Althouse: Why, Rahm?

November 30, 2015

Why, Rahm?

Why?

I had high hopes for you. How could you not have drawn the line, said here's where I take my stand, and if I lose my election, that's nothing, I want my integrity?

121 comments:

Matt said...: Is this sarcasm? On what basis did you have high hopes for Rahm Emanuel? Do you know anything about the people on which you blog?; 11/30/15, 5:39 PM
MayBee said...: No way this city could have survived with Mayor Chuy Garcia.; 11/30/15, 5:41 PM
mccullough said...: The FBI and U.S. Attorneys office in Chicago also dragged their feet. They've had the video for over a year.

Rahm's job before mayor was Obama's chief of staff.; 11/30/15, 5:41 PM
cubanbob said...: Why ask a rhetorical question? You know the answer: it's the Chicago Way. Why waste a good election outcome?; 11/30/15, 5:43 PM
Bob said...: "Integrity" and "Chicago politician" are an oxymoron.; 11/30/15, 5:44 PM
rhhardin said...: Because he's a piece of shit, like Obama, another estrogen mistake.; 11/30/15, 5:47 PM
TreeJoe said...: Not one mention. Not one. That this very mayor was our presidents closest formal adviser and first pick as chief of staff.

Unconsciousable.; 11/30/15, 5:49 PM
Spiros Pappas said...: These jerks ruined street parking. Daley, Rahmbo's predecessor, privatized street parking for $1 billion. The investors, which include heavy hitters from Saudi Arabia, pocket about $300 or $400 million per year. That's profit! An eye-opening rate of return (I'm happy with 5%, these bastards get 40%). Richard Daley also privatized a boatload of other public resources and, at one point, tried to privatize the municipal water supply. That's Lake Michigan!

The murder, or whatever it is, is just a diversion from actual reporting on a kleptocracy that is destroying our city. Even Athenian politicians are less gross than the filth in Chicago. Our journalists are just pandering to obnoxious teenagers and racists instead of doing their jobs an keeping our mayors honest.; 11/30/15, 5:49 PM
William said...: I'm sure self interest played a part in this, but there may have been other reasons, chief among them the wish to avoid a riot.. If this causes a riot in Chicago, it will not be a triumph of truth and justice and a pure blessing.. If the black citizens of Chicago inhibit the police, it may well serve to decrease incidents of police misconduct, but the citizens will not live long and prosper because of it.; 11/30/15, 5:50 PM
Carol said...: Oh dear, I haven't kept up. Have they found their Great White Defendant?; 11/30/15, 5:54 PM
exhelodrvr1 said...: He's a liberal, that's why.; 11/30/15, 5:55 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Emanuel is a sociopath. I swear, the Democrats think that the Republican Clown Car Show of Candidates has some weirdies, have they looked at their own side?

That Emanuel wanted power & cared little for how he got it is well known in Democratic circles. But, he did his stint for the Light Worker in DC, and came back as the Local (& Loco) Boy Made Good to claim his prize.

And you want to know something really sad? Compared to some of his opponents, like the lady who's the head of the Chicago Teachers Union, Emanuel is moderation & reasonableness personified. Such are the politics of the Windy City.; 11/30/15, 5:56 PM
David Begley said...: Rahm deserves every thing he gets. Barack and Rahm made today's Chicago and look what a disaster it is.; 11/30/15, 5:56 PM
M Jordan said...: Gee, it all kind of remind me of another video and a reelection bid. Wonder if the NY Times will call for those video-manipulators to resign.; 11/30/15, 5:59 PM
Christy said...: How precious! The very idea of integrity associated with anyone in Obama's circle is to laugh.; 11/30/15, 6:07 PM
Bob R said...: Second definition of integrity is "the state of being whole and undivided." Rahm has integrity.; 11/30/15, 6:11 PM
MayBee said...: The people leading the organized protests during Eric Garner and again this weekend are political co-horts of the guy who was running against Rahm, and they are SEIU. They don't want to budge on the city's pension crisis, and they support $15 minimum wage. There were signs this weekend saying "Capitalism Killed Taquan McDonald"

It's all sordid. If it's all going to be sordid, both sides are going to be sordid. I don't need the dirtiest, least competent players to take over the city.; 11/30/15, 6:14 PM
JCC said...: That crazy Rahma-lama ding dong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KStsPPgeka4; 11/30/15, 6:18 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Assuming Althouse isn't naive and that she his honestly asking this question, here's the proper response:

1. Chicago is a one-party (Democrat) town
2. As a one-party (Democrat) town, Chicago is very corrupt. There's no balance of power.
3. Rahm Emmanuel has been the leader of this corrupt, one-party (Democrat) town since 2011.
4. If a politically-charged indictment may hurt Rahm's chances for re-election, OF COURSE, some Democrat in the political machinery is going to slow things down.

Does that answer your question?; 11/30/15, 6:21 PM
Craig Howard said...: Assuming your post is an honest expression of your beliefs, I can only observe that time, time, and time again, your most excellent observational skills are frequently trumped by your emotions. It's fascinating, yet disappointing to watch.; 11/30/15, 6:32 PM
Big Mike said...: Why?

I had high hopes for you. How could you not have drawn the line, said here's where I take my stand, and if I lose my election, that's nothing, I want my integrity?

Well, newsflash to the folks in Madison. Hardly any politicians have much in the way of integrity and no Democrats whatsoever. Once upon a time, and in states far, far away from the Great Lakes region, maybe there were some Democrat politicians with some shreds of integrity. But these days and in Illinois or Wisconsin or Michigan or Ohio or Pennsylvania, no. Not. At. All.

