49 Comments - anon in central illinois - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 6:49 am: Simply put….what did he really hope to expect ???? He’s waist deep in investigation {s} plural, the state is in serious financial turmoil, his overall policy as a governor are failed …do the math man !? Read a newspaper Rod my boy…you are in trouble & lots of people really don’t care for you. Parades & festivals are not going to repair his image or problems. - wndycty - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 6:55 am: “Some bystanders in heavily Republican DuPage County rebuffed him, pulling back their hands.” Is the cup half full or half empty? Rod goes into heavily Republican DuPage County and is not welcomed with open arms and people want to make a big deal out of it? It seems to me that he is not afraid of criticism. Do you think Bush would have participated in a parade in a heavily Democratic area? From what I saw on TV Rod ran up and down the parade route pressing the flesh, while Judy sat and waved. Rod knew he was participating in a parade in an area in which he might not be welcome but not only did he participate he pressed the flesh, shook and hands and kissed babies. . .Judy she just sat and waved. As for if anyone doing that with George Ryan, not that I recall but you must admit he was not nearly as polarizing of a figure. - Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 7:00 am: wndycty, Ryan left office with a 21 percent approval rating. - Can't help but thinking... - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 7:09 am: The R’s were probably repulsed by the idea of shaking hands with a man that raised minimum wage and launched a healthcare program for all of the state’s children! - wndycty - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 7:23 am: Rich, point taken. - DOWNSTATE - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 7:44 am: All JBT has to do is sit in a convertible like a quenn while the court jester runs up and down the steet like the lying idiot he is.Everyone likes to see a guy self distruct. - OneMan - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 7:57 am: Yeah that’s it Can’t help but thinking, it was evil Republicans who don’t like kids…. - DOWNSTATE - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 8:19 am: Most voters in Illinois are honest hard working people as this stench in the Governors office continues to grow and more federal leaks to the press.How far do you think his numbers will drop and how long before some Democrats ask him to step aside. - Beowulf - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 8:43 am: Blagojevich going into heavily Republican DuPage County reminded me of when Alan Keyes participated in the City of Chicago parade in heavily Democrat Cook County. Both got similar treatment from the crowds along the parade route. There were no real surprises in the crowd’s reaction to them. However, although I don’t care for either Alan’s or Rod’s brand of politics, I will have to say that I do admire their courage and tenacity in even bothering to participate in these parades. Reminds me of some of the lines in “Charge of the Light Brigade”. - Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 8:47 am: Beowulf, I usually respect your opinions, but I gotta disagree on this one. You can’t compare reactions to carpet-bagger black Republican Alan Keyes in a black neighborhood to the recent reaction to Blagojevich. For one, the reaction to Keyes was much more intense. And, two, we’re talking about a sitting governor here. This is different, too, but worth a mention. I ran into George Ryan at a restaurant towards the end of his term. He came over to the table to talk and then worked the room. People posed for smiling photos and asked for his autograph. Nobody refused to shake his hand. Everybody was polite. - Bubo - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 8:51 am: Rich, is there any follow up to Rod’s staffers recording the license plates of those attending Judy’s fund raisers? Also, I know why Rod hasn’t camopaigned much for Duckworth, he isn’t really into vets getting employment. No word from Quinn? - True Blue - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 8:52 am: Hey Rich, it seems that you are staring to finally show your colors (red), the Governor can do no right in your eyes. Here he is out on the 4th in the mecca of “R” land showing that he is not intimidated. This is going to be a tight race and every hand shake and parade visit will count…4 more years (chanting). - Ravenswood Right Winger - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 9:04 am: Has Duckworth asked Blago to campaign on her behalf? Will other Dems ask Blago to stump with them? It could be like some GOP candidates asking Bush not to campaign with them. - So-Called "Austin Mayor" - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 9:08 am: The Republican nature of DuPage County may be a bit overplayed — Although I wouldn’t jeer him, I’m not sure I would shake the governor’s hand after he has brought my party such