Thursday night, the Illinois Supreme Court reinstated Oswald Cobblepot’s name on the ballot to be Mayor of Chicago in time for the February 22nd election. You may be familiar with him by his other name: Rahm Emanuel.

You may remember Oswald Cobblepot, A.K.A. “The Penguin,” from the “Batman” films of Tim Burton. He was a wretched little man who was beloved by the City of Gotham and well on his way to being elected Mayor – that is until the heroic Batman played a looped recording of Oswald saying “You gotta admit, I’ve played this stinking city like a harp from Hell.” That is what I’ve envisioned Emanuel saying in my head over and over again since he began his campaign for Mayor of Chicago.

Except that Rahm Emanuel isn’t the only one who has played Chicago. The MSM have too.

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No matter what you call the mainstream media (the “old media,” the “state-run media,” etc.), it has to be admitted that those who comprise it have a vested interest in preserving an outdated, and dangerous, liberal establishment in this country. To that end, members of the mainstream media not only present the news in half-truths that make conservatism and conservatives look bad, they also do (and say) whatever they have to do in order to make liberals look good.

In this way, they have actually become an extension of the liberal-most portions of the Democrat Party.

For example, just think of how they vilified Republican candidates Christine O’Donnell in Delaware and Joe Miller in Alaska during last the recent elections. Because both candidates were true conservatives, the media was quick to pounce on them and prove them unfit for office, in an effort to dissuade voters from supporting them.

On the other hand, think about how members of the mainstream media are now carrying water for Chicago Mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel: a liberal candidate who may not even be a legal resident of Chicago and who, while serving as President Obama’s Chief of Staff, may have pushed for the passage of Stimulus legislation in order to increase his own personal wealth.

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Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel made it official on Saturday: He is running for Mayor of Chicago. Emanuel staged his media event at Coonley Elementary School, a public school in his old congressional district. It wasn’t a press conference since Emanuel did not answer any questions and the Chicago media was actually content not to ask any.

Kelly/Rahm from Breitbart on Vimeo.

Emanuel’s announcement reminded me of the old Soviet Union-style speeches where people used to afraid to be the first ones to stop clapping. Along with the shouts of joy and bursts of over-enthusiastic applause, there was something menacing in that room. What were the Chicago media so afraid of? Or were they just being Rahm’s good little apparatchiks?

I asked a Rahm staffer if the media were going to be allowed to ask Emanuel any questions. She said “no.” I knew that meant one thing: I had to ask a question. After his announcement, I knew Emanuel was probably hiding in the building waiting for everyone to leave. I waited until his staffers had cleared the last reporters from the room. As I was leaving, I noticed Emanuel was, in fact, waiting in one of the outside exits for the “all clear” sign from his staffer. That was as good of an opportunity as I was going to get.

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Conservative radio host William Kelly (Kelly Truth Squad AM 560 WIND) recently found himself on the receiving end of mainstream media hostility, as he tried aggressively to interview Rahm Emanuel during Chicago’s Columbus Day Parade.

Chicago Media Icon, Jay Levine of CBS 2, threatened to physically harm Kelly if he didn’t shut up and go away. Levine issued this threat in front of no less than 3 cameras.

Several days later, William Kelly pressed 2nd degree assault charges against Jay Levine.

Our cameras caught up with Levine, and all of the other people involved with this story, to document their reactions to the latest developments.

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On Sunday, the Chicago Sun-Times gave Rahm Emanuel the gift of a front-page feature story called “Rahm on the Record” by reporter Fran Spielman. I wonder how many of the other Chicago mayoral candidates will get this kind of feature coronation-style press? The Chicago media, even at this point, appears to be giving Emanuel exalted status.

In the Sun-Times story’s Q&A format, there were few follow-up questions and little-to-no rebuttal. Mr. Emanuel was allowed to dismiss questions and had the last word every time to spin the more controversial aspects of his candidacy. In reference to the Blagojevich trial, Spielman asks, “You were wheeling and dealing about names anyway? Was that appropriate?” Rahm’s answer: “That’s a characterization. They’re prosecuting the governor, right?” However, I, at least, appreciated that some of the questions were tougher than the usual softballs. Spielman’s questions were not all “How are you feeling today, Rahm?”

Unfortunately, if recent events are any indication, “touchy feely” press is what the Chicago media will be trending for Emanuel. Anyone who contradicts or attempts to circumvent that trend will be attacked and vilified.

