Is “Madigan” going to be the GOP response to “Trump?” “Dump Madigan!!!” tactic has failed before!

There’s a lot of political outcry these days that Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, ought to give up the other political title he holds – that of Illinois Democratic Party chairman.

MADIGAN: Has his time really come?

The way it goes, people say that his slow response to dealing with allegations of sexual harassment by people connected to him shows that, at the very least, he should no longer be the top Democrat in parts of the state outside of Chicago.

PERSONALLY, I’M NOT getting on board this rhetorical railroad because I think many of the people who are spewing it are merely peeved that their own political party is going to have the embarrassment that is Donald J. Trump as a millstone around their own neck.

They feel the need to create a Democratic Party counterpart to the president who, thank goodness, gave up his own claims to once being a Democrat and decided to become a Republican when he began spewing his loony behavior on a political scale.

So I’m sure they are thinking that for every Illinois voter in the March 20 primary and the Nov. 6 general elections who casts their ballot with thoughts of reigning in Trump, they will create an equal number of people who will vote with the phrase “Blame Madigan!!!” burned into their brains.

They hope that they can impose as much damage to Democrats as Trump will cause for Republicans in Illinois. This may well become an election cycle for Illinoisans to reveal whom they despise the most.

TRUMP: Despised by more than anybody

NOW I DON’T doubt that Madigan isn’t that well liked amongst people who don’t pay much attention to government or electoral politics. That’s what happens when you’ve managed to survive on the scene for nearly a half century (dating to 1971, when he was 29). You build up enemies.

But he has the advantage of actually appearing on the ballot in one lone Illinois House district in the area surrounding Midway Airport. Where it seems the local voters enjoy the idea that their state representative is all-powerful and can order about other people.

The idea of beating Madigan himself is a long-shot.

RAUNER: Hopes anti-Madigan vote propels victory

Because he has control of the political party post and can influence how much campaign funding Democratic legislators have, he gets many of the senators and representatives who bear the mark of “D” following their names to go along with him.

WHICH, IF YOU think about it, is similar to the number of Republican legislators who are going to ignore Gov. Bruce Rauner’s ideological leanings on certain issues because he’s the guy dishing out his own personal funds to their campaigns.

This long-shot thought has been revealed in past election cycles.

Let’s not forget that Rauner himself campaigned heavily in 2014 by trying to tie the “Madigan” image to every Democrat (many of whom wound up winning). The same happened in 2010 – only it was William Brady (who has since become Illinois Senate minority leader these days instead of finishing a second term as governor) who tried the tactic and failed.

The bottom line! I don’t think enough people will let their thoughts about Madigan influence their vote. Even if they want to believe that Madigan should have reacted more vociferously (and quickly) to the sexual harassment allegations now underway.

PARTICULARLY SINCE IT can be argued that Madigan seems more willing to sacrifice low-level people so long as he preserves his political structure.

BRADY: Blaming Madigan didn't win '10

Yet let’s be honest; Trump himself has so many similar incidents involving various women in his background – to the point where I wonder that if first lady Melania Trump were to whack her husband upside the head for his behavior, would the Secret Service feel compelled to treat it as a presidential assault or deserved behavior by a wife against a cheating husband?

I don’t see anybody who takes the sexual harassment issue seriously at any level voting for the opposition, or thinking that the Party of Trump is in any way more acceptable on this issue.

Which could make such “Blame Madigan!!!” tactics liable to fail for yet another election cycle – and the 2020 election cycle resulting in 50 years worth of ballots in which “Mr. Speaker” has his name on them, and wins!

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