* Darren Bailey was on WMAY yesterday and in a wide-ranging interview with host Jim Leach talked about how school districts are “plagued with a lot of unfunded mandates from state government. He was asked for examples. “CRT and the sex ed. Those are the two of the newest ones,” he replied.
When asked if CRT was actually a state mandate, Bailey claimed it was being taught as a result of a state rule. He was then asked to define Critical Race Theory…
The best definition I have of it is it simply un-American and it actually teaches racism. That’s exactly what we’re pinpointing instead of focusing on teaching our children to read and write and do the things that public education is supposed to do. We are supposed to educate our children, not indoctrinate them. And, and through Gov. Pritzker’s reign for the last three and a half years, our schools have become indoctrination centers and that has gotta stop.
He could not name a single school district when pressed, but did say he would get the host a list.
* Asked if elections in this state are secure, Bailey said “No”…
It’s interesting because the last four years that I observed, two years in the House and two years in the Senate, when we talk about election integrity laws, my Democrat friends on the other side of the aisle, they’ll stand up and laugh and just, you know, it’s all it’s, and, and, and a couple of them have said in the past, there’s, there’s always been cheating, get used to it.
Um, OK. I’m pretty sure that would’ve been news if someone had said that on the House or Senate floor, but maybe I just missed it.
Bailey said that his campaign is targeting 2,000 “high risk precincts,” which, again, seems like a goofy waste of resources, but whatevs.
* More…
Q: Senator, one last question for you, because I know we’re out of time. You were quoted by the Center Square this week as saying common sense tells us to repeal everything that JB Pritzker signed into law. That’s why we’re having these problems. So I gotta ask on a couple of specifics, would you wanna roll back the minimum wage the governor signed into law? Do you wanna see that minimum wage lowered in Illinois?
Bailey: We need to have that conversation because it’s, we need to do a study. You know, I was one of the first ones out with Jason Plummer that sat down with the University of Illinois when they started asking for more money because of the impact of minimum wage on ‘em. So, need to make sure that it’s not driving business out. And, [inaudible because his phone kept breaking up] the small business for the next three years.
Q: And would you want to make marijuana illegal again in Illinois? The governor signed recreational marijuana into law. Would you seek to repeal that?
Bailey: I don’t see that changing in Illinois, don’t see the minimum wage changing either. Because all of this stuff requires this, the legislature, uh, you know, wrapping their minds around this and, and presenting that to me.
As always, please pardon all transcription errors.
Thoughts?
- Roadrager - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:03 pm:
Keep talkin’, Darren. I regret to inform you that the whole state is listening now.
- vern - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:07 pm:
Very strong interview from Leach, and good evidence for my hobbyhorse opinion that long-form interviews are more elucidating than debates. Glad to see Leach press him this much.
- James R. Anderson - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:08 pm:
==we need to do a study==
If we did a study, we’d find the minimum wage should be much higher.
- G'Kar - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:11 pm:
I hate to say it, I do sort of agree with Beetle on the unfunded mandates in education. However, CRT is not a mandate and based on his answer, he doesn’t even know what it means.
- wildcat12 - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:12 pm:
Rich, also telling in this interview is that he now refuses to say when asked point blank whether he would support any change to Illinois’ existing abortion law.
- Ron Burgundy - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:17 pm:
Bailey on CRT summarized: That CRT thing that I can’t define is bad. I can’t name one example of it ever having being taught in Illinois schools, but they should stop anyway.
- Hot Taeks - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:18 pm:
So Mr. Bailey “wants” to make Marijuana illegal again but doesn’t think the IL Legislature will go along with his plans? And he calls himself pro-business? Give me a break.
- Roadrager - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:20 pm:
==I hate to say it, I do sort of agree with Beetle on the unfunded mandates in education.==
As I used to often hear on baseball broadcasts, “right size, wrong shape.” Unfunded mandates are, in fact, a significant problem in our educational system. But Darren thinks the mandates are a forced indoctrination of anti-American racism, and that the solution is not better public school funding, but giving public schools less funding and shoveling that all onto private (preferably Christian) schools instead. It’s always going foul when you pull that far right.
