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Brady: I could beat Obama

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Blagojevich Trial

* OK, this Bill Brady quote is one of the most delusional campaign statements I’ve seen so far this season…

“I think I could beat the president running for governor in Illinois today,” Brady, a state senator, said during a visit to Washington this week, pointing to Obama’s record on government spending.

Bravado is one thing, but that’s something quite different.

* Gov. Pat Quinn is sending unpaid state interns to attend and monitor the Blagojevich trial. Here’s the Quinn statement issued to WBEZ…

“Unpaid interns from our legal staff have been attending the Blagojevich trial on a regular basis. The reason is twofold: trial observation is often a requirement of internships for law students, and the interns who attend the trial can provide our legal staff with recaps on any testimony relating to current State government.”

The question becomes whether their daily reports are getting to the campaign. I’ll check.

* The Democratic Governors Association has removed an Internet ad that may have violated the General Assembly’s rules. The ad featured footage apparently from the official GA website of a House proceeding. The House footage was used to illustrate Sen. Bill Brady’s hundreds of missed Senate votes. But the House has a policy against using the footage without permission, and the campaign never received that permission…

In addition to the General Assembly’s policy, state law clearly prohibits the use of public resources for political purposes. The use of this footage in a political ad could fall into a gray area, said Ronald Michaelson, a political consultant and former executive director of the Illinois State Board of Elections.

“This is a little obtuse, but I suppose one could argue this was public material,” he said. “This was footage produced by a public agency.”

Frankly, this is a goofy policy. There is a “Fair Use Doctrine” in this country, and I really doubt the House can legally prevent anyone from using the video. There is, however, a “gentleman’s agreement” to not use the video in campaigns to avoid embarrassing anybody. And that’s what is really at stake here.

…Adding… I forgot to post a video from the Quinn campaign. As you may know, Quinn signed AT&T’s deregulation bill yesterday during a Chicago ceremony. He received plaudits from all involved, including a somewhat unlikely source: Illinois Chamber of Commerce President Doug Whitley. Here’s Whitley…

* Related…

* Young Republicans hoist a sign of change

* Has the tea party peaked?

* Quinn signs overhaul of state’s telecom law

* Quinn signs telecom rewrite

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 10:43 am

Comments

From the article: ‘Brady, who used to play poker with Obama during their overlap in the state Senate, joked: “I used to say I enjoyed taking his money, but now I think he’s taking mine.”‘

Uh…Senator, don’t you remember not paying any Federal income tax?

Comment by Anon Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 10:49 am
That headline should be “Brady steps in to make Kirk only the second most ridiculous candidate on the GOP ticket.”

Comment by just sayin' Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 10:58 am
The senate republicans used video and audio from things that happened on the senate floor under Emil without permission.

Comment by "Clerks" fan Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 11:04 am
Yeah, Brady might not want to bring up taxes, at least not in Illinois.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 11:05 am
Where is the “gentleman’s agreement” against bogus deliberate attempts to mislead with press releases such as that ridiculous one released this week to try to clearly implicate Quinn in Monk’s testimony to the causual reader? Oh yeah, oops “We aren’t insinuating that,” Brady said…that was not the intent. We were talking about that gang of four.”

Comment by Cindy Lou Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 11:07 am
I think Bill Brady could beat Jesus running for Governor in Illinois today.

Comment by George Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 11:19 am
Maybe Brady thinks the norms of John Wayne’s America would come back in style and let him win that hypothetical election

Comment by jonbtuba Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 11:26 am
Whitley is not a Brady fan. Many of the old line business GOPers do not like Brady. I’m not sure this means they will support Quinn (I doubt it), but it likely means that won’t be so enthusiastic in their support of Brady. Where there could hurt is fundraising.

Comment by Niles Township Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 11:27 am
If Brady starts speaking with conviction about the principles he’s running on, he’d be unstoppable. Study video of Christ Christie, eg.

On the telecom law, it sounds like ATT finally got through the legislature what the ICC would not approve. I think that case was almost 10 years ago when partial victory was gained. Why is Whitley’s approval odd? He was with ATT at one time.

How can the legislature chug through this kind of stuff (which should be somewhat problematic) and be absolutely AWOL on making tough budget choices?

