Illinois Review

Obama’s Triple Crown of Scandals

By Teri O'Brien - 

There will be no Triple Crown winner, but we do have a troika of Obama scandals, all of which were in the news this week. This morning on CNN, a gleeful Jessica “Barack Just Smiled at Me!” Yellin, celebrated their latest poll, which shows that these messy questions about unethical, or even illegal, behavior by members of his administration has not diminished the endless love the American people have for the Dear Leader. She’d fit right in in North Korea.

Some, including the members of the House Ways and Means Committee, who held a hearing last week about the IRS’ targeting of Tea Party and conservative groups, are less enamored. Former Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, who recently decided to move his previously scheduled exit to his cushy retirement up by a couple of weeks, responded to requests to know who initiated this policy with shoulder-shrugging, bored evasiveness.

His demeanor said “Whatever. I don’t really care what happened. Let’s get this over with.” He couldn’t say. He didn’t know. He didn’t remember. Cue The Carpenters. This has only just begun. What do we know after this hearing? Some Republicans are opening talking “impeachment,” but is that really helpful? Is “scandal” really an agenda, especially when we learned last week that the House is close to a deal on “comprehensive immigration reform?” Short answer: no.

Obama in the Bunker on Benghazi, Coverup Exposed with Victoria Toensing

By Teri O'Brien - 

After last week’s hearing on Benghazi before Darryl Issa’s House Oversight Committee, we have even more questions about what happened on the most recent anniversary of 9/11. Still, it’s a clear picture is emerging, and common sense allows us to connect the very obvious dots. We’ll explore the remaining questions with über attorney Victoria Toensing, who represented the Benghazi whistleblowers, and who was scheduled to appear last week, but was delayed while traveling. Combining what happened in the hearing with an application of my knowledge of the Chicago Way, I’m pretty sure I understand what happened. I’ll tell you during today’s show. Suffice it to say for now that it’s time to put Valerie Jarrett, David Plouffe, and Obama’s ultimate sleazemeister, David Axelrod under oath and get some answers.

There was another hearing in Congress last week, this time in the Senate on immigration. Any doubt that this 844-page monstrosity drafted by the Gang of 8 is a trick cooked up by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), should be gone after what we heard last week. Of the over 300 amendments proposed to the bill, the defeat of the one specific change tells us everything we need to know. Paging Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). Let me say it again: you are being played.

A Tale of Two Cities Highlights Two Visions of America, and the GOP's Failure

By Teri O'Brien -

The Washington Post had an interesting article last Sunday about Woonsocket, Rhode Island. One third of the people in this town are on what used to be called, in a less sensitive time, food stamps, but which are now called SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). The name changed and so did the stigma involved in presenting food coupons. Now, government dependents just swipe a card that looks just like your ATM card, Peasant. Recipients in Woonsocket call the first of the month “Check Day,” and they don’t mean paychecks.

At precisely one second after midnight, on March 1, Woonsocket would experience its monthly financial windfall — nearly $2 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. Federal money would be electronically transferred to the broke residents of a nearly bankrupt town, where it would flow first into grocery stores and then on to food companies, employees and banks, beginning the monthly cycle that has helped Woonsocket survive.

Ted Nugent sings Illinois National Anthem today on Teri O'Brien Show

By Teri O'Brien -

Legendary rock and roll superstar and American patriot Ted Nugent drives the Left nuts (and that’s a short drive, as you know) with his no-holds-barred exposure of their hypocrisy and deceit. The interview you’ll hear on today’s show will not disappoint. You’ll also hear his terrific new song, “I Still Believe,” available at tednugent.com as a free download, and another little ditty that I didn’t even know exists until Ted performed it on during our chat, the Illinois National Anthem. Don’t miss it!

Did you spend yesterday’s Gun Appreciation Day at a firing range? I did, and it was a blast (no pun intended). We’ll talk to one of the organizers of that terrific event, Larry Ward.

Who Wants a Tax Increase?

By Teri O'Brien -

Ever the demagogue, Barack Obama crisscrosses the country, continuing to campaign, despite winning last month’s presidential election. Polls show that 60% of Americans support raising taxes on “the rich,” and he’s determined to keep stoking the fires of class envy to maintain the political advantage that he sees awaiting him after we “plunge” off the “fiscal cliff.” By doing so, he’s hoping to start off his second term making it clear that that’s “not going to play that game that I will play,” the “game” being abiding by the Constitution and allowing Congress to control the debt ceiling. Predictably, here we have the breathtaking arrogance and lawlessness that he demonstrated in his first term, now on steroids. Yet, one prominent, even legendary, member of the Jurassic media says that if there is a recession, Barack Obama will own it. Who is he, and is he right?

