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* Sigh…
Sen. Mark Kirk warns Chicago could follow Detroit int bankruptcy without a mayor with the "gravitas" of @RahmEmanuel. That's an endorsement
— Fran Spielman (@fspielman) March 2, 2015
Anyone who compares Chicago to Detroit hasn’t spent any time in Detroit and/or hasn’t looked at that city’s many problems, which have festered for decades upon decades.
If there’s any comparison for Chicago, it might possibly be New York City, which teetered badly in the ’70s and came roaring back because of its sizable built-in advantages.
Detroit is a special case. St. Louis also dealt with massive population loss (for the same sorts of reasons) and poor leadership in the 1960s and 1970s, but it has avoided Detroit’s fate. If you’ve been to STL in the past few years, you know that its revitalization - which still has a ways to go - has been remarkable.
* That said, it’s probably a fairly smart move for Kirk, who won’t have an easy race in 2016…
The senator portrays himself as the reasonable moderate in unreasonable Washington, the “bipartisan bridge between two warring tribes,” as he puts it.
It’s a powerful argument, and I wouldn’t dismiss it lightly. “Anybody who thinks it will be easy to beat him is fooling themselves,” says consultant Eric Adelstein, who helmed Alexi Giannoulias’ 2010 race against Kirk. “He’s a very savvy politician.” […]
Problem One for Kirk is Rauner. If organized labor and other Democratic constituencies are looking for a candidate to take it all out on after two years of dealing with the new governor, Kirk is likely to be their top target.
Problem Two is that walking the line between being a moderate sometimes and being a regular Republican at others requires quite a bit of balancing.
“His rhetoric has not been helpful,” says northwest suburban U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat who is considering a race against him but has not yet made up her mind. Her reference in part is to an episode in February in which one day Kirk threatened to pile “coffins” outside the doors of Democratic offices if the Department of Homeland Security shut down, but then the next day broke with GOP leadership to urge passage of a funding bill without any anti-immigration-reform riders.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 12:15 pm
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I’ve been thinking for a while that we need a corollary to Godwin’s Law for discussions of public finance: Anyone who invokes Detroit (or Greece) is automatically the loser.
Comment by Reality Check Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 12:22 pm
I am not certain that any anti-immigration reform riders were in the funding bill. Unless, one defines illegal immigration in the same context as legal immigration.
Certainly there is a huge distinction and both should not be be lumped in the same category.
Comment by Federalist Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 12:24 pm
Speaking of the Master of Understatement: I wonder whether he thinks Detroit could have saved itself if it had locked up 18,000 African-Americans.
Comment by crazybleedingheart Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 12:27 pm
Can you make pension payments in “gravitas?” Is that like bitcoin or something?
Kirk likes to wander into situations where he’s really not a player and say strange things. It’s like when he went to China and told them to stop buying T-bonds because the U.S. might default. Just weird, and ignorant.
But there’s no mystery here. Pals Rauner and Emanuel share the same lucrative donor base, and Kirk definitely wants on that “gravitas” train.
Comment by Wordslinger Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 12:35 pm
“But there’s no mystery here. Pals Rauner and Emanuel share the same lucrative donor base, and Kirk definitely wants on that “gravitas” train.”
Succinctly and well stated.
Comment by Federalist Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 12:38 pm
‘Pals Rauner and Emanuel share the same lucrative donor base, and Kirk definitely wants on that “gravitas” train.’
It’s as simple as that.
– MrJM
Comment by MrJM Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 12:40 pm
‘Slinger is right on it.
Comment by Nearly Normal Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 1:03 pm
CommandoMakeItUp should have stayed in DC for the weekend, but maybe felt the need to drop in and help cheer Schock up —- not.
Comment by Anonin' Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 1:07 pm
That’s code for “Chicago needs a white mayor,” I mean “wet mayor.”
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 1:20 pm
Anonymous 1:20 may or may not be correct, but that’s how it will be received in at least some quarters.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 1:22 pm
Yup, ’cause what Rahm really needs right now is to be known as the Republicans’ candidate for mayor.
Comment by Arsenal Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 2:03 pm
==Yup, ’cause what Rahm really needs right now is to be known as the Republicans’ candidate for mayor.++
Pretty sure he already was
Comment by Carhartt Representative Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 2:36 pm
Problem Three is that his political shop is in shambles.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 2:41 pm
Sometimes the money you need makes you say some of the silliest things.
The Kirk Shop is pretty empty right now. Artl will have to rebuild with the parts out there that are unspoken for.
Then there’s Munger running that will be running at the same time too…
Money…Kirk needs Rauner just to “be sure”.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 3:14 pm
Kirk’s a natural born winner in politics. He plays every angle almost instinctively. He squirms out from under most traps. He even plays up his boyish innocent look as needed. Never bet against him.
That doesn’t mean he’s especially smart or knowledgeable.
Comment by walker Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 5:02 pm
Mark Kirk was never serious about public policy.
Yet the lightweights in corporate media pretend Kirk is a thoughtful politician on public policy.
Kirk wants his New Trier buddy elected Mayor of Chicago. Whatever.
Comment by Carl Nyberg Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 5:12 pm
Boner alert! This must rank as one of the all-time most foolish statements ever uttered by Mark Kirk. What kind of “gravitas” does Rahm Emanuel have with bond rating agencies when he has presided over an all-time record FIVE downgrades by Moody’s? To an all-time of low rating of Baa2? Good Lord. Anonymous 1.20pm is right, by the way. Kirk has quite a record of dog-whistle statements. Look at his past statements about crime, gangs, etc. He could’ve capped his presser with Bernie Epton’s “Before it’s too late …”
Comment by Gerson Monday, Mar 2, 15 @ 11:23 pm