- Pundent - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:21 pm:
=He could not name a single school district when pressed, but did say he would get the host a list.=
For a guy who seems intent on bringing this issue up regularly, you would think he’d at least have one compelling story or example that he could rely on? I don’t see CRT being a significant issue in this election, but if Bailey is going to make it a campaign theme he could at least put a little bit of effort into it.
Bailey has this knack for taking winning issues (unfunded mandates) and turning them into losers by conflating them with nonsense.
- Candy Dogood - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:23 pm:
===simply un-American and it actually teaches racism.===
Seems as if Darren Bailey is describing his own campaign with this statement.
- illinifan - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:24 pm:
Sounds just like some friends after they have had 3 martinis.
- MisterJayEm - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:24 pm:
“CRT and the sex ed. Those are the two of the newest ones”
Setting CRT aside for a moment, this goofball thinks sex ed is new?
(SPOILER: Of course he doesn’t — he just knows that it’s a culture war buzzword that will inflame his base.)
– MrJM
- Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:27 pm:
– Because all of this stuff requires this, the legislature, uh, you know, wrapping their minds around this and, and presenting that to me. –
Big show of support for Durkin and McConchie
- JS Mill - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:27 pm:
=is it simply un-American=
Like, say trying control the free press?
=I hate to say it, I do sort of agree with Beetle on the unfunded mandates in education. However, CRT is not a mandate and based on his answer, he doesn’t even know what it means.=
True on all accounts. When he was asked to name a mandate he was in fact wrong.
- Curious citizen - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:29 pm:
It got glossed over because CRT is a lightning rod, but does Bailey really think “the sex ed” is a new mandate? I had a nine-week session of the sex ed during my freshman year of high school. That was 1971.
- Arsenal - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:31 pm:
==you know, it’s all it’s, and, and, and a couple of them have said in the past, there’s, there’s==
Well put.
The only animating idea for ILGOP right now is that everyone should take a pay cut.
They should go first.
- Homebody - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:33 pm:
I suppose CRT is un-American in the sense that America has always been about whitewashing our past.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:34 pm:
Would the person who keeps posting anonymously please pick a name? Getting really tired of deleting you.
- NIU Grad - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:36 pm:
Can’t wait for those debates…
- Huh? - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:37 pm:
“… the sex ed. Those are the two of the newest ones,”
I had sex ed before I graduated high school in 1975. It was taught by the gym teachers.
Beetle is worried about election security because he can’t win. He is pulling a tramp by claiming that if he loses it will due to election fraud.
- RNUG - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:39 pm:
== there’s always been cheating, get used to it. ==
I know some of the readers here have worked / do work as either Election Judges or Poll Watchers. I have also.
IF there is any cheating going on, these days it is occurring either (1) at registration time prior to the election or (2) when the votes are centrally tabulated.
I know some people say it happens with mail-in / drop-off ballots, but, assuming the people accepting / reviewing the individual ballots are doing a proper signature match, it is unlikely to occur via those ballots. The county clerks keep close track of those ballots.
The only “cheating” I can envision would be if someone else fills out and successfully forges a signature to a drop-off / mail-in ballot (conceivable) or if someone brought in a bunch of open and marked ballots to a county clerk’s tabulating (unlikely). It’s not the 1960’s where people played fast and loose with counting the ballot; don’t see that happening in Illinois today.
The only things I can see occurring that could remotely be called “cheating” would be local precinct organizations dragging / driving people to the polls with a good ‘get out the vote’ operation … and that is legal.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:39 pm:
To the post,
I look at this 1,000% different than anyone I suppose.
See, after yesterday, with the locals pushback about crime, and this whole Hancock thingy, and now all these popular things like cannibis… then throw in the racist thinking, insurrection supporters, and even here the conspiracy theories…
…
This is a man planning on losing, but being on every side of what his soulless E-Van-Gel-Eye-Cals see as… well, “bad”
It’s setting up a huge grift after the election.
That’s what this is.
It’s choosing to be “Full Trumpian”, with veiled racist thinking, and anti-crime which is epitomized in a white female victim that Proft highlights in an ad.
