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* Mary Ann Ahern has taken the Illinois Policy Institute story from “Is its cartoon racist?” to “Why won’t the governor even look at a controversial cartoon published by one of his strongest allies?”…
NEW Rauner spox on IPI cartoon: "he doesn't have time to worry about political cartoons when we don't have an agreement on k12 … " (1)
— Mary Ann Ahern (@MaryAnnAhernNBC) August 20, 2017
* The full quote…
But as pressure mounts on Rauner to weigh in, he has refused to join the conversation, with his office saying Friday that he had not seen the cartoon at the center of the debate.
“He doesn’t have time to worry about political cartoons when we don’t have an agreement on K12 funding. His priorities are where they should be,” Rauner’s spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said Sunday, again declining to say if the governor had seen it.
* Today…
Hope you enjoyed the eclipse today! We sure did.
🌕🌖🌗🌒🌑#Eclipse2017 pic.twitter.com/OMarfJCfVF— Bruce Rauner (@BruceRauner) August 22, 2017
Why did it take 6 hours to post? Have you seen IPI cartoon yet? https://t.co/H0jB3vrfYZ
— Mary Ann Ahern (@MaryAnnAhernNBC) August 22, 2017
Ouch.
* From the DGA…
Governor Bruce Rauner spent most of last week dodging press questions about a cartoon that was deemed racist by many and was condemned by the entire Illinois House legislature. The cartoon was drawn by the right-wing Illinois Policy Institute whose former employees now count as most of Rauner’s top aides. Last week, Rauner’s team twice defended the cartoon’s creators last week while claiming he never saw the cartoon.
Over the weekend, NBC5’s Mary Ann Ahern received this response from Rauner’s team:
“He doesn’t have time to worry about political cartoons when we don’t have an agreement on K12 funding. His priorities are where they should be.”
On Friday, legislative leaders met to discuss a possible solution to Rauner’s education crisis. Rauner was not at the meeting. And today Governor Rauner’s public schedule lists one event – watching the eclipse in Carbondale.
Three hours down, and three hours back. Assuming Governor Rauner does not use more personal money to conduct state business and rent a helicopter from a President Trump supporter, at some point he should get bored. Maybe he’ll find the time…
“Governor Rauner shows leadership just about as often as the United States experiences a total solar eclipse,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Bruce Rauner willingly pushed the state into an education funding crisis with his veto pen. Now his political allies are picking up on his divisive education funding rhetoric and are being criticized by everyone, outside Bruce Rauner’s office. It took four days for Governor Rauner to denounce President Trump’s rhetoric – how long will it take him to denounce his top aides’ former employer?”
* Pritzker campaign…
According to a Rauner spokesperson yesterday, Bruce Rauner “doesn’t have time to worry about political cartoons.” That’s the latest out of the governor’s office on the controversy surrounding the Illinois Policy Institute’s racist cartoon that was denounced by the entire Illinois House last Wednesday.
After saying he’d only “heard” about the racist cartoon on Friday, Rauner’s staff doubled down on his non-response Sunday by not just refusing to take a strong stand against the symbol of hate, but also minimizing the discrimination felt by so many in our state. Both Republicans and Democrats were appalled by the blatant display of racism and unanimously condemned it from the House floor. Despite the overwhelming condemnation by the state legislature, Rauner remains silent.
“Bruce Rauner is the governor of the fifth largest state in the country. Surely he can find time to call out racism from an organization he is closely tied to,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “It’s time for Rauner to stop being a coward and stand up for Illinois families to make it clear that racism has no place in Illinois.”
* Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago)…
https://t.co/wMLxvQzy9E pic.twitter.com/MjKVRxSRsU
— Rep. La Shawn K Ford (@justice4all44) August 21, 2017
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:30 am
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Ahern could tweet the cartoon at him and ask him to comment on it.
Comment by Robert the Bruce Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:33 am
===”He (Gov. Rauner) doesn’t have time to worry about political cartoons when we don’t have an agreement on K12 funding. His priorities are where they should be.”==
School funding?… “Rauner vetoed that”
Wonder why the governor just doesn’t let schools open, then close, because of his veto?
“That’ll show Chicago”
To the cartoon,
Bruce and Diana Rauner still have Brittany Carl on the payroll so racially charged things or bigotry or anything that pits race at the forefront is… well,.., “its fine” according to Bruce Rauner’s own words when asked… on camera… about Brittany Carl.
