The Chicago Tribune is channeling the Weekly Standard:

Having made hay of Barack Obama's relative youth and his foreign-sounding name, his opponents are now homing in on his neighborhood.

For his critics, the presumptive Democratic nominee's home turf offers a tempting opportunity to paint him as an elitist and, perhaps more damaging, an egghead.

It gets better:

The comparison of Ronald Reagan's speech in West Berlin with John Kennedy's speech 25 years earlier is ahistorical and completely bogus.  It's a complete rightwing fabrication that's swallowed whole by the MSM.

NPR Host, Melissa Block brings up the myth in this evening's 'All Things Considered' only to be swathed down by SUNY Buffalo Prof. Andreas Daum who actually knows something about the two events.

If Jim Oberweis does lose in IL-14 -- and no candidate was ever more deserving of such a fate -- it's due at least in part to the lousy NRCC ads that they kept running incessantly on the airwaves.

They were all about that "liberal" Foster and how he was going to spend all that money on "government-run health care".

Hopefully the NRCC won't figure this out but just between you and me, people want the government to step in and clean up the mess that is our health care system. In fact, people want government to step in and fix a whole lot of problems. That's why they're electing someone to government office. It kind of goes with the territory.

It's too early for me to say, 'Ha! Ha! Ha!' but if Foster does moderately well, it'll be plain for the world to see that the Republicans dug their own graves.

Times have changed. This isn't your Ronald Reagan or Newt Gingrich America!

Tell 'em what a great job Nedra Pickler has done impugning the patriotism of United States Senator and Candidate for President Barack Obama:

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From New York Times (9/29/1962):

The commandant of the United States Marine Corps, Gen. David Shoup, ended a four-day visit to this country [South Vietnam] with a request to his fellow countrymen to show more patience in trying to understand the complex and frustrating war against the Communists.

"If there is any one ingredient which has been in short supply, it is in the area of patience, and that by Americans," General Shoup said.  "Americans are impatient in comparison to other peoples.  They want to progress faster than the vehicle in which they are riding."

He added: "Our attitude here is that we ought to get this thing over and done with overnight.  I am sure there is no panacea that overnight will eliminate this Vietcong enemy."

The general said he had found plenty of the main ingredients for success here -- spirit, good training and "plenty of bullets." [David Halberstam, "Vietnam's Troops Gain in 2 Sectors", NY Times (9/29/1962): p.2]

Chicago Tribune reporter, David Mendell, is running around the country talking about "Lakefront Liberals".  He did it on Tuesday on New York Public Radio and again on Wednesday on Chicago Public Radio.

Aren't these guys supposed to be non-partisan?  Where the hell does he get off using a rightwing slur like this?

The rightwingers use it because they want you to forget who's benefiting from their policies.  It's a way of turning things on their head -- sort of like the bank-robber pointing to a cop and yelling 'stop that criminal'.

If all we had as liberals was the Lakefront of Chicago, we'd be in pretty bad shape.  There are liberals on the Lakefront, there are liberals on the South Side, there are liberals everywhere in the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois.  That's why we're a Blue State!

To constantly bring up this "Lakefront Liberal" business is simply doing PR for the GOP.

I'm willing to be persuaded:  Why would the following election scenario not give me nightmares: Thompson/Huckabee v. Hillary/NoName

What cross-over appeal would the first group have?  What cross-over appeal would the second group have?

We see a lot of optimism on this site -- in fact, we see a lot of optimism on many of the liberal or Democratic sites out there.

If it came down to Thompson/Huckabee v. Hillary/NoName, would everybody be so optimistic?

Dan Seals who ran a wonderful campaign in 2006 against incumbent Mark Kirk (R, IL-10) has just announced that he's throwing his hat in the ring once again.

As anyone can tell you from the Tenth District, Dan looked better and better as the campaign went on -- finishing with a very respectable 47% of the vote.

They're playing this over and over on WBBM Radio in Chicago.  It's driving me nuts!  Here, you can listen to it yourself:  ComEd Propaganda...

This has got to be the most reprehensible commercial from a major corporation doing business in the state of Illinois -- if not ever, certainly for the year so far.

Of course the vote on the Iraq Accountability Act is being portrayed all over the place as the result of a 'strongly divided' House..  Here's an example from the AP:

A sharply divided House voted Friday to order President Bush to bring combat troops home from Iraq next year, a victory for Democrats in an epic war-powers struggle and Congress' boldest challenge yet to the administration's policy [emphasis added].

