Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives
Previous Post: Poll: Cross down to single digits
Next Post: *** UPDATED x1 - Rauner response *** Quinn tries to buy time on IDOT scandal
Posted in:
* Eric Zorn…
Gov. Pat Quinn’s campaign is arguing this week that his Republican challenger Bruce Rauner’s membership in an exclusive California wine club is evidence that Rauner is “out of touch” with “hardworking Illinois families.”
I disagree.
I think it’s evidence that Rauner is out of touch with reality.
Zorn then goes on to describe several studies which had similar results. For instance…
A French experimenter asked more than 50 wine experts to evaluate and compare a glass of red wine and a glass of white wine in 2001. None noticed that the “red” wine was just the white wine with few dots of food coloring in it.
Of course some wines are objectively better than others — smoother, more flavorful and so on.
But the correlation between price and quality is so demonstrably weak that you have to question the judgment of anyone, no matter how rich, who spends tens of thousands of dollars and more on the liquid equivalent of astrological forecasts.
* John Kass addresses it as well…
Lately, Quinn has been slamming Rauner for paying six figures to belong to a fancy wine club. What Quinn deftly forgets to mention is that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat, was in that revealing photo toting Rauner’s bottle of pricey wine.
His conclusion…
A guy that rich can’t be bought. And Illinois is drowning in the backwash of big government sins. If something isn’t done soon to cut spending, we’ll all be on a raft floating toward Texas.
So is Rauner too wealthy to be governor?
I’d say no.
Except Rauner keeps saying he wants to increase spending by billions on education, infrastructure, IDNR, etc.
* CNBC’s Robert Frank writes about the wine club, as well as other races around the country featuring wealthy candidates…
The new scarlet letter in politics is “R”—as in “Rich.”
From Hillary Clinton to congressional, gubernatorial and state-legislature candidates around the country, wealthy candidates are getting pummeled on the campaign trail because of their large fortunes. Once seen as symbols of the American dream, today’s wealthy candidates are trying desperately (and often awkwardly) to deny their wealth and appear as middle class, everyday Americans. […]
Even before the current election cycle, millionaire candidates weren’t faring well. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, 263 millionaire candidates who put at least $500,000 of their own money into their campaigns have run for congressional office since 2002. But 84 percent of them lost.
In 2012, of the 48 millionaire self-funded candidates who ran for congressional office, only 12 won.
As the Center for Responsive Politics said, “Though they don’t lack for money, self-funded candidates typically lose at the polls.”
* Rauner is clearly a different breed of rich candidate. But you can plainly see how effective this attack is by simply looking at what the Republicans have been doing to Hillary Clinton over the past few months.
John Kass engaged in it himself not long ago…
Hillary stands for people who are “dead broke” but also have multiple homes.
She bragged about it to a purring Diane Sawyer of ABC News, saying she really knows what it’s like to struggle. It happened when her husband, former President Bill Clinton, left the White House.
Will someone have the decency to please cue the sad violin as Hillary recounts the ordeal of the multiple homes?
And remember, Democrat Brad Schneider was hit in a recent radio ad for being one of the wealthiest members of Congress. Also, Dick Durbin has been repeatedly derided as a “millionaire” by none other than his millionaire opponent.
The issue is used by both sides because it works. Plain and simple. Ergo Rauner’s efforts to highlight his $18 watch, Carhartt jacket and beat up old van.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 10:21 am
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
Previous Post: Poll: Cross down to single digits
Next Post: *** UPDATED x1 - Rauner response *** Quinn tries to buy time on IDOT scandal
WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.
powered by WordPress.
Rich, don’t confuse Kass with facts. He’s living a blissfully ignorant existence as an Eternal Victim.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 10:27 am
With us rich folk, you just have to move the decimal over. So I have heard that Rauner made $53,000,000 in one year. Just move the decimal and show that he made $53,000.00. If he spent $150,000 on a wine club, move the decimal and he spent $150.00 on a wine club. I think that is about the price of Cooper’s Hawk Club. His watch also costs $18.00 becomes 00.01(8) or $.02.
Comment by Wumpus Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 10:31 am
Rauner can do his best at trying to seem like an ordinary, every day Joe six pack, but he will never be able to paint Pat Quinn as being wealthy and out of touch. Once voters see the distinction, they will begin to realize just how much Rauner is pulling the wool over the collective voters eyes.
Comment by anon Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 10:32 am
Kass’s argument is the same one that some of our Founders — and their ideological heirs until the Civil War — used to argue that only the landed class should be allowed to vote and hold office. Anyone else besides rich planters could be bought, went the argument. I think this is both a tired argument and a fallacious one. Rich guys are no less rapacious as a class than poor or middle-class guys, and no less likely to be bought. No amount of money is ever enough. In fact, if the Gospel maxim is true, that no man can serve two masters, I wonder how well a man can govern if ruled by both his desire to do public good and his desire to protect and grow his assets.