Comment by Peggy SO-IL Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 11:28 am
“Brady Announces ‘I am bigger than the Beatles in Liverpool’, World Giggles”

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 11:31 am
You’re all assuming Obama hasn’t been exposed as a man who has no leadership skills whatsoever signified by his complete and utter failure in dealing with the Gulf Oil spill. It’s so bad that a majority of Louisanians polled now say Bush handled Katrina better. Obama is damaged goods and won’t have a leg to stand on when he runs for reelection.

Comment by Segatari Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 11:33 am
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Can that take over the top spot for “craziest quote of the year”, followed by “I used to say I enjoyed taking his money, but now I think he’s taking mine.”?

Comment by Left Leaner Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 11:53 am
So Quinn’s campaign breaks the law and he’s a hero? Quinn is really rolling; that’s funny where’s his balanced budget? I laughed when Whitley talked about Quinn and McCormick Place like Quinn didn’t get dragged kicking and screaming into that?

I agree with Brady this is going to be a great year for republicans.

Comment by Really? Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 12:01 pm
I think the last thing the Brady camp wants is for him to starting talking about the principles is running on. If that get outs north of I-80, he is not going to win.

Comment by Give Me A Break Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 12:03 pm
=You’re all assuming Obama hasn’t been exposed as a man who has no leadership skills whatsoever=

Help me out.

Obama has the leadership skills to get elected POTUS. Brady get’s like 6 votes above I-80 in a primary and says he could beat Obama in a general?

And your able to type that statement without laughing yourself into a coma?

Comment by Bongo Furry Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 12:06 pm
Yeah, I want everyone to know about Brady’s principles. Especially the part about not paying people equally for equal jobs.

Comment by Cheryl44 Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 12:17 pm
Brady better get over himself and start worrying about whether he can even beat Quinn.

Wait until women find out he would outlaw abortion even in the case of rape. Even women who are mostly pro-life are offended by the idea of a man trying to tell them what they should do in that horrible situation.

And those votes Brady made as a senator to enrich himself financially aren’t going away. That still strikes me as more corrupt (and easier for people to understand) than anything I’ve heard in the Blago trail thus far, and Blago was pretty corrupt.

Comment by just sayin' Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 12:35 pm
“I think I could beat the president running for governor in Illinois today,” says the man foolish enough to actually run for governor of IL.

Obama got out of town when the gettin’ was good. Obama may have an out of control gusher on his hands but Brady is signing up to head up an out of control sucker, partly of his own negligent doing.

Comment by Vole Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 12:56 pm
Without reading the article re: the Tea Party: seeing how this election is going for Republicans, I’m *almost* willing to bet right now that it’s going to make a comeback. And it will be more organized this time.

I’m not happy saying that.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 12:58 pm
Whitley was president of Ameritech in the 90s. Ameritech was one of the “baby bells” created in the divestiture of AT&T in 1984. He left before the remerge a few years ago.

Comment by Way Way Down Here Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 1:04 pm
==majority of Louisanians polled now say Bush handled Katrina better. Obama is damaged goods and won’t have a leg to stand on when he runs for reelection.==

First thing, those Lousianans most affected by the flood no longer live in Louisiana. Second thing, Obama’s legs will be fine. Soon you will read about how Obmama single handedly reformed health care and our domestict energy policy.

Out of disaster comes triumph; out of the magicians hat comes a rabbit…

Comment by GetOverIt Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 1:16 pm
…out of of the comments box, comes spelling errors…

Comment by GetOverIt Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 1:18 pm
Voters are tired of “magician’s hats” and their rabbits.

Deal with it.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 1:26 pm
===Voters are tired of “magician’s hats” and their rabbits. ===

And you base that on what, exactly?

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 1:30 pm
A hunch.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 1:33 pm
Then if it’s a hunch, say so. Don’t spout hunches like they’re facts here, please. It would also help if you did a little Googling first to see if your “hunch” matched up with, you know, “reality.”

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 1:35 pm
Thank you, Rich. I’ll be more specific next time when replying to posts full of typos and phrases about pulling rabbits out of a hat.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 1:37 pm
Spelling mistakes are always annoying. But claiming opinions are facts will get you harassed by the blog owner. Keep that in mind.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 1:39 pm
Yes, I will–and again, thank you.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 1:40 pm
Amendment to my previous post:

I have a *hunch” that voters are tired of “magician’s hats” and their rabbits.

If there’s even a remote possibility that that could be a reality, that somehow needs to be dealt with.

(Better?)

