Lisa Madigan says she's not a candidate and that's big news: what does it say about those left who are running?

It's big news that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced yesterday that she is not running for either the office of Illinois Governor or U.S. Senator for the former Barack Obama seat in Washington.

If that's big news, what does it say about all the candidates who are running for those offices? Yikes!

Here's what all the players in this drama may want:

Mike Madigan, the Illinois House Speaker: Found himself in a dilemma. He wants his daughter to become Governor, or possibly now US Senator -- Senators do become presidents -- but he also wants to maintain his leadership in the Illinois House and the battle over the budget could jeopardize that. He's held back on an income tax increase to protect his daughter and to protect the many spineless legislators who don't want to say if they will support an income tax increase until they know for sure no one of substance will be running against them in this Spring primary. Madigan is a brilliant legislator who has done much for the State of Illinois, despite the very few differences he and I share.

Gov. Pat Quinn: The deer in the lights. He can't balance his promises of reform against the need to play tough politics. Inept in political diplomacy, Quinn's only talent is to lead often but not always losing campaigns for reform. This time, Quinn was able to reverse course and do nothing to push reform while the wolves ripped the reform chicken to pieces. With Lisa Madigan "in" the race, he could blame everything on Mike Madigan. Now that she is out of the race, he has to blame everything on his pathetic lack of leadership and his hypocrisy.

Senate President John Cullerton: It makes it easier for him to take marching orders from Mike Madigan, who is the defacto governor.

Democratic, spineless legislators: They are falling to their knees crying and yelling "Hail Marys" for their great fortune that they don't have to worry about anything any more. no more important decisions. No more possibility they will get beat and lose all the perqs and clout and jobs they've gotten their families. And now they don't even have to work. Mike Madigan will do all the thinking for them.

State Republicans: They are in total disarray and divided into two messed up camps. Despite some good leaders, they can't get their act together. Lisa Madigan removing herself from the race allows mediocracy to rule again and anyone can run for office to get a good headline, like Sen Kirk Dillard, who has done what in the past decade? At least Dan Proft, the ultra-conservative candidate for Governor, has some good ideas.

News media: We wanted Lisa Madigan to run for either office. She has great news. And the dilemma it would cause in Springfield over the budget battle only becomes more dramatic as a news story.

Alexi Giannoulias: Who?

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich: With all the reality shows out of the way, he's left with fighting the U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald who is out to get him with a vengeance. And all he can do is appear on a morning radio talk show that hammers him when he's not looking. Blagojevich should just shut his mouth, but unfortunately for him, it's not in his DNA. Blagojevich is his own worst enemy.

And the public? They are left out in the cold.

-- Ray Hanania

www.RadioChicagoland.com

Battle on to succeed Barack Obama -- still wistful thinking

The fight is already brewing to replace U.S. Senator Barack Obama in the Senate IF he wins the Democratic race this November. Gov. Rod Blagojevich would most likely be the person to name the successor, who would then seek election in a special election bid.

My choice for a successor is Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. He has proven himself to be independent, concerned about people not politics, and very talented. His speech to the Democratic National Convention was overshadowed only by the Clinto-Obama battle which despite the hopefuly media pundits is still pitched and energized.

Ray Hanania
www.TheMediaOasis.com

NATIONAL JOURNAL

Illinois Dems Keep Quiet On Possible Senate Vacancy
by Ben Schneider
Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008

The next junior senator from Illinois might have been walking in their midst this morning, but attendees at the state delegation's breakfast meeting were careful not to put the cart before the horse.

Lawmakers, candidates and other home state colleagues of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois were in agreement about the agenda -- put Obama in the White House first, and then talk in earnest about a possible successor. "There are people who are out there that are looking for that appointment," said Rep. Dan Lipinski, noting that a vacant Senate seat would be chosen by Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He quickly said he was not among them.

"I think it's best not to really talk about it," Lipinski said. "We know this isn't going to be an easy election."

While they might be skittish or superstitious, there is a long political tradition that names of potential candidates tend to float well ahead of an actual vacancy, and this case is no exception.