@Althouse, my question for you is how far away is Chicago from Madison that you have no grasp at all about Chicago city politics? I mean, Democrats positively brag about how crooked Chicago politics are, and that includes Democrats from far away states. And it catches you by surprise?

Obama seems to have dashed your high hopes of 2008 and now his right hand hatchet man does likewise. I'm stunned that you're stunned.; 11/30/15, 6:32 PM
MadisonMan said...: I have to agree with MayBee. What Emanuel and others did does beg for resignations.

But the alternative to the mayor in the election? (shudder); 11/30/15, 6:35 PM
Virgil Hilts said...: Why doesn't someone ask Barack or Michelle or Valerie what they think the good officials of Chicago should have done. These are the same officials that helped Obama to win his first elections through the criminal leak of sealed divorce records relating to his opponents (Blair Hull and then Jack Ryan). Does anyone think this was a difficult decision for Rahm? Do you think he tossed and turned and fretted about it?; 11/30/15, 6:41 PM
Mark said...: Rahm sucks.

I find a bit of irony in how he is going to take a huge amount of heat for someone else's crime. He didn't kill that kid, but he is a part of the conspiracy now.; 11/30/15, 6:45 PM
Michael said...: Well, as the paper says, they shouldn't waste their time with investigations and prosecutions when restoring trust is the better option.

Can't make this stuff up.; 11/30/15, 6:59 PM
ddh said...: Why? Because Rahm could. An election is worth so much more to him than integrity.; 11/30/15, 7:04 PM
Sebastian said...: "I had high hopes for you. How could you not have drawn the line, said here's where I take my stand, and if I lose my election, that's nothing, I want my integrity?"

High hopes, that's funny. Faux disappointment, right? I mean, he was O's man, and he's a Chicago pol, and he's an Emmanuel. And still, and yet, YH is right: by Chicago standards, he was best. Of course he wanted power and so on and so forth, but I'm sure he also believed that if he lost the election, the city would go down the tubes. And he was right. Lack of integrity is a necessary condition for succeeding in Chicago politics. See "pragmatic" Barry. Hawaii boy went to Chicago to jumpstart his career for a reason.; 11/30/15, 7:04 PM
steve uhr said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/30/15, 7:12 PM
Crimso said...: Never let a good crisis go to waste.

Never let a bad crisis be used against you. "Never," as in "by any means necessary."; 11/30/15, 7:21 PM
PB said...: I didn't have high hopes for him. None at all.

The guy got rich in 15 months off the Ameritech Securitylink deal (which was a bad deal for Ameritech shareholders, but great for him and the current IL governor Bruce Rauner). The guy served as a disgusting attack dog for Clinton and Obama, so it would be hard to rid himself of the slime. And he clearly wasn't a resident of IL for a year before running as required by law, but the usual Illinois Combine re-interpreted it.

He'll probably skate.; 11/30/15, 7:23 PM
Sam L. said...: Rahm and integrity? Surely you jest.; 11/30/15, 7:24 PM
avwh said...: Saw from National Review earlier today: the last time these cities had a Republican mayor -

Chicago: 1927
Baltimore: 1963
St. Louis: 1943
Detroit: 1957
Philly: 1947
Minneapolis: 1957
Oakland: 1966
Seattle: 1952

Not many things are more corrupt than one-party towns.

None are more corrupt than Chicago.; 11/30/15, 7:25 PM
robother said...: No one, Democrat or Republican, ever claimed that Watergate (the break-in or the coverup) changed the result of the 1972 election.

Here, every one of the actions-- the failure to indict, the erasure of the Burger King videotape, the erasure of the voice sound on the dash cam tapes, and the thwarting of the public release of the dash cam video -- was crucial to Emanuel's reelection. The fact that the murder indictment was only announced the day of the judicially mandated video release is powerful evidence that the DA and Emanuel likely would have buried any murder charge against the officer.

The US Department of Justice's corruption case against Governor Blagovich is peanuts compared to this. But Obama, of course is a product of the same Chicago Way as Rahm Emanuel, so this will be down the memory hole by January.; 11/30/15, 7:41 PM
chickelit said...: They were alone. They were out numbered. But, they had guts and they had will. They had to survive.

(from the trailer for Otto Preminger's "In Rahm's Way"); 11/30/15, 7:51 PM
chickelit said...: I wonder what even happened to Peter van Bella, a commenter here who was a retired Chicago cop. I'd love to hear his take.; 11/30/15, 7:52 PM
glenn said...: Integrity? What's that to a guy like Rahm. BTW, if you are a Democrat or voted for the Dems YOU are complicit.; 11/30/15, 7:59 PM
MathMom said...: Doesn't this question answer itself? Rahm has no integrity. That was obvious when he said "never let a good crisis go to waste".; 11/30/15, 8:09 PM
chickelit said...: I don't see how any reasonable jury could convict now given the destruction of evidence. I'd love to be a fly on the wall of van Dyke's counsel.

None of this malfeasance surprises me. Rahm has thoroughly perpetuated the stereotype of Chicago politicians.; 11/30/15, 8:10 PM
eric said...: I hope people realize this means the officer will be found not guilty.

You can't edit footage and hope to convict someone off of it. It gets thrown out of court as tainted evidence.; 11/30/15, 8:11 PM
traditionalguy said...: Because Rahm is a nasty racist. Saying the color of the money is what counts cuts both ways. And any southerner can plainly see that.

