally scared for their lives when it comes to the next election cycle,” Brady said.= Some democrats may be scared for their politcal lives…..meanwhile, some Illinoisans are scared for their actual lives. Good work, Rauner Republicans, you have alot to be proud of. - Grandson of Man - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:28 pm: “The Democrats are literally scared for their lives” Mr. Brady doth project too much. Republicans are literally scared for their lives to vote in a way that displeases Rauner and his billionaires. - Bluegrass Boy - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:29 pm: Well, since my Republican Rep is apparently bought and paid for by this Governor I guess I’ll be voting for his Democratic challenger next year. - former southerner - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:35 pm: An appropriate observation from an email I received yesterday, “I think Congressmen should be required to wear uniforms, you know like NASCAR drivers, so that we can identify their corporate sponsors.” A little too close to the truth. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:35 pm: From personal experience the first to capitulate - Marty Funkhouser - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:37 pm: Yeah, 2016 is poised to be a big Republican year in Illinois. Just like 1996 and 2000 and 2004 and 2008 and 2012. - truecolors - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:39 pm: I saw Brady walking dogs next to a dumpster a week ago. Never saw the dog again. - Earnest - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:40 pm: Senator Brady has a point. If Blagojevich $$ defeated Topinka, Rauner $$ have the potential to pick up Raunerite seats. - Anon221 - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:40 pm: Bluegrass Boy: “Well, since my Republican Rep is apparently bought and paid for by this Governor I guess I’ll be voting for his Democratic challenger next year.” Do your due diligence first. That Democrat may be a Raunerite- ILGO, remember? - ZC - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:46 pm: Yellow Dog Democrat hasn’t been citing the Sun Tzu so much recently (goodness knows what “Good to Great” would have to say about Rauner), so I’ll try and pick up some of the slack. “When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard.” Unfortunately, Rauner and his allies seem to have miscalculated. They think they’ve got the Dems on the run, because if the Dems don’t vote for Rauner’s anti-union Turnaround, then they’ll get barraged with ads in 2016. However, my safe bet is that a lot of those same Dems, at least until petition time is over, are way more concerned about getting pummeled by an extremely activated and impassioned labor base, which Rauner’s done a good job of sending into overdrive. Oppose Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda, and get hammered with TV ads. But support it, and the labor unions are coming for you in the primary. Rauner’s left the Dems with no outlet, as long as he insists on these anti-union provisions. They might as well stand and fight. - Fiercely Independent - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:46 pm: I wish Brady would stop talking. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:48 pm: For me? I would find it fascinating watching the “Non-Raunerites” try and roll out on these districts with the mission to defeat Raunerites in both the Primaries and the General. It’s the ultimate ground game, full blown, pull out the stops type of proposition… times 20 races… and all twenty will be outspent. Flip side? Munger beats Biss, but “Munger - Mendoza”, that’s gking to be the most fascinating one-race, statewide, case study in recent memory. Politically and campaign-wise, wow, it’s going to be a heck of a season, no, heck of two seasons. - Muscular - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:49 pm: As a champion wrestler, Bill Brady knows what a smackdown looks like. Let’s see how this political smackdown comes down. - hisgirlfriday - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:50 pm: Literally scared for their lives? Nah Bill I dont think any politician of any party is literally scared for their lives in this budget stalemate. You’re thinking about the victims of domestic violence whose shelters are closed. Or people who need state-funded heating/housing assistance this coming winter. Those are the people of Illinois literally scared for their lives thanks to Bruce Rauner and the enabling cold-hearted mushrooms he controls like you, Bill. - VanillaMan - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 2:56 pm: Bill, You lost an election that no decent candidate could have lost. So sad that it just doesn’t prevent you from giving your take on the electorate. I don’t believe the Donner family ever guided another wagon train after that mishap they had trying to get to California. Wish you were more like them, Bill. - Arsenal - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 3:01 pm: So some Dems think they may die? Also, pretty telling that all Brady cites is the