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Quinn as Democratic attack dog

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* Gov. Pat Quinn’s speech to the Democratic National Convention…

Delegates and fellow Americans, it is an honor to be with you this evening. And it’s an honor to represent the great state of Illinois, the home of President Barack Obama.

I want to talk to you about a scary subject for many, many Republicans. I want to talk about facts. You know, I watched the Republican National Convention last week, and I heard a lot of things that are simply not true.

One of our founding fathers, President John Adams of Massachusetts, once said that “facts are stubborn things.” But last week, as they nominated a very different man from Massachusetts, Republicans stubbornly smeared President Obama’s excellent record of reforming welfare. They went on and on, pretending that he weakened its work requirement. Everyone knows that is a ridiculous charge. Even the Republican author of “Welfare Reform” says Romney is wrong. Fact-checkers have called this talking point “blatantly false, a drastic distortion and widely debunked,” and “a mind-boggling act of untruth telling.”

In Illinois, we know President Barack Obama. We know his record. And we know that President Obama has made sure that work is always part of welfare. As an Illinois State Senator, Barack Obama spearheaded welfare reform in the Land of Lincoln. And the fact is, under President Obama, states can get flexibility only if they move 20 percent more people to work.

Let me repeat that for our Republican friends: more people working, not less. Then there’s Medicare. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan want to take away the promise that makes Medicare, Medicare. They want to give seniors a voucher that caps what Medicare will cover and then tell seniors they’re on their own for what’s left. That would cost seniors thousands of dollars a year. And if they don’t have the money, it could cost them their lives. But that didn’t stop Romney and Ryan from telling the American people that their plan won’t hurt seniors. The fact is, it will. President Obama’s plan will protect Medicare and protect our seniors.

Facts are stubborn things. Now, when Paul Ryan got his turn, he blamed President Obama for a plant that closed under President George W. Bush. Here’s a fact: when President Obama took office in January 2009, the Chrysler plant in Belvidere, Illinois employed just 200 people. Today, because President Obama saved the auto industry, that same Chrysler plant is employing more than 4,000 American workers.

There’s something else the Republicans left out of their convention: any explanation of why they call Mitt Romney “Governor Romney.” We already knew this extremely conservative man takes some pretty liberal deductions. Evidently that includes writing off all four years he served as Governor of Massachusetts.

And if you want to know how someone’s going to govern the country, look at how he governed his state.

Mitt Romney promised Massachusetts three things: more jobs, less debt and smaller government. Then he left his state 47th out of 50 in job growth, added $2.6 billion in debt and on his watch, government jobs grew six times faster than private-sector jobs. What does Romney promise today? More jobs, less debt and smaller government. But he didn’t do it then, and he won’t do it now.

From day one, President Obama has told you where he stands, what he believes and what he is doing to make our middle class strong again. America is moving forward under President Obama’s leadership—and that’s a fact. Now it’s our job in the next nine weeks to make sure that the American people know the facts.

Your vote is a valuable thing. Entrust it to someone who respects you enough to tell you the truth. Join me in voting for President Obama and together let’s make the will of the people the law of the land.

Thank you very much!

* Video…

* The chairman of the Illinois GOP issued a statement afterward entitled “Fact Check: Pat Quinn Lecturing Us?” Here’s part of it…

“With a failed record of higher taxes, spiraling debt and high unemployment, Pat Quinn is the wrong politician to lecture Americans on who should lead our nation over the next four years. Governor Quinn says Americans should look at how Mitt Romney governed his state. Maybe Americans should look at how Pat Quinn has governed Illinois – pushing forward a 67% tax increase, forcing businesses to leave our state and failing to address the worst credit rating in the nation.”

* But the speech received high marks from at least one popular Illinois Democrat…

The 214-member Illinois delegation led the cheers as Quinn made his points.

“That was his best speech. I’ve known Pat Quinn for over 30 years and this was his finest hour,” said Jesse White (D) Il. Secretary of State.

* The governor said he was exhilarated…

“It was exhilarating, it was fun to see all the people from Illinois, and smiling faces,” Quinn said. “Talking about President Obama’s pretty easy.”

* The governor’s speech was analyzed by Shields and Brooks…

GWEN IFILL: And we go back to Shields and Brooks. That’s syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

You seemed to be — you were chuckling at different points during that, Mark.