Among those mentioned as possible candidates are Reps. Jan Schakowsky, Jesse Jackson Jr. and Luis Gutierrez and Illinois Veterans Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth, who fell just short in a bid for a House seat in 2006. Blagojevich, a former member of Congress, is also mentioned, and he wouldn't be the first governor to appoint himself to the Senate.

Jackson is a co-chairman of Obama's campaign. He could not only replace Obama in the Illinois delegation, but as the only black member of the Senate, a factor that might play into the governor's decision.

Duckworth, a disabled veteran of the Iraq war is a moderate. Blagojevich has not only mentioned her as a possible successor to Obama but is sponsoring a reception for her tonight in Denver.

But while others might be floating her name as a trial balloon, Duckworth is not yet on board, choosing to keep her focus on getting a Democrat elected president, albeit one that might create a job opening for her. "We have a long 70 days in front of us," she said this morning.

Gutierrez and Schakowsky both said they would be honored to serve in the Senate, but also played down interest in the post. "I didn't wake up this morning thinking about it," Gutierrez said.

Jill Morgenthaler, who is running for a House seat, said it didn't matter to her who got the Senate job if Obama moved to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., "as long as it's a Democrat."

Hillary Clinton: Americans not big on quitting. So why quit?

Click Comic Strip above to view larger image
Hillary Clinton's Democratic National Convention Speech
Ray Hanania's World Comic Strip
Tuesday, August 26, 2008

"And on that path to freedom, Harriet Tubman had one piece of advice. If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If they're shouting after you, keep going. Don't ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going. Even in the darkest of moments, ordinary Americans have found the faith to keep going. I've seen it in you. I've seen it in our teachers and firefighters, nurses and police officers, small business owners and union workers, the men and women of our military — you always keep going.

"We are Americans. We're not big on quitting."

http://www.themediaoasis.com/

Hillary Clinton's powerful convention speech: "Keep going ... we're not big on quitting."

Click Comic Strip to view larger image

Hillary Clinton’s powerful convention speech, "keep going"

By Ray Hanania

All Barack Obama and Joe Biden could do Tuesday was sit back and envy the charisma and power displayed by Hillary Clinton, probably one of the best qualified candidates for president in America today.

Clinton’s speech was the most inspiring and moving I have heard. Imagine having someone like that leading this country? Someone who isn’t afraid to take on challenges and doesn’t waffle on issues or run from past associations?

Every politician has enemies and haters and Hillary Clinton is no different, but she has the strength and the determination and even more importantly the guts and courage to do what this country needs.

Obama missed his chance to make his ticket the most powerful this country has ever seen. So far, Obama has been full of talk and rhythmic cadence in his speeches but words are not enough.

Hillary Clinton’s words not only resonated with America, many people in the convention probably were sitting there thinking, "Oh my God. What have we lost?"

The dream of an Obama-Clinton ticket would have sealed the deal and raised the rest of America to a confidence level that would lead this country though a badly needed reorganization, reassessment and refocus.

Obama-Clinton could have reversed the economy, stopped the bleeding of building debt, restored world confidence in this great nation and motivated Americans to go back out and fight to create new jobs and restore this nation’s wealth.

Obama-Clinton could have overcome the difficult challenge of bringing the crooked health insurers into line to force them to cover the 47 million Americans who, thanks to the lying cheating and deceitful companies like Humana and Blue Cross, have no health insurance. More than 47 million Americans have been denied coverage not only because they can’t afford coverage but because these health robber barons refuse to acknowledge the public’s health needs and reject the "risky."

Obama-Clinton could have restored America’s sagging and weak image abroad. America is the leader of the free world that has not been leading under the incompetent and self-serving administration of President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. They would have ended the illegal war in Iraq and refocused this country’s defenses in the right direction in Afghanistan.

America is fighting a war in Iraq to protect oil company interests and contracts for Halliburton and KBR and other companies tied to Dick Cheney, and they are negligent of the need to fight the real war on terrorism in Afghanistan, where our troops need more support and assets and soldiers.

Osama Bin Laden remains on the loose not because of his cunning but because of the ignorance and the pathetic mishandling of this country by Bush-Cheney and his "Axis of Evil" cabinet.

