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Picking on the little ones

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Illinois

* We usually focus on major party players here, but let’s pick on a couple of minor actors this afternoon - for equal time’s sake and because it could be fun.

* If you’re at work or are sensitive to images of half-naked persons, then you probably want to avoid ~~the Chicago Republican Party’s~~ Chicago GOP’s website [the site is not official, but is run by the political director for the city party] for a while. The top post on its home-page blog features a photo of an attractive woman, alluringly posed… with no top.

Hey, I’m no prude, but I do wonder what “family values” candidates like Bill Brady and others might be thinking at this moment because their campaign logos and photos are displayed right above that aforementioned softcore pic.

Perhaps the author thought more people would pay attention to the posted rant by displaying that photograph, but it’s pretty much incomprehensible.

There’ll be no link because, well, I have a policy against linking to porno here. Use teh Google if you dare: “Chicago GOP.” Also, let’s keep it clean in comments. Try not to lower yourselves to their level. Thanks.

* I read a particularly silly Green Party press release last week while visiting my dad in the hospital and then forgot about it until I saw it on Larry’s blog today…

Green Party leaders sharply criticized Governor Pat Quinn and the Democratic State Central Committee for bypassing State Rep. Art Turner and other more qualified candidates in nominating Sheila Simon for Lieutenant Governor.

“Pat Quinn’s message is that he can take the black vote for granted,” said Phil Huckelberry, Illinois Green Party Chair. “Our message is that those days are over. Many of our core issues – especially education funding reform and the lack of economic development in the most struggling areas – are at the top of the list across black communities throughout the state. It’s clearer than ever that those issues are not going to be meaningfully addressed by Pat Quinn and the Democrats. But they’re going to be addressed by the Green Party.”

Larry points out the basic flaw in the Green Party’s argument…

Statewide Green African-American candidates: 1

Statewide Democratic African-American Candidates: 3

Oops.

Here’s my favorite part, though…

Simon, a former city council member in Carbondale, is from the same relatively small community as Green gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney.

“Targeting Rich Whitney’s geographical base is a little short-sighted…” said Huckelberry.

Yeah. They went right after Whitney’s base by picking Simon. I’m sure that was the goal all along. Brilliant.

Whitney got 3,941 votes in Jackson County back in 2006 out of almost 16,000 votes cast. Yeah, that ain’t bad, but it’s Jackson County. Relatively small potatoes in the broader voting world.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 3:33 pm

Comments

I voted for Whitney in 2006 in part because of his support for a responsible budget and in part because I thought Rod had proven himself to be a lying, incompetent boob.

I’m disappointed that instead of building on their past success and offering new ideas and a new approach to politics, the Illinois Green Party is now resorting to race-baiting.

I don’t know Phil Huckelberry, but I thought Rich Whitney was better than that. I guess I was wrong.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 3:54 pm
For better or worse, fair or not, our political system does not favor 3rd party gambits. They end up being spoilers and ankle biters. While I understand the frustration that many voters feel (regardless of their political bent), voting for a 3rd party candidate is essentially a wasted vote.

Comment by dupage dan Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 4:03 pm
The Chicago GOP has to get attention somehow. It’s a lot easier to put up a centerfold than to walk the Northwest and Southwest sides in the rain.

I hope they keep it to stock photos and wannabe models. We don’t need a “Women of the Tea Party” calendar.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 4:06 pm
===Picking on the little ones===

Rich, did you see the picture? Those are NOT little ones.

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 4:08 pm
Oof, wordslinger. lol

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 4:08 pm
47th, that hed was supposed to be ironic.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 4:09 pm
I was going to push my luck and suggest that the GOP put a couple of (deleteds) in charge of the web page.

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 4:11 pm
I figured she might have an arm or something covering the ‘bits’…

Ummmm….

awkward…

Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 4:11 pm
I had to read the rant several times, I guess hoping that there was some logical connection to the photo. Yes, sometimes men to actually read the articles. Maybe they are hoping for outrage like that aimed at the tasteless Calvin Klein ads. Any publicity being better than none, I suppose. I wonder what they would post if everyone ignored it. How do you top that? I’m afraid to find out.

Comment by dupage dan Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 4:22 pm
She’s quite healthy, yes she is. I may indulge in politics now.

Comment by What No Bo Derek? Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 4:27 pm
Rich is the website you’re discussing the official site or an off shoot? I thought chicagorepublicanparty.com was the official site not the one you refer to in your piece, chicagogop.com.

Comment by anonymous Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 4:30 pm
Now I have two reasons to vote Republican!

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 4:30 pm
The photo is interesting, but the blogger seems to be a misogynist and he cannot spell and his grammar is horrible.

I think someone needs to adjust his meds.