The true Dem chant is "No Lives Matter."And African Americans are discovering again what MLK discovered about neighbohoods in Chicago when he marched for intrgration there. They'd as soon kill a black, or white man, man as you as look at one violating their territorial boundaries.; 11/30/15, 8:11 PM
chickelit said...: Not many things are more corrupt than one-party towns.

Well, California is a one-party state. Is there corruption in California? We sure don't hear about it.; 11/30/15, 8:12 PM
Drago said...: Mark: "Rahm sucks. I find a bit of irony in how he is going to take a huge amount of heat for someone else's crime."

Nixon didn't order or know of the Watergate break-in until after the fact.

But he was a republican, so naturally he had to go.; 11/30/15, 8:12 PM
Static Ping said...: This is not exactly surprising for Chicago. This was Al Capone's town. And "Shoeless" Joe Jackson's town. Say it ain't so.; 11/30/15, 8:28 PM
avwh said...: "California is a one-party state. Is there corruption in California? We sure don't hear about it."

The public employee unions run Sacramento and own most of the politicians, because of their money and shoe leather clout. Of course there's corruption.

But the MSM doesn't do its job unless the incumbent or Administration has an R after its name, since the press are really Dems with bylines.; 11/30/15, 8:43 PM
David said...: Ram's integrity flew the coop when he pocketed almost $19 million for a two year stint at Wasserstein Perella. His value was largely his political contacts and the perception of his power, past and future. This was his compensation. It does not include all the sweet investment deals that a place like Wasserstein would have sent his way during and after the time he worked there. Various sources claim his net worth is about 14 million. My guess is more.

His kids go to U Chicago Law School. No public schools for liberal leaders in the file schools of the Democratic cities.; 11/30/15, 8:47 PM
Curious George said...: He's a fucking rat. Despicable fucking rat.

Funny thing, all my lefty facebook friends, who go on and on about these white cop killing black cases, like the Madison shooting, no one fucking peep. And this guy was clearly executed.

Not a peep. Lefties have no rules. No boundries. No morals.; 11/30/15, 9:01 PM
The Godfather said...: @chickelit: I don't know if your query about the absence of corruption in the one-party state of California was serious or sarcastic, but if you google "California state government corruption", the first hit is http://www.dailynews.com/opinion/20140804/california-state-government-awash-in-corruption-conflict-of-interest-thomas-elias. There are about 7,250,000 more results. Have fun.; 11/30/15, 9:02 PM
richard mcenroe said...: Have you ever LISTENED to Rahm Emanuel?; 11/30/15, 9:04 PM
Billy Oblivion said...: > Well, California is a one-party state. Is there corruption in
> California? We sure don't hear about it.

Go find out how Diane S's husband makes his money.

Also consider "silent partner".

Then you'll know why they keep trying to ram that "high speed rail" from the middle of nowhere to the middle of nowhere.; 11/30/15, 9:12 PM
Ken B said...: Rahm Emmanuel inspired hope, but John McCain evoked disdain. That's how cruel neutrality works folks.; 11/30/15, 9:14 PM
Phil 314 said...: This all would make a great script for a series a la "The Wire".

But given our present Hollywood the ultimate bad guys would end up being an evil cabal of Republican businessmen.

And white, too!; 11/30/15, 9:27 PM
exhelodrvr1 said...: "Well, California is a one-party state"

Nowhere close to the level of Illinois and Chicago. Look up the governors, state legislators, and mayors of the large cities. Plenty of Repubs there.; 11/30/15, 9:27 PM
MAJMike said...: Why disappointed? He's just another of a long line of self-serving DemCong doing what self-serving DemCong do.; 11/30/15, 9:29 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Dalenda est Chicago.; 11/30/15, 9:38 PM
Sammy Finkelman said...: The can of worms in Chicago is probably a lot bigger than you think. It could probably destroy many people in the police department, and maybe other places as well. Rahm Emanuel maybe didn't want to tangle with it. It's enough to try to improve the schools.

There seems to have been some effort to give the family money. That itself, of course, is hoping they'll be satisfied with money, rather than the truth coming out.; 11/30/15, 9:39 PM
Sammy Finkelman said...: Sebastian said...

"And still, and yet, YH is right: by Chicago standards, he was best. Of course he wanted power and so on and so forth, but I'm sure he also believed that if he lost the election, the city would go down the tubes. And he was right."

Considering who he would have lost to.; 11/30/15, 9:45 PM
Gahrie said...: Most other people, I would ask:

"What has he ever done to make you think he has integrity?"

In your case:

"What has he ever done to make you feel like his has integrity?".; 11/30/15, 9:47 PM
Gahrie said...: Well, California is a one-party state. Is there corruption in California? We sure don't hear about it

And I'm sure the MSM has nothing to do with the fact that you don't hear about it.....; 11/30/15, 9:48 PM
Sammy Finkelman said...: It says something that the erasure of that Burger King tape was so automatic.; 11/30/15, 9:49 PM
Balfegor said...: The city spent thousands of dollars in legal expenses to keep the video under wraps.