Obama-Clinton could have swept the elections this November and guaranteed eight years of solid leadership. And a retiring President Obama in 2016 could have passed the batton of leadership to the vice president, Hillary Clinton, and insured that as we embarked into the middle of a new century, we would have another great president leading us until 2024.

Vice President and then President Hillary Clinton would have put the last nail in the coffin of the gender gap and the sexist bias that still exists in this country against women, Americans who often shoulder more of the burden for less than their male counterparts.

And while Hillary Clinton did the honorable thing to urge her supporters to through themselves on their swords to help the weak Barack Obama, whose speeches appeal with wishful talk but lacks the tactical and strategic solutions to achieve his carefully crafted speeches.

The truth is her quote of Harriet Tubman only motivates her supporters to stand more firm and demand that this country be respected. That we are not to be ignored an disrespected and that we Americans have a right to insist not on good but to demand the best.

Hillary Clinton said:

By following the example of a brave New Yorker, a woman who risked her life
to shepherd slaves along the Underground Railroad.

And on that path to freedom, Harriet Tubman had one piece of
advice.

If you hear the dogs, keep going.

If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.

If they're shouting after you, keep going.

Don't ever stop. Keep going.

If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.

Even in the darkest of moments, ordinary Americans have found the faith to
keep going.

I've seen it in you. I've seen it in our teachers and firefighters, nurses
and police officers, small business owners and union workers, the men and women
of our military — you always keep going.

We are Americans. We're not big on quitting.

And those Americans who believe that this country, this day and this year and this century deserves and needs the best leadership, will not quit either.

If you want a great president, don't give up. Keep going.

The opportunity now faces John McCain. Can he fill the gap? Or, will he be a last resort placeholder for four years to allow Hillary Clinton to return to the stage in one last and final chance for America in 2012, putting the crown on the head of a commander-in-chief in waiting?

END

McCain has chance to grab the presidency -- Ray Hanania

McCain has a chance to grab the presidency

By Ray Hanania

John McCain is not my choice for president. But he sure has a chance to win the presidency this November. He just has to make the right choice.

Will he?

My perspective on McCain is tugged between him being the silent accomplice watching and witnessing as President Bush and his "Cabinet of Evil" orchestrated one of the world’s greatest frauds and war crimes lying to send our soldiers to Iraq to avenge the lost honor of his father, George H.W. Bush, the former president.

On the other hand, McCain the Republican is the only other choice left as Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate runs out of steam and his Democratic Convention putters along, boringly and with no real inspiration.

That’s the problem with "phenoms," a cute word contrived by his spin-masters to describe Obama as a "phenomena." They start out strong and run out of steam.

The first night of the Democratic Convention should have opened like the Beijing Olympics. Dazzling inspiration and awe-inspiring choreography that took our minds away from China’s history of tyranny and oppressive civil rights abuses.

Instead, the ObamaFest in Denver looked more like a boring remake of a popular movie that just isn’t better than the original.

I’m tired of the Kennedys, the Irish political mafia clan that has exploited the inspiration of two sons murdered by American hate. Sure, the Kennedys are great people, but is that what we need in today’s day and age to inspire us?

Michelle Obama was a poor choice to keynote the Denver Convention. She is wonderful, don’t get me wrong. But the issue isn’t whether or not we need to know how loving of a husband Barack has been. She didn’t speak to the "Democratic Street."

In fact, what is happening on the "Democratic Street" on the floor of the convention, on the news talk programs and even right here in Chicago, Obama’s own back yard, is that Obama hasn’t delivered on his "phenom" promises.

Hillary Clinton remains a formidable force and even if she tells her supporters to support Barack, we know she doesn’t mean it. The fact is Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton have been disrespected by the Obama’s and his expensive and over-funded campaign machine.

When it comes to our economy, Bill Clinton was the best president we ever had. Better than Ronald Reagan.

Despite his personal flaw with Monica Lewinsky which was little more than gristle for the hate-mongering Republican and Conservative news media, and his fumbling of his last minute Middle East peace efforts, Clinton was the real "phenom."