Comment by Pot calling kettle Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 4:34 pm
Larry has a mostly sorta edited screen grab: http://archpundit.com/blog/2010/04/07/class/

– MrJM

Comment by MrJM Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 4:41 pm
How tasteful. Phallic columns and an orgiastic arching of her back. Family (producing) values indeed…

Pot is right too. Horribly written article.

Comment by Mongo Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 4:42 pm
ChicagoGOP.com is NOT the official site of the Chicago Republican Party. Try ChicagoRepublicanParty.com. Just a little digging and anyone could have figured that out.

Comment by anonymous Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 4:49 pm
You stay classy Chicago Republicans!

Comment by Springfield Dem Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 4:50 pm
nice Huckelberries

Comment by siriusly Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 5:01 pm
It’s hard keeping abreast of the GrOP. Was the bondage club visited w/ RNC campaign funds the same one frequented by erstwhile Ill. Senate Candidate Jack Ryan w/ his ex-Mrs. Jeri?

Comment by D.P. Gumby Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 5:13 pm
I’m with VM, I going Republican now. Those are niiccee!

Comment by Bob Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 5:26 pm
While the site may not be the “official” web site of the Chi-town GOP, it appears to espouse similar sentiments.

Comment by Pot calling kettle Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 5:29 pm
I hear Quinn’s about to counter with a Sheila Simon pic on his campaign Web site.

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 5:39 pm
re: anonymous

If you read this TPM piece, you’ll see that the Chicago Republican Party says “Tom Swiss” operates the ChicagoGOP.com site:

tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/04/chicago-gop-site-that-featured-photo-of-naked-woman-not-affiliated-with-republican-party.php

But here’s what was left out: If you ALSO check the WHOIS domain registration info for ChicagoRepublicanParty.com — the so-called “official site” — you’ll see that he also registered that domain as well. So, basically, he runs both sites. To say ChicagoGOP.com is “not affiliated with the official local branch of the Republican Party” is a misleading statement.

Comment by Who is Tom Swiss? Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 5:53 pm
Perhaps chicagogop.com is for the Young Eagles. LOL

Comment by Pot calling kettle Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 6:00 pm
I was shocked to see that post with the photo. I am glad to hear it’s not the party’s official site. They may have to renounce that site in any case, especially if they are connected as a commenter determined here. The GOP is the Stupid Party, after all.
—
Welcome back, Mr. Miller. Hope you and your dad are recovering all right.

Comment by Peggy SO-IL Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 6:06 pm
Tom Swiss is also listed on the ‘official site’ as the Political Director of the Chicago Republican Party. I’m sure there’s some sort of mistake there.

Comment by ArchPundit Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 6:23 pm
That website….is a hoot….errr… I mean….Can’t wait for Ladies night.. Women vote too! LOL

Comment by Vote? Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 6:24 pm
More details here: http://www.chicagocurrent.com/articles/31222-Pro-Republican-Web-site-features-naked-woman

Comment by kappa Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 6:46 pm
While Chicago ward committeeman Tom Swiss runs and operates the chicagogop.com website, he does so to the complete exclusion of any party oversight or accountability. The leadership has attempted to control Swiss and his site without success for years. Perhaps that will change now. Perhaps this is the most egregious use ever, but there have been plenty of problems with content before which have been the subject of intra-party controversey.

Comment by Conservative Republican Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 6:53 pm
The GOP seemingly has a bit more “skin in the game” since the days of Attorney General Ashcroft
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1788845.stm
Are their any suspicions as to their authenticity? They would seem to be sincere and hardworking on the face of things

Comment by Das Man Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 7:29 pm
The chicagoGOP article just rambles, grammar and punctuation are horrible..did the person attend SIU (snark)…? yeah I read the article..

Comment by really? Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 7:44 pm
Now that’s funny! The party of “Palin Says We Have To Say NO To Everything So We Will” puts forth smut while telling everybody else how to behave in the bedroom. Is this Michael “Strip Club” Steele’s personal website featuring the girls of Voyeur, or is this from the club that Jack! Ryan frequented?

I don’t care if this site is official or not. It obviously has a very conservative bent based on the columns and is none too approving of Illinois’ favorite son, Obama, so it does the trick. Nice job GOP’ers! Shooting oneself in the foot usually involves not getting the gun out of one’s holster. In this case, you took a shotgun, put the barrel on top of your pinky toe, and pulled the trigger. Brilliant!

I don’t know who Tom Swiss is, but every Democrat in the state and perhaps the country should send him a thank you note. Nicely done, sir!

Comment by No Comment Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 9:47 pm
Based on the responses, I guess it’s true that guys really do read the articles. lol

(I’ll admit the whole thing’s a bit odd.)