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 1:45 pm
Apologies for spelling errors to all. In other news, voters north of I-80 ask, “What is a Republican?” and “Democratic Strategist proclaims: Status Quo is a Win in 2010!”

Comment by GetOverIt Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 1:54 pm
I thought it was kind of witty myself: you know “magician’s hats and rabbits” and “reality”?

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 1:56 pm
Brady, I could beat YOU and Obama with my arms and legs severed. I could out-orate, out-pundit, be cuter-than-any-bunny-else in politics!

Comment by HatShopGirl Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 2:27 pm
Brady is believing his polls. Not a good sign.

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 2:28 pm
Rich, you’re not going to ask HatShopGirl to put that first sentence of hers to the test, are you?

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 2:39 pm
Like I said before, this is going to be a very “twisted” election. And it’s just getting started.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 3:08 pm
(Sorry. That was based on a “hunch”.)

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 3:09 pm
I like the ‘beat Obama’ line, but I think the best line he had in the article is this one about Cook and the Collars:

Brady said, “They think they know me. They think they like me.”

Um, Bill - I’m gonna go out on a limb and say I have a hunch they don’t actually know you. Kudos to whoever said he’s believing his polling, that’s exactly what’s going on.

Comment by Thoughts... Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 3:15 pm
==It’s so bad that a majority of Louisanians polled now say Bush handled Katrina better.==

That may be true, but so what? Many old people recall the great depression or WWII the good old days, at least compared to today. A lot of it has to do with the fact that we solved or at survived yesterday’s problems, but not today’s problems, so yesterday’s look smaller. That tendency (however irrational it appears) would count for something in an election today, but the comparison of Bush/Katrina to Obama/BP will be more rational in 2012.

Comment by Pat Robertson Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 3:44 pm
We have to appologize for spelling errors? geez if i do that the blog will run out of disc space….

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 3:55 pm
Brady is starting to believe his own tax return!

Comment by D.P. Gumby Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 4:00 pm
- (Sorry. That was based on a “hunch”.) -

You’re not clever or funny, just annoying.

Maybe Brady thinks Jeb Bush can help him steal the presidential election from Obama after the fact…

Comment by Small Town Liberal Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 4:09 pm
Brady: not so delusional, if you are an independent, a Republican, a conservative, or a conservative Democrat. The Obama brand has been tarnished, and his economic policy is growing ever more unpopular. Brady could best him if Obama were running for Governor as the tax and spend liberal he is. Of course, the point is an extreme hypothetical, as I have written before, because Obama will never return to Illinois politics– or even to Illinois.

Comment by Conservative Republican Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 4:23 pm
Brady has a serious shot in this election, which his own hubris is going to endanger–just like Kirk. Democrats have egos out of control sometimes too, but what is it with these Republicans?

Comment by RFK fan Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 5:48 pm
Anonymous 2:39, Silly goose. It was a term of art. And ‘any-bunny-else’ was my ‘hat-tip’ to your post!

Comment by HatShopGirl Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 8:09 pm
Hey Bill..you mean all that government spending that lets you pay no taxes to cover your bad business practices

Comment by Hurricane Bob Wednesday, Jun 16, 10 @ 8:33 pm
I realize that Brady’s comment about Obama sounded pretty “over the top” and self-serving but I think that what Brady simply meant to point out was that President Obama has so far come across as a very ineffectual leader. The BP incident is only one of the many reasons for this perception. I am not saying that this perception by the voters in Illinois is correct (or deserved) but it exists none-the-less.

When I talk to friends and acquaintances who are Independents and who previously voted for Obama, the over-whelming majority of them are experiencing “Buyer’s remorse” with Obama. The die-hard Democrats and the ultra-conservative Republicans are still going to vote the same way they did before when Obama comes up for re-election (no matter what Obama does or does not do from this point forward). My belief is that this was all that Bill Brady was trying to point out when he made his comment. He could probably have worded his opinion differently and saved himself some grief by doing so.

Comment by Festus Hagen Thursday, Jun 17, 10 @ 8:48 am
Festus - Check Obama’s approval rating in Illinois, which, incidently, is where Brady is running. Your friends and acquaintances must not be the best sample pool. So while I’m sure Brady appreciates your deep explanation of what you think he’s feeling, the fact is that he made an extremely stupid comment. His ability to say and do stupid things with a seasoned campaign staff holding the reins is quite impressive.

Comment by Small Town Liberal Thursday, Jun 17, 10 @ 9:16 am