Voters, it seemed, did not care [about his mental and legal problems], particularly given the strong Democratic-leanings of his district and a group of little-known opponents who challenged him....How can you tell they didn't care? He was the Democratic Party candidate. You'd have to have a high level of objection to switch parties. You could very easily care yet still vote for your party's candidate. You vote for the party and trust them to get it straightened out, which seems to be what is happening, since he has resigned.
November 21, 2012
Jesse Jackson Jr. resigns, 2 weeks after winning reelection with 63% of the vote.
The NYT puts it this way:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
77 comments:
Good.
And btw - no one should be voting 'for the party.' That's going to be the death of this nation. Look what idiocy results, Jess Jr. elected from the nuthouse.
That means Dems do not care one whit for quality representation. And they should be ashamed til their dying days.
Being a little bit nuts places JJJr. squarely in the mainstream of his party.
Vote the party.
My father, a straight-ticket DFL union man all his life, used to bring home these big sheets of paper with a drawn image of the inside of the voting booth switch layout, with holes where the switches for the union candidates were. IIRC, dad would bring the sheet into the booth and lay it over the switches. The right switches would poke through the holes to be thrown. No voting mistakes.
I loved the DFL because afterward I got these great big sheets of paper to color on.
It's a sad thing. Jesse Jr. has a lot of ability and could have done considerable good. It's hard to tell what caused his moral and mental decay, but the weight of high expectations had to be a factor. I was once at an event of nearly all black people where Jesse Jr., then a very young man, was seriously introduced at the future First Black President of the United States.
He was capable of being intelligent and thoughtful about many things, including how to deal with the dilemmas facing black Americans. Unfortunately intelligent and thoughtful was not the path to more power, a lesson he would have learned early.
Voters, it seemed, did not care [about his mental and legal problems],...
Of course they cared. Amongst the base, this is known as street cred.
63%? Wow. Well, Ann, I disagree with your assessment. Voting in a mentally unstable person, who happens to be under investigation for serious crimes, is something Americans should reject.
Democrats and republicans are not what make America. Americans are. There is something really ugly going on in America.
A measly 63%? OweBama got 100% in the Philly inner city. The Jackson magic is gone.
Well Althouse, if that is how you think it should be, we should be grateful Junior was not running for president.
Voters, it seemed, did not care [about his mental and legal problems], particularly given the strong Democratic-leanings of his district and a group of little-known opponents who challenged him....
If he's crazy enough to be admitted to a hospital for bipolar disorder, or if he's crooked enough where he's about to be indicted (or if he keeps his bribes in a freezer, or if he kills a woman while driving drunk and then runs away, or if he gets caught smoking crack with a hooker) will not dissuade democrats from voting for their guy.
I hope he finds his way back to more or less permanent good mental health. What a thing to live through.
What rick said.
5/8 of the vote?
You get the feeling the machine left Jessuh Junior's name off the list of names to stuff.
He was the Democratic Party candidate. You'd have to have a high level of objection to switch parties. You could very easily care yet still vote for your party's candidate. You vote for the party and trust them to get it straightened out, which seems to be what is happening, since he has resigned
Man, those repubs asking for Nixon to resign were a bunch of dupes. Dupes I say.
His mental anguish does not stem from his legal troubles... but is merely a vehicle to mitigate them.
Just saying.
"I hope he finds his way back to more or less permanent good mental health. What a thing to live through."
Especially sharing a cell with Blago.
Being a little bit nuts places JJJr. squarely in the mainstream of his party.
Hey, that's quite funny!
Ms. Althouse, you are off base with this. I'm disgusted that a man who was literally institutionalized in a mental ward AND undergoing federal investigation at the time of the election was approved by 63 percent of his constituents. That speaks volumes - grotesque, slime-covered volumes - about the party and people who foist such disgraces on us. He was a United States Congressman, for God's sake! To think that this moral abomination voted on issues that directly affect me and my child.
I wonder if he ever thought of becoming a rapper and changing his name to "J-Cube."
JJ Jr's big mistake was going into politics in Illinois, where retirement can be confining. He should have joined papa in Operation Procreate. The work is more satisfying, and you get to see the fruits of your (and her)labor.
Rose said...
That means Dems do not care one whit for quality representation. And they should be ashamed til their dying days.
No, it means Chicagoans vote for the Democrat no matter how inept, clueless, insane or corrupt he might be. I've never understood it but it has nothing to do with Democrats as a group.
"Election Day at Bernie's" happens too much and in this case any Dem would have won. The parties need to come up with better rules for these situations. What could have possibly explained his continued candidacy beyond the lame and obvious reasons.
rick wrote:
Especially sharing a cell with Blago.
He'll probalby make it onto a reality show.
Especially sharing a cell with Blago.
At least he'd have hair products.