Putting 2012 under a Microscope

By John F. Di Leo -

Reflections on the late disaster, a month after November 6…

When disaster strikes, it is easy to see only the negatives, and easier still to cry out “All is lost.”  Negativity rules the day, all the more so in politics after a national election.

But there are lessons to be learned in every defeat, and if we objectively view these election results, we will see a foundation upon which a wise movement can build, to save this country from its current path of destruction.

This won’t pretend to be an exhaustive list, but perhaps there will be a few points here that others aren’t mentioning, or at least, aren’t emphasizing enough.  Some points may seem unkind, but no offense is intended.  We just have to be able to learn from our mistakes.

Carney decries GOP "Obsession" with Four Dead Americans; Susan Rice Still Lying

By Teri O'Brien -

As nearly everyone with a pulse now knows, on September 16, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice infamously appeared on five Sunday morning news shows to present a false and deceptive narrative to the American public. Her ostensible purpose was to explain the murder of four Americans in Libya on the eleventh anniversary of the original 9/11 attacks. We know that she told us that these deaths were the result of “spontaneous” demonstration, caused by a “reprehensible” (Hillary Clinton’s word) “offensive” YouTube video. Give Ms. Rice credit. She was able to recite this risible story with a straight face. As of today, she’s still lying. After meeting with the three Republican senators who, unlike Barack Obama, don’t consider the murder of 4 Americans “a bump in the road,” and want to get to the bottom of what happened, she issued a statement describing the meeting, which included the following statement:

Why Obamacare is Not a Done Deal

By Teri O'Brien -

Secretary of State Kathleen Sebelius has given the states a reprieve from Obamacare’s mandate that they set up the health insurance exchanges necessary to implement the law. Or has she extended the deadline, hoping that they won’t realize that they are now in the position to torpedo Barack Obama’s entire redistributionist, job-destroying, health-care rationing, death-panel mandating scheme? No wonder people like MS-NBC’s Chris Matthews hate the Tenth amendment.

Some people appear hell bent on turning Thanksgiving, which has traditionally been a wonderful time to reflect on our blessings and bask in an attitude of gratitude, into an opportunity to re-enact the Jerry Springer show by engaging in fist fights over smartphones and stampedes to purchase flat screen TVs. Others view the day as an opportunity to bus in rent-a-mobs to big box stores to engage in annoying pro-union agitation, which is largely ignored by the employees of those stores. I’m no fan of the SEIU or National Education Association, as you know, but do those who say that it’s wrong to make retail employees work on Thanksgiving have a point?

Two conservative groups call on IL GOP chairman to step down

DuPAGE - DuPage Conservatives joined the Illinois Center Right Coalition Monday in passing a resolution calling on the Illinois Republican Party's chairman Pat Brady to resign -

The text of the ICRC Resolution reads as follows:

WHEREAS the election laws of the State Of Illinois have been ‘engineered’ to greatly impair the opportunity for third party / independent candidates for office and

WHEREAS the Democratic Party of the State of Illinois has a party platform which the ICRC cannot support and

Obama’s 2nd Term – a checklist

By Nancy Thorner and Jane Keill -

Barack Obama has won a second term.  In our opinion, he will not change his philosophy that the government should control the country, even under pressure from his own party to compromise.  He will be looking out for his legacy, however, his far left ideology and his cold personality will cause him to stumble again and again, but the media will protect him.

Obama has made clear he will use the next four years to push the generalized themes of "economic fairness" and a "new economic patriotism" in all major policies areas.  

The reelected President Obama claims he has received a mandate from the American people to enact his policies.  In a fierce headline debate over the approaching fiscal cliff, Obama argued that a majority of Americans agree with his approach to combine spending cuts with revenue. That means asking the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more in taxes.

Obamacare brings hope, change and costs to Denny's

Oh, the hope, change and costs Obamacare is bringing. New policy at Denny's.