I have yet to hear anything, ever, out of John Kass that was worth spending an iota of brainpower thinking about.
Comment by Levi Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 10:35 am
It is amusing how jealous most reporters are of successful rich people.
Comment by Cassidy Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 10:37 am
I wonder what the “perfect” political level of income is? $50,000 per year. $100,000 per year? Is it ok to make a million as long as you give $750,000 a year to charity? Is the homeless man on the street the emblem of perfection and the person we desire as a candidate? It is a political reality that this is an issue, and it matters to people. However there seems to be no baseline to work from. When is “rich” too rich? To answer my own question, its obviously some where south of 53 million a year.
Comment by John A Logan Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 10:37 am
Kass has it wrong in saying Rauner is too rich to be bought.
The intoxicating and addicting force that politicians all seek is POWER and not usually the money. The average voter may be turned off by Rauner’s wealth, but they are also turned off by Quinn’s failure to clean up corruption.
This is a sad race between candidates who have nothing positive to offer Illinois citizens. Neither one has credible solutions to offer.
Comment by Skeptic Cal Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 10:39 am
Interesting that Kass is mentioned.
How does that guy still have a job in light of his comments about AG Madigan last week?
Are standards for the Trib so low that his comments are now acceptable?
Comment by Gooner Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 10:43 am
Get some cheese to go with Quinn’s “whining”
Comment by Rob Roy Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 10:44 am
“To answer my own question, its obviously some where south of 53 million a year.”
It has nothing to do with Rauner’s wealth. It has to do with him trying too hard to appear as someone he’s not.
It also has to do with his positions on the minimum wage, and the way he trashes politicians and public unions when he and/or his firm(s) made tons of public money, for decades.
He also is running as an outsider after he spent lots of money on politicians and the political process.
Comment by Grandson of Man Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 10:48 am
Kirk Dillard had it right. Rauner can’t be bought.He’s the guy who does the buying. $300k to Ed Rendell to get his hands on pension dough. Employment of Stu Levine to get more pension dough.Money to John Stroger when he got Cook County Hospital contracts.Kass thinks it is ok to be corrupt if your rich. I think the voters will beg to differ.
Comment by truthteller Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 10:48 am
“A guy that rich can’t be bought.”
That’s like saying, “Don’t worry — a guy that drunk can’t drive.”
The problem is an administration by and for the plutocrats, not how we come to have such an administration.
– MrJM
Comment by MrJM Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 10:49 am
Millionaire, billionaire, thousandaire, career politician or businessman….I’m convinced that most of them are out of touch with reality….some of the stunts alone are evidence enough for me…Quinn suggesting that he somehow knows what it’s like to live on a minimum wage salary is like suggesting that people who fast on occasion know what it’s like to experience a famine….I don’t care how much someone makes, I just want elected officials to act our interest and not their own. That however seems to be a rare quality for many that run and/or are elected
Comment by Anonymous Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 10:59 am
When one calls a person a victim does it delegitimize the “victim’s” argument or is it just name-calling and mudslinging in an effort to reduce the affect of the argument?
Comment by Phenonymous Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 11:01 am
Effect.
Comment by Phenonymous Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 11:03 am
As usual, Kass is too busy typing to actually look up the facts. Before he goes off floating to Texas in his leaky raft (please), he might want to know that state government spending in Texas is pretty much equal to state government spending in Illinois. According to the Kaiser Foundation, Illinois state government spending in FY2011 was $3,827 per capita, while in Texas it was $3,796. In fact, Illinois ranked 47th in state government expenditures per capita. Illinois has a revenue problem, not a spending problem. But, hey, it would have taken Kass about a minute to look that up, and that would have been one minute less to spout his stock irrelevant talking points.
Zorn’s column, on the other hand, is spot-on, and shows that rich guys like Rauner are just as susceptible to buying snake oil to massage their egos as anyone else.
Comment by OldSmoky2 Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 11:04 am
Typically, in a political context, when one calls a person a victim they actually are saying that the person is good at “the flop” - that being a metaphor for what LeBron James, Dennis Rodman and Vlade Divac have done so very well on a basketball court.
Comment by Bill White Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 11:06 am
Quinn also is in an exclusive club, #I’veworkedwiththemostgovernorswhohavegonetoprisonclub
Comment by Empty Suit Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 11:09 am
Where is Rauner’s plan anyway? Nice of Kass to say Rauner isn’t too wealthy to be governor but his wealth isn’t what should buy him the election and praise from the media either. He has been given a pass on pretty much everything.