MARK SHIELDS: Well, Pat Quinn has escaped the curse of Illinois governors up to now, Otto Kerner, Rod Blagojevich, George Ryan, so many of his predecessors.

GWEN IFILL: He likes to point out that two of his predecessors are in jail.

MARK SHIELDS: Yes. Well, and others even before that.

No, I thought it was — the writing-off of this four years as governor of Massachusetts was the first attempt at humor I have heard of the convention. We have been really spared any humor in this entire campaign. And it was just welcome. It wasn’t a thigh-slapper, but I thought it was a pretty cute line.

DAVID BROOKS: Funny.

One thing I noticed is the stage is gigantic and the speakers are very far away.

MARK SHIELDS: Yes.

DAVID BROOKS: And so they have a tendency to shout to the hall, rather than talk to the camera.

GWEN IFILL: How is that different than from Tampa?

DAVID BROOKS: Well, in Tampa, first of all, the stage was in the middle of the arena. Here, it is at one end. And they were closer. And so it was natural to take a more conversational tone. I think it’s fine for these short speeches.

But if you get out there and start shouting for 40 minutes or 25 minutes, it will begin to wear I think on TV audiences. As for Pat Quinn’s facts, I would say he’s absolutely right about welfare reform. The Republicans were inaccurate about that.

I think he’s slightly inaccurate about the Romney-Ryan Medicare plan, where you would have the option to stay in Medicare. And the government — for the people who decide to go away from the premium support, the government sets the Medicare standard there. So I think he’s fudging a little there. He’s right on Medicare — on…

JUDY WOODRUFF: How much of a liability, Mark, is it for the Republicans that they have gotten so much attention about facts that they didn’t quite get right?

MARK SHIELDS: Well, when Paul Ryan is still answering questions on a very tough forum like “The Today Show,” when Matt Lauer is confronting him about what he said in his acceptance speech, and he finally today acknowledged that, in fact, President Obama wasn’t responsible in any way and he didn’t mean to suggest that and it was an erroneous reading of his speech to suggest that — President Obama isn’t responsible for the closing of the Janesville General Motors plant, but it was an impression left in his speech.

So, no, I think it is a problem. But let’s be very frank about it. We have got people going through stop signs on facts on both sides of this campaign. And I just think that the campaigns must have concluded, Judy, that there isn’t a big price to pay, that people’s level of expectation about the candor and integrity of the political debate is pretty low.

JUDY WOODRUFF: On either side.

DAVID BROOKS: Yes. I think that’s exactly right.

They clearly — one of the things the parties do really well is fact-checking. There are people in this building for Democrats, there are people for the Republicans that do meticulous fact-checking. And every speech is run through very carefully. When they lie, they do it intentionally. And they’re doing it because they think there’s absolutely no price to pay.

Those two guys don’t know Illinois, so maybe you can fill them in on what the speech meant to you.

* Related…

* VIDEO: Web Extra: Gov. Pat Quinn

* VIDEO: Platform politics and religion - Sen. Dick Durbin and Gov. Pat Quinn join The Daily Rundown to talk about the 2012 Democratic platform language concerning faith, Jerusalem, and God verse the language used on these topics in years past.

* Quinn: Facts ‘a scary subject‘ for Republicans

* Quinn plays attack dog, calls Romney ‘extreme’

* Aurora’s Chapa LaVia chosen again as whip at DNC

* Whip it good: Chapa LaVia arrived at breakfast wearing a Cubs jersey with her name and the number 83 - the number of her House district. “I think the only reason I wear this is because (House Speaker Michael Madigan) is a Sox fan,” she said.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 9:35 am

Comments

Chris Christie should take a lesson from Quinn on how you support your candidate for president. Quinn did a great job, and didn’t use the event to promote himself. Two big thumbs up, I was proud to watch.

Comment by Small Town Liberal Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 9:50 am
Quinn was surprisingly good.

Comment by amalia Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 9:55 am
I am impressed he did seem to stay on script… So saying it was his best speech of the last 30 years says more about his speaking style than anything else.

So did they tell AFSCME he was speaking at 6:30 AM?

Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 9:57 am
The speech was OK he was kind of in a “time filler” type of role but at least he got a spot. What I really found ironic was that he was followed by the Ohio firefighter speaking to the noble cause of public sector employee service. I wonder what the Governor thought of the firefighter’s speech or even if he paid any attention to it.