If those thousands of dollars spared the residents of Chicago from vicious, devastating race riots like we saw in Baltimore and Ferguson, then those were thousands of dollars well spent. Remains to be seen whether the ploy was successful, but if it is, then civic-minded mayors around the country could learn something important about how to deal with these cases. And maybe that "something" is "stonewall, stonewall, stonewall," but if that's what it takes to protect your citizenry from ruffians breaking in their windows and burning their shops, then that's what it takes. If you let those mad passions blossom into raging violence, it can take a generation to rebuild what a few days' disorder can destroy.; 11/30/15, 9:49 PM
Michael K said...: "Is there corruption in California? We sure don't hear about it."

Are you kidding ? Jerry Brown's original 1972 campaign for governor started in the kitchen of Richard O
Neill, a big time Democrat millionaire who was the managing partner in the hospital I practiced in. The hospital had its own printing plant to print patient records and blank progress notes and so forth. Before the election the hospital ran out of forms as the printing plant was too busy with Brown's campaign mailers.

Who do you think benefits from the $65 billion train to nowhere ?

California is just a bit more subtle than the Illinois Combine.; 11/30/15, 10:05 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Progressives believe in the power of government to transcend the weaknesses of the people who actually are the government. They lionize their political leaders in a way that conservatives are far less likely to do. Yet, again and again, when the best of the progressive leaders are exposed as being as petty and venal as any other example of atomic humanity, pursuing politics not to make a better world but to reward friends and punish enemies in the long-established tradition, the progressives simply look for the next man or woman who claims to be able to defeat man's ancient enemy (himself).
The reason why progressives haven't had a new idea in a hundred years is because they are incapable of learning.
In Nostromo, Joseph Conrad has Don Emilia muse "...for life to be large and full, it must contain the care of the past and of the future in every passing moment of the present."
Progressives hold the past in contempt.; 11/30/15, 10:34 PM
walter said...: Here in Wisco, was interesting to watch him enter into Walker territory in terms of trying to reign in teacher's unions...with much less uproar.
And when his son get got beat up close to home, I figured he would make hay out of that..but didn't...seemed to keep t on the DL..as they say in there.; 11/30/15, 11:06 PM
Ctmom4 said...: I guss I am only surprised that they didn't destroy the entire tape. But, as MayBee said,the alternative for Chicago was unthinkable.; 11/30/15, 11:06 PM
Carnifex said...: Its simple. Black Lives Matter, but the public persona of a Democrat politician matters more.; 11/30/15, 11:12 PM
walter said...: Yeah well..3 hrs later..hard to know what;s been said..but maybe fewer folks have been insulted!!; 11/30/15, 11:27 PM
Anonymous said...: You had high hopes for whom?

Are we talking about the same Rahm Emanuel?; 11/30/15, 11:51 PM
rcommal said...: Rahm Emanuel has always confused the notion of power with the notion of responsibility, and vice versa. Passion, yes--that he always has had. But that's not enough, and those who think that passion is enough also tend to confuse the notions of power and responsibility and--far worse!--think that it's a-ok to claim power while sloughing off the responsibility attached to it.; 12/1/15, 12:04 AM
Achilles said...: Look at all the people who vote for and cover up for democrats who are shocked, SHOCKED that they are corrupt disgusting people. Resign? These people should all be in jail before they are executed. Rahm, police chief Mccarthy, district attorney Alvarez, are all accessory to murder.

Funny thing is the FBI had to drag it's feet too to keep this under wraps during the election. That means Obama was pulling strings for his Chief of Staff and good friend.

Now we have Hillary coming down the pipe. She is the definition of a liar and nasty things have happened around the Clintons. It is without a doubt she would be in jail if she was a republican.

Anyone that voted for any of these people made gross errors in judgment. Anyone who votes for Hillary is voting for the end of decency, the rule of law, and the republic.; 12/1/15, 12:08 AM
Ken Mitchell said...: Blogger chickelit said... "Not many things are more corrupt than one-party towns.

Well, California is a one-party state. Is there corruption in California? We sure don't hear about it. "

I live in Sacramento, and I can assure you, there's LOTS of corruption. Water shenanigans, "high-speed rail", Jerry Brown getting the government to evaluate his family ranch for the potential for oil drilling.... There's LOTS of corruption. If you aren't seeing it, your eyes must be closed and you have earplugs in.; 12/1/15, 1:24 AM
rcocean said...: Chicago is a town that takes pride in the fact that the dead vote. It takes pride in being the town of Capone and Corruption. "Just show me the money"

So, why so serious?; 12/1/15, 1:37 AM
John Cunningham said...: if This post is sarcasm, it falls with a thud. If Althouse seriously expected honesty or decency from a DemonRAT politician, she is too cosmically stupid to be allowed out of the house.; 12/1/15, 2:19 AM
Anonymous said...: Sarcasm alert. Seriously, those kind of politicians are mainly found in Hollywood and Syfy movies, usually in relation to foiling some plot from the evil Megacorp MacGuffin.

Rahm made the bet most politicians do - try and cover up the problem, get beyond an election, and hope the public gets over it. My bet is that he's right. He may not win re-election in 3 years, but if he does lose, I doubt this will be a major reason why.; 12/1/15, 2:24 AM
Xmas said...: @Ann
You had high hopes for Rahm "Shower Stall Intimidator" Emanuel? The guy's an enforcer, not an operator, not a figurehead. He may have become the mayor of Chicago, he may have even become a Senator or Governor of Illinois, but there is no escaping his goon-protecting-the-star ways.; 12/1/15, 2:44 AM
Anonymous said...: He's a Democrat, he worked for Obama. What integrity?

You know, President "sick the IRS on political opponents" Obama? President "least transparent Administration in American history" Obama?

