Marathon Pundit: But she should be angry with Biden: Preckwinkle says Reagan deserves 'special place in hell' for drug war

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

But she should be angry with Biden: Preckwinkle says Reagan deserves 'special place in hell' for drug war

Reagan statue, Dixon, IL

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is, or was, a fairly popular politician even among some Republicans because she is halfway through eliminating the infamous "corruption tax." She has been positioning herself for a run for governor in 2014, which would make an intriguing Democratic primary match-up: the taxcutter against the tax-hiker, the latter of course would be our hapless governor, Pat Quinn.

Her eye on the governor's mansion is what brought her today to that exotic part of Illinois known as downstate, specifically Champaign.

Preckwinkle was defending Chicago's move to ticket, instead of arresting, people possessing small amounts of marijuana.

Then she betrayed her liberal rage, as the Chicago Tribune tells us:

Downstate Republican state Rep. Chapin Rose of Mahomet questioned whether such an approach includes drug treatment for those who are ticketed. Preckwinkle said no, arguing that drug treatment should be part of the health care system, not criminal justice. She said Reagan deserves a "special place in hell" for his involvement in "making drug use political."

"What? You didn't like that?" Preckwinkle said after audience members gasped.

The left still hasn't gotten over Reagan's success. The Gipper, the only president born in Illinois, knew a lot about addiction. His father was an alcoholic and Reagan undoubtedly witnessed the ravages of drug abuse during his Hollywood days.

Reagan birthplace, Tampico, IL

And the left blames Reagan for the 'racist' Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which was probably what Preckwinkle was referring to when she said Reagan made "drug use political." It came down hard on small-time crack-dealers. But the Reagan administration favored less harsh penalties for these small-fry operators. Although as the Heritage Foundation recalled last year, it was a Delaware Democratic senator--yep, Joe Biden, who put the fangs in that legislation, which Reagan signed into law. Biden was polishing his 'tough on crime' creds as he prepared for his first embarrassing run for the presidency.

Preckwinkle later walked her "hell" comment back a bit, saying that she regretted the tone of her remarks about our 40th president.

But her anger should be with Biden.

Perhaps Preckwinkle is afraid of the vice president. After all, President Obama once said of Biden, "Nobody messes with Joe."

The last time I saw Preckwinkle was at the Occupy the Dream rally in January.