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| We'll see a Quincy-centric world Thursday |
Just
how much does discussion focus on the Veterans’ Home in Quincy – the facility
where several fatalities occurred from elderly residents who contracted the
Legionnaires Disease.
BECAUSE
YOU JUST know that Democratic nominee J.B. Pritzker is going to want to turn
the entire session into a rant against how those men who served their country
wound up dying while in the care of Gov. Bruce Rauner.
That’s
actually a gross oversimplification of what really happened, but then again
most of what gets said during a political campaign is oversimplification and
distortion with only the slightest tidbit of truth to it.
So
if we wind up being given the impression that Rauner is personally responsible
for dead military veterans, it will mean that Pritzker will have “won” the
debate – he will have been capable of having his version of “the truth”
predominate.
Whereas
if we wind up being given the impression that this election cycle is about a
man who had the toilets ripped out of a mansion in order to get a significant property
tax break (because it no longer qualified as an inhabitable home), then we can
chalk up Thursday night to Team Rauner.
YOU
MAY BE wondering “What’s your point?”
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| RAUNER: Caused negligence that killed vets? |
It’s
that these circumstances shouldn’t be surprising. Political debates have the great
misfortune of being so filled with nonsense that it’s a wonder anything useful
comes out of them. There actually are times I wonder why political candidates
bother to participate in them.
Personally,
what I always try to look for when watching such an event is just how quick on
one’s feet one is. How they handle the back-and-forth of answering back.
And
also watching for that moment (which can crop up at virtually any point in
time, usually most unexpected) when a candidate goes off-script and says
something from the heart. Telling us what he really thinks about an issue.
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| PRITZKER: A toilet-less tax cheat? |
OF
COURSE, THOSE moments can be dreaded by a candidate because “honesty” can often
be ugly – showing us just how insipid a political aspirant truly is and
all-the-more reason why we shouldn’t bother voting for that person.
For
what it’s worth, Thursday’s debate between Rauner and Pritzker is meant to be
the “downstate” debate. Unlike the two previous events sponsored by the Chicago
Urban League and the League of Women Voters that were held in Chicago, this one
is being held outside the Chicago area.
It
will have a panel of broadcaster-types from Quincy, Peoria and Rockford, along
with a reporter-type from the Herald-Whig newspaper of Quincy. Which means it
may well have questions that focus on the rest of the state – the part of
Illinois where Rauner dreams he’s the favorite and that will lead him to a
victory over Pritzker.
Now
I don’t doubt the downstate Illinois types will vote against Pritzker because
he’s “too Chicago-ish” for them. Although how they manage to tolerate Rauner is
a mystery. It must be a really tight clothespin tacked onto their nose while
they cast their ballots.
EITHER
WAY, I’M sure many think this election stinks.
It
is a victory for Pritzker’s part that his political operatives were able to get
a Quincy-based debate as one of the events, and pressure Rauner into having to
accept it. I have no doubt that the governor would rather be anywhere else in
Illinois than in Quincy Thursday night.
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| Will gov candidates muck up the shores of the Mississippi River? |
Because
amidst all the cheap shots and distortions that both candidates will make about
each other, we need to realize we’re getting our last glance at the two multi-millionaires
who want to think that their personal wealth is significant enough to buy the
political post of Illinois governor.
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