* The Pritzker campaign sent audio and this transcript of Darren Bailey speaking to WGN’s John Williams yesterday…
REPORTER: ‘Bailey would not say whether he believed the 2020 presidential election was stolen to elect Democrat Joe Biden.’ This is the same sort of question that the nominee for the Fed chairmanship is being asked on Capitol Hill right now. Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election? I don’t know how hard that is to answer, but it’s become a bit of a litmus test these days. What’s your best answer to that question?
DARREN BAILEY: Well, my best answer to the question is that get over it. They’re using this to try to trip us up, because anytime we have an opportunity to begin to unify as a nation, to begin to unify as a state, they keep going back to this nonsense. It is absolutely 100% irrelevant. It doesn’t matter anymore.
REPORTER: It does matter if the election was stolen, though. I mean, if the election was stolen, that’s a four-alarm fire. So I think it matters, but it’s right. It does matter if the election was stolen…
BAILEY: Right, but somebody somewhere, and that’s what I hope to do, is a, you know, voter ID that cleaning, giving people confidence in the electoral process again. That is what must happen. And until we do that, until we do that, we’re, you know, you’re right. We’re just throwing out talking points.
REPORTER: I’m wasting your time now, but I just wish you had said, yes, he lost the election. That would have unified Illinois or a lot of people, if that’s what you want to do.
- H-W - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 2:15 pm:
Kudos to the reporter. That is how we unify. We openly deny false statements and lies. Openly, not by deflecting to alternative theses.
- Demoralized - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 2:15 pm:
I’d like to “get over it” and I’m sure a lot of people would like to “get over it.” It’s the President himself who won’t allow anyone to “get over it.” He’s out there seizing ballots from 2020.
- G'Kar - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 2:16 pm:
I wonder if Beetle will tell Trump to “get over it” the next time they talk?
- ste_with a v_en - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 2:17 pm:
The same people who love to ask “What is a woman?” can’t handle “Who won the 2020 Election?”
- twowaystreet - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 2:29 pm:
A real profile in courage.
- Candy Dogood - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 2:34 pm:
===It is absolutely 100% irrelevant. It doesn’t matter anymore.===
Ah yes, the Shaggy response.
- Pundent - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 2:44 pm:
Well so much for Bailey’s tack to the middle. This is a softball question. They only get tougher from here.
- btowntruth from forgottonia - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 2:53 pm:
So irrelevant that his hero keeps screaming that he actually won in 2020.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 2:58 pm:
Stop trying to trip Darren up…he’s not used to low traction city shoes.
- Jocko - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 3:05 pm:
==giving people confidence in the electoral process again==
Who eroded their confidence in the first place…culminating in an attack on the Capitol?
- BE - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 3:27 pm:
Wow, the same response he gave (in essence) to the Highland Park shooting, while they were still looking for the shooter.
And he thinks this is the way to show he is a ‘non-Trump’ Republican?
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 3:28 pm:
- Right, but somebody somewhere, and that’s what I hope to do, is a, you know, voter ID that cleaning, giving people confidence in the electoral process again. -
Somebody get the mop bucket…the confidence is overflowing.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 3:30 pm:
Q. What are Bailey’s chances of being elected Governor of Illinois?
A. Get over it.
- Blue Dog - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 3:55 pm:
sounds like a very unbiased reporter.
- Excitable Boy - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 3:59 pm:
- sounds like a very unbiased reporter. -
It’s not biased to expect candidates to acknowledge facts.
- JS Mill - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 4:00 pm:
The reporter was absolutely on point.
GREAT comments across the board if I do say so myself.
Additionally…Heeeessss Baaaaack. To sort of quote the late great Dennis Green “Darren Bailey is who we thought he was! And we won’t let ‘em off the hook!”.
All he had to do is say “No”. One word.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 4:07 pm:
Q. Are you willing to answer a simple Yes or No question?
A. I pick door number three.
- Pundent - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 4:26 pm:
=sounds like a very unbiased reporter=
How so? You either believe the election was stolen or you don’t. Where’s the bias in that?
- NIU Grad - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 4:37 pm:
“giving people confidence in the electoral process again”
The use of “again” of Republicans always drives me nuts. “We’re working to give people confidence in the thing that we’ve spent the last decade and millions of dollars destroying the credibility of in the eyes of the public.”
- Pot calling kettle - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 4:40 pm:
==How so? You either believe the election was stolen or you don’t. Where’s the bias in that?==
The reporter is clearly biased in favor of reality. Bailey a member of a party whose leader thinks that acknowledging reality is optional and is only valid when it aligns with what he wants to believe. Another good question would be, “If President Trump gave you a pair of shoes that were too big, would you wear them and pretend like it was normal?”
- New Day - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 4:41 pm:
Meet the new Darren. Same as the old Darren. #SAD
- thisjustinagain - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 4:54 pm:
Another great non-answer by a politician wanna-be. Either he’s afraid to answer for fear of losing voters, or he still believes it was stolen. And if you’re trying to show you’re not MAGA, then declare it wasn’t stolen. Sheesh.
- Aaron B - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 5:15 pm:
Can’t admit the election wasn’t stolen and going back to the MAGA elections aren’t safe without voter ID crap. There never was any significant confidence in the elections until the MAGA king started his grift.
- Steve Rogers - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 5:16 pm:
Maybe a follow up should be, who won the 1960 election? who won the 1984 election? Neither of those are “irrelevent.”
If they can answer those questions, then they can answer who won in 2020.
And I’m just randomly picking two presidential election years, you can use any you want
- Occaisionally Moderated - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 5:26 pm:
I think the most interesting part of this story is calling John Williams a reporter. He is a talk show host on WGN. A nice guy and a gentleman. Kudos to him for asking non-softball questions, but it makes me want to ask where are the reporters when comedians and talk show hosts are doing the heavy lifting.
It’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world.
- Skokie Man - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 6:26 pm:
=Voter ID that cleaning, giving people confidence in the electoral process again. That is what must happen.=
Utterly disqualifying. Literally a solution in search of a problem that Bailey himself refuses to endorse.
- Don't Bloc Me In - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 6:32 pm:
But Darren, are you prepared to tell Trump “It is absolutely 100% irrelevant. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Wednesday, Apr 22, 26 @ 6:32 pm:
I give credit to Darren Bailey for saying that 1) he is not MAGA and 2) Donald Trump is not always right.
But Darren, Darren, Darren…why go to all of that trouble and then not be ready to say:
“I do believe that Joe Biden won the election in 2020, and once he was certified by Congress that should have been the end of it. But clearly many people have doubts about our election process. Whether you think that’s fair or not, people have been questioning elections in Illinois since atleast World War 1. We have to do all we can to make sure the public has faith in our elections, which is why I support X, Y, and Z reforms.”
Cut the cord, man.
Trump is polling at 30% approval on the economy. If you cant do it for that, do it for his failure to release the Epstein files. You are going to answer those questions too.
You might as well cut the cord now.