Here's a hint: when you have to lie to yourself about the people you voted for, that's a strong indication you voted for the wrong people.; 12/1/15, 2:51 AM
Bob Loblaw said...: Well, California is a one-party state. Is there corruption in California? We sure don't hear about it.

Good lord. The California legislature has all but published rates. And then this is the sort of thing we get from the executive branch:

"Johnson was hoping to sway Davis back toward the teachers’ camp on a series of educational issues, but the Governor’s mind was elsewhere. “We were just sitting there and talking,” Johnson later told the press, “and he, just out of the blue, said, ‘You know, I really need a million dollars from you guys.'”"

They only put a half-hearted effort into obscuring the quid pro quo these days.; 12/1/15, 3:26 AM
Anonymous said...: Not many things are more corrupt than one-party towns.

MCPE Mods; 12/1/15, 3:54 AM
Quaestor said...: Is there corruption in California? We sure don't hear about it.

The worst kind of corruption is the kind we don't hear about.; 12/1/15, 4:07 AM
Humperdink said...: Why, Rahm? As evidence surfaces after the election.

How about "Why, Hillary?" for the very same reason.; 12/1/15, 5:21 AM
Mid-Life Lawyer said...: O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve! O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? (Psalm 94:1-3).

Beats me.; 12/1/15, 5:28 AM
Joe Schmoe said...: Wow. Nobody saw this coming? I'm only surprised that it actually became public.; 12/1/15, 5:55 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I'm not being sarcastic.

"I had high hopes for you" is serious.

Meade and I had him picked as our dark horse for President in 2016. But that was long ago.

I thought he had what it would take to figure out Chicago and win.; 12/1/15, 5:59 AM
Humperdink said...: Ann, you continue to surprise me. The character flaws of this slime-ball are not hidden, nor are they small. SMH.; 12/1/15, 6:13 AM
Robert Cook said...: "4. If a politically-charged indictment may hurt Rahm's chances for re-election, OF COURSE, some Democrat in the political machinery is going to slow things down."

Don't you think "some Democrat in the political machinery" is...Rahm?; 12/1/15, 6:48 AM
Rusty said...: Ann Althouse said...
I'm not being sarcastic.

"I had high hopes for you" is serious.

Meade and I had him picked as our dark horse for President in 2016. But that was long ago.

I thought he had what it would take to figure out Chicago and win.

You have got to be effin kidding me.
Obama wasn't enough of a clue?
The only virgin in the whorehouse?
Chicago vies with Boston for being the most corrupt city in America.
He's the mayor of Chicago.
Didn't you ever wonder how he got elected so quickly after leaving the Whitehouse.
He wasn't elected, Ann and Meade. He was appointed.
The machine elected him.
The machine elects the Aldermen.The machine elects the judges. The machine appoints the prosecutors. The building inspectors. The election judges. The parole officers. The annoying traffic directors at Ohare.
Jesus. It's true. The easiest people to fool are the most educated. You and Meade need to get away from the bubble that you're living in.
I'm not being sarcastic.; 12/1/15, 6:53 AM
amielalune said...: This is what we're up against. Althouse is a brilliant, intuitive, educated woman. Yet she seriously thought Obama would be a good president and then thought Rahm might be also.

How do you overcome this kind of self-delusion in otherwise intelligent people? Is it just a subconscious "peer pressure" sort of thing?; 12/1/15, 7:07 AM
Curious George said...: "Ann Althouse said...
I'm not being sarcastic.

"I had high hopes for you" is serious.

Meade and I had him picked as our dark horse for President in 2016. But that was long ago.

I thought he had what it would take to figure out Chicago and win."

Wow. Couple of rubes. I mean Obama pulled some dirty tricks, but nothing like Rahm. He and the rest of the rats are accessories to murder after the fact. And should be charged.

"Every person who, after a felony has been committed, harbors, conceals or aids a principal in such felony, with the intent that said principal may avoid or escape from arrest, trial, conviction or punishment, having knowledge that said principal has committed such felony or has been charged with such felony or convicted thereof, is an accessory after the fact to such felony."; 12/1/15, 7:14 AM
Robert Cook said...: It would be almost touching--if it were not so dismaying in what it reveals about the willful ignorance and/or "my team good/your team bad" tunnel-vision of presumably aware adults--that so many here are so "naive" as to think this is due to Rahm's being a DemocRat! or to Chicago being a one-party town.

Neither party is free of corruption or of ambitious people who will do anything to gain power. We are essentially a one-party nation, with the Democrats and the Republicans being but slightly different wings of the uni-party, which is essentially the Corporate Party.

I do believe there are politicians in either party who are sincere and well-intended public servants who wish to do that which they think best for their communities. However, the system itself is corrupted by corporate money and largesse, and by the ambitions of those who enter public office merely to aggrandize their own power and wealth. Even those who enter office with good intentions can easily become focused primarily on fund-raising, and they become less interested in serving the public good as they become more and more consumed with the "end-in-itself" of getting re-elected...which requires corporate funding. As all money flows from the corporate and financial elites, each party is shaped to fit the needs and wants of those corporate and financial interests. In the end, we get what we have now...a failed system and a failing society.

Our rise was quicker than Rome's and so will be our ongoing fall.; 12/1/15, 7:14 AM
Gahrie said...: Our rise was quicker than Rome's and so will be our ongoing fall.

Oh well..at least we lasted longer than Communism.