disrepute. - gotta be anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 9:24 am: Has anyone considered that it probably looks better to be rejected in a heavily Republican area than in one that leans Democratic? - Reddbyrd - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 9:29 am: Anyone notice if Brickheadd or Lightin’ Stu Umholtz dashed into any D parades? - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 9:30 am: Say what you will, it was a humiliating outing for the Gov. I heard about it from several people, and I live in Chicago. - paper bag over my head - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 9:36 am: The man is an embarrassment I don’t care which party you are from. Here is my question, in all seriousness, does Blago actually believe he is innocent? Does he think people like or trust him? Is he that unaware of what people really think of him or is he a good actor? I would love some insight. - Randall Sherman, Secretary/Treasurer, Illinois Committee for Honest Government - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 9:43 am: I just wish Gov. “One-term”-ovich would let us know when he’ll show up it events in the city, so everyone can find out how much Democrats loath him too. - anon - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 9:57 am: I was there…Other than a few Judy volunteer types I did not see a lot of jerring in Downers Grove. I guess that is the story some folks want to come out of the day. It would be better to report on what really happened than to perpetuate myths. - Anon - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 10:02 am: I mentioned this over on Illinoize over the weekend. Friday night in Peoria, the Guv was at a shcolarship awards ceremony. This was only hours before the feds investigation into hiring story broke, but he’d already run away from reporters at an earlier event tryingt o ask about it. He opened with berinie’s favorite anaecdote about the little black girl mistaking him for Daley, but for his closing remarks, he told the joke about the three things his mother asked him: never take bribes, Never dishonor the family name, and: “can you get cousin so-and-so a job?” His punchline to the joke was “I’ll see what i can do”. Talk about inappropriate! It leads me to the conclusion this IS all big joke to him. And oh how I’ll laugh in November, if not sooner. - Gregor - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 10:08 am: You think he was unpopular at that parade? Boy just wait till Blago walks the state fair parade in Springfield this year… it’s going to look like running the gauntlet. It will be the first year the crowd throws candy BACK at the parade. I have seen Governors at public events since the 70’s and only ever heard a crowd BOO the Governor twice: once for George Ryan, and also for Blago. On Democrat Day at the fair, no less. - zatoichi - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 10:18 am: Our local paper reported that Blago came late to the Dupage County parade and he had to catch up to his group along the route. Class. - Plainfield - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 10:29 am: Maybe we should have GPS/shock collar type units installed around Governor Blagojevich and his spokespersons’s necks to indicate whether they are lying. Should prove to be very entertaining, the next time they open their mouths. - chinman - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 10:38 am: Be careful, but definetly boo him at the state fair parade if you work for the state. Last year 2 people from different agencies were singled out and let’s just say there working environment is now dramatically different. He has his little people (short people got no reason to live) riding around in golf carts (that go beep beep beep) patrolling for just this activity. So the answer to “have a bag over my head’s” ? is yes, they know how much he is hated. They just try not to let him know. He is competely isulated from bad news that pertains to him or the state. His handlers are shooting power into their arms and his as to keep themselves blinded 24/7. Thing is blabo camp, were sober and you all sound crazy hopped up on smack. - Anon. - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 11:02 am: Chinman is correct. An IDOT employee was moved to a different job because of comments he made during last year’s state fair parade. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 12:58 pm: True Blue — You don’t have to be a Republican to be disgusted with the shortcomings of the Blagojevich administration. In case you’ve forgotten, the latest Survey USA poll found that nearly 4 in 10 Democrats disapprove of the job Rod Blagojevich is doing. Miller is no more a Republican than he is a Democrat. He’s just someone who’s covered politics and state government long enough to know a rat, a dumb idea or a line of crap when he sees it, and he calls them like he sees them. As for this particular parade reaction, I wouldn’t read too much into it. Democrats stopped walking in the Morton Pumpkinfest parade altogether because the crowd would throw the candy back at them, and few Republicans are brave enough for the Alton Labor Day parade, where the union crowd is known to boo GOP candidates, or worse, completely turn their back. Still, Rod would’ve been smarter to carry signs talking about what he’s done for veterans and thanking our National Guard than doing wind sprints and kissing babies. As Rich predicted, the Governor’s reputation as an energetic campaigner worked against him here; on t.v., he appeared less like a governor and more like a used car salesman. What hurt the governor most, however, was that all of the Chicagoland t.v. coverage focused on the hiring scandal, not the Gov’s message. Topinka did a horrible job delivering her message (if she had a soundbite, I couldn’t hear it), but it didn’t really matter. I’d say the governor looked like a deer in the headlights, but atleast the deer looks at you. Governor Blagojevich spent the entire t.v. interview on all three networks staring at the ground as he tried to explain why the latest round of corruption allegations were in fact further proof that they are working hard to eliminate corruption. His body language made it look like he didn’t believe what he was saying himself, and his quote reminded me an awful lot of George Ryan. Democrats have got to be wondering how much worse things are going to get. - Garp - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 1:42 pm: Illinois must be the most Democratic state in the nation for voters to even consider re-electing this governor. I read many comments about JBT’s non-campaign and her not doing well in the polls, ECT. With all the baggage and credible accusations against this administration how can she not win? If she loses this race it will be either the worst run campaign ever or the Republican’s are going to be swept from Congress and Blago will just be a straw in the broom. The Gov’s continual deflection of corruption accusations toward any number of scape goats while keeping a relatively straight face is without a doubt the most bald-faced and shameless display of disrespect for the voter’s ability to wean truth I have seen. They are even blaming former Governor Ryan for their hiring practices. It wasn’t long ago, I read that Governor Ryan left a welcome note for the new Governor that said when in doubt-blame me. I am glad to see he is following his advice and even using his phrases like “a few bad apples.” - chinman - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 2:16 pm: Pat Quinn. Thinka about it. He is. - Lt. Guv - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 2:34 pm: Won’t happen, but it’s time for Rod to step aside for re-election. As things unfold he’ll be a weight on the entire ticket. God help us if JBT is elected. The right thing to do is step aside and let someone else win in November. Unfortunately ego gets way too involved and therefore it will never happen. - Ol' Dad - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 2:44 pm: I didn’t take in a parade this year; just too hot outside. Did make a stop at a convenience store for a carton of milk and there was “The Original Bill’s” picture on the side! - Jammin - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 2:46 pm: Who cares if people did this to George Ryan or not? What’s the point? I’m sure George has heard plenty on the streets during his trial. - Yellow Dogs Master - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 4:38 pm: With 25 years of Republican rule, everyone thinks this administration is anything different from any other. With murder rates soaring, rapes and robberies climbing, I wonder how important all this stuff is. When the hiring practices of an agency are given more news coverage than some young man being killed in a foreign country, I say to you how ashamed I am. Bring our kids back, fund education, and put or priorities back to where they should be. I say to each and ever do “gooder”,use that energy to bring back our young men. To you yellow dog get a life. - MIDSTATE - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 4:55 pm: A farmer hauling a truck load of manure was pulled over for speeding. The officer ask him “don’t you have a governer on there”. The farmer replied “No, that smell is my load of horse manure” - Concern Citizen - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 5:49 pm: I totally agree with yellow dog master. The Federal government should worry about brining our kids’ home. Find ways to fund medicines for the sick or money for education. We spend millions of dollars on this stuff while our senior citizens go without need relief. I wonder in the end is this a priority - Anon - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 6:12 pm: WGN news last night said that Blagojevich was well received at the parade. There are people everwhere who were not brought up properly. - Bubs - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 6:46 pm: I see the BlagoBloggers are desperately, and I do mean DESPERATELY, trying to shift the conversation topic to Iraq. Anything, anything but the unfolding scandal, eh boys? Weak. - Look, mama, it's Mayor Daleyvitch - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 6:56 pm: Bubs, they would tell you that all the stuff in the middle east happened while RYAN was governor. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 7:02 pm: How is any of this good news for Topinka given that ALL of her state hires are political? She doesn’t even attempt to remove names from applicant lists. And at least Blago has an inspector general who will actually do his job and write reports. - Six Degrees of Separation - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 7:05 pm: This fall’s campaign slogan? “Nobody died when Blago lied”? - Walking Wounded - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 7:10 pm: Gee, Anonymous 7:02, if Topinka is so bad in making political hires, how come I haven’t seen anything in the recent news about the Fed’s asking for her office hiring records? Where are your facts? BTW, Blago HAD an inspector General who DID her job and SUBMITTED reports. She resigned quite a while ago. Wonder why. - I Walked It - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 8:18 pm: I walked the parade with the Blagojevich crowd. When we first turned the corner onto the parade route there were some Topinka supporters with signs and being enthusiastic. Since we didn’t see this kind of reaction for the rest of the mile parade route I figured that the Topinka campaign planned that and if so I tip my cap, good for them. For the rest of the parade route I only remember four times where we came across someone that was really against Blagojevich. There was one guy on the left about a block into it who was booing. The second instance was absolutely repulsive. This parade crowd was overwhelmingly children, most in the age range from about 3-12. My guess would be that about 60-75 percent of the people along the route were children. Yet there was one guy in a lawn chair screaming, “BOO, HERE COMES THE [Mariotti]’s”, only he didn’t say “Mariotti”. It didn’t bother me a bit to lose that jerk’s vote. Then there was another person who bood us at about the top of the hill on the right and once again on the right at the end of the parade route across the street from the high school. I also saw a few people that were very enthusiastic to meet the Guv and when we were done we finished up across the street from the BP there and the clerks took turns manning the register so they could each come out and get their picture taken. But like I said most of the parade watchers were children and a lot of people wanted to shake Rod’s hand or they were telling their kids “there’s the Governor, you should see if you can shake his hand when he comes by” or something along those lines. My overall impression was one of surprise when we finished that he was recieved so well. I had anticipated that we would recieve a lot of opposition (we marched behind Judy Biggert and in front of Kirk Dillard, the Republican chairman of DuPage county) and we got much less than I expected and I was genuinely surprised that on several occasions we came upon really, really enthusiastic groups. The conventional wisdom has always been that democrats in DuPage are afraid to out themselves. The fact that you are spinning this as some sort of significant event is surprising to me. After all this is the headquarters of Republican Illinois, a county that was once and maybe still is the most Republican in the country, where there are no Democrats on the county board, no democrats in their congressional delegation, and I believe (although I may be wrong) that there are no democratic members of the GA from DuPage. It should come as no surprise that a democrat would find pockets of opposition there. As to whether or not this is a unique indication of Blagojevich’s unpopularity I will leave you with this - I walked the downtown St. Patrick’s Day parade Barack Obama, he of 70% approval ratings, and have seen him booed as well, not in Downers Grove but on Columbus in downtown Chicago, which if my memory serves me, that stretch of Columbus was in his State Senate district. It happens, but it’s a stretch to call it significant. - I Walked It - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 8:32 pm: Post script: I did not walk the route with Topinka, but after we finished walking we were milling about for a while at the end of the route long enough so that the Blagojevich supporters who walked the route with Topinka had arrived and the report they gave was that overall she was warmly recieved, but that the “What’s she thinking” comment was made by quite a few spectators and she came upon several spectators who did not like her. It’s unclear whether or not these people favored Blagojevich or whether they were to the right of her and were showing their displeasure with her being a “moderate” Republican. Yet the fact that the Republican standard bearer encountering hecklers in Republican Mecca is not significant while a Democrat finding hecklers in hostile territory is just confuses me. Also, Rod had a large media