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A bit harsh

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Illinois

* Too much heat, not enough light. Too much throw in the kitchen sink backward-looking, not enough realization that there are really no significant Republican legislative primaries involving incumbents in March.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 1:58 pm

Comments

Of course there aren’t that many contested primaries.

What moderately successful person in their right mind wants that job?

“Hey Bill, I got a great opportunity for ya. How would you like to raise taxes, cut funding for social services? Did I mention you’ll be reporting directly to Richard Goldberg?”

Comment by Juvenal Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 2:09 pm
===Their only solution is for you to write them bigger checks.===

Thanks Katrina. When I first started reading the Tribune, it only cost a quarter. And it had Mike Royko and enough local news coverage to fill two DNAInfos and half a Sun-Times.

Today, it costs $2 and, with few exceptions, has no original or compelling voices and an editorial board more concerned about pleasing its prospective buyers than educating its current readers.

Things are tough all over. And usually, over time, the cost of any human-dominated enterprise will go up, not down. But you’re just an ideological happy warrior so i wouldn’t expect you to understand that.

If only some great calamity could occur so that we could have our old Tribune back, just the way we remember it…then everything would be OK. Like you, I’m nostalgic for a time that never existed.

Comment by 47th Ward Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 2:10 pm
Was Steinberg’s column drafted by an angry child?
Lots of fire without a glint of light.

Comment by Formerly Known As... Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 2:13 pm
I don’t know. First no one beats Rich Miller on his Springfield coverage. NO ONE. So as far as I’m concerned, everyone else is just trying get in on the game of gotcha anyway. Not much in depth about why things are the way they are. But that’s an opinion column. What was too harsh? It definitely was a colorful opinion.

“He (Blago) never hurt thousands of real Illinoisans, from struggling students who suddenly can’t pay for their college tuition to hard-working parents who have to worry about losing child care. He didn’t try to knock cups of milk out of the hands of preschoolers, nor join a wasp’s nest of Republican governors nationwide in barring desperate Syrian refugees whom the nation isn’t admitting anyway. He didn’t virtually push people out of their wheelchairs nor stiff honest creditors. Bruce Rauner has done all those things.”

There’s no way to talk about the real damage that has happened over the last 12 months nicely.

Comment by sideline watccher Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 2:15 pm
===Was Steinberg’s column drafted by an angry child?===

Ever read Steinberg before? I thought he was pretty soft as compared to his writings during the Bush years.

Comment by Ducky LaMoore Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 2:22 pm
I’m happy with any communication that posits that the hostage strategy puts the wood to real people, and is not just a competition between vapid catch phrases and thoroughly uninteresting personalities.

“Bruce and Mike are fighting,” “Bruce and Rahm are fighting….”

Who cares?

At some point, I think, the governor will have to go about the business of doing his job.

Playing “revolutionary” has been fun, I’m sure, and I have no doubt the highly paid sycophant Frat Boys pucker up and plant it wherever necessary, whenever necessary.

But Rauner’s a grown man. It’s a real gig, man, not a hobby in retirement. Buy a boat if you’re bored. You’ll spend a fortune and it will keep you busy.

Rauner has been on a year-long bender, and what a mess he’s made.

Here’s to hoping he sobers up, grows up and gets to work, real soon.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 2:23 pm
I couldn’t get to McQueary’s column through the link, so I tried the Google Key search-n-link but all the first 3 pages of Googke had was Hurricane Kristen…

… just sayin’

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 2:24 pm
Sam McCann’s race is a hugely symbolic primary and let’s hope he prevails!!

Comment by Springfield Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 2:28 pm
Springfield, the Chicago schools thing doesn’t really apply because McCann isn’t a Rauner ally, so he’s not part of the GOP agenda being alleged.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 2:31 pm
For those of us not keyed in to the GOP — did Sandack’s pandering buy his way out of a contested race, or does Proft have somebody coming after him again?

Comment by Gooner Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 2:36 pm
By joining the Rauner mushroom patch, Sandack avoided a primary.. Uncle Bruce helped him

Comment by Wow Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 2:39 pm
Stieny missed hit the target but missed the mark. Blago was very culpable in much of what this has become his HUGE borrowing scemes, skipping Pension payments and lets not forget the Arbitrage scam that cost waht $15-20 billion and counting… All that woe has come home to roost. Time to pay the band. Everyone that set foot in the capitol over the past 20 years plus is to blame for this mess. Its time to fix this BS and move this state forward.

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 2:57 pm
Steinberg’s piece once again shows the difficulty of covering state government from an office building just a tad outside of the Loop. So Blago only hurt himself? Not the State. Huh. Perhaps hes missed the last 7 years of state government activity. Just clueless. He should stick the the left-wing social commentary/proselytizing he seems to enjoy and leave the state government stuff to others.

Comment by Red Ranger Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 2:59 pm
Generally the only time Steinberg has good things to say about politics or people in government is when a Democrat elected official has given one of his family members a job. He got his brother a job at Cook County Treasurer and wife a job at IL AG.
Otherwise, his political stuff is like its taken straight from the comments to a Mother Jones article.
When he sticks to writing about the oddities of life or eccentric personalities, he does ok.
Its also a hypocritical that for years Steinberg, writing under a fake name, ripped Bob Greene a new one once a week for among other things writing about the lives of his kids. Now Steinberg regularly writes about his kids and boy is it boring.

Comment by Art Petacque Attack Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 3:23 pm
“Sam McCann’s race is a hugely symbolic primary and let’s hope he prevails!!”

Sam McCann the Republican or Sam McCann the Democrat?

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 3:25 pm
Steinberg is inartful and cranky and took a whole column to articulate a three-sentence idea, but it’s hard to argue with that idea. Blagojevich was a reprehensible human being and a monumental embarrassment, and sat idly by while a lot of fires rages in the state. But Rauner has actively and energetically made things worse, in ways that are becoming very clearly measurable - viz. the story Rich just posted about the collapse of LSSI.

Comment by Forgottonia Republic Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 3:33 pm
Well, the Trib editorial page is all in with the Governor:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-cps-rauner-madigan-cullerton-emanuel-edit-0124-20160122-story.html

Comment by Keyrock Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 5:11 pm