Too bad huh Comrade Cookie?; 12/1/15, 8:00 AM
Hagar said...: Robert,
See AA's post about Calvinism above.; 12/1/15, 8:03 AM
Brando said...: Rahm has always been a deep-gutter machine pol--who would be surprised he would cover something up that might have split his fragile coalition before the election? It's what he does.

It's a shame cities have been given over to the crooks, predatory unions, and racialist bloodsuckers who have together run them into the ground. Cities should be citadels of civilization, centers of commerce, art and life appealing to the best in humanity. That they have become what they are is a sad joke.; 12/1/15, 8:18 AM
Peter said...: "Daley, Rahmbo's predecessor, privatized street parking for $1 billion."

The City of Chicago sold a century's worth of cash flow for a lump-sum payment, and then spent that payment in less than two years. And next year Chicago sales tax is going back to 10.25% anyway. Meanwhile, Chicago Public Schools is borrowing (again) to pay current expenses.

For Chicago and Cook County, no amount of revenue will ever be enough. Will the federal gov't bail out Chicago and Illinois (and California, and New York) and if so, how much new money will it create to do so? It's all unsustainable; what remains to be seen is, how's the denouement going to play out?; 12/1/15, 8:34 AM
Anthony said...: Considering that I am probably the only Republican that most of my Old Town / Lincoln Park neighbors know (or at least the only one willing to admit it, election stats for my ward show quote a few Republican voters) they were shocked when I said in the last election I was voting for the loony lefty Garcia over Emmanuel. Because Chicago needs transparency in government and we are not going to get it with Emmanuel. We probably would no have got it with Garcia, but at least there was a chance there.; 12/1/15, 8:38 AM
James Pawlak said...: He is an Obama clone AND a Chicago politician. Therefore, he is a crook.; 12/1/15, 8:42 AM
mikee said...: You had high hopes for Rahm Emmanuel?

If a lack of ethics in one of Bill Clinton's most pit-bullish defenders surprises you, boy are you gonna be AMAZED after Hillary gets elected.; 12/1/15, 9:04 AM
Rick said...: Ann Althouse said...
I thought he had what it would take to figure out Chicago and win.

He did figure out Chicago and win.; 12/1/15, 9:13 AM
Amadeus 48 said...: Rahm is stuck in the fundamental fact that the public employee unions run Chicago. Watch him fight with the teachers' union. They made up a significant part of the Black Friday protests. Neither he nor Rauner have been able to construct a significant counterweight to the combined power of benefit recipients, public employees, and government contractors. Police Superintendent McCarthy and State's Attorney Alverez are expendable and will be thrown to the wolves. Rahm will not run for re-election in three years. Chicago will circle the drain.
The problem here is the system that people have lived with for over 90 years. It feeds on group identity politics and government hand-outs to loyalists. Unfortunately, the bills are coming due.; 12/1/15, 9:15 AM
JAORE said...: "I had high hopes for you. How could you not have drawn the line, said here's where I take my stand, and if I lose my election, that's nothing, I want my integrity? "

Keep this one on hand. You just might fond a use for it during the reign of President Hillary.....

Jeez, has an eye Doc taken a look at that blind spot?; 12/1/15, 9:32 AM
john mosby said...: Not a huge Rahm defender, but in this case I have to, a little bit.

He could have swept the first election if he had hung the officer out to dry and run on the tape, as sort of a "See? What did I tell you? These damn cops are out of control, and I'm the only one who can get them under control!" This would have been in keeping with his overall policy of fighting all unions other than SEIU and basically writing off the blue-collar law-and-order vote.

Chicago is 1/3 each black, Hispanic, and white. The first two groups vote their interest; the whites tend to vote their ideology, which is mostly lefty.

A cop-hating Rahm would have got all the black votes and enough lefty whites, while sacrificing the Hispanic vote, which was going to Chuy anyway. (Note that the neighborhood where the offender was shot is mostly Hispanic working-class nowadays - the tape makes it look like a deserted industrial strip, but just down the road are lots of strip malls, and the side streets are packed with classic Chicago bungalows. These people had no interest in a knife-swinging black youth wandering past their picture windows.)

The black leadership and the invisible hand of a thousand individual decisions would have kept rioting down (in Baltimore, with a 63% black population, there will be a black mayor no matter how badly you riot; in Chicago, the chance of a black mayor, or one sympathetic to black interests, would have been obliterated by riots). Plus, there had been a practice run for orderly protest a few weeks prior, after Ferguson.

So why didn't Rahm run on the tape?

He didn't need it - with just one Hispanic candidate and two minor black candidates, he could get to the runoff election and put together the black and liberal white vote blocs without much fuss.

And he knew that messing with the process would endanger the prosecution in the long run.

He and his CPD leaders did everything necessary at the time: put the PO on admin duty, turn over evidence to state and federal prosecutors, make some generic statements. They did not slow down the prosecution. But nor did they crack the whip on it.

He actually showed some remarkable far-sightedness, from a political perspective anyway.

JSM; 12/1/15, 9:38 AM
Big Mike said...: @Althouse, your 6:00 AM comment makes me think of this phrase: "Another rube self-identifies."

Someday I'm going to meet some university professors who realize that they don't know all that much outside of their particular specialties, and that outside of their fields of study they are no better than an ordinary person on the street with mildly above average reasoning skills. Someday. I can dream, perhaps.; 12/1/15, 11:02 AM
Balfegor said...: Re: John Mosby:

The black leadership and the invisible hand of a thousand individual decisions would have kept rioting down (in Baltimore, with a 63% black population, there will be a black mayor no matter how badly you riot; in Chicago, the chance of a black mayor, or one sympathetic to black interests, would have been obliterated by riots). Plus, there had been a practice run for orderly protest a few weeks prior, after Ferguson.