What's 'sharply divided'?  Basically we had a vote largely along party lines.  Why not describe it as such?  (Yeah, I know, I answered my own question.)

"Gold-plated" Medical Care:

The bay colt underwent nearly two dozen surgeries and other procedures, including cast changes under anesthesia. He spent time in a sling to ease pressure on his legs, had pins inserted and was fitted at the end with an external brace -- extraordinary measures for injuries that most horses never survive.

The ominous music.  The scary scenarios.  I thought it was the Election all over again and here was another attack ad.  Crystal Yednak from the Chicago Tribune takes up the story:

The commercial, in a foreboding tone, suggests that the lights may go out in Illinois if an electricity rate freeze is extended.

"We don't need a California-style energy crisis in Illinois," cautions a voice representing Consumers Organized for Reliable Electricity.

It may sound like the campaign of a grass-roots consumer group, but it is not.

Dear Editorial Board,

It's great to see that the Chicago Tribune is advising Barack Obama to run for President in '08 though it's a little like Harvard telling someone to apply -- with no promise of help further down the road.

But what I'd like to know is whether the Tribune has ever apologized for its endorsement of George Bush in 2004.  Surely you bare some responsibility, if only slight, for what's happened under this administration since the time of your endorsement.

I mean, it wasn't all that hard to figure out, even back then, how this was going to play out -- and you certainly have far more resources, Lord knows, than any of us.  In fact, the whole state of Illinois called this one right but you chose to go your own way.

So maybe a word of remorse or even an apology might be in order.

Wow, I never thought we'd make it into the Chicago Tribune -- and never under such nefarious circumstances.  Dennis Byrne has written an attack piece on our volunteer group so full of rubbish that if I didn't respond to it, Streets & Sanitation would do the work for me.  I can't believe something like this made it into the Chicago Tribune.

The short reponse is that the Republicans must really be hurting if they bother picking on a bunch of volunteers like us.  This article is a pig squeal from beginning to end.

Don't tell the people who showed up today for the Canvass in support of Tammy Duckworth (IL-06) that this is just a "Mid-Term" election where participation (and enthusiasm) are way down.  Judging by the overflow capacity in just one Field Office, it felt downright "Presidential" to me.

Probably the most remarkable thing outside of the people who came to spread the word were the people whose doors we banged on: Whatever their prior politics, they were more than ready to hear about Tammy, to give their own thoughtful opinions and, in so many cases, ultimately to express their support.

If we can reach enough people, we can win this thing!  Please volunteer for one of our canvasses.  We only have 10 days left.

It's a particular disgrace for Chicago, that we don't have a better paper than the Tribune.

These are the people who endorsed Bush in 2004 and everyone who cancelled their subscription is fully justified.  For a paper like this to endorse Bush certainly means they must share in the blame -- at least partially -- for what a disaster he's been for the country since then.

You won't get such an acknowlegement anytime soon from these guys.  In fact, the notion has probably never entered there tiny little jerk heads.

Their dribble today about Jan Schakowsky is pure rubbish of the most putrid kind.

Their sentence, "[Schakowsky's] style of unceasing partisanship contributes to the bitter atmosphere in Washington" has got to be one of the most intellectually and factually dishonest things to appear in their pages for a long while. These people -- the true latte-drinking, cafe-society set -- are disgraceful.

SAVE THE DATE: A JOINT UNITY RALLY-PARTY is being organized by IllinoisDemNet, DFA-Edgewater/Rogers Park, DL21C-Chicago and Young Chicago Lakefront for next Thursday (10/12), 6p-8p at John Barleycorn in Wrigleyville. The entire city is invited!

More info: http://illinoisdemnet.com/...

Was Congressman Mark Kirk (IL-10) in on the Foley Cover Up?  Did he know about the emails that disgraced former Congressman, Mark Foley (R-FL), sent to an underage Page?

Initial reports from the AP said that complaints about Foley's behavior went to the "House leadership".

Mark Kirk is "Assistant Majority Whip" and no matter how much he wants to deny it, that's "House leaderhip".  Did he know anything about this?

It's ironic (or perhaps intentional?) that his current ads are all about an anti-online predator bill he helped pass.