A pattern is developing
Tuesday, Oct 27, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Rep. Darren Bailey as interviewed by Jim Meadows…
“I believe wholeheartedly that Gov. Pritzker is trying to destroy the economy of Illinois,” said Bailey. “He’s trying to wreck it, so he can bring us to an early bankruptcy, whatever that looks like, so that he, hoping for a Biden presidency, will possibly receive a complete federal bailout, as well with many other states. We cannot let that happen.”
Bailey also said COVID-19 is “much like the flu.” Except, of course, there’s a vaccine for influenza. And he complained that nursing homes are being “locked down,” which is odd.
* He’s not the only one who claims that Pritzker is deliberately trying to “wreck” the economy. From my weekly syndicated newspaper column…
Even so, Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst) complained during a House Republican campaign press conference last week about the state mitigation measures which will soon be imposed on her home county of DuPage, claiming that “we do not have the same type of crisis scenario that we did back in March.”
Scientists knew very little about the virus in March, so people didn’t know quite what to do. Also, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said over and over that he has zero plans to impose another sweeping stay-at-home order, which shut down a gigantic swath of an already mostly self-shuttered economy beginning in March.
The new mitigations apply mainly to bars and restaurants, closing indoor service and limiting hours. There is really no comparison between these mitigations and what was imposed in March. Remember when you couldn’t get a haircut, or visit the doctor for a routine checkup, have a cavity filled or hang out with a friend? This is most definitely not that.
Mazzochi went on to declare that the governor is “perfectly happy to wreck what’s going on in DuPage.”
- Jibba - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 10:43 am:
From Psychlogy Today:
“Projection is the process of displacing one’s feelings onto a different person, animal, or object. The term is most commonly used to describe defensive projection—attributing one’s own unacceptable urges to another.”
- Pundent - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 10:45 am:
Not all that different than the current messaging coming from Washington. It’s rooted in the notion that there’s nothing we can do about the virus so let’s just pretend things can return to “normal.” It’s probably a more artful way of arguing for herd immunity without having to justify the unnecessary deaths that will inevitably come. It’s actually good to hear Bailey and Mazzochi articulate this as it shows how completely detached from reality they are. Bailey can likely continue to get away with it in his district. Mazzochi may not be quite as lucky.
- Just Me 2 - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 10:51 am:
Meh, Republicans do not have any achievements of their own to promote, so their only option is to build themselves up by tearing someone else down. I feel sorry for their staffs that have to help them with this crap. I feel even more sorry for their constituents, but I feel the worse for the people who believe this stuff and will get sick.
- ChicagoVinny - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 10:53 am:
You could lift every restriction today and most people still will not set foot in a restaurant. You want to fix the economy, treat the pandemic.
- AlfondoGonz - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 10:55 am:
I really just want to urge any of Mr. Bailey’s supporting constituents to reconsider if the representative is looking out for you or if he is an honest person of reputable character and the intelligence needed to serve honorably.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 10:58 am:
=== it, so he can bring us to an early bankruptcy,===
There’s no bankruptcy for states.
- PublicServant - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 11:01 am:
Republicans: Fighting for the liberty to infect others.
- Streamwood Retiree - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 11:11 am:
I, for one, would be overjoyed if Illinois got “a complete federal bailout”. The FED printed trillions to prop up Tesla and Amazon, why not Illinois? Think of it. They could buy 100 year zero coupon bonds to completely refinance IL debt.
- JoanP - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 11:12 am:
Bailey needs to take a class in logic.
- GOB Bluth - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 11:14 am:
Bad faith rhetoric like this only helps inspire the crazies that plotted to kidnap Gov. Whitmer. People like use it don’t belong in politics.
- Flapdoodle - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 11:19 am:
Some people turn away from train wrecks. Some people watch them. And there are some people — like Mr. Bailey and Ms. Mazzochi — who *are* train wrecks.
- Rudy’s teeth - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 11:25 am:
Perhaps the reason Darren Bailey exhibits such faulty logic regarding science and disease transmission is that he is from the calculator-in-grammar school generation.
Many fail to develop logic and critical thinking skills resulting in Darren Brain.
The symptoms of Darren Brain include believing in fantasy not fact, rhetoric not reason and sensationalism not science. Do better, Darren.
- Cheryl44 - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 11:27 am:
Sorry to disappoint people like Bailey, but apparently the whole herd immunity thing isn’t really a thing after all:
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-54696873
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 11:31 am:
=== “I believe wholeheartedly that Gov. Pritzker is trying to destroy the economy of Illinois,” said Bailey. “He’s trying to wreck it, so he can bring us to an early bankruptcy, whatever that looks like, so that he, hoping for a Biden presidency, will possibly receive a complete federal bailout, as well with many other states. We cannot let that happen.”===
So, let’s break some of this down…
Bailey doesn’t want federal assistance, and Bailey also says a sitting Governor is trying to wreck a state to get it to bankruptcy.
Mr. Bailey, sir, the only governor that wanted Illinois bankrupt and refused to give Illinois a budget to bankrupt Illinois… was Rauner.