Bruce and Diana Rauner don’t want to see it, they didn’t want last weekend’s cocktail parties ruined by cheerleading for IPI.
Right? Exactly right.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:37 am
Oh, for pete’s sake, how long does it take to look at a cartoon? He couldn’t do that while he’s being driven to an event? How about, to be crude, while he’s in the same place where I catch up on old New Yorker magazines?
He just doesn’t want to know.
Comment by JoanP Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:39 am
Brilliant messaging strategy by BTIA to keep this story alive for days.
Incompetent goofs would have just prepared an immediate short response and that would have been the end of it.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:39 am
Rauner is old enough he should have learned from Nixon; The cover-up is always worse than the scandal.
Comment by RNUG Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:42 am
It reminds me of Rahm not seeing the Laquan McDonald video. Plausible deniability is one thing…being deliberately obtuse is another.
Comment by Jocko Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:46 am
Maybe this speaks well beyond Bruce and Diana Rauner and the cartoon.
Maybe this is what Bruce and Diana like about IPI
Maybe Bruce and Diana feel they can’t speak ill to IPI, since John Tillman now has control of the Governor’s Office.
Maybe Bruce and Diana Rauner are more afraid of Tillman, Uihlein, Griffin, IPI… more afraid of whom they admire than realizing keeping this alive for 6 days “could be worse”… and the trolling now by keeping it alive… isn’t as bad as getting on Tillman’s “bad side”
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:46 am
Just another witch hunt brought to you by a very, very hypocritical coven of witches.
Can we talk about the history of racism in Chicago and the Democratic Party, now?
Maybe the cronyism aspect of both can be tomorrow’s topic.
(huge eye roll, with head shaking, and snort sound)
I would advise to not respond to the peanut gallery, aka MAA. She is just whistlin’ to the dogs now, as is most of the MSM that is trying to keep all this racism whipped.
Please give a larger audience to conservative AA from Chicago and other cities in Illinois. They will have the unique perspective and clout to address this cronyism vs racism paradigm.
Comment by cdog Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:47 am
===Can we talk about the history of racism in Chicago and the Democratic Party, now?===
#whataboutism
Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:49 am
=== Ahern could tweet the cartoon at him and ask him to comment on it. ===
Do you really believe he hasn’t seen the cartoon? It’s a convenient fib to avoid commenting. Gotta protect the BTIA.
Comment by Norseman Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:50 am
===Can we talk about the history of racism in Chicago and the Democratic Party, now?
Maybe the cronyism aspect of both can be tomorrow’s topic.===
The only way this even can make sense is if in your argument you catagorically say its a racist cartoon and Rauner supports it.
Is that what you want your argument to be?
===Please give a larger audience to conservative AA from Chicago and other cities in Illinois. They will have the unique perspective and clout to address this cronyism vs racism paradigm.===
“… clout… ”
Please explain the clouting done by Bruce and Diana Rauner at Payton Prep… you know, the one for the RaunerS denied Winnetka-living daughter.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:51 am
This Governor puts his head in the sand when it comes to addressing issues that don’t pertain to his message. It’s a total and complete lack of leadership. I disliked PQ but at least he took a stand if I didn’t always agree with him. This guy has no spine.
Comment by Stones Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:51 am
Stipulating to the fact that the cartoon was in terribly bad taste; it’s not at the top of anyone’s concerns outside of the bubble. The daily barrage of bad taste and clever by half features have desensitized people to some of this junk. Their tired of being tired and offended.
Comment by A guy Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:52 am
“Can we talk about the history of racism in Chicago and the Democratic Party, now?”
Thanks for the whataboutism. Back to the post: Rauner’s inability to admit he’s even seen the cartoon (sort of like his inability to acknowledge that the president of the United States even exists) indicates a fear of offending the IPI, or racism, or both.
Plus, his weird, deranged refusal to acknowledge a thing, whether the POTUS or a cartoon. It’s just off; not normal. Normal politicians or people do not act like this.
Comment by Nick Name Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:55 am
- A Guy -
Then why can’t Gov. Rauner even say it’s in bad taste.
It’s been 6 days, at some point maybe we all need to accept Rauner sees nothing wrong with the cartoon, even that it’s not in bad taste.
Speaks volumes about the RaunerS
This silence can’t be good for Diana Rauner’s branding…
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:56 am
Maybe the Rauner’s have confused the issue with wine and they believe it will get better with time.