And instead of starting the convention with Sen. Ted Kennedy – the least loved of all the Kennedy clan, or even with Michelle Obama, a nice lady, the convention should have started with a bang. A Powerful speech from Bill Clinton, followed tonight by a powerful speech by Hillary Clinton.

That’s what’s lacking in the Obama candidacy. He is too insecure about the Clintons and it shows. He is too afraid that they can steal the show. Obama might become a great president, if he had someone at his side who many Americans can trust.

Senator Joe Biden? Give me a break. He’s a selfish political animal who has pandered to his constituency and has ruled the Senate Foreign Relations Committee only since Democrats took control of the Senate and has done what? Nothing. A cowardly lion on a committee of power.
The Democratic Covention is over before it even started.

I don’t care how much Hillary Clinton urges her supporters to support Barack Obama.
The bottom line is many Americans are wondering whether a gamble on Barack for four years will be any worse than a gamble on a "mini-me" George Bush in the form of John McCain.

McCain may represent a third-term Bush – the only difference is that while Bush hid from his patriotic military service during the height of the Vietnam War, McCain showed courage.

By the way, what war did Obama serve in? The South Side political wars?

McCain may be a Republican clinging to a party that has driven this country into an economic tailspin and caused the world to hate us even more.

But McCain might only be in office for four years. And that means that Hillary Clinton could easily and would most certainly become the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in 2012.

And so far, there is little convincing evidence that that is a bad thing.

McCain has a chance to win. He needs to do something inspirational if he hopes to win the support of the disgruntled Clinton voters, who represent MORE than half of the voting Democrats, even counting the "independents" who swing back and forth at elections and supported Obama this time.

His choice of a vice presidential candidate is his last shot at securing the election this November.
If it is Rudy Giuliani, he might as well say goodnight. Giuliani is a George Bush who knows how to lie better. If it is disgruntled Sen. Joseph Lieberman, McCain can say goodbye to an opportunity. Lieberman is a disloyal Democrat who disrespected the wishes of the Democratic voters in his state.

It’s up to you John McCain.

This is your election to win or lose.

You will decide whether Obama’s so far uninspiring convention will lead to a victory or whether you can steal the thunder.

Do you care about American Democrats?

Or, are you so wedded to Republican ideology that you can’t see what’s best for America as a whole?

END

The VP choices of McCain and Obama can decide the election in November

Democratic Barack Obama has a historic opportunity to sweep the November elections by showing courage and true dedication to his ideals by chosing Hillary Clinton as his running mate. Clinton represents more than 18 million American voters, slightly more than the number of the people in the Democratic Party who voted for Obama.

Anyone else who Obama choses will always live under the shadow of that powerful pairing, and could never bring his candidacy to the heights it can achieve.

John McCain also faces a similar choice, either satisfy the fanatic GOP Jihadists who make up the crazy rightwing of the Republican Party, or chose a running mate who appeals to the growing base of mainstream centrists, many of whom voted for Clinton. Her base is the key to the November elections,w hen all the issues are set aside.

President Bush has destroyed the Middle East and chances for peace, and his war in Iraq is destroying the American economy. It's the economy, though, that can be salvaged and the War in Iraq that must be abandoned immediately.

Ray Hanania
www.OrlandParker.com

Don't rule out Hillary Clinton so quickly

I want change as much as anyone else, but despite Barack Obama's lead in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination, he's still only in the stretch with a slightly better lead than Hillary Clinton.

Neither candidate has secured the locked delegates to win the nomination, and the popular vote has been frighteningly split almost equally in half. I think the enthusiasm to end this contest contradicts the primary season itself which has dragged on more than six months since Jan. 3 in Iowa.

The Democratic convention is not until August, more than two months away. That's where we will know or not know the real intent of the so-called "Super" delegates. The term "super" delegates is a phrase coined to described the gaggle of insiders who have been given "unpledged" delegate positions. They can change their minds and support any candidate they want, crossing back and forth from one candidate to another as often as they want.

What that means is that Obama does lead in pledged delegates and allegedly in unpledged delegates, but the reality of those unpledged delegates does not become final until the convention.