money. Not Rauner’s record, or his message, just his money. - Watcher - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 3:04 pm: OK so Cullerton loses a seat-John Sullivan’s…& then he still has a working super majority. MJM probably picks up a seat or two in this Presidential year election when IL trends more blue. I’m sure Bryant, Bourne, Cabello, Jesiel, Kay, McAuliffe & Winger are at least as nervous as any Dem. - Aldyth - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 3:06 pm: As my dear departed grandmother used to say, “You are a silly goose.” - Texas Red - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 3:16 pm: Nothing new under the sun; the GOP finally has a reliable money man in Rauner and his Turnaround Illinois PAC. The Dems bow down to their no growth Union overlords and The Illinois Freedom PAC every election cycle. - Arsenal - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 3:20 pm: ==The Dems bow down to their no growth Union overlords== You must not have been at the 2012 State Fair. - Big Joe - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 3:21 pm: Just really pathetic and sad that all it takes is money spent to win an election these days. Citizens are just too lazy to search out the truth before an election. Only take the time to watch TV ads and Fox News. Just plain sad. - Buzzie - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 3:24 pm: This from the guy who insisted he was going to win the governorship in a landslide. - ZC - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 3:25 pm: >> Just really pathetic and sad that all it takes is money spent to win an election these days. Citizens are just too lazy to search out the truth before an election. Jeb Bush devoutly hopes you are right, but it isn’t working out too well so far … I mean, there’s two categories: #1 is you have money and nobody else does, which is not where Jeb is, but #2, you just have the most money, never guarantees the win. - Norseman - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 3:27 pm: Big Joe, they can’t handle the truth. (i)(Channeling my best Jack voice.)(/i) - Michelle Flaherty - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 3:34 pm: I didn’t realize the ability to buy elections counted as a pro-business agenda. - Langhorne - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 3:40 pm: I don’t see anything positive on the Horizon that either side can run on. They will both be tarred with the same brush for their failures. We still have to get an AFSCME contract, and deal w pensions. Ground game versus money:The outcome is a wash . - Honeybear - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 4:00 pm: Vanilla- never in my life have I come across a Donner party reference. Brilliant - cdog - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 4:09 pm: … ability Governor Rauner has to personally finance campaigns and to raise money from other interested parties has got them very much in dismay…. scared for their lives… SCOTUS Judge Ginsberg has declared Citizens United vs FEC the worst decision made by court in her career. If Citizens’ first amendment rights were being trampled on by not being able to spend gross amounts of money on elections, aren’t MY FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS being trampled because my voice is drowned out by their money? I am confident that this will be corrected and the playing field leveled, via court case or Constitutional amendment. But dang, this is so disturbing that someone like Sen Brady thinks this is ok. When elections in the US are controlled by .01%, it will be a corruption of democracy. Here is my feeble attempt at a metaphor for this, borrowing from the “FIRE! in a crowded theater” saying – Should one person, or a few (think donors), be able to scream so loudly in the theater (think election) that no one in attendance (think voters) can hear the MC, the show, or the fire alarm? Pardon my over-analysis, but I would love to be the plaintiff/petitioner/complaintant for a reversal of Citizens United. Hoping I make through Mr. Miller’s Filters. HA! - Stones - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 4:19 pm: Thanks to Saddam Hussain’s spokesman for that PSA - Stumpy's bunker - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 4:36 pm: Rauner’s opportunistic fellow traveler. An inherited businessman with a styled haircut that has no exposure to, or doesn’t care for, those living in a lesser reality. Note to GOP GA (excepting the Hon. Sam McCann): Consider the possibility that BVR may become exasperated with dealing with all the “riffraff and rabble”, flee and exile himself to some exotic island where he can enjoy the company of wealthy people who “make sense”,…then where you gonna be? - Texas Red - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 4:38 pm: Pecunia non olet - makes no difference where it comes form - be it campaign money from Rauner’s hedge Fund buddies or PAC cash coerced out of the paychecks of hapless union workers. Money is what makes Illinois elections go. Both parties will make every effort to maximize their slice of the pie. - Ghost - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 4:39 pm: its an over-alliteration…. but it would be niave t think they are not worried. - Stumpy's bunker - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 4:43 pm: This is the same guy who said, no problem…cut state worker’s pensions. It’s legal. Let’s just do it. I remember thinking some guy camped on a barstool could comprehend legal language better than that. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 4:48 pm: - Figure this! - Can I call a friend? Can I buy a vowel? Can you use it in a sentence? Can I pass and come back to it? - Wordslinger - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 4:51 pm: There’s no question that Gov. Rauner can raise more money, by miles, than anyone this state has ever seen. But, so far, based on votes in the GA, I’d say that has only ensured lockstep obedience from GOP members fearful of being primaried. With just a handful of exceptions, they toe the line on every vote, all day long, every one of them. Other than Dunkin, how many literally-fear-for-their-lives Dem votes has Rauner flipped? Based on his comments, I guess Sen. Brady is no longer “part of the problem” as candidate Rauner explained to us last year? Is there a Part II to the interview where Sen, Brady gives us the skinny on all the wonderful of Gov. Rauner’s strategy? Last year, until about February, Sen. Brady thought candidate Rauner would be a disaster dealing with the General Assembly. I guess that didn’t happen. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 4:56 pm: - Figure This! - Got it! I got it! Be. Sure. To. Drink. Your. Ovaltine. - Wensicia - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 4:58 pm: Yeah, Brady, you’re literally winnin’! /s - jt - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 5:01 pm: Brady to Rauner “Thank you sir may I have another”. - Roscoe Tom - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 5:04 pm: The “R’s” up for election may want to think about skimming some off the top of any Rauner money since many of them will be out of work. - Wordslinger - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 5:28 pm: – As a champion wrestler, Bill knows what a smackdown looks like– Well, he did get beat by Pat Quinn, who had Blago around his neck, in the wake of the Great Recession, in an off-presidential, historic, national GOP wave year…. But not a “smack down,” please. Brady was an accomplished athlete/wrestler. Smackdown is a WWE term for those who like to watch old oiled-up juicers in tightees play-fight on the tee-vee. - Former Hoosier - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 5:31 pm: “The ability Governor Rauner has to personal finance campaigns and to raise money from other interested parties has got them very much in dismay.” And this sums up a huge problem on our country (thanks Supreme’s). Now, it is an every day event for the rich and powerful to buy elections. Rauner did it and now he’ll try and do it again in the next election cycle. - Mitch1959 - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 6:02 pm: I don’t no why they care, when Rainer gets his term limits their out anyway! - Mitch1959 - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 6:03 pm: Rauner - OldIllini - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 6:15 pm: ==Mitch1959== Rauner, know, they’re - Just a squirrel trying to get a nut - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 7:34 pm: Has he checked Rauners approval ratings lately? The Republicans aren’t exactly thrilled with Kirk either. Add to that this is a blue state and dems will just wait him out. He’s the gov and will ultimately take the blame. - @MisterJayEm - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 7:44 pm: “Brady was an accomplished athlete/wrestler. Smackdown is a WWE term for those who like to watch old oiled-up juicers in tightees play-fight on the tee-vee.” Why ya gotta talk smack about mah rasslin’? – MrJM - walker - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 8:03 pm: Always a challenge to link Brady statements to any evidence. - zatoichi - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 8:13 pm: It’s not dismay, it’s dis January. - dogbreath - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 8:33 pm: Dems will just bleed him out of his money. Run like prey and more money is thrown your way. Media will hype that because guess who gets to spend all the thrown money? - Arsenal - Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 10:06 pm: ==makes no difference where it comes form - be it campaign money from Rauner’s hedge Fund buddies or PAC cash coerced out of the paychecks of hapless union workers== It kinda makes a difference that only the first one of those things is real. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 12:21 am: Actually, If I was Madigan and Cullerton, I would be tossing a State Budget to Rauner once a week. Let the Rauner veto each and every one of them, that will help spread the love. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.