Comment by former hack Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 9:57 am
Fact checking on Pat Quinn’s speech, first he said that governor Romney said he would create jobs and that when he left as governor they were 47 out of 50 in job growth.mwhat he didn’t say was that when Romney took office they were 50 out of 50 in job growth. Otherwise it was the best speech I have seen Quinn give

Comment by Political junkie Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 9:59 am
Having Pat Quinn lecture anyone on how to govern is sickening. Pat Quinn sat coupled to Rod Blagojevich for six years as his running mate ran Illinois like an incompetent ticket scalper and after impeachment, claimed he didn’t see anything, hear anything, or said anything about what everyone else saw, heard or said.

Pat Quinn wants to talk about facts? This is the man who needed to have a flashing neon sign that read, “Hey dummy! I am a freaking CROOK” over his governor buddy’s head.

Quinn is a national joke.

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 10:11 am
I think Governor Quinn meant to say that the 47th ranking is the average for Romney’s entire term, when in fact Massachusetts started out at 50th place and ended up at 28th by the end of Romney term. But whatever, everyone is massaging everything these days.

Comment by Uncle Leo Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 10:13 am
Attack dog is the role Quinn was born to play. He’s a gut-puncher, a skill that doesn’t necessarily translate to governing or administration, but is invaluable as a surrogate campaigner.

He spent a lot of years in the Illinois wilderness and honed his skills well.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 10:15 am
Good job Gov Quinn. This was from the heart. He was happy and confident.

Comment by state worker Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 10:27 am
Attack dog… all bark, no bite…

Comment by Cincinnatus Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 10:33 am
The image of Quinn being an “attack dog ” is difficult to hold.Mr Madigan would be much better suited for the job.He’s got the teeth and the bite,while the Gov.barks a lot.

Comment by Jimbo Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 10:37 am
Good job, Governor!

Comment by Cheryl44 Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 10:37 am
One of the other sites notes this:
A Democratic governor said Romney “left his state 47th out of 50 in job growth.” Actually, Massachusetts went from 50th in job creation during Romney’s first year to 28th in his final year.
I don’t know whether it is accurate, but it certainly doesn’t agree with Quinn’s assertion.

Comment by titan Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 10:45 am
That was surprisingly focused. I would like to have been in the room when Jim Messina et al were going over it with the governor.

Comment by Boone Logan Square Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 11:13 am
Too bad his comments about Ryan and the Janesville plant were plain wrong. Ryan didn’t blame the plant closing on Obama. He simply pointed out that Obama promised as a candidate that if elected it would not close. Had nothing to do with Obama, except Mr. Messiah couldn’t juggle keeping the plant open with lowering the rise in the oceans.

As to welfare reform, don’t forget that Obama was opposed to it in the first place. Every other Democrat last night seemed to be praising welfare, food stamps and other handouts that keep people dependent on government.

Duckworth sounded like a Republican in her much of her speech last night except when she exclaimed her pride in taking food stamps.

Comment by Downstate Illinois Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 12:50 pm
==Maybe Americans should look at how Pat Quinn has governed Illinois==
Why? Is he running for President? I think Americans should evaluate the correctness of what Quinn says rather than allow partisans to distract them into focusing on issues that have nothing to do with which of the two actual candidates would be a better President.

Comment by Mighty M. Mouse Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 12:50 pm
Should evaluate the correctness of what Pat Quinn says ! Well we know he is a liar ( I’ll veto a tax increase over 4% , I support the death penalty ) so believing anything Pat Quinn says is crazy.

Comment by Fed up Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 1:15 pm
Pat Quinn is in no position to criticize anyone else’s gubernatorial record, period.

As for Brooks, Ifill and Shields, they need to do some homework on Illinois history. By my count, only four Illinois governors have been sent to prison. Former Governor Dan Walker’s conviction did not relate to official misconduct, but to his business activities after leaving office. Perhaps, two more governors, Matteson and Small, deserved to be sent to prison, but were never convicted (Small was tried, but acquitted for alleged crimes related to his term as Treasurer –the case may have been fixed). Four governors going to jail in one hundred and ninety-four years does not seem to be so many in my opinion.

Comment by Esquire Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 1:55 pm
And wouldn’t we all be disappointed if he hadn’t said “Land of Lincoln” at least once.

Comment by WazUp Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 2:01 pm
@Fed up -

Unless my memory is mistaken, Pat Quinn was pushing for a permanent tax increase, and believed only 1 percent was necessary.