Comment by We'll See Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:56 am
What I want to know is why the governor tweeted emojis that depict a lunar eclipse, not a solar eclipse…
Comment by Commander Norton Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:56 am
Or don’t show it to him and use it in campaign ads with a voiceover about how he refused to denounce it.
Comment by Anon Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:59 am
===Can we talk about the history of racism in Chicago and the Democratic Party, now?===
Antone care to bring up the legacy of Pate Phillips & Lee Daniels & DuPage county? Ahhhh, such short (and selective) memory.
Comment by Galena Guy Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 9:59 am
From https://tinyurl.com/y9heu65u :
Rauner’s latest comment about the cartoon aired today on WBEZ, where Rauner appeared to defend the cartoon:
“What I’ve been told about the cartoon was that, for example, yesterday, on WVON, the radio host there said they don’t view it as racist or bigoted at all and that their listeners didn’t either. I don’t know. I haven’t seen the cartoon, but what we need to do in Illinois is focus on social justice and equity especially for our minority students and get fair funding for all of our kids in the state of Illinois.”
How long does Rauner plan to play the “I don’t know” card??? I thought he was his own man. That he made his own policies and nobody… NOBODY… told him what they were. Doesn’t look like it in this case now does it? Agree with OW about the fear of Tillman, et. al. Rauner is having his strings pulled and his eyes and mouth glued shut.
Comment by Anon221 Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 10:01 am
Rauner has been wearing his eclipse glasses since 2015. IPI told him that the solar glasses gave him super powers to see the truth - that everyone is wrong except the wearer of the magic specs.
Is the cartoon racist? It’s worse than racist in that exposes deniers as politically blind. The fact that IPI and Rauner ignores its dividing power reveals their inability to connect with citizens outside their sad little view of the world. It’s like they’re directly from Cairo Illinois, circa 1950.
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 10:02 am
The cartoon was a very poor and controversial depiction of the intersection between racism and cronyism.
The two are undeniably inter-twined, especially in the Democratic Party and the city of Chicago.
Comment by cdog Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 10:03 am
The entire… Illinois House… “misunderstood” the IPI cartoon Bruce Rauner defends?
That’s fun.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 10:04 am
===The cartoon was a very poor and controversial depiction of the intersection between racism and cronyism.
The two are undeniably inter-twined, especially in the Democratic Party and the city of Chicago.===
… that Bruce and Diana Rauner “enjoyed”… clouting their denied, Winnetka-living daughter over a worthy Chicago child (Bruce loves using ‘children’, so I’ll follow that lead now) through crony Chicago Democrats.
So… there’s that.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 10:07 am
Gov Schultz. I see nothing, I know nothing.
Comment by Union Dues Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 10:10 am
(huge eye roll with head shaking and snort sound).
You should get that looked at.
As far as the historical racism of the Democratic Party, that was quite a topic of conversation for the many decades it existed, as was the intra-party battle to rid itself of the scourge.
A long simmering fight came to a boil at the 1948 convention, with the civil rights plank and Dixiecrat walkout.
The fight continued and was well-documented through the 50s and 60s. I’d put the final defeat of the institutionally racist Democrats at when Jimmy Carter beat George Wallace in the 1976 Florida primary. (It should be noted that in his last years Wallace apologized for his racism, made amends and sought forgiveness).
After that, you saw massive defections in the south from the Democratic to the Republican Party.
CDog, now that we’re up to date on what occurred between the 1940s and 1970s, can we talk about last week without you having another seizure?
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 10:12 am
All message, only message, all the time.
BTIA considers discussion of IPI, and the cartoon, to be inside baseball. The protests, demonstrations, and resolutions in opposition, dont penetrate to their base, so they dont care. To the extent their base might be aware of it, the nonresponse is a trumpian wink. So there.
Comment by Langhorne Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 10:17 am
In federal court, the ostrich instruction prohibits a defendant from purposely avoiding something so they can later claim that they had no knowledge of the crime. In other words, you can’t stick your head in the sand to prevent you from seeing or hearing the prohibited conduct. Rauner’s efforts to avoid seeing the cartoon is an obvious attempt to avoid having to make a statement against racism by his cronies.