This is the ground work for… December, 2022.
Why one wolf take positions on a majority of things here where a majority likely disagrees with him…
Bailey… it’s like a televangelist
It will now be, first the martyr, then the payoff.
It’s not fazing me one bit.
- Joshua P. - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:39 pm:
Dear Candy, I gess you have not seen a photo of Bailey’s running mate. Bailey is supposed to be teaching racism by running with a black woman?
- Groucho - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:39 pm:
Why would a person who starts his job before the sun rises, does not finish his job until the sun goes down and spends his day solving problems and feeding the world not want the average worker to earn a livable wage?
- Pundent - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:40 pm:
The topic of sex ed has been taught in schools for about 50 years or so now so Bailey is a bit late to the party. Its’ origins were driven in part by a desire to prevent unwanted pregnancies. For a pro life guy like Darren you would think he’s be on-board with that?
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:47 pm:
===Bailey is supposed to be teaching racism by running with a black woman?===
That’s adorable, all you really need to do is see how that presser went yesterday with community groups’ reactions to the ticket.
- Ron Burgundy - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:48 pm:
-Bailey is supposed to be teaching racism by running with a black woman?-
So you’re saying he has a black friend?
- Norseman - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:50 pm:
Darren keeps going with the standard MAGA GOP fact free trigger words. His problem is that you can’t get the same Pavlovian response from folks who haven’t been conditioned.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:57 pm:
===So you’re saying he has a black friend?===
Go home - Ron Burgundy -
Your work here is done. Whew.
- Arsenal - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:58 pm:
==Bailey is supposed to be teaching racism by running with a black woman? ==
Yeah, and on New Caprica, the Cylons used human “officers” to keep the Colonials in line.
- G'Kar - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:59 pm:
==We are supposed to educate our children, not indoctrinate them.==
So, “their” indoctrination is bad, but at Full Armor Christian Academy, “our” indoctrination is good. I would love to see how they teach Science and History.
- Save Ferris - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 1:17 pm:
===Bailey is supposed to be teaching racism by running with a black woman?===
Some of my best running mates are minorities.
- Henry Francis - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 1:18 pm:
Bailey’s responses to the questions sound like a 4th grader giving a book report on a book he didn’t read.
- Independent - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 1:24 pm:
I can’t wait for Bailey’s list of districts he believes are teaching CRT. Like most extreme right wingers he mindlessly parrots buzzwords and phrases hammered into his brain by Fox commentators. 99% of the red hats couldn’t give a coherent explanation of what CRT is. They just know it’s something they’ve been told to hate.
- Ron Burgundy - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 1:33 pm:
-I would love to see how they teach Science and History.-
Well the books are much thinner, for one.
- XonXoff - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 1:35 pm:
== all of this stuff requires this, the legislature, uh, you know, wrapping their minds around this and, and presenting that to me. ==
Run-on followup question if you don’t mind… RE: Cannabis. You being a steward of the earth, man of the cross, and (pretty obviously) against taxes, if they unwrapped the IL Chiefs of Police minds from around the original Cannabis bill and resurrected the original 5-plant tax-free homegrow provision, as God intended it, would you sign it? /s
- JS Mill - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 1:47 pm:
=Bailey’s responses to the questions sound like a 4th grader giving a book report on a book he didn’t read.=
Between you and Ron Burgundy today, really I may have actually busted a gut.
Best description of bailey ever.
- Norseman - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 1:48 pm:
=== I would love to see how they teach Science and History. ===
What they’re teaching is normally called religion and fiction.
- Joe Bidenopolous - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 1:55 pm:
=Sounds just like some friends after they have had 3 martinis.=
Get new friends. If they sound like Bailey after 3 drinks, it’s who they are. They want to sound like that sober, they’re just chicken.
====Bailey is supposed to be teaching racism by running with a black woman?====
Does anyone know what a “beard” is?
=So, “their” indoctrination is bad, but at Full Armor Christian Academy, “our” indoctrination is good. I would love to see how they teach Science and History.=
They likely don’t teach those things.