You have a lot more faith than I in the self-restraint of the mob. Perhaps you're right and these riots are cynically calculated for political effect (viz. chances of a mayor sympathetic to black interests) and can be turned off by "black leadership" and a thousand individual decisions -- I tend to think riots are a bit more ungovernable than that, and that the go-sign isn't 黙認 by a leader, but a simple, slow accumulation of individual decisions by bad actors who feel safe thanks to their numbers and the pusillanimity of the authorities.; 12/1/15, 11:14 AM
Curious George said...: "john mosby said...

He and his CPD leaders did everything necessary at the time: put the PO on admin duty, turn over evidence to state and federal prosecutors, make some generic statements. They did not slow down the prosecution. But nor did they crack the whip on it.

JSM"

Bullshit. He was elected in April. The FOI request that made all this public came in August. And the city fought it. There is absolutely to indication that the city had any intention of making it public, or prosecuting the officer.

Try again. With some facts maybe.; 12/1/15, 11:28 AM
Rusty said...: Anthony said...
"Considering that I am probably the only Republican that most of my Old Town / Lincoln Park neighbors know (or at least the only one willing to admit it, election stats for my ward show quote a few Republican voters) they were shocked when I said in the last election I was voting for the loony lefty Garcia over Emmanuel. Because Chicago needs transparency in government and we are not going to get it with Emmanuel. We probably would no have got it with Garcia, but at least there was a chance there."

There was only one way the vote would have went and that was to Rahm. The fact that Garcia was even on the ballot meant that he was ready to play ball with the city hall machine. If he was that squeaky clean he would have never gotten on the ballot.And believe me city hall has many ways to keep you off the ballot. it's the city of Chicago. The game is always rigged when it comes to politics in Chicago and Cook county.; 12/1/15, 11:37 AM
john mosby said...: Balfegor: I'm not claiming there's some secret AA strategy room, where an up/down riot vote gets taken. I am claiming that leadership has a role in keeping a group calm. I am also claiming that a riot is just an example of people voting with their torches/forks/paving stones, and just like voting with your feet, your wallet, or even your ballot, self-interest plays a role. I really believe that a lot of would-be rioters in Chicago think "if they hate and outnumber us now, they will really hate us after a riot, and they'll still outnumber us. So better not riot."

Contrast Baltimore, where the reasoning seemed more like "my guys will still be in charge after this, so what the heck? More free stuff!"

Which also explains white riots such as Rosewood, or 1919 Chicago, by the way.

This actually sounds like your "slow accumulation of individual decisions by bad actors," so perhaps we don't disagree?

JSM; 12/1/15, 11:54 AM
Anonymous said...: Ann Althouse said...

I'm not being sarcastic.

"I had high hopes for you" is serious.

I know. That's what's so pathetic. You thought that someone could be strongly associated with Barack Obama, and not be corrupt.

Where have you been for the last 10 years?; 12/1/15, 12:02 PM
john mosby said...: Ball monkey: Please consult the Man in the Yellow Hat: he will explain that your objection proves my contention.

Why keep the tape off the TV once safely elected? Because broadcasting the tape would contaminate the jury pool and the recollections of witnesses, which would endanger the prosecution. Not to mention that there is a parallel federal investigation; releasing the tape could expose the releaser to federal obstruction charges - and there will definitely be a change of federal administrations, even if not party change, well within the statute of limitations. Far better to be forced by a court order to release the tape.

I would note that the City has no problem dragging its feet and fighting tooth and nail in other areas where it receives adverse court rulings; see, e.g, gun control. I am sure lots of intervening motions or appeals could have been filed. Rahm could have gotten really cynical and taken the FOIA case to federal court, arguing that premature release of the tape would violate the PO's right to a fair trial, or the AA community's right to have civil-rights violations investigated by a process free from inflammatory disclosures. But he did none of these things.

I'm telling you, he's steering a path right down the middle of the road. He did nothing out of the ordinary to hurt or help the PO. Whichever way the thing goes, he won't be blamed.

You can see the trail of useful idiots forming already: he just fired the CPD Superintendent.

As many people as necessary will fall on their swords over this, but Rahm will still be standing there.

JSM; 12/1/15, 12:21 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Ann Althouse said...I thought he had what it would take to figure out Chicago and win.

If you don't mind my asking, Professor, what made you think that? Follow up question--why would "being willing & able to engage in a cover up of this kind" not be part of what it takes to "figure out Chicago?" If the cover up had been successful and he was elected President in 2020, say, and we only found out about it years later, would it change your estimation of him enough to regret that he was elected?; 12/1/15, 12:26 PM
Michael said...: Well, maybe Rahm thought in all honesty and integrity that electing Chuy Garcia would effectively blow up the City, and maybe he was right. Sometimes integrity is just too expensive. (This is probably 60 per cent joking and 40 per cent serious.); 12/1/15, 1:03 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: People look at European nations and say "we ought to be more like them!" and I shake my head--things aren't so great in Europe.

People looked at Chicago politics and said "we ought to be more like them!" in the sense that Democrats (a particular kind of Democrat, maybe) run things, and I shake my head--things aren't so great in Chicago.