A new twist on the "nuts and sluts" defense the Clintons perfected.
They kept voting Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd in.
The democrat party sure has evolved over the years. In 1972 Thomas Eagleton, VP candidate, was give the boot by George McGovern for being hospitalized on three occasions for depression and for having undergone electroshock therapy.
You could very easily care yet still vote for your party's candidate.
Indeed, what kind of chump thinks for himself? What kind of schmuck wants to fulfill the obligations of citizenship? What kind of schmiel wants to matter by putting his vote in play? What kind of sucker would put country ahead of party?
Not this kind, no sireee.
2 weeks. thanks asshole. a new election for the taxpayers to pay for. and no, he isn't any crazier or more corrupt than any other democrat, he's just more caught.
I assumed he ran to gain a bargaining chip in his plea bargain with a US Attorney.
Why did they vote for him? Do the word "race" strike a familiar note? Also booty, no not that kind, cell phones and the like.
I've never understood it but it has nothing to do with Democrats as a group.
In Louisiana, they vote for Republicans who dress up in diapers and rent hookers. Can't even imagine the hell a Democrat would catch for that.
David said...
It's a sad thing. Jesse Jr. has a lot of ability and could have done considerable good. It's hard to tell what caused his moral and mental decay, but the weight of high expectations had to be a factor.
!!!!!!!
His father is an extortionist. His brother is an extortionist. He is a soon to convicted extortionist.
You're not from around here, are you?
MadisonMan said...
I hope he finds his way back to more or less permanent good mental health. What a thing to live through.
Oh. I think once the trials over and he's gotten a cell at a minimum security prison he'll make a full recovery.
Can't even imagine the hell a Democrat would catch for that.
Sen. Bob Menendez, FTW! No diapers, but multiple Dominican hookers, so no harm/no foul, huh?
Sorry, Ann, but if you vote for a guy who was already in therapy for his "issues" and had investigations involving corruption --- no, you don't care.
"The party will fix it" is proof positive that somebody just doesn't give a damn.
Voting has become the most useless "civic responsibility" I've ever seen and I won't be wasting my time doing so any longer.
Man, those repubs asking for Nixon to resign were a bunch of dupes. Dupes I say.
I'm pre-disposed to agree. Should've stuck by him in hindsight. Opposing him certainly didn't do the country OR the party any good.
like garage isn't sitting at his government cubicle wearing a dirty diaper right now.
garage mahal said...
In Louisiana, they vote for Republicans who dress up in diapers and rent hookers. Can't even imagine the hell a Democrat would catch for that.
GM, you perhaps have forgotten Edwin Edwards, 4 term DEMOCRATIC Governor of LA?
Before election day, Edwards joked with reporters: "The only way I can lose this election is if I'm caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy".[
He set the standard for election hubris...
In the 1990s he was given a pass by the Clinton DOJ for running a suspected drug operation with Nigerians. His supporters were countering with the "Ollie North did it too!" defense. JJ called in all his markers to make it go away.
And, btw, Jr. goes by "Triple J" in Chicago, for those thinking they discovered sliced bread.
I assumed he ran to gain a bargaining chip in his plea bargain with a US Attorney.
Or the vain hope that things would get better?
I'd prefer he left office only because he was convicted of a crime. (My in-vain hope for all Congressmen :) ) To leave office because of mental illness isn't something I'd wish on anyone.
No, if you "vote for the party" when the candidate is not qualified, then you don't get to claim that you care.
Because if you cared about qualification more than you cared about the Party, you would ahve voted for someone else.
Can't even imagine the hell a Democrat would catch for that.
Apparently not much. He got 63% of of the vote.
"It's a sad thing. Jesse Jr. has a lot of ability and could have done considerable good. It's hard to tell what caused his moral and mental decay, but the weight of high expectations had to be a factor."
His predecessor in that office Mel Reynolds was a nice guy who showed promise but he ended up boffing teen aged girls. Must be something. Temptation, maybe ? When the voters don;t care ?
Weiner had something of the same urges so it isn't just blacks.
11/21/12 2:41 PM
Blogger MadisonMan said...
"I hope he finds his way back to more or less permanent good mental health. What a thing to live through.
"
I think he will make a miraculous recovery once the indictment goes away.
For his sake, I hope he gets his act together & gets well.
As far as the voters who re-elected him .... I hope they get their act together and get well too.
In Louisiana, they vote for Republicans who dress up in diapers and rent hookers. Can't even imagine the hell a Democrat would catch for that.
I can live with the rent hooker thing. Heck, Americans elected an alleged rapist. We know the guy had a cholestoral packet penis because of his peroneys' syndromy and Paula White's testimony. And the groping, the lies to the American people, etc.