- Blake - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 2:01 pm:
I would think if someone wanted an interview answer length definition of CRT, it would be “any social order with outcome disparities between groups is an unjust social order both if that social order involves racially neutral laws in word or intent and if it doesn’t”
- MoralMinority - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 2:11 pm:
According to WNOI.comSenator and Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Darren Bailey is hosting his annual Evening at The Farm Fundraiser Event in his backyard. The event will take place on October 2nd, parking will open at 3 pm and the event runs until 7 pm.
This might be an excellent opportunity to ask Darren some follow up on Leach’s interview questions. It would also be a chance to hobnob with state and national politicians and the general who’s who of the Southern Illinois MAGA crowd. Tickets include a full meal and entertainment. Could we only hope that Darren will sing. If you do choose to go though, take my advice and avoid the Mountain Dew. I checked my calendar and unfortunately I’m busy that day.
- MoralMinority - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 2:15 pm:
Hopefully the wind won’t be out of the east on the day of Darren’s wingding because of the mega hog farm between Darren’s residence and Louisville.
- Stix Hix - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 2:41 pm:
I’m not sure if it qualifies as “teaching” CRT, but last fall I told my HS Scholastic Bowl players it was going to come up sometime during the season. It did. We won that hot match by ten points, and advanced.
- btowntruthfromforgottonia - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 2:51 pm:
Groucho - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 12:39 pm:
Why would a person who starts his job before the sun rises, does not finish his job until the sun goes down and spends his day solving problems and feeding the world not want the average worker to earn a livable wage?
============================================
Beacause if they work for him he might have to pay them that living wage and he doesn’t want to.
- Dysfunction Junction - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 3:21 pm:
=Because if they work for him he might have to pay them that living wage and he doesn’t want to.=
Look, we’ve now seen his taxes. If he paid his workers a living wage, he’d have less than $1776 in income *every* year.
- Ron Burgundy - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 3:39 pm:
Keep in mind Bailey and his ilk think CRT is anything that challenges the history they were taught, aka that white people could do no wrong. They think history is a static thing, and it is not. It evolves based on new evidence and depends to a degree on who has had the power to tell it.
- Osborne Smith III - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 3:48 pm:
Jobs. Economy. Taxes. Public services. Infrastructure.
Those are the things voters truly care about, Senator. Get away from the MAGA buzz words, focus on those five subjects, and you might have a chance at breaking 35% in November.
- Pundent - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 4:12 pm:
=when we talk about election integrity laws, my Democrat friends on the other side of the aisle, they’ll stand up and laugh=
I’ll clue Bailey in on a secret. It’s not election law they’re laughing at. But it is wrong because people that spout this stuff aren’t funny, they’re dangerous.
As far as the rest of his comments, nice of him to at least acknowledge that if elected governor he would essentially be useless. Not exactly the most persuasive way to get my vote but whatevs.
- Give Us Barabbas - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 4:32 pm:
When Bailey says:”sex Ed”, what he means is; the teaching of birth control methods and that gender and sexuality are different things, that there are people who don’t fit a previous century’s binary views, and that gay people are gross and a threat to… something or other. Saying “sex ed” is just his shorthand for all that and how women definite their lives.
- Ron Burgundy - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 4:58 pm:
-aka that white people could do no wrong.-
And the flip side of that issue, that anyone besides white people’s history matters.
- Lynn S. - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 6:04 pm:
Curious citizen,
May I ask where you went to high school at? I remember my sex Ed as part of sophomore health class. Health was mandatory, but only 9 weeks long, and sex Ed was 2 weeks.
My high school is probably just 50 miles from North Clay, the high school in Louisville, and maybe less. This was the early 80s (Beetle may only be a year or 2 older than me).
- Pundent - Thursday, Sep 15, 22 @ 6:42 pm:
=Saying “sex ed” is just his shorthand for all that and how women definite their lives.=
What Bailey is critiquing is probably not the sex ed that most of us got in our earlier education. Although I’m guessing he’s not a fan of that either. It is a whole bunch of things related to gender and sexuality which he would rather prefer didn’t exist or that feel threatening to him personally but maybe not the majority of us.