Thursday, February 08, 2018

My opinion on that Ives ad

As you may have heard, Jeanne Ives, the Republican challenger of failed Illinois GOP governor Bruce "Benedict" Rauner, released a controversial web ad parodying a 2017 Rauner commercial where governors in neighboring states say "thank you" to Democratic Party boss Michael Madigan, the man who Reuters says is "behind the fiscal fiasco in Illinois."

In the Ives video, actors "thank" Rauner for various bills that he signed that offend the Republican base, including HB 40, which greatly expands state funding for abortions, and HB 1785,. which allows people to use whatever bathroom they want.

In the thirty-second spot a woman in a pink pussy hat gleefully exclaims, "Thank you for making all Illinois families pay for my abortions." Note the use of the plural there. An ugly man in a dress sardonically tells the governor, "Thank you for signing legislation that allows me to use the girls' bathroom."

The poltroons in the Illinois Republican Party, the same ones whose inaction is allowing a Nazi to run unopposed in a GOP congressional primary, have condemned the video. But keep in mind that the state party--from top to bottom--is bought and paid for by Rauner's considerable financial largesse. And those third-rate apparatchiks want that cash flow from Rauner's wallet to keep flowing, so they can perhaps win an additional park district office election, while Illinois careens towards insolvency.



On the flipside, the tone of the ad is a bit off, I would have dialed down the snarkiness. But Ives is still an unknown to many Republican voter and some of them don't know that Rauner signed legislation that makes Illinois a sanctuary state, for instance. While her fundraising situation is improving, she's still sitting in the cheap seats, so she needs a loud horn right now.

As abortion, Cardinal Blasé Cupich says Rauner promised him that he would veto the abortion bill. Which means Rauner lied to Chicago's archbishop.


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