contingent following him, probably the largest I’ve ever seen for a parade and they did pretty much the whole route with him. It’s possible that the reason there is no story about the crowd’s reaction to Topinka is that none of them got to see it because they were so busy with Blagojevich. If you want a good laugh try to imaging a half dozen guys in full suits and microphones running at full sprint side to side trying to keep up with the Guv, his security detail has a hard time doing it. I’m not talking beat reporters here either, I’m talking about TV air-conditioned desk jockeys. - Politically Harassed - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 9:08 pm: I was at the Illinois State Fair last year & a group of us heckled Rod Ryan. I was moved from my job & put into a clerical job at a different building. I was previously over $4 million in Capital Improvements at IDOT. Lawsuits to follow! - Anon - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 9:31 pm: Politically Harassed: Now you know how the people who were at Rod’s “30 days to victory” rally four years ago felt. It was held in the Food-A-Rama area. The State Fair Manager at the time, Ford, was taking pictures of those arriving for the rally. I saw more than one state worker diving for cover when they saw him. Both sides play the game. You are like the rest of the Sangamon County GOP, you think you have a God given birth right to a state job. - Save a Horse Ride a Harley - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 9:59 pm: I see the IDOT name being brought up here. Feds need to investigate some guy named Kinkade who runs the DP shop. I hear he is hiring consultants left and right and they get nothing for the millions he is spending. Wonder how much of that is going back to GRods campaign coffers. He supposedly blew 2 million on a “MMI” (whatever that is) project and the software doesn’t even work!!! My sources tell me that they don’t even know how many consultants they have working (some of them don’t even have to show up to the worksite). IDOT has been f&^#ked up by incompetence and it starts at the top with “timmy.” - Disgusted - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 10:05 pm: I Walked It: I only hope for all our sakes that if you are part of this administration, you have given as much thought to the unsavory shinanigans being exposed daily, as you are devoting to whether people like our notorious governor on the parade circuit. I think Chicago’s newspapers and radio/television give the city and suburbs a different news that we read and here downstate. It seems to be all peaches and cream for those of you in Chicago and surrounds who support the governor, because we sure don’t see that side of it here. Or is it because you are so used to the goings-on at City Hall, it just looks like any other day when the Governor is under investigation multiple times. Forget the partisanship, just try to do the right thing for once. Crooked is crooked and no about of hubris, denying, buck passing and good hair will make a turd shine like a diamond. - I Walked It - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 11:19 pm: I know it’s a common myth that the Governor has biblically bad support downstate but the numbers just don’t support it. If that’s the case where were these people in March when they could have voted against him or voted for his opponent. Look at all these counties where he did better than he did in Cook County: Alexander County 82% (so IL) Brown County 75% (west central IL) Carroll County 77% (north west IL) Hardin County 83% (so IL) Henderson 81% (western IL) Henry 75% (north western IL) Jo Daviess 76% (north western IL) Johnson 82% (so IL) Madison 77% (metro east) Massac 88% (so IL) Mercer 75% (NW IL) Monroe 81% (SW IL) Perry 76% (so IL) Pope 78% (so IL) Pulaski 81% (so IL) St. Clair 82% (metro east) Stephenson 77% (northern IL) All of these counties he did better than he did in Cook where he did just under 74%. I see that people want to believe that he’s hated downstate or that he has no support downstate, but the reality is that when given the opportunity to vote for him or against him many downstate counties are choosing to vote for him, and 17 of those counties did so at a greater rate than the Cook County that you seem to hate so much. - Anon - Thursday, Jul 6, 06 @ 5:09 am: I Walked It- I might know you. There can not be that many supporters of hairdoo who are as enthusiatic as you and this person I am thinking of. And in typical Dem fashion, you throw out fuzzy numbers. The counties you listed as having substantial support for blago are also sparsely populated, with the exception of the two metro east counties, which are dem counties. These counties make up only 6.7% of the total state pop, and make up only 12.2% of the non-Cook county pop. Some of the counties you listed do not even have 10,000 residents (5 of the 16). The point is, they must be serving real good koolaide at Blago headquaters if you are really enthusiatic about hairdoo’s next few months. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.