So why rush it? Why circumvent the very Democratic process we embrace and try to use numbers, and statistics that can be twisted in many ways to come up with many answers? Why not celebrate the power of the Democratic Party having two powerful and charismatic leaders, Obama and Clinton, and allow that leadership now to move towards the convention where the pledged delegates MUST cast their vote for the candidate they have been assigned to by the will of the American voters, and unpledged delegates can still weigh the real challenge: who is the best candidate to win the nomination and defeat Republican John McCain.

McCain is not a real choice for most Democrats who voted in the heated Obama-Clinton fracass. But, Hillary Clinton remains a real choice for nearly 50 percent of the Democrats who voted. Are we that sure that Obama can blow the doors off McCain in November that we can afford to tell those Americans who supported Clinton that their intentions are basically dimpled chads that can discarded, too?

I say slow down. I say take pause. I say build the Democratic Party and don't allow it to be torn down as we move towards the Democratic Convention. This race is still close and if Hillary Clinton does not drop out -- a right she has and has earned through a phenomenal performance that so closely matches Obama's own campaign showing -- we should work with both.

The Dream Ticket of Obama and Clinton is one that would be powerful. In fact, that is what Democratic voters have said very clearly as we turn the corner to the final stretch into the Democratic Convention. Let's not turn Denver into Chicago by ignoring the feelings of so many.

Ray Hananiahttp://www.themediaoasis.com/

Don't rule Hillary Clinton out so fast

I want change as much as anyone else, but despite Barack Obama's lead in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination, he's still only in the stretch with a slightly better lead than Hillary Clinton.

Neither candidate has secured the locked delegates to win the nomination, and the popular vote has been frighteningly split almost equally in half. I think the enthusiasm to end this contest contradicts the primary season itself which has dragged on more than six months since Jan. 3 in Iowa.

The Democratic convention is not until August, more than two months away. That's where we will know or not know the real intent of the so-called "Super" delegates. The term "super" delegates is a phrase coined to described the gaggle of insiders who have been given "unpledged" delegate positions. They can change their minds and support any candidate they want, crossing back and forth from one candidate to another as often as they want.

What that means is that Obama does lead in pledged delegates and allegedly in unpledged delegates, but the reality of those unpledged delegates does not become final until the convention.

So why rush it? Why circumvent the very Democratic process we embrace and try to use numbers, and statistics that can be twisted in many ways to come up with many answers? Why not celebrate the power of the Democratic Party having two powerful and charismatic leaders, Obama and Clinton, and allow that leadership now to move towards the convention where the pledged delegates MUST cast their vote for the candidate they have been assigned to by the will of the American voters, and unpledged delegates can still weigh the real challenge: who is the best candidate to win the nomination and defeat Republican John McCain.

McCain is not a real choice for most Democrats who voted in the heated Obama-Clinton fracass. But, Hillary Clinton remains a real choice for nearly 50 percent of the Democrats who voted. Are we that sure that Obama can blow the doors off McCain in November that we can afford to tell those Americans who supported Clinton that their intentions are basically dimpled chads that can discarded, too?

I say slow down. I say take pause. I say build the Democratic Party and don't allow it to be torn down as we move towards the Democratic Convention. This race is still close and if Hillary Clinton does not drop out -- a right she has and has earned through a phenomenal performance that so closely matches Obama's own campaign showing -- we should work with both.

The Dream Ticket of Obama and Clinton is one that would be powerful. In fact, that is what Democratic voters have said very clearly as we turn the corner to the final stretch into the Democratic Convention. Let's not turn Denver into Chicago by ignoring the feelings of so many.

Ray Hananiawww.TheMediaOasis.com

Eliot Spitzer, Clinton-Obama and taxes focus on Thursday's show

Guests this past Thursday include two New York-New Jersey columnists, Errol Louis of the New York Daily News and Bob Braun of the New Jersey Start-Ledger Newspapers discussing the resignation of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and the implications of the sex scandal that brought him down. We also have Dan Proft, a media and political consultant discusses ramifications of the Spitzer controversy, Geraldine Ferraro and the Clinton-Obama presidental knock-out, drag-out fight. Guests also include Dave Astor of Editor & Publisher Magazine discussing the profession of syndicated columnists and columnists who are standup comedians -- there are not a lot. And, Jim Tobin of National Tazpayers United of Illinois on the tsunami of tax increase in Chicago, Cook County and Illinois.