Mitt Romney: Half-Right, But Still Clueless

By Teri O'Brien -

The denizens of the 24/7 nuthouse, which I watch so you don't have to, MS-NBC, and other fellow travelers in the Lame Stream Media, are feigning outrage over Mitt Romney's recent post-election statements, in which he blamed his campaign's failure to rescue our country from the clutches of the Chicago Mafia on the "gifts" the One has bestowed on his supporters.

As I told you here, there certainly were answers to Obama's argument "Vote for me! I'm giving you free stuff!" Mitt failed to make them because he is not a conservative. Unlike Ronald Reagan, who spent decades reading, writing, analyzing and honing his conservative message, a message he understood in his bones, Mitt tried to speak conservatism as a second language, which is why the obvious answers weren't there, and why he is left throwing up his hands saying "What am I supposed to do? I can't compete with free stuff!"

Wrong, but you need to articulate a clear message about free people, free markets, and prosperity, and why government dependency starts out as a cozy, comfy little hideaway from cold, cruel reality, and ends up being an inescapable prison.

Young voters stepped away from Obama in 2012

WASHINGTON DC - Generation Opportunity, the nation's largest social media and grassroots organization reaching out to young Americans ages 18-29, is releasing data and analysis on young voters and the 2012 election. Generation Opportunity has built a fan base of over 4 million on Facebook and has been in front of hundreds of thousands of young adults through direct contact at the grassroots level, raising awareness of and fostering a discussion on critical economic issues including overall and young adult unemployment, debt, and federal spending.

1. There was a stunning 11-point swing in the young adult vote in the 2012 Presidential Election.

In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama won 18-29 year olds by 34 points (66%-32%). This year, President Obama won 18-29 year olds by 23 points (60%-37%). The youth vote swung 11 points away from President Obama, more than twice any other age demographic. No other demographic showed movement anywhere near this: 30-44 showed +1% point increase in support for Obama from 2008; 45-64 showed -5% decrease in support for Obama since 2008; and 65+ showed -4% decrease in support for Obama since 2008.

Five Romney offers America ultimately rejected

Ouch. The National Journal's Ron Fournier pokes back to the GOP candidate Mitt Romney in a piece responding to Romney's sour grapes' Obama campaign gifts comment this week. Fournier points out 5 rejects the Romney campaign offered America:

1) The race card. It arrived by air, not mail, but it was nonetheless a campaign hallmark when Romney's team falsely accused Obama of gutting welfare-to-work legislation signed by President Clinton. The Romney campaign knowingly exploited the anxieties of some white, working-class voters who see welfare as a handout to minorities (despite the fact that more whites than blacks get government assistance).

2) Class war. Another gift that wouldn't stop giving, Romney declared that his campaign wouldn't worry about the 47 percent of the electorate that was unlikely to vote for him because they paid no income taxes and were dependent on the government. Yes, there is an element of racial politics in this cynical construct, but we won't look a gift horse in the mouth. Fittingly, Romney finished with about 47 percent of the vote.

Transforming the Amerikan dream

By Cranky Housewife -

What is it with Democrats and their penchant for Disneyfied dystopias anyway? It's absolutely ridiculous the imagery that they cling to. Far be it from me to criticize, but – and in keeping with this theme – I've never understood the American Left's preoccupation with King Arthur and Camelot, try though I might. Seriously. Every time a Democrat manages to lie, cheat or steal his way into the presidency, the liberal establishment suddenly starts measuring all the White House conference rooms for round tables or some such nonsense.

Ironic really, since the round table symbolizes a level of chivalric equality that completely eludes them, but I suppose that's quite beside the point.

But you know what I mean. It's their attitude – they are the ones that we've all been waiting for…like their mere presence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue alone fulfills a messianic prophecy and neither sword nor stone shall be required. Camelot. It's always their "go to" paradise for some odd reason. Did they even bother to read the Arthurian legends to see how they ended? Camelot is a romanticized failure of the highest order. A cautionary tale that details how the venality within can unravel the purest of hearts when vigilance against such corruption is ever relaxed. It's a story of what happens when the moral code fails.

Moving Forward: Striking a Winning Pose

By Sam Pierce -

Now that the "most important election in our lifetime" has passed, it is the natural time to reflect on the outcome and hear the expert advice on what must be done if members of the Republican Party seek to delight in future electoral success. Now is the time to determine how to wake up on the morning after the next election and find ourselves on the winning side as opposed to clinging to those nuisances that hinder the possibilities for success at the ballot box. It is time to "evolve" and align with people, positions, and ideals that are the most popular. Now is not the time time to be concerned with being "right," especially at the expense of, to quote noted philosopher Charlie Sheen, "winning!"

