Chicago Crony Capitalism on the Links

Ted Cruz on Civil Campaigning

Last week, Republican front-runner received increased scrutiny for hot tempered hustings and inciting violence at campaign rallies.  Trump had to cancel a big rally at the University of Illinois-Chicago for what he cited as safety reasons as infiltrated protesters and street rallies threatened to get ugly. But Trump has also repeatedly used incendiary insults regarding detractors and Trump has encouraged supporters to give detractors rough treatment.

Opposition antics do not just plague the Trump campaign but are handled in dramatically different ways.  On the eve of the Illinois primary, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) was heckled by a birther in Peoria. 

Rather than incite the crowd and gin up anger over the eligibility (non) issue , Cruz used civility and comedy to vanquish the opposition. 

This contrast revels character and inherent leadership styles. 

Speaker Paul Ryan has come out for civil campaigning, but it seems that the media and the unfocused angry voter continue to spotlight the Trump chaos circus campaign.

Paul Ryan on Rallies and Responsibility

Hot Tempered Hustings

During the Miami Republican Presidential Debate, Donald Trump was asked about violence associated with some of his campaign appearances.  Trump deflected any responsibility for rowdiness at rallies. However, Trump seemed to justify supporters "swinging back" at political protesters at his events.

These assertions come at the heels of an assault alleged by Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields by Trump spokesman Corey Lewendowski.   Breitbart News corporately refused to stand by their conservative reporter concerning the Trump spokesman incident.  And Trump social media warriors sought to savage the credibility of Fields. But CSPAN videotape documents Lewindowski's thuggery. 

The Breitbart News' lackluster support of Fields prompted Breitbart News spokesman Kurt Bardela to resign.   Bardella blames an ugly cycle of behavior which seems to follow the Trump campaign and Breitbart News seems to minimize. It should be noted that some Breitbart News staffers think that an infusion of cash during the summer of 2015 might pay for favorable coverage of the Trump campaign.

Another Trump rally in North Carolina was infamous for a Trump supporter sucker punching a protester as he was being escorted from the venue.

 

The 78 year old assailant later was quoted as saying: "The next time we see him, we might have to kill him. We don't know who he is, he might be with a terrorist organization." He has been charged and given a $25,000 bond.

A Trump rally at the University of Illinois- Chicago had to be cancelled for security reasons because of a riotous atmosphere. As is typical in campaigns, Trump issued far too many tickets, leaving a bunch of supporters out on the streets.  There were protesters outside the venue. But a number of Black Lives Matter activists and Bernie Sanders partisans agitated inside the event causing chaos.

Although Trump did not get the optics of a mass rally in the Windy City, Fox News Channel gave Trump a friendly twenty minute phone interview while airing the chaos on the streets and the hall. Trump claimed that everyone was angry about no jobs, despite indications that protesters were socialists and social justice agitators.

Much to Trump's credit, he spoke in calming tones and did not further insult the opposition. But Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson followed by claiming these were examples of Alinsky-like tactics and giving justification to push back on organized chaos.

 While Trump should not be held accountable for the actions of every crazy supporter, he sets the tone for the campaign.  New Trump surrogate Dr. Ben Carson vexed that it might be a long hot summer. As seems that such anarchy and unrest only seems to be attaching to Trump's campaign, these hot tempered hustings and mixed messages may eventually boil over into violence, which  sullies the  American political hot stove. 

Is Obama Just Joking About Early Voting?

During a campaign swing in Wisconsin, President Barack Obama urged those assembled (before they left early) to go out and vote early. Mr. Obama made a slight slip of the tongue which he tried to convert to a bon mot by doing a variation of the "vote early, vote often" saw.

 

While this was probably an innocent slip of the tongue, it is worth considering the underlying message.  

Our Dear Leader, who hails from Chicago blithely brings to mind the Windy City's crooked reputation about stealing elections. Mr. Obama  claims that he was "just messing" with Chicago as that was a long time ago.  Try telling that to Jim Moynihan,  who exercised his Early Voting option in Cook County, Illinois.  However, Moynihan found that the touch screen voting machine registered all of his Republican voting choices (including for his own race) to the Democrat candidate.  The election official insisted that this was just a simple calibration error.  Moynihan cautions conscientious voters to check your ballot before submitting it. 

Lest anyone believe that the errant voting machine was just another isolated incident, consider that calibration errors also occurred in Maryland (another solidly blue state). Curiouser and curiouser. 

Donna Brazile in full campaign season fever pitch, denies in her colorful  social media quip that one can not prove voter fraud.

But in North Carolina, where Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) nis in serious electoral trouble against Republican challenger North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis (R-NC State 98), President Obama's ukase of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is creating voter fraud concerns.  There are 145 "Dreamers" who are have been found on the voter rolls in the Tar Heel State. And the Winston Salem Journal reports that there may be many more ineligible voters on the rolls. 

Another way that illicit exercise of franchise is exposed is through jury excuses.  There were scores of instances in Florida in which potential jurors were excused because they were not U.S. Citizens, yet they still managed to vote.

In Colorado, Project Veritas' James O'Keefe has shown that the new mail-in voting for elections makes voter fraud easy and seems condoned by liberal Get Out The Vote organizers to increase turnout for "their side".  As Meredith Hicks of Work for Progress put it:  “That is not even like lying or something, if someone throws out a ballot, like if you want to fill it out you should do it.”  

Alas, Election Fraud is not limited to one side.  Senator Thad Cochran's (R-MS) victory in the 2014 GOP Primary and Run-Off seem suspect, as extremely late reporting from a couple of populous counties miraculously put the seven term incumbent over the top. 

Vice President Joe Biden has been fulfilling his role as election attack dogs by scaring voters about the Tea Party to gin up liberal turnout.  For those who may feel discouraged by the last minute besmirching and the specter of election fraud--let not your hearts be troubled.  Remember what Hugh Hewitt wisely wrote:  If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat.

Invade Chicago?

As Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert tried to make sense of the news after a two week long Roman Holiday, he acutely analyzed the conundrum of the Syrian Crisis.  Colbert commented:

The United States has no choice but to attack Syria because dictator Bashar Assad is killing his own people with chemical weapons.  Before he was just killing them with bullets.  But if America cared about shooting people, we would invade Chicago.

The Colbert Report
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Indeed.

Discerning Civic Values--Chicago Style

 

After Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy dared to publically express support for the traditional definition of marriage of being one man and one woman, there has been a cacophonic chorus of progressive politicians condemning the chicken restaurant chain. ...

In fact, Chicago Mayor (and former Obama Administration Chief-of-Staff) Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago) went so far as to say: "Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values. They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents. This would be a bad investment, since it would be empty.”...

 

 

Francis Cardinal George, a native Chicagoan who just happens to be Archbishop of Chicago had some thoughts on this Chicago values test purported by Mr. Emanuel. READ MORE at the DCBarroco website