But the baby diaper thing? That reminds me when I was in Queensland Australia, and there were a group of really big men in diapers. I had no idea what it was, until one of them comes up to me and says "Mate, you gotta be a baby!" I suppose it was some religious statement that we have to give our selves over to god or something.
I think that Bush thought he was taking his guidance from God. Somehow, I think that's better than taking it from Narcissism, or from the little head. Not that Clinton was a bad politician. He was great, he did practically nothing and the country did really well.
Let's be frank Garage, neither party has a monopoly on hookers. (No, the "frank" was not a reference to Barney)
Blue dogs.
Yellow dogs.
Now, mad dogs.
Heck, Americans elected an alleged rapist.
Reagan? Clinton?
Jessie's supporters are satisfied to be promised everything, and given nothing
"Democrats and republicans are not what make America. Americans are. There is something really ugly going on in America."
Sounds nice in theory, but how to put it into practice. Let's say you are one of those who "votes for the person" in either party, and then further suppose that "person" you voted into office caucuses/votes with the party you disagree with on most issues you care about? By the very narrow definition of the game we must play, that scenario makes you a doormat voter at worst, a stupid voter at best. Or maybe just a stupid doormat voter.
I'd say it's a safe bet that many if not all of the people on this thread criticizing people for voting "for the Party," went straight ticket GOP in the last election.
I hope that's not the case though. Because if it is, it means you are trashing liberal-leaning voters for doing something you yourselves do every election season.
Maybe a better alternative really is to abstain altogether when you truly cannot stand the politician representing the party you agree with on more things. But that also benefits the party--and more importantly the policies--you strongly oppose, doesn't it?
Here in IL, and particularly in Cook Co., a lawn chair could get elected if it claimed to be a black Dem.
I assumed he ran to gain a bargaining chip in his plea bargain with a US Attorney.
Actually he ran to get a bargaining chip in his demand for permanent government checks.....
In Louisiana, they vote for Republicans who dress up in diapers and rent hookers. Can't even imagine the hell a Democrat would catch for that.
He wouldn't catch any.
In the case of Vitter though, isn't the diaper thing kind of a personal matter? And in the case of the prostitutes weren't the allegations so old that the statute of limitations had run out?
So it seems that Mel Reynolds is going to run for his old seat again. Of course you remember the pedophile Congressman and loyal Democrat who was convicted of 12 charges, including sex with Beverly Heard, age 16 and he even asked her to take pornographic photographs of an unnamed 15-year old.
Of course, we will also see Triple J's wife Sandi running for the seat even though she is thought to be involved in Junior's illegal activities.
Strangely, there really are honest blacks from the South Side who could do right by their constituency - but I am betting against that.
Jesse Jackson Jr.'s *illness* was an act intended to gain two objectives: First, to secure a government salary and attendant benefits for his remaining life; and second, to gain a suitable plea bargain for the pending federal charges.
His re-election was accomplished by the Chicago machine, an organization that has turned Chicago governance into a third-world oligarchy.
Mrs. Jesse Jackson Jr. won election as a Chicago alderperson, by the way.
And Chicago is bankrupt. It cannot pay its general obligations nor can it fund its pension plan.
It is the face of America.
Gahrie said...
I assumed he ran to gain a bargaining chip in his plea bargain with a US Attorney.
Actually he ran to get a bargaining chip in his demand for permanent government checks.....
Correct, that was part of the deal, he demanded Congregational disability pay along with his regular pension for his resignation.
Only fools believe this has more to do with doctors than lawyers.
It is a fair question to ask: how exactly and in quantifiable measure, have Jesse Jackson, Sr, Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Mrs. Jesse Jackson, Jr. improved the daily lives of the black and poor citizens of Chicago?
Not one damn bit.
I don't how certain I am of his supposed mental health issues. With privacy laws what they are, there is no way for anyone to verify his claims (checked into Mayo for x treatment from date y to date z, etc.) Medical "excuses" are the last refuge for many, and there is no way to verify the press releases coming from his office. I strongly suspect this is cover and diversion.
The funny thing about Jackson is he dind't even post a single election ad. and he just stopped showing up to work back in June.
Maybe that's the new way to run a campaign if you're a democrat. Call out sick for five months and don't campaign. You'll still get elected.
Hell, it's a hell of a lot cheaper than actually placing ads.
By the way, Jessie Jackson was challenged by a democratic woman named Debbie Halvorson. And despite his ethics violations and not showing up for five mntions still beat her. She was white.
Can we say then that those voting against her were both sexist and racist?
You could have run a corpse as a democrat in this district, and they'd elect it.
Democrats in his precinct felt it was more important to elect someone that was not there for 5 months and checked into a hospital for bipolar disordser and with ethics violations pending, rather than voting for a white woman?
I thought Debbie Wasserman was telling everybody how the dems need ot have more women win elections.
I guess race trumps sex. Sorry ladies.