For the love of Pete… keep up, sir. Your phony thoughts to today and what happened yesterday…
…this virus can’t be voted out like the virus that was the Rauner thinking… and Rauner policies.
We voted out a virus, we’re now fighting a virus, and there’s no bankruptcy plan to do that.
- Michelle Flaherty - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 11:52 am:
When did the the IL GOP start opposing bankruptcy for Illinois?
That’s been the (impossible) Republican pension debt fix for years. Why pay people when you can run the state like a corporation and walk away from them?
And isn’t IL House Republican Leader Baily and the GOP’s real beef with Mitch McConnell?
He’s the guy who said bankruptcy should be a condition for federal aid.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-coronavirus-mitch-mcconnell-states-bankruptcy-pritzker-20200422-7im57sqbpfckte3yqlaqnvlxzm-story.html
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 12:00 pm:
Rep Darren Bailey is tip toeing awfully close to a certain kind of central European political propaganda from the late 1920s and 1930s.
I don’t think it’s really about trying to have a good policy.
- Chicago Cynic - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 12:02 pm:
I know logic isn’t a big thing with these guys, but this whole theory that JB is trying to wreck the economy makes ZERO SENSE. How is it better for the governor if he gets a Federal Bailout or declares bankruptcy (which you can’t do) or just lets the state fail? Since when is that a winning political strategy. Makes no sense. And yet I hear it all the time.
- Joe Bidenopolus - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 12:05 pm:
Given the mind-boggling amount of money injected into markets and the private sector, I don’t fully understand why the feds don’t assume literally every state and local government’s debt. It wouldn’t be anywhere close to the $3 trillion they’ve already handed out.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 12:07 pm:
===…so that he, hoping for a Biden presidency, will possibly receive a complete federal bailout, as well with many other states. We cannot let that happen.===
No, of course not. Billionaires and corporate interests can get as much money as they want from Republicans, but now that it looks like a Democrat will be in charge, it’s time to worry about the deficit.
$10 says we’ll see Bailey in a tri-corner hat with a Don’t Tread on Me flag leading the new Tea Party into action sometime next Spring.
I’ve seen this movie before and this is how it starts. Blow trillions on fluffing up the stock market then strangle spending to prevent Democrats from governing. Rinse, lather, repeat.
- Unconventionalwisdom - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 12:08 pm:
Bailey needs to get back on his meds.
But does he have any real ‘traction.’ I don’t see. He is just a pesky little thorn to Pritzker
- Cable Line Beer Gardener - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 12:35 pm:
The endless “this is just like the flu” is so unbelievably reckless. I am pretty sure that 100% of people who get the flu feel its affects, whereas the number of people who are asymptomatic continue to infect others. Since there is no national plan of testing and tracing to identify those carriers we will continue to see suffering and death.
- Highland IL - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 12:41 pm:
This is no surprise. Just read the facebook comments of any republican politician post in Southern Illinois. These conspiracies are repeated over and over. It’s starts at the top of their ticket. The local republicans are now beholden to their base who have been turned into real believers of this “stuff”. It won’t end with the upcoming election.
- Lincoln Lad - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 12:44 pm:
There are 241 people on ventilators right now with COVID in Illinois - go tell them it’s just the flu Mr. Bailey.
Nearly 600 Illinoisans in the ICU. Go tell their families this is not a crisis Ms. Mazzochi.
Can we please stop the idiocy for a couple months anyway? None of this is funny nor entertaining. Leader Durkin - don’t you have something to say?
- Animus - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 12:57 pm:
The bigger problem with Rep. Bailey and his ilk is the growing list of followers that subscribe to his wackadoodle notions, and the fact they’re unchecked by the party.
Where is leadership, where is sound judgement, fact-based ideas, etc.?
The wackadoodles are driving out thoughtful, reasoned people from the party out of sheer embarrassment and shrinking the tent even further.
Is there a political status below super-minority? That’s where we’re headed.
- CEA - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 2:01 pm:
If Bailey were merely being cynical and manufacturing conspiracy theories as “red meat” to energize his base, it would be unseemly but not unusual. But I am starting to think Bailey actually believes his own conspiracy theories, which is frightening. I also continue to wonder why Ameren saw fit to contribute $2,000 to his campaign. Not a good look for anyone involved.
- Rich Hill - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 2:28 pm:
A foreign government trying to undermine the stability of the United States could do worse than pay people like Bailey to spout this kind of rhetoric.
- Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 4:29 pm:
Where are the “pro-life” conservatives? Encouraging people to spread a deadly disease is the ultimate in hypocrisy from folks who claim to be “pro-life.” Here we see that “pro-life” is more about energizing the base and controlling women’s bodies than actually taking actions to protect people’s lives. I just can’t take this anymore…
- cermak_rd - Tuesday, Oct 27, 20 @ 5:09 pm:
Pot calling kettle,
Absolutely true. Certainly if any of the herd immunity lot ever want to be against euthanasia I think everyone else is entitled to publicly laugh in their faces.
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