Comment by Trapped in the 'burbs Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 10:32 am
Rauner has ($)500,000 reasons not to condemn it:
From 2013: http://www.sj-r.com/x450317297/Bernard-Schoenburg-Illinois-Policy-Institute-got-half-million-from-Rauner
Comment by wndycty Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 10:35 am
Maze Jackson, Charles Thomas and two other African American radio hosts discussed this for over a half an hour on WVON with John Tillman, State Reps Mitchell and Representative Andrade.
Fascinating how the four hosts supposed to be offended by the cartoon were not and appreciated the larger point about TIF districts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSh-UijfAnM
Comment by Lucky Pierre Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 10:36 am
Just too funny to read the bevy of bloviated bluster on the “racism” of the cartoon. A cartoon, like a caricature, takes some aspect of truth and blows it up so that is can be seen more clearly. It is not a complete photographic record. The cartoon from IPI did tell the truth, some of it, regarding Chicago and CPS. Did it tell the complete story, of course not. It didn’t attempt to. But that doesn’t negate the truth it told. What is really stunning is that here in Il with the Dems in control of almost everything, and having been in control for decades they (and I include sympathetic commentors here) can brook no other explanation to their carefully constructed world. The denial of the dsyfunction of Madigan and Il is sad.
Comment by NeverPoliticallyCorrect Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 10:44 am
Nothing about IPI or Rauner is unexpected re: the cartoon. If it wasn’t intended to be racist (ha), then what you have here is the most egregious case of willful ignorance since some of Clinton’s (take your pick) doozies. As for Rauner, to him there is no upside to responding, ergo “too busy b.s.. Having said that the cartoon is the proverbial dead horse.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 10:50 am
This is getting to be absurd. Guarantee Rauner’s base doesn’t care if he has/hasn’t seen it. If anything, this media obsession is going to backfire and help him.
Comment by Mrs Robinson Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 10:58 am
===The protests, demonstrations, and resolutions in opposition, dont penetrate to their base, so they dont care. ===
Are you talking about the thing where ~5 lawmakers and Emily Miller showed up outside their office for 10 minutes and got interviewed by Ahern? I dunno if that penetrated with anyone’s base…
Comment by Two four six eight Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 11:03 am
===Guarantee Rauner’s base doesn’t care===
That base ain’t gonna get him to a plurality in Illinois.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 11:04 am
- Lucky Pierre -
Are you saying Rep. Andrade wasn’t offended by the cartoon?
That might be news…
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 11:21 am
=== ===Guarantee Rauner’s base doesn’t care===
That base ain’t gonna get him to a plurality in Illinois===
It’s like people have this idea Rauner won by 13 points over Quinn and Rauner isn’t polling under water with 63% disapproval.
Rauner needs voters, not splintering voters or giving voters ANOTHER reason to just not vote for Rauner.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 11:25 am
What La Shawn posted (from Maze I think) doesn’t look like the original cartoon. It’s been slightly changed so as not to have some of the worst signals. Could be wrong, but where’s the “C” on the kids cap? The original also had skin tone and exaggerated lips.
If the gov and others were shown this version , of course they wouldn’t see the more racial elements. Masterful sleight of hand by Tillman.
Comment by walker Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 11:25 am
“”I could be wrong.”"
I was. This is a new version from La Shawn, making a different point. .
Comment by walker Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 11:38 am
===Do you really believe he hasn’t seen the cartoon?===
No. It’s another in a long string of lies. But by sending it to him, or handing it to him at a press conference, he’d be slightly less able to use the “I haven’t seen it” dodge.
Comment by Robert the Bruce Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 11:54 am
Perhaps the original cartoon should be projected on the Statehouse.
Comment by IllinoisBoi Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 12:23 pm
Again, just save it for the election cycle and put it on TV with a voiceover about how he refused to denounce it when the entire legislature did.
Comment by Anon Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 1:39 pm
Since the CPS’s own website states that only 9.9% of Chicago’s public school students are white, i just don’t see the racism in the cartoon. But nowadays, anything the Democrats disagree with they whine “RACISM”. It is the only thing they have going for them now. Maybe they can put a 90% soda tax on something else to pay off their patronage vampires.
Comment by NormalNews Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 4:09 pm
Come on folks. Everyone knows Diana and Bruce haven’t seen the cartoon because Speaker Madigan refuses to show it to them. And it is just more proof that “the system is broken.”
Comment by anon Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 4:49 pm
NormalNews, as a white CPS parent I can still agree that the cartoon is racist. And BTW, only 10% white doesn’t mean 90% black.
Comment by Pawn Tuesday, Aug 22, 17 @ 7:29 pm