A temporary tax increase of 1.5% is certainly smaller than a permanent tax increase of 1%.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 2:57 pm
No one talked about the deficit or the economy in stark real terms last night. I’m sure those subjects/remarks will be reserved for the President on Thursday night. In a very real sense he needs to convince me and many other party loyalists why he deserves another term. There is no way we would vote for the alternative, but he needs to make us feel that he will not squander a second shot at taking on the gridlock and validating our vote. Sounds like a cliche, but his legacy in the balance.

Comment by Loop Lady Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 2:59 pm
oops, is in the balance

Comment by Loop Lady Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 3:00 pm
I found Quinn’s selection for a speaking slot to be curious. What does he bring to the table? Whether or not one supports Quinn, it seems clear that Illinois is a foregone conclusion. His appearance only brings questions about Illinois being a fiscal disaster, Blago, etc. I know Quinn helps support Dem Governors, but his poll numbers are terrible and I just didn’t get it. Everyone makes mistakes, but Quinn is regularly gaffe-prone — a la “Obama is dead”.

Comment by LincolnLounger Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 3:15 pm
Dear Loop Lady -

I think an impartial look at the record will reveal that while there has always been friction between the two parties, the engine of government seized up when the Tea Party took control of the GOP.

These are folks who were perfectly happy to run the federal government into default on its debt, sending our economy into a death spiral, and who still argue to this day that we should have let the American auto industry go belly-up on principle.

My advice to you is to not merely vote for Obama, but send as much money as you can to as many Tea Party opponents as you can. Until the moderates regain the majority of the Republican caucus, gridlock is likely to continue.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 3:28 pm
I thought Ledbetter, Patrick, Castro, and Obama all delivered better speeches than Quinn —

But today when arguing with a neighbor, the phrase “facts are a scary subject to many Republicans” flew out of my mouth.

Comment by walkinfool Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 3:56 pm
walkinfool,

I’m not afraid of facts at all. Unfortunately Democrats have their own facts, as do Republicans. Facts are malleable, and subject to change, which is what differentiates fact from truth.

Comment by Cincinnatus Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 4:12 pm
YDD
Gridlock began before the 2010 election back when the President had a veto-proof Congress. Before there was a tea party. Remember, it took buying votes from Nebraska and Louisiana to pass Obamacare. The only bipartisanship was opposition to the Administration’s policies.

You couldn’t have had gridlock with a willing Democratic veto-proof Congress. It wasn’t willing - hence the gridlock.

Villifying the Tea Party has always been pathetic. It is filled with seniors and boring vanilla people who want the spending to stop.

After 16 Trillion in debt - they have a point!

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 4:41 pm
VMan — Given that Blagojevich did everything but string concertina wire around PQ’s office to keep him out of the 16th floor, it is an exaggeration to call him “coupled to Rod.”

I thought the Governor gave a terrific speech last night. Illinois should be proud of him. Nice job.

Comment by soccermom Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 5:17 pm
–Gridlock began before the 2010 election back when the President had a veto-proof Congress.–

There it is again!

What does that mean?

The president had a “veto-proof Congress” — presumably, to override his own vetoes?

Of course, in reality, Dem majorities weren’t large enough to override Obama’s presumed vetoes…. yet he had them….. but there was gridlock…..

Is it Friday, yet?

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 5:32 pm
Ydd the tax increase is 2%. From 3% to 5% and Quinn stated he would veto any tax increase over 4%. Would you like to place a steak dinner wager on your so called temporary tax increase.

Comment by Fed up Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 7:01 pm
@Fed-up

Yeah. I love steak. The temporary tax increase will not simply have its sunset removed. It’ll be replaced by something else.

And, I’ll wager that it won’t be replaced until after it expires and there’s another Doomsday approaching.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 7:17 pm
The quote from David Brooks in the very last paragraph really hit home. So depressing to think all the lies are so calculated. I think I need a drink.

Comment by BiBe Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 7:33 pm
YDD I disagree it is easier to not lower taxes than it is to raise them later. Plus we will be in a doomsday situation for a long time still. No way this tax increase is allowed to expire.

Comment by Fed up Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 9:36 pm
Fed Up and YDD,

You’ve been on this site long enough both of you should know that 0.5% of that tax increase was permanent and 1.5% was temporary (so far).

Comment by RNUG Wednesday, Sep 5, 12 @ 10:50 pm