Voters, it seemed, did not care . . .
Ah yes. And once again it's the vital and purposely missing adjective that makes all the difference in understanding.
[Black] voters, it seemed, did not care . . .
Reagan? Clinton?
Please, you do know the difference between alleged and democrats trying to make a point?
Why aren't you ashamed of yourself? You and your ilk dragged Clarence Thomas through the mud on the back of your Volvos with "I believe you Anita" bumper stickers. Where where the "I believe you Juanita" bumper stickers?
It's one thing for a woman to accept sex, and another to be forcibly raped. Get a damn clue.
Two fucking different rules. If I didn't care about people, the best thing I could do would be to become a famous Democrat so I could commit vehicular manslaughter, rape women, grope women, and commit statutory rape of underage pages.
They 'cared' Ann, but all the balot box stuffing got in the way.
I'd say it's a safe bet that many if not all of the people on this thread criticizing people for voting "for the Party," went straight ticket GOP in the last election.
Does that say more about unreasoning unaccountable Democrats than reasoning, accountable Republicans?
I mean really, this is beyond the pale. And its not the first time. That DC mayor was re-elected after cocaine and prostitutes, and he was in jail for it. That's the Sickness, you Democrats don't want to acknowledge.
I'll go one further. There have been instances in which the Black community has complained about excessive jail sentences, and higher arrest rates of blacks for certain crimes. They describe this as "Racism."
Who has to pay to take these criminals off the street? Not the blacks, with their very low household income rates. It's white and asian suburbia.
It makes me want to say "Release all the blacks in prison. Let them go back to their black communities, and let the black community decide how much they like all the criminal elements running a muck, causing even more devastation to the community."
That's the sickness. Democrats, Jesse Jacksons, have made a cancerous illness in which it is always the white culture at fault.
Tough. Three generations is enough. Get real, and stand up.
Jesse Jackson, Jr. Nancy Pelosi. Harry Reid. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. Alan Grayson. Sheila Jackson-Lee. Etc.
One gets the feeling that they could get their picture taken at Arlington National Cemetery giving The Finger and still get re-elected by their constituents.
You get the government you deserve, and you get it good and hard.
Mayor Curley won re election while serving time in prison, so this is not such a new thing....Even so it's depressing. "Vote for me. I'm not crooked. I'm crazy." Hell of a platform.....I suppose he appeals to those who are against the nepotism and privilege that are so prevalent in our society.
"You could very easily care yet still vote for your party's candidate. You vote for the party and trust them to get it straightened out, which seems to be what is happening, since he has resigned."
Explains Elizabeth Warren, as much as I'm upset with my friends who vote Democrat, I'm more upset with the Massachusetts Democratic Party for pushing other Democratic candidates to the side at the convention so that Warren would have no primary candidates. There were a candidate (who was a female) who had the certified signatures to be on the ballot, and still they decided not to have a primary.
Democrats - still the preferred choice of "low information" voters nationwide...
All Jesse Jackson Jr needed to be re-elected was a machine. And it's all there for the taking in his Chicago district where almost anyone who really, authentically voted was uniformed about his corruption charges - or even if informed - still voting to keep the Big Gummint stuff pouring in.
Not Racist - but Realist. Please let's get real about this issue.
In Missouri we had a former governor running for Senate against John Ashcroft- He was killed in a plane crash two weeks before the election. The dead democrat won and his widow was appointed to his seat- served until a special election could be held, 2 years later.
I hope Mr Jackson sorts out whatever issues he has, but the machine concept of politics has always been played better by the Democrats- I can't think of an equivalent Republican network that can just generate votes like this.
Too bad he couldn't use his mental illness for good.
Daddy issues?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS91knuzoOA&feature=related.
Will he get a doctor's note for white collar prison?
This is a great article with well-scripted, engaging content that is
full of
original and sensible views. Much of your informative content is in
line
with my way of thinking.
Visit Here My Site For More Info
I'd prefer he left office only because he was convicted of a crime. (My in-vain hope for all Congressmen :) ) To leave office because of mental illness isn't something I'd wish on anyone.
Gotta disagree. Harsh as it may be, if you're psychologically incapable of doing the job, you need to leave until you are capable and apply again.
This isn't a small thing here.
And if you're convicted of corruption --- you should forfeit your government retirement benefits.
Geoff Matthews said...
You could have run a corpse as a democrat in this district, and they'd elect it
John Stroeger
Jesse Jackson Jr.'s voters are the very definition of "yellow dog Democrats".
Now I happen to be a registered Democrat, and I do love my yellow dog. But I wouldn't vote for her for any job other than cleaning out her food dish--which she does with enthusiasm.
And I would not have voted for Jesse Jackson Jr. or "Cold Cash" Jefferson on a bet.
Thoese people are sheep.
Post a Comment