The fact that President Obama came up through "Chicago politics" and had been successful there was brought up repeatedly in his first presidential campaign to refute accusations that he was too politically inexperienced. Things are tough in Chicago, and he won there, so he's the kind of guy and has the kind of experience we need--that was the line. Well, we got him, and people like Rahm, too.

High hopes, indeed.; 12/1/15, 1:17 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Rick said...He did figure out Chicago and win.

Touche.; 12/1/15, 1:18 PM
Thorley Winston said...: Wow. Couple of rubes. I mean Obama pulled some dirty tricks, but nothing like Rahm. He and the rest of the rats are accessories to murder after the fact. And should be charged.

"Every person who, after a felony has been committed, harbors, conceals or aids a principal in such felony, with the intent that said principal may avoid or escape from arrest, trial, conviction or punishment, having knowledge that said principal has committed such felony or has been charged with such felony or convicted thereof, is an accessory after the fact to such felony."

Much as I hate to be in the position of defending Rahm Emanuel, assuming that this is an Illinois statute, it doesn’t seem to fit the facts of the case. The police officer is going on trial and there is no evidence that Emanuel or any of his people failed to disclose or attempted to destroy any evidence that they were required to turn over to the prosecutor and/or courts.

What’s being alleged is that they went to court to challenge a FOIA request to turn information over to a journalist – not to the courts or the prosecutor. They may have done so to protect Emanuel’s reelection efforts but doing so is probably not a crime (AFAIK you can’t make it a crime for someone to go to court even if you think their motives are self-serving) and it does not make them an accessory to any crime allegedly committed by the police officer.; 12/1/15, 1:21 PM
Balfegor said...: Re: HoodlumDoodlum:

Well, sometimes I look at Tokyo, where the streets are clean, crime is negligible, and the trains run on time and think: we ought to be more like them! But that's because they were governed by an actual fascist for 13 years (he left office in 2012). I don't think it would work out quite as well using Americans.; 12/1/15, 2:51 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Balfegor: Sure, and the "how we get there" is certainly important (as is considering whether we can get there), but this is weirder than that--this is pointing at a situation that's not great now and is getting worse and concluding that we should try to emulate that example.

It's fine to cherry pick some things (like clean streets in Tokyo or short work weeks in Europe) and say you wish we could have those, or even you wish we could take the steps necessary to make those possible here. It's another to say "I wish our health care system and government were more like European country X's" when that system is broken, works badly, and their government is in worse shape (in terms of debt, etc) than ours!

I don't argue that we're the best at everything. I do argue that if we're going to make ourselves more like some other nation we ought to pick nations that are doing better than we are--that are succeeding and that will continue to succeed. I like Spain, and Greece, and France, but their problems are in many ways worse than ours!; 12/1/15, 3:29 PM
Sam L. said...: Integrity? And Rahm? Are. You. DAFT?; 12/1/15, 3:37 PM
RonF said...: High hopes? For Rahm Emmanuel? The man is a machine Democrat. He's a confidant of Pres. Obama! Why would anyone think he's got integrity when it comes to politics?; 12/1/15, 3:47 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: I can't remember the exact quote but I think it's Milton Friedman and goes something like "we shouldn't hope for honest/virtuous politicians, we should ensure that our political systems are designed to enforce honest/virtuous behavior by politicians." I doubt Rahm's wildly more or less honest than the average politician of his standing. Do his circumstances--a single-party town wherein that party has control over wide swaths of the administrative state and who receive favorable coverage from the Media, etc--do those circumstances incentivize or enforce honest behavior?

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary," and if politicians had integrity we wouldn't have to watch 'em. Since we know better the question becomes: is the system (formal & informal) we've set up require politicians to act virtuously? Are the constraints that should prevent harmful actions working? If not, we shouldn't be surprised by the results.

This is the root of my concerns about the state of the rule of law--both in practice and in people's belief in the concept. No one believes the IRS will suffer for what almost everyone admits were bad, troubling acts. Almost no one believes that Hillary Clinton will suffer (legally or otherwise) for acts that if committed by someone less-well connected. Lots of people here think Rahm won't be punished for his actions.

No matter what your party affiliation, I think examples like this--examples of our system not working to constrain or control the possibly-bad actions of people whom we give power--should trouble us all.; 12/1/15, 3:59 PM
Unknown said...: If he had only been as forthcoming about this as the administration was about Benghazi...Oh, wait...; 12/1/15, 4:56 PM
2yellowdogs said...: "I thought he had what it would take to figure out Chicago and win."

This from the same woman who failed to see through Barack Obama in 2008, one of the most transparent charlatans ever to run for national office. Why is anyone surprised that she was sincere in writing this post?; 12/1/15, 5:16 PM
Goldenpause said...: Obstruction of justice, anyone?; 12/1/15, 7:22 PM
Thorley Winston said...: I agree with HoodlumDoodlum.; 12/2/15, 9:31 AM
Thorley Winston said...: Obstruction of justice, anyone?

That does not appear to be applicable from what has been reported of the facts. It was the prosecutor’s call when and whether to file charges against the police officer. And if the police department or city denied the FOIA request under the guise of an exception in the statute and went to court over it, that’s not going to be grounds for charging them with anything unless they defied an order of the court ordering them to disclose the video (and it sounds like they turned it over when ordered to do so). It may be that the city officials acted out of a desire to preserve their own or their boss’ jobs but still did so within the boundaries of the law.; 12/2/15, 9:37 AM