Comment by The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 9:54 pm
V-man…lol

Comment by The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 9:56 pm
No Comment, talk about a “spin”. As IF this is the ILGOP site and could therefore be perceived by some as representing all Republicans in Illinois.

Seriously.

Comment by The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 10:23 pm
This kind of clownish behavior has been an ongoing thing with Tom Swiss and the Chicago GOP. It’s why the Dems have nothing to worry about in Cook.

Comment by just sayin' Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 10:46 pm
I don’t know, just sayin’. I’d guess that the whole Lite Guv thing might have left a really bad taste in some people’s mouths–and probably for good reason. Can’t blame Swiss for that one.

Comment by The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 10:49 pm
===
The party of “Palin Says We Have To Say NO To Everything So We Will” puts forth smut while telling everybody else how to behave in the bedroom.
===

And I’ll add this, too, “No Comment”: While I MIGHT be able to see generally where you’re going with that one in some cases, remember that Republicans are big on family.

And generally speaking, we know it takes a little more than “intellect” to keep families strong.

We just don’t publicize it–though Sarah has said a few things in the press that show she has a very healthy admiration for her husband.

Read between the lines, “No Comment”. Done with your spin yet?

Comment by The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous Wednesday, Apr 7, 10 @ 11:01 pm
Rich, I think you’re well aware that a whole lot of African-American voters were ticked off at the way the Simon selection went down. It’s something we heard a lot about, from people saying they’re sick of watching the Democrats take black voters for granted. So it was something we chose to respond to. You’ll find that relative to 2006, we’ve been making inroads into both African-American and Latino communities in Chicago and suburban Cook County. There’s a real story to be reported on there, whether you think it’s dismissible or not.

On geography: Rich Whitney received 25% of the vote in Jackson County in 2006. He also received, respectively, 16.9%, 17.0%, 15.6% in Union, Williamson, Perry Counties. Add the numbers from those counties to the numbers from Jackson and you get 9,765 votes, or 19.3% of the vote. Brady beat Dillard by 193 votes. Quinn beat Hynes by 8,372 votes. Small potatoes, indeed.

If the race is going to be close, then a strategy of undercutting Brady generally, while undercutting Whitney specifically within his base of support, does make some sense on paper. Our argument is that that paper argument ignores the trends we see of rising Green support in areas where back in 2006 we were lucky to get 2% of the vote.

I’ll tell you what’s silly: when supposed professional polling firms exclude ballot-qualified candidates who are known to have higher support than the poll’s margin of difference, and yet media outlets just regurgitate those results uncritically. Any recently minted political science student knows that such a poll is methodologically unacceptable. How about shining a light on this?

Comment by Phil Huckelberry Thursday, Apr 8, 10 @ 12:32 am
===How about shining a light on this?===

I did yesterday. And I also e-mailed the pollster yesterday. So, bite me

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Apr 8, 10 @ 12:40 am
re bite me. I’m so glad Rich is feeling better. heheh

Comment by LG Thursday, Apr 8, 10 @ 1:02 am
Actually, that was a symptom of not feeling well. Worse, I can’t sleep.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Apr 8, 10 @ 1:07 am
Well crap. that sucks. I hope you improve soon. My recommended method of falling asleep is a This American Life podcast. and maybe some cold meds . . .

Comment by LG Thursday, Apr 8, 10 @ 1:14 am
For more on this, you can visit the site that broke the story: http://www.windycitizen.com/chicago/politics/2010/04/07/fyi-chicago-gop-web-site-is-currently-nsfw-naked-boobies-on-home-page

Comment by Anna Tarkov Thursday, Apr 8, 10 @ 8:49 am
Think about all the attention the GOP is getting from this. That was brilliant!!!

Comment by Boscobud Thursday, Apr 8, 10 @ 9:18 am
Phil, you need to read the blog and post during the day, not after midnight, when the only reader is an insomniac Rich!

Comment by Pot calling kettle Thursday, Apr 8, 10 @ 9:50 am
Anna, I think we hit the “publish” button at about the same time. This story is certainly a weird thing, though.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Apr 8, 10 @ 9:52 am
===I did yesterday. And I also e-mailed the pollster yesterday.===

That’s awesome. You rock, Rich. I spent a lot of time doing this when I was working for the Whitney campaign in 2006. Sadly, the polling firms simply seem to always omit Green candidates until you specifically contact them and ask them to include the Green candidate. Of course, this doesn’t help for polls that you don’t know about in advance.

Comment by Squideshi Thursday, Apr 8, 10 @ 3:29 pm
They used my photo “hetaerae” without permission.
What can i do with that, if i’m from another country and all my comments about it was deleted from GOP site?

Comment by Ashenebal Friday, Apr 9, 10 @ 4:35 am