44 Comments - Cool Papa Bell - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:32 pm: =“I don’t know, maybe things just haven’t gotten bad enough yet to where enough people haven’t figured it out.”= The call is coming from inside the house. - Blake - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:32 pm: Fair to say the people of Illinois were offered a choice. Caulkins perhaps feels like he has to talk like this since he would probably underperform generic Republican. - TheInvisibleMan - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:33 pm: I am Dan’s complete lack of self-awareness. - Seven Constanza - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:33 pm: I never thought that I would say this, but I miss Bill Mitchell…Congratulations Universe - Politix - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:34 pm: What’s the opposite of introspection? - Bruce( no not him) - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:40 pm: … maybe things just haven’t gotten bad enough yet… We’ll do what we can to make it worse, so they’ll vote for us. S/ - Demoralized - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:40 pm: Republicans like him just keep telling us all how bad everything is. Some of us don’t happen to think things are all that bad in Illinois. Until people like Caulkins figure that out they’ll continue to be losers. Tell us why you should be elected. Don’t tell us that you should be elected because everything is so bad. That hasn’t worked and didn’t work. Do better if you want a chance to govern. - The Real Downstate - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:42 pm: ==maybe things just haven’t gotten bad enough yet to where enough people haven’t figured it out.== Someone show Dan those recent right track / wrong track numbers again. - Teacher Lady - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:42 pm: Being “better organized” will not help. It’s the product, not the messaging that’s being rejected. Until they come to that realization, there’s no helping the ILGOP. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:42 pm: Here… let’s break down what an ignorant fool Caulkins is… or is Caulkins trying to fool himself and others; === “I just think that we need to get better organized and offer the people of Illinois a choice,” Caulkins said. “I don’t know, maybe things just haven’t gotten bad enough yet to where enough people haven’t figured it out.”=== Let’s begin. “…“I just think that we need to get better organized” The 56+% of the GOP was organized enough to vote Bailey in the primary, vote DeVore in the primary, AND vote Salvi… all *in* the primary. It’s not an organizing principle lost here, it’s that too few are willing to join such a reckless bunch. … continuing… “…and offer the people of Illinois a choice,” The GOP voters wanted Bailey, DeVore, the election deniers, candidates that were pro-life, not pro-choice… pro 2A, even after Bailey wanted to “move on” from a mass shooting… the choice was quite clear… and the majority of the cult wanted these choices. Did Caulkins endorse Bailey and DeVore? Here’s the one. *THE* one. This is why the GOP is failing. “I don’t know, maybe things just haven’t gotten bad enough yet to where enough people haven’t figured it out.” Notice… no clear solution to make it better… but hoping for worse to get more voters? Maybe both can be true. Caulkins is a fool and fooling himself. The voters weren’t fooled. Illinois Republicans were dangerous to women’s health, thought mass shootings should be unilaterally dismissed, and Covid saving measures were wrong… but it’s still not bad enough for these things to be good. So pathetic - don the legend - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:44 pm: Boon : Forget it, he’s rolling. - Ron Burgundy - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:46 pm: -offer the people of Illinois a choice- The current choice you are offering is sanity vs insanity. Hint: You aren’t on the side of sanity. - Riversidian - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:46 pm: Big Seymour Skinner energy here. “Am I out of touch? No, it’s the children who are wrong.” IL GOP still in that first stage of grief. Looong way to go until acceptance. - Tood Aloo - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:48 pm: Those eastern bloc governing would resemble that monkey with a football thing. - JoeMaddon - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:52 pm: **I just think that we need to get better organized and offer the people of Illinois a choice** Rep Caulkins - the guy you supported for Governor offered a choice. An extreme one. And the voters made a clear choice. - Michelle Flaherty - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:56 pm: Pro-choice Dan Caulkins - AlfondoGonz - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:56 pm: Cool Papa Bell Perfect. That should effectively shut down this thread. Very well done - StealYourFace - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 1:57 pm: It sounds like he is wanting the state GOP to become ambulance chasers? Until the party starts advocating for proactive solutions instead of simply reacting to Democrat initiatives they are never going to gain ground in Illinois. - Bill Mitchell - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:00 pm: I miss you too, Seven. - Rudy’s teeth - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:00 pm: For Rep. Caulkins…might be that the elevator doesn’t go to the top floor. - 47th Ward - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:00 pm: “Rep. Caulkins? There is a Mr. Dan Proft on line one for you.” - Barnaby Wilde - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:02 pm: “One of these days I gotta get myself organizized.” - GV - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:02 pm: His campaign committee reported raising $150.20 last quarter. His Illinois Freedom Caucus PAC reported raising $900 in the same time period. - Ron Burgundy - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:08 pm: -His campaign committee reported raising $150.20 last quarter. His Illinois Freedom Caucus PAC reported raising $900 in the same time period- Well if they want to get organized, they can afford a filing cabinet. A nice one too. - Give Me A Break - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:10 pm: Eastern Block members have painted themselves into a corner. Any move to work across the aisle to help their districts will be seen as being a “RINO”. Guys like Caulkins have no interest in governing, they live to complain. Imagine the fun next year with the Eastern Block and McCombie throwing their fits of moral outrage and indignation on Third Readings Should be great show. - Pot calling kettle - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:10 pm: “I don’t know, maybe things just haven’t gotten bad enough yet to where enough people haven’t figured it out.” Does he mean like they were in the early 1990’s when we had had Republicans as Governor and President for a decade? The violent crime rate in Illinois peaked in 1991 at 1039/100K and property crime peaked at 5093/100K. (In 2020, those rates were 426/100K and 1560/100K, respectively.) Maybe he was referring Rauner’s time in the Gov’s office when the long downward trend in Illinois leveled off and actually bumped up for a couple of years. (Both were higher when Rauner was in office than they have been during Pritzker’s term.) https://crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov/pages/explorer/crime/crime-trend - bytheby - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:14 pm: The beatings will continue until morale improves, I’m looking at you denizens of Gomorrah. - New Day - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:14 pm: “I don’t know, maybe things just haven’t gotten bad enough yet to where enough people haven’t figured it out.” Or, and I’m just spitballing here, maybe you did offer voters a choice and they made it decisively, rejecting you and the extreme MAGA caucus agenda. It didn’t work. Not in IL and not anywhere in the country. So maybe, listen to Jim Edgar, he certainly knows how to get elected in IL better than the Eastern Bloc. - Stormsw7706 - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:20 pm: Poor Danny. Still waiting for someone to come to his birthday party. On the party agenda no food, no games, no fun, and no other people. I’m his mind it’s still a party. Maybe if people come around and get it they still might come. Because it’s a party right? - Grandson of Man - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:27 pm: “maybe things just haven’t gotten bad enough yet to where enough people haven’t figured it out” Truer words haven’t been spoken—for the ILGOP. This party hasn’t figured out how to be an irrelevancy in Illinois. We’re not Tennessee, Indiana or any such low income neighbor that goes for right wing policies. Keep being anti-union and anti-abortion in this state, as well as chasing the Madigan phantom, and wishing for other results. - Big Dipper - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:34 pm: Maybe some of these doom-and-gloom complainers need anti-depressants. My life is good. People I know enjoy their lives. So we aren’t motivated to vote based on exaggerations about how bad life is. At any given time there are economic and other challenges. You adjust rather than whine. - Original Rambler - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:41 pm: Cool Papa Bell - thanks for the chuckle. Post of the day. - Stormsw7706 - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:41 pm: The Captain of the GOP Titanic. No story here. Nothing to learn. Welcome aboard our sinking ship. Jim Edgar is seriously missed. The GOP used to stand for something. What an embarrassing decline - Excitable Boy - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:41 pm: “The voices in my head are telling how terrible everything is, I’m just surprised everyone else can’t hear them.” - Vote Quimby - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:49 pm: Perhaps the IGOP should borrow a page from the national party, dozens of members who signed a letter than included this gem: “The Republican Party needs leaders who will confidently and skillfully present a persuasive coherent vision of who we are, what we stand for, and what we will do” - Geezus - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 2:56 pm: If only Kirk Dillard had won the primary in 2010…how life might have been different in the IL GOP. Just a couple hundred votes. - Grimlock - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 3:00 pm: I know how to get out of this hole, we’ll dig our way out. - Lurker - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 3:06 pm: 🤦🏽‍♂️ - Amalia - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 3:07 pm: “….offer the people of Illinois a choice….” joke writer. - ArchPundit - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 4:29 pm: ===maybe things just haven’t gotten bad enough yet to where enough people haven’t figured it out. The old heightening the contradictions bit. And they call Democrats Marxists. - MisterJayEm - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 5:06 pm: “I don’t know, maybe things just haven’t gotten bad enough yet to where enough people haven’t figured it out.” After the double-negatives cancel each other out, one gets “maybe things just have gotten bad enough yet to where enough people have figured it out” — and I wouldn’t argue with that. – MrJM - Gfalkes - Monday, Nov 14, 22 @ 5:38 pm: I guess that means voters are too dumb. Great message. - Rabid - Tuesday, Nov 15, 22 @ 1:38 am: “I just think…I don’t know” you’ll never figure it out - ISU Pundit - Tuesday, Nov 15, 22 @ 8:00 am: Stop Dan, please just stop. You’re not helping the cause. This is why my party will be in the minority for the foreseeable future. The Eastern bloc are a bunch of Sideshow barkers. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.