All of the show segments, including most past shows, are not online. You can go to www.RadioChicagoland.com to listen to the segments online on our podcast blog, or you can automatically download the segment podcasts to your iPod for easy listening.

We also featured several letters from readers of my column at www.SWNewsHerald.com, and call ins from listeners on the show at Radio Chicagoland, WCEV 1450 AM, Tuesday and Thursday from 4 to 6 PM. You can listen to the shows live online when they are broadcast by tuning in to www.WCEV1450.c0m, or link to WCEV's streaming audio from our Radio Chicagoland web page.

Hillary Clinton's is coming across like a sore loser, whiner and poor leader

Wow. If Hillary Clinton wanted to challenge Barack Obama's leadership flaws, should might have tried not using her own as the measure of who is better or worse. Every time I turn on TV, all I see if Hillary whining about something. She doesn't like this. She doesn;t like that. What she doesn't like is that the public is not buying her agenda, and the resentment many Americans harbored for Bill Clinton's indescretions are starting to come out in full force now. Apparently, we didn't like the Republican fanatics (jerks like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and others) hypocritically hammering Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinski episode, but now that those morons have been neutralized, and have been pushed out of the way, we Americans can express our disappointment ourselves.

I think it's time for Hillary to step aside and start supporting the Democratic Party and the strongest candidate to defeat the Republican fanatics and their puppet, sleepy John McCain. Or, is Hillary going to do what she and Bill did by undercutting Al Gore in order to insure the election of George W. Bush so they could "come back" and sweep the elections.

Ah, the best laid plains ...

Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Topics for Tuesday's show at WCEV 1450 AM February 26

Is Hillary Clinton hitting below the belt in her attacks against Barack Obama. Clinton's campaign, clearly upset by Obama's brochures attacking her failed healthcare policies during her husband's administration, and her husband's NAFTA policy, is hitting back. Her campaign allegedly sent a picture of Obama in an Somali "dress" (robes and headdress) that he wore during a tour of Kenya and Somali ... his grandfather is from Kenya near the Somali border and converted to Christianity and then later Islam. Obama went there as a U.S. Senator a few years back to help promote residents there taking HIV tests to promote the fight against AIDS.



But, in the wake of controversial Imam Louis Farrakhan, of the Nation of Islam, endorsing Obama in a three hour long speech (all Farrakhan knows how to do is give speeches and cause controversy), Clinton's photo of Obama is on the web site of conservative gossip hatemonger Matt Drudge.



Here's the link:

http://gawker.com/360385/obama+in+dress-photo-backfires-on-clinton



AND ... should Ralph Nader quit the presidential campaign. Nader jumped into the campaign -- his 5th race since 1992 ... here;s my column on the topic:



http://swnewsherald.com/online_content/2008/02/021508rh_nader.php



What's your thoughts on either topic?



Call in at 4:30 for the open line at 773-777-1450 and share your views.



Thanks

Ray Hanania

http://www.radiochicagoland.com/

Funn week at new radio show WCEV 1450 AM

Loads of laughs and buttons and technology ... but the first week of radio shows went well ... we had Bill Lipinski on Tuesday helping to analyze the fall of Hillary Clinton and rise of Barack Obama, and Heather Warthen, the editor of the Orland Park Prairie Newspaper talking about the Lane Bryant/Tinley Park killings ... and some listener calls to the new station at WCEV 1450 AM Radio; we had syndicated columnist Suzette Strandring join us to discuss her new book "The Art of Column Writing" and then veteran journalist Monroe Anderson analyzing the latest from the campaign trail with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

The best line so far: Dick Cheney is the anti-Christ, but isn't that merely an unjust slander of the anti-Christ?

Check out the archived interviews online at http://www.radiochicagoland.com/, or download the podcasts for all of the interviews segments.

Next week, we feature former City Clerk Jim Laski Jr., discussing his new controversial book "My Fall from Grace" which exposes allegations of corruption against many big name politicians, but mainly Mayor Richard M. Daley whose administration is soaked in corruption charges.

Ray Hanania