I will not claim to have cornered the insight market as it pertains to the disastrous election of 2012. I cannot explain, with absolute certainty, the factors contributing to the tragedy of last Tuesday. We must, however, pay close attention to those who are blessed with political omniscience and disregard just how wrong they may have been in predicting electoral outcomes. We must look at what wins in modern America.

DiLeo: Advice from an Office Wall

By John F. Di Leo -

On the walls of my office, I have several prints of my heroes.  General Washington on horseback, pointing his sword down at my computer as if to say “Get to work!”… Colonel Hamilton in profile, posing for a sawbuck… a photo of President Reagan in the Oval Office… a sketch above a quote, of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, reminding us that “The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; the optimist, the opportunity in every difficulty.”

Most imposing and inspiring is “Signing the Constitution” (yes, it’s a terrific poster-sized version of the famous Howard Chandler Christy mural of all Framers, gathered at Independence Hall in 1787).

As I worked at my desk on Black Wednesday, I periodically looked up at these prints, and asked them questions.  Why?  How?  Why now?  What do we do next?  How do we conquer this depression (both kinds)?  Can we move on?

They didn’t answer back.  They’re just pictures, after all.  Long gone, all of them.  Heroes of days gone by. 

But I’ve always found that if I think about these patriots, answers do come to me. 

Jackson Jr sources reveal ongoing plea deal with feds

CHICAGO - Just two days after being re-elected to Congress by his faithful 2nd CD constituents, sources close to allegedly "ill" Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr now reveal that the congressman is negotiating a plea deal deal with the feds.

The accusations have something to do with allegedly using campaign funds to remodel his Chicago home (to please his wife?) and to buy a $40k watch for a girlfriend (something like the photo to the right?). As the Sun-Times' Sneed writes:

Sneed is also told Jackson, who returned to Mayo Clinic after undergoing outpatient treatment in the seclusion of his home in Washington, D.C., is not only being investigated for allegedly using campaign funds to decorate his Washington home — but also Sneed hears he may also have used campaign funds to buy a $40,000 Rolex watch as a gift for a female friend.

An heir apparent to the beneficence and largesse of the Jackson dynasty, Jackson has been immersed in a cloud of federal scrutiny for the past three years.

And we've been led to believe all along that it was those mean, cruel, 1% Republicans that have been unfairly bigoted in their congressional query. Another huge embarrassment for Illinois fools.

Tuesday, Congressman Jackson received 181,067 votes to Republican Brian Woodworth's 67,396 and Independent Marcus Lewis' 38,733.

Donnelly: Should successful people in Illinois "go Galt"?

By Bruce Donnelly -

Successful people in Illinois lost the election yesterday. The future looks pretty bleak, not just because several good Republican candidates lost their races, but because virtually unchecked Democratic power was reinforced in Springfield.

A few local wins are small consolation for the continued rise of radical progressives in Washington and Springfield.  They now have virtually unchecked power to keep ruining us all economically.

The Republican Party in Illinois has failed miserably - again - and it will cost us all dearly.  The Democrats now have a veto-proof majority in both the Illinois House and Senate, as well as the Governor's mansion.  Even if Republicans make a few gains in 2014,  that won't change the situation.  Illinois is effectively a one-party socialist state now.  The Republican Party seems to lack any viable plan to become relevant again.

I don't generally like Ayn Rand's philosophy, as detailed in Atlas Shrugged, but it may finally be time for rational leaders to "go Galt" in Illinois.

Walsh contemplates 2014 gubernatorial bid

ELK GROVE - After his loss to Tammy Duckworth Tuesday, the talk has been Wednesday that Congressman Joe Walsh may be contemplating a 2014 bid for governor.  The thing no one's mentioning today is that Walsh has been thinking about it for months.

Some say Walsh willingly took a bullet for the IL GOP by going for the more difficult 8th CD race rather than thumping it out with Randy Hultgren over the 14th CD during the March 2012 primary, so he's owed a favor.  While that particular angle wasn't brought up in this conversation back in July, Walsh was even then clearly contemplating a bid at the Governor's Mansion.