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* Chris Kennedy isn’t on the list of speakers for today’s Women’s March. I was told the other day that he had a scheduling conflict. Well, that conflict has now been resolved and he’ll be in town in time for the second rally featuring the gubernatorial candidates. Good move, but kinda late.
Anyway, Kennedy was in Caseyville last night and went live on Facebook. Lots and lots of red meat in here, including him saying that Gov. Rauner is holding the state “hostage” and “needs to be stopped.” He also talks about Trump voters and economic segregation. It’s worth a look and it got about 4,500 views, despite not being promoted with ads. That’s less than Gov. Rauner’s last heavily promoted FB Live video event, but more than JB Pritzker’s campaign kickoff event.
* Meanwhile Ameya Pawar has a new post on Daily Kos…
A billionaire with no political experience decides to run for office as a self-proclaimed “outsider.” Elected by people who are tired of a broken political system that has forgotten them, he quickly runs away from any campaign promises and pursues measures that would hurt the people who elected him. He introduces chaos and dysfunction to the point where members of his own party wonder what he’s doing.
Sound familiar? In Illinois, we didn’t need to see this movie. We wrote the script.
Bruce Rauner, the governor of Illinois since 2015, might not seem like Donald Trump on the surface. He isn’t a preening megalomaniac, and doesn’t get into Twitter feuds with minor celebrities. But he provided the playbook for Trump’s rise, running as a regular, flannel-wearing guy who understood working families and could help them by overturning the political system. He ran as a problem solver.
Illinois has a lot of problems to solve. Unequal school funding means students across the state are at competitive disadvantages. Underfunded pensions threaten the economy and jeopardize the well-being of the people who worked their whole lives depending on them. Social services across the state are crumbling, along with our neglected infrastructure.
To say that Gov. Rauner failed to solve these problems is to minimize the issue. He didn’t even try. Like Trump, he talks about the working class while undercutting unions (the latest version of this is privatizing prison nurses so they can be paid less). He’s threatening to limit abortion rights to placate the far right (despite professing to be pro-choice). He’s even slammed the door on Syrian refugees, betraying any sense of Midwestern decency.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Apr 25, 17 @ 10:47 am
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I watched the first 10 or 15 minutes of this live last night. It was the first time I’d seen / heard Kennedy speak and I thought he did a good job both in introducing his own biography in a relatable manner, and in holding Rauner accountable for the damage he’s doing to our state.
Comment by Reality Check Tuesday, Apr 25, 17 @ 10:50 am
===To say that Gov. Rauner failed to solve these problems is to minimize the issue. He didn’t even try. Like Trump, he talks about the working class while undercutting unions===
The Pawar piece is fantastic. More please.
Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Apr 25, 17 @ 10:51 am
I’m going to start sounding like a broken record on this, but Kennedy’s inability to get through a single set-piece campaign event without creating unnecessary headaches mystifies me.
Comment by Arsenal Tuesday, Apr 25, 17 @ 11:08 am
Nearly 200 show up at a Caseyville labor hall to hear Chris Kennedy. I’m thinking the Metro East is Kennedy Country.
Comment by Downstate Dem Tuesday, Apr 25, 17 @ 11:10 am
===Nearly 200 show up at a Caseyville labor hall to hear Chris Kennedy. I’m thinking the Metro East is Kennedy Country.===
When you blow off 750 the day before, I guess you count the 200 as “justified”
Yikes.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Apr 25, 17 @ 11:12 am
Metro East is Costello country. BIG time. Kennedy/Costello ticket maybe more than rumor.
Comment by blue dog dem Tuesday, Apr 25, 17 @ 11:28 am
You can tell he’s a Kennedy, alright. Ethel.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Tuesday, Apr 25, 17 @ 1:19 pm
OW - Chris Kennedy went table to table at the DuPage County Dem event so he was doing the retail political action. He spoke to the DuPage County Dems big bash six months ago as well.
Comment by Downstate Dem Tuesday, Apr 25, 17 @ 2:08 pm
- Downstate Dem -
So Kennedy accidentally embarrassed himself when they called him repeatedly to speak to 750 people from the stage, or purposely decided to not tell the organizers he wasn’t speaking so the MC was made to look foolish in front of 750 people to amuse Kennedy?
Or the Kennedy Krew is so grossly inept at Advance, nary a one thought how it would look for Kennedy to have his name repeated, like looking for a child lost in a store?
Maybe the Kennedy Krew are Keystone Kops?
“Chris Kennedy…(pause)…. (pause)…. Mister Chris Kennedy… (pause)… (pause)…. Mister… Kennedy?… (pause)… (pause)…”
Sounds like a well run machine there.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Apr 25, 17 @ 2:19 pm
OW - Bam, you got it.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 25, 17 @ 3:02 pm
Echo chamber here … you guys are too inside baseball… you need to hit the campaign trail with Kennedy and watch the positive reaction to him … wow
Comment by Downstate Dem Tuesday, Apr 25, 17 @ 5:20 pm
===you guys are too inside baseball… you need to hit the campaign trail with Kennedy and watch the positive reaction to him===
So you aren’t refuting anything, your pivot of the shilling is that it’s too much inside baseball.
That’s what this blog is… LOL.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Apr 25, 17 @ 5:24 pm
OW - I know this is inside baseball. Been there, done that. That’s why I’m trying to pull you guys out onto the campaign trail to see real voters, average folks, outside the beltway bubble of Springfield.
Comment by Downstate Dem Tuesday, Apr 25, 17 @ 5:58 pm
- Downstate Dem -
Like we’ve gone over before… if you know it’s inside baseball, why try to fool with narratives we can actually see.
You’re not helping by trying to spin, if you’ve been here, done this.
Why make it “simple” to question?
You’re with Kennedy, I get it…
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Apr 25, 17 @ 6:04 pm
I watched Kennedy work the tables at the Du Page event….what a positive response from the crowd! I didn’t see anyone pushing through the crowd to get pictures with Any of the other candidates. He appeared to make an excellent connection with the people there from what I saw. Even though he didn’t speak at Du Page looks like he hit it hard in the Metro East and from what I heard from a friend who went, you could barely find a parking spot.
Comment by prairiestatedem Tuesday, Apr 25, 17 @ 6:30 pm