68 Comments - East Central Illinois - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:44 am: Governor Rauner visualizing what he would like to do to Mike Madigan. - Henry Francis - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:46 am: Hammer and sake - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:47 am: “Fellas, I gotta be honest, I don’t have a costume for this… “ - blue dog dem - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:48 am: Rahm and I dusted off one of these bad boys last week at the club! - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:48 am: “Usually I just drink a Stag Beer and make up a story but this will work too… “ - PublicServant - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:49 am: Governor Rauner and his Japanese friends engage in a game of Whack-a-Madigan. - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:49 am: Hammerschlagen! - hexagon - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:49 am: Hammerin out a trade deal for Illinois. - Dance Band on the Titanic - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:49 am: I don’t want to work I want to bang on the drum all day I don’t want to play I just want to bang on the drum all day - Saluki - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:49 am: Whack a mole, with only a single big mole. - Anon - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:50 am: OMG, Governor Rauner is wearing a tie. - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:50 am: U can’t touch this. - Anon - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:51 am: “As a white male, I don’t have anything to contribute to this ceremony.” - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:51 am: “Have all capitulated who wish… Have all capitulated who wish… Have all… capitulated that wish… “ - Gruntled University Employee - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:51 am: I’m here at the Whack-A-Mole world championship… - Highland Il - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:52 am: “Hey it’s no glowing globe but what the heck.” - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:53 am: “The picture of Madigan on the drum IS a nice touch, but I might need him for us to do bidness… “ - zatoichi - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:53 am: You know fellas, this is exactly how my grandfather sorted wheat in Wisconsin. - GOP Extremist - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:53 am: Friends don’t let friends drink and drive economic development. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:55 am: “What does it say on my stoll… “ - Red Rider - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:55 am: That’s not a drumbeat, it’s Illinois. - former southerner - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:55 am: And my Asian friends, this is exactly how I crushed the little people in Illinois. - Give Me A Break - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:57 am: Gov takes part in membership meeting for the $20,000.00 bottle a month of sake club. - GOP Extremist - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 9:58 am: “Well fellas, as Goldie Hawn once said.. sake it to me!!” (Laughs at his own joke) - Ghost - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:00 am: its good to get out of those horrible carharts for a few…. - Anon221 - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:03 am: This hammer’s a little small. I’m used to a sledge. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:05 am: Is Rauner the only member of “Team Illinois?” - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:07 am: “Yeah, our property taxes, amirite?” - Keyrock - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:14 am: I brought this one deep dish pizza for you. But if it’s too thick, I’ll help smack it so it’s thinner. As long as we do it without union labor. - igotgotgotgotnotime - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:15 am: If I had a hammer, I’d hammer non-profits, I’d hammer out higher ed, all over Illinois - Ghost - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:26 am: Bruce as Bruce in “bang the drum slowly…”. - Big Joe - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:26 am: After this, let’s all go to the hot tub. What do you say, boys? - Red Rider - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:27 am: It’s broke,out of the way I can fix it, give me a tax break. - G'Kar - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:27 am: 2nd verse If I had a hammer I’d hammer out unions I’d hammer Madigan all over Illinois - G'Kar - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:29 am: “Could we place a pork loin on top of this barrel? I’d really like to show you how to make an Illinois tenderloin.” - Huh? - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:29 am: I can’t believe that we got this rube to go along with this made up ceremony. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:37 am: When do we get to get in the tub? - d.p.gumby - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:39 am: Looks like the Illinois budget–5 guys, 4 hammers. - Pale Rider - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:41 am: You see the barrel is broken. We need to fix the barrel. Plus Madigan. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:49 am: “This is great. In Illinois I’m considered the ‘5th Beatle’… “ - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:51 am: “Now, is it ‘boom, boom, boom-boom-boom’… or ‘boom-boom-boom, boom, boom’, or just ‘boom-boom-boom-boom-boom’?” - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 10:52 am: “I studied ’single mallet drumming’ at Dartmouth… “ - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 11:05 am: “To be honest, I play the dog whistle better than anything, but I’ll try the drum with you… “ - Tequila Mockingbird - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 11:08 am: Japan’s minister of percsussion expresses concerns over Governor Rauner’s apparent lack of rythm. - downstate commissioner - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 11:09 am: Rauner beating…. I’ll stop there, don’t want to get banned… - Courser - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 11:17 am: Rauner introduces a new game to Japan: “Whack-a-Madigan.” - dbk - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 11:19 am: Here I stand, with nary an IL ag rep in sight for 6,350 miles … - Norseman - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 11:20 am: Rauner disappointed that sake barrel ceremony didn’t actually involve a barrel full of sake. - igotgotgotgotnotime - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 11:22 am: “And then I says to Madigan, “What are you doin’ to celebrate our partnership and continued friendship with Japan and he says…” - don the legend - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 11:55 am: “Only 10 pieces of flair. That’s way under the company requirement of 23.” - Chris P. Bacon - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 12:35 pm: The wack-a-mole imagery brings up again even more disturbing imagery of Rauner staking out his grandfathers pond all day to catch a poor bullfrog. - Generic Drone - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 12:52 pm: Madigan made this pizza. Let me show you how we work with Mike….. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 12:54 pm: “Ah, honorable governor . Like many of your citizens, we too like to say “Governor, go pound sand’. ( bows) - DuPage Bard - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 1:06 pm: I have now talked to 4 people in Japan. They all tell me they want to do business if only our property taxes weren’t so high and we had term limits. - Stuff Happens - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 1:24 pm: “Hardly enough meat in a lobster to make it worthwhile.” Unless you’re going to tweet a photo of it later, of course… - Boone's is Back - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 1:26 pm: “This is like the whac-a-mole I play with my staff and the IPI!” - Stuff Happens - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 1:29 pm: “We’ve got the hammers. Who’s got the shake?” - A guy - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 1:37 pm: The whole IPI crew fit it there? - Anonymous - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 2:03 pm: Can’t touch this - Grandson of Man - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 3:17 pm: “Go easy, governor. It’s a ritual sake barrel, not Illinois.” - SAP - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 4:23 pm: If your only tool is a hammer, all of your problems start to look like nails. - SoxSide Irish - Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 5:13 pm: Trump had his orb. Rauner has his hammer. - Rabid - Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 6:29 am: For heaven’s sake diana, its your turn in the barrel - Rabid - Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 6:33 am: Did I tell you the one about grampa thor’s hammer - Rabid - Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 6:35 am: for the sake of appearances - Rabid - Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 6:56 am: Swinging social samurai - Rabid - Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 7:09 am: Govenor busting a cap - Rabid - Thursday, Sep 14, 17 @ 7:17 am: Sealing Diana’s email Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.