Comment by anon Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 11:09 am
Just curious about the mindset of all on here who think that Rauner’s wealth makes him not qualified to be governor because he’s out of touch: Mayor Bloomberg’s wealth was many many times that of Bruce Rauner’s, but I never heard that argument used against him. Do you also view him as unqualified for the job? My impression is that he was generally viewed in NY as competent and effective.
Comment by Rarely Posts Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 11:20 am
Rarely,
You probably did not hear much about Bloomberg here because he’s in NY and this is IL.
We tend to stay away from topics like the NYC mayoral race here.
Comment by Gooner Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 11:27 am
@Gooner: Fair enough, but I’m still curious as to whether the same logic applies to Bloomberg.
Comment by Rarely Posts Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 11:28 am
Inherit $millions from grandpa and never really have to work a day in your life, and you are arguably out of touch with the working world. Make those $millions yourself, and you arguably worked a heck of lot harder and sacrificed a great deal more in the name of success than your co-workers, and are probably a lot smarter as well. As a general rule, a self-made millionaire has a pretty decent resume for the office of governor, in my opinion.
Comment by Skirmisher Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 11:29 am
Got me.
I know very little about his policies or about the issues raised in that race.
Go ask a NY resident.
Comment by Gooner Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 11:29 am
And, oh yeah Bruce, stop the ridiculous laugh every time a reporter asks you a tough question.
Comment by Peoria guy Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 11:40 am
==Are standards for the Trib so low that his comments are now acceptable?==
Have you seen the way the Tribune editorial board has written about people as recently as the 1980 and 1990s? They are proudly in the reactionary tradition of McCormick. Dignity is beneath them.
==- Skirmisher - Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 11:29 am:==
Did Rauner make his billion? Yes, but the rags to riches story is not true. His dad was the vice president at Motorola, one of the largest electronics companies in the United States at the time. In Rauner’s own words he grew up “upper middle class.”
Comment by Precinct Captain Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 11:51 am
In Precinct Worker’s words: “he grew up angry and continues to be”.
Comment by A guy... Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 11:55 am
Related to HRC’s comments post-Clinton White House, everyone should read Peggy Noonan’s column on Harry Truman: “Politics in the Modest Age: Is a humble post-presidency imaginable today?” as a stark contrast to today’s politicians.
From David McCullough’s bio quoted by Noonan: ” ‘ He had traveled home from Washington unprotected by Secret Service agents and there were to be none watching over him. He had come home without salary or pension. He had no income or support of any kind from the federal government other than his Army pension of $112.56 a month.”….He didn’t know how he would make a living. His great concern was not to do anything that might exploit or “commercialize” the office he’d just left. He was offered small fortunes to associate himself with real estate companies and other corporations but he turned them down. Mr. McCullough: “His name was not for sale. He would take no fees for commercial endorsements or for lobbying or writing letters or making phone calls. He would accept no ‘consulting fees.’” “
Here is the link (I know it is behind a pay wall, sorry for those who don’t subscribe to WSJ): http://online.wsj.com/articles/politics-in-the-modest-age-1405639110?KEYWORDS=truman
Comment by 32nd Ward Roscoe Village Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 12:03 pm
@RarelyPosts: Bloomberg was first elected mayor on the coattails of Rudy Giuliani’s post-9/11 popularity. And he only won by 3 percentage points despite outspending his opponent 5 to 1. It is speculated that Bloomberg wouldn’t have won without 9/11 happening.
So I’m not sure what conclusions you can draw from the Bloomberg example for Rauner.
Comment by hisgirlfriday Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 12:58 pm
=== It is amusing how jealous most reporters are of successful rich people. ===
What’s amusing is to see two columnists for the Trib and a “wealth editor” (whatever that is) for CNBC confused with reporters.
To the post: The issue isn’t that guys like Rauner, and arguably Hillary Clinton, are rich, it’s that they’re too out of touch to realize their policy positions put the hurt on the rest of us.
Comment by olddog Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 1:07 pm
Rauner’s certainly not out of touch on how to squeeze money out of taxpayers.
That’s why he had Stu Levine on the payroll at $25K a month.
That’s why he spread campaign contributions among Democratic and Republican decision-makers all over the country.
And he sure did figure out how to “maximize” Medicaid and Medicare payments when busting out nursing homes.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 1:43 pm
Here’s the thing: Zorn is fundamentally right about the consumption aspect of wine–for 99.99% of people, there’s not a noticeable difference between a $50 bottle and a $50,000 bottle.
That said, “wine” has been a hot ‘alternative investment’ category recently, and from the Chicago Mag article about the club, the cost of the buy in, amortized over *one* year of purchases, could be fully paid off by ‘flipping’ about *half* of a single year’s allotment. Sounds like a sound investment, really.
Comment by Chris Friday, Sep 5, 14 @ 2:39 pm