64 Comments - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 4:26 pm: ===Democrat majority=== So, so disappointing. So not helping. Munger lost statewide, rejecting Rauner, statewide. This response is almost on par with Madigan’s and both Steve in a good way. Complete disappointment. - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 4:27 pm: ===I sincerely hope the Democrat majority will now choose to join us to move Illinois forward.=== First, the insult is noted and not helpful. Do we really believe she wants to work with a party that she insulted in the previous sentence? Second, while a Trump vote was clearly a vote for change, he lost by what, almost 20 points in Illinois? That isn’t a mandate for change. Try again Senator. And this time either spare us the insult or use a dictionary. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 4:33 pm: “This response is almost on par with Madigan’s and both not in a good way.” Apologies - drew - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 4:37 pm: The people want change from the status quo of Rauner’s obstructionism, perhaps? BTW, where is the Republicans’ budget you’re hoping to get support for? - Deft Wing - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 4:39 pm: Rauner, Durkin, Cullerton and now Radogno all say the same thing — it’s time to work together. But not Madigan. Nope, he offers nothing other than bitterness and excuses. Clear illustration of who’s impeding any chance at progress. No wonder why Madigan took such a beating yesterday. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 4:39 pm: @47th Ward: The 20 point loss has to be discounted because Trump never campaigned in Illinois after the primary. He held two or three fundraisers and left the Prairie State. - James - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 4:40 pm: “Democrat” majority? Your “sincerity” is showing. - Earnest - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 4:42 pm: >Rauner, Durkin, Cullerton and now Radogno all say the same thing — it’s time to work together. I disagree on Radogno. She said nothing about wanting to work together with Democrats, just that Democrats should “join us.” Much like Madigan’s statement, she threw cold water on what should be a time to refocus on governing. Rauner, Cullerton and Durkin did much butter in their statements. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 4:44 pm: ===Democrat majority=== This is someone not in any way looking to be collaborating to the process of compromise. As awful as Madigan’s. - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 4:47 pm: ===Trump never campaigned in Illinois=== So what? Neither did Clinton. I think Radogno is misreading the message the voters sent. From my vantage point, they voted for gridlock to continue in Illinois. Out of 150 or so legislative seats up, a total of 6 changed parties? You could call that a lot of things, but mandate for change ain’t one of them. - Honeybear - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 4:55 pm: Happens Tuesday - Loop Lady - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 5:01 pm: Christine please lead or get out of the way…thanks… - LessAnon? - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 5:05 pm: 150 seats up? How many that were actually contested? Of the hotly contested races, Madigan lost most. A net loss of 4 house and 2 senate seats with your top of the ticket winning by almost 20 points and your legislative map is worth a lot more notice than your brush off. But, like the left last night, it’s tough to interpret outside the bubble for those so entrenched inside it. - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 5:09 pm: From Vocabulary.com: “A mandate is an official command or a go-ahead. When a politician wins an election by a wide margin, that’s a mandate to implement her ideas.” Lol. How wide was Senator Radogno’s margin of victory? - Phenomynous - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 5:16 pm: Is “democrat” a bad word? Does it have a bunch of negative connotations that I don’t know about? I understand that she, and republicans in general, often use the wrong word, but is it really in malice? Does it take away from the overall point of the response? Talk about being a victim. Jeez lol. - foster brooks - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 5:19 pm: status quo? she’s been in government since 1989 - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 5:19 pm: Phenom, educate yourself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_(epithet) Radogno is smart enough to know the difference between a noun and an adjective. She chose her words, she can defend them. This isn’t new, and it has nothing to do with yesterday. - Deft Wing - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 5:20 pm: Well said, Phenomynous … though largely lost on this partisan audience, especially after the day they had yesterday. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 5:20 pm: ===Is “democrat” a bad word?=== In the context of that word as the adjective it’s considered a slight and derogatory towards democrats. Democrats remind us all the time, and Radogno made quite sure the purposeful slight in that context of her statement stood out. It doesn’t speak well to what the alleged message was suppose to mean. Actually it’s mocking the whole message. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 5:22 pm: Translation: I’m gonna keep on doin’ what I’m doin’. - LizPhairTax - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 5:29 pm: Using the term “Democrat” is less an insult than an indicator of true intended audience - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 5:30 pm: - Deft Wing - The Mendoza win I’m sure was the kids day they hopped for… You find that 2013 pay lawsuit yet? - Anonymous - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 5:32 pm: The change the people voted for: Illinois voters chose Mendoza/Madigan over Munger/Rauner. - Ducky LaMoore - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 5:50 pm: So if people want change from the top down, wouldn’t that include you and the governor? - Phenomynous - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 5:56 pm: Thanks for the link 47th. I now feel confident saying that this is a confirmed case of victimhood. - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 6:09 pm: If calling me a victim helps you grasp the difference between nouns and verbs, then I am happy you learned something today. But my victim hood notwithstanding, I don’t believe Senator Radogno is correct to claim she and her party earned a mandate yesterday. - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 6:10 pm: Pardon me, nouns and adjectives. - Blue City in a Sea of Red States - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 6:19 pm: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/president-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-chicago-election/Content?oid=24259390 - thoughts matter - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 7:00 pm: The majority is supposed to join the minority? Doesn’t she have this backwards? - Jibba - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 7:09 pm: Each statement from the gov and the 4 tops could have been (and probably was) said more than once by them over the last 2 years. You are seeing what you want to see for each of them, not any new willingness to compromise more than before. - Robert the 1st - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 7:13 pm: National Right-to-Work would be a good start. It might help IL and other blue states compete for manufacturing. - Jibba - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 7:15 pm: I again suggest that Madigan use judo, not boxing. He and the Dems should “surrender” and pass Rauner’s budget of 2015 or something similar. Let Rauner try to veto that. They get credit for reducing spending, and can lay the blame for the cuts on Rauner, who originated the budget. And Madigan should consider allowing a Lt to become speaker, to side slip Rauner’s punches and to clear the field for Lisa Madigan to run for Gov in 2 years, which cannot happen while he is speaker, even if he pledges to step down if she is elected. - Macbeth - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 7:25 pm: The majority doesn’t negotiate with the minority. They’re a majority for a reason. Trump and GOP think this. Why should Madigan think any differently? - Honeybear - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 7:30 pm: –National Right-to-Work would be a good start. It might help IL and other blue states compete for manufacturing.– Nope just drive wages into the ditch and tank our economy further. Although Rauner has done a great job with that already. - OldIllini - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 7:33 pm: I agree. national Right to Work would be a good start. - Liberty - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 7:41 pm: LOL - The bandwagon left without the Rauner Republicans. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 7:42 pm: So sad to read these comments. Illinois is isolating itself, surrounded by red states (Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan) that heard the Trump appeal for economic stimulus for the employed and unemployed. What are we missing? - Excessively Rabid - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 7:46 pm: Just propose a damned budget that is actually balanced and negotiate from there. Is it really that complicated? - A. Nonymous - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 8:11 pm: Donald Trump lost Illinois by a wide margin and lost the national vote also. Illinoisans, like the rest of America, chose Hillary Clinton. It is only because of the weighted votes of smaller, rural states tipping the Electoral College scales that Mr. Trump gained the White House. - A. Nonymous - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 8:13 pm: @ Anonymous - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 7:42 pm: “So sad to read these comments. Illinois is isolating itself, surrounded by red states (Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan) that heard the Trump appeal for economic stimulus for the employed and unemployed. What are we missing?” Pres. Obama offered Republicans multiple opportunities to join him in developing said economic stimuli. The GOP chose to block him. Cynical Republican partisanship at its height. - Robert the 1st - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 8:15 pm: Honeybear, we really don’t have many decent paying jobs for low-skill people in IL. Wouldn’t $16/hour assembly jobs be better than welfare for the folks in the metro-East? Maybe enough for people to work their way through trade-school/college and get a more career/family-supporting job? - Robert the 1st - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 8:16 pm: I voted against Trump but am trying to see ways his election could help IL. Grasping at straws, I know… - Highland IL - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 8:27 pm: She forgot to add, “Make Illinois Great Again”. - justacitizen - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 8:39 pm: I’m disappointed in the immediate negative tone and spin by of some of the commenters. I know words matter but some commenters like CF’s commenter on steroids OW, you don’t give anyone a chance. As the great republican you claim to be, you’re not. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 8:57 pm: == The election is over and the people have spoken; they want change. == No o o o. People THINK they want change because folks don’t ‘think’ it can be worse than what they see as their own miserable lives (in their heads). The NEW governments in IL and Nationally have a LOT of expectations to live up to! Good luck. Maybe the fools that elected this won’t figure it out. LOL & crying all at once. Then again, life in the USA will change for 2, 3, or 4 generations because of this election. Nationally & in IL as well. Live with it youngsters. You chose it. Sad. - burbanite - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 8:59 pm: Robert the 1st, if there are $16 an hour assembly jobs someone has to fill. I am unaware of what would make them incapable of doing so in Metroeast without RTW. - Michelle Flaherty - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 9:01 pm: Well, she does lead the last remaining superminority caucus at the Capitol. - VanillaMan - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 9:15 pm: She said nothing at a moment when no one was interested in hearing her say anything. I guess she felt an obligation to do something since she believed she held some kind of political power. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 9:23 pm: - justacitizen - Ya wasted a whole comment complaining about other commenters, me in the forefront. Make an argument, don’t start an argument about others. Who’s not giving you a chance? To the Post, As Veto Session nears, abc deadlines loom, the work is the work, ideology aside, unless your ideology can get 60 and 30 or in a great many of these cases 71 and 36. Don’t talk, vote and count noses. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 9:42 pm: I don’t know whether or not Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno supported Trump. What some of the establishment Republicans in Illinois need to recognize is that Trump’s upset victory was not merely a reaction to the Democrats. The Trump coalition was also composed of dissatisfied voters who were angry with do nothing Republican elected leaders. - justacitizen - Wednesday, Nov 9, 16 @ 9:55 pm: OW, I too old and don’t have a dog in the hunt so I don’t care about 60/30. I’m naïve, but wish people could cross the aisle once in a while and do what is right instead of being totally partisan. - Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 12:00 am: I love this blog. Someone new comes along and thinks OW is a democrat?! Awesome. OW, the dark side is calling…. - TaxesBuyCivilization - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 12:14 am: ===I’m naïve, but wish people could cross the aisle once in a while and do what is right instead of being totally partisan. === So — I think what you’re missing here is that her position isn’t really based off of a reasonable argument. The Democratic Party still holds a majority in both chambers. The Governor’s proxy race in the Illinois Comptroller’s race lost by a lot. So, after continuing to hold a majority of both chambers, the people of Illinois haven’t demanded the kind of change she’s suggesting they have, and then she decided to go ahead and use a epithet that is widely considered by Democrats to be a pejorative. She’s not reaching a cross the isle, she’s pretending that some how the Democrats were defeated in the legislature and insulting them at the same breath. - Rabid - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 4:55 am: People want you to change, they did not vote for establishment republicans or the turnaround agenda. A few local contest won on trumps coat tails is not an endowment - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 7:50 am: - Ducky LaMoore -, The siren of the other side always plays, but I hear the call of the “Kasichs” and even “Pre-election day Speaker Ryans” that see the GOP so vastly different then others want us to be portrayed, for better, and even for worse. Raunerism has taken away the idea of governing like Kasich but trying to mask Raunerism as Scott Walker-like, or even as Mike Pence-like too. I promise - Ducky LaMoore -, ‘tween us, I’ll update you on any changes. OW - Piece of Work - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 8:58 am: Ducky, I’ve been around for awhile, and I think Willy is a democrat. Possibly a closet dem in real life but a dem on this site. - Amalia - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 8:59 am: come on Sen. Radogno. you serve on the side of the dome which operates with a little more class and finesse than that. Yes, I know that some call Sen. Cullerton the good cop in the typical scenario in sync with the dark side of the dome, but you are posturing a bad snappish role where Rep. Durkin is a good guy. not helpful to the dialogue. everyone, whether in leadership, or even in elected office, should be the ethical, collaborative, bright and bright spirited person we want to lead. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 9:01 am: - Piece of Work - Nah. You may not like it, but I’m a Republican. I’m not a Raunerite, but I’m a Republican. It’s not up for discussion or debate. What’s next, Jim Edgar isn’t a Republican too? - Delimma - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 9:19 am: Rauner is the governor. The Democrats have control over both houses. At some point, there needs to be a negotiation that results in someone governing the state and both sides accepting they aren’t going to get their magical partisan pipe dreams. - DGD - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 9:39 am: justacitizen does have a point, I have yet to see OW stand up for one single conservative point on here…not one. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 10:04 am: - DGD - Then you’re not a very good reader. At all. I’m also not a Slytherin in the Oberweis model. - Piece of Work - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 10:16 am: Willy, you can claim what you want. Did you know I can take off from the free throw line and windmill dunk? Little to nothing you post here gives any indication you are an R. You vote for Trump? - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 10:24 am: - Piece of Work - Except stating exactly what Jim Edgar has said time and again before he’s said it… … and that Rich Miller has vouched for me as well. You may not like that, but I’m a Republican. Get over it. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 10:25 am: Like Kasich, W., Herbert Walker… I did not vote for Trump. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.