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Joe Klein is one angry man. In fact, Joe’s so pissed-off I think he could shoot the next Twelve Angry Men sequel all by himself. Why is poor Joe so unhappy? Because we—well, actually, mostly you conservative women out there—are just so bleeping ignorant, that’s why. As an avid Tea Party supporter, I’ll be the first to admit I’m just a mindless dolt who consistently misspells the racist, dimwitted signs I bring to the rallies. Still, I’m not nearly as ignorant as you female Tea Party supporters. I mean, you’re really bleeping dumb!

But don’t believe me. Just read irascible Joe’s latest rant, “Ignorance as Authenticity,” immortalized for all time—or at least for a week or two—in Time. Mined from which, I bring you this nugget of angry Joe gold:

There is no way she [Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell] could ever be confused with a member of the elites; there is no way she could be confused with an above average high school student. Her ignorance, therefore, makes her authentic–the holy grail of latter-day American politics: she’s a real person, not like those phony politicians. In that sense, she—and the lifeboat filled with other Tea Party know-nothings—follow in the wake of our leading exemplar of ignorant authenticity, Sarah Palin (who seems every bit as unaware of public policy—she certainly never talks about it—as she was when a desperate and petulant John McCain chose her to be his running mate). There is something profoundly diseased about a society that idolizes its ignoramuses and disdains its experts.

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Having done video coverage of almost 50 Tea Parties in over 45 cities in 25 states, it’s safe to say I know the Tea Party well. And as a 23-year-old coming from a generation primarily influenced by mainstream media, I believe the mainstream media’s lampooning and stigmatizing of our movement, while nefarious yet somewhat successful, has not been achieved entirely without some cooperation on our part. I believe in our movement, and believe we will win in November, but if we lose, here are five reasons why.

First: Let’s not overdo it with the 18^th century costumes. While festive and somewhat thematically appropriate, it doesn’t speak to my generation, and often begs the mainstream media to caricaturize us as Halloween-padded fringe throwbacks. We can all agree on restoring the constitutional vision of our founding fathers, but restoring their fashion sensibilities? You will have to call me a progressive on that one.

Second: A convenient Tea Party mantra has been the presumptuous, and seemingly amnesiac notion that President Obama “betrayed the American people,” that “We the People have spoken and never wanted Obama’s policies.”

Obama made his agenda clear during his campaign: He promised to socialize health care, to push for cap and trade, to implement tax policies that would “spread the wealth around,” he equated redistribution of wealth with “neighborliness,” supported the 2008 Wall Street bailouts, demonstrated his faith in Keynesian economics, his class warfare mentality, his distrust for the free market… (more…)

For some reason, many people still contend that Politico “has no politics” or is “politically neutral.” If that’s the case, someone please point out its right-of-center equivalent to Ben Smith. The JournoListo über-blogger is back at it today trying to “Joe the Plumber” William Kelly.

For those of you unaware, earlier this week Big Journalism posted video of the Chicago-based conservative talk-show host pursuing an aggressive line of questioning at a Rahm Emanuel media junket, when this happened:

But when you run this story through the JournoList Spin-o-Matic, what comes out is a Ben Smith blog post smearing Kelly Alinsky-style. Politico’s super-sleuth went to the trouble of finding Kelly’s 1995 book on Amazon, and you’ll never believe what he found: Kelly is a fan of noted white supremacist Norman Mailer (the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who contributed to Democrats until his death in 2007) and thinks “criminals should be made to pay for their crimes through hard work.” Busto! How is Kelly going to live this down?

No one sums up the back-asswardness of Smith’s post, and the left’s penchant for the politics of personal destruction, better than a commenter on Smith’s own blog:

Left wing “Reporters” threaten conservative. Ben Smith investigates–the conservative!

Watch out William Kelly, you’ve just been JournoListed. (more…)

I’m a lifelong Chicagoan and grew up on the Southside, where Democrat machine politics is the norm and a way of life. In fact, I grew up two blocks from Louis Farrakhan’s house and, ironically, ran for the same congressional seat as Barack Obama did against Rep. Bobby Rush. We both lost. He eventually won… the Presidency.

Despite the political environment, or because of it, I am a conservative. I host a radio show called the Kelly Truth Squad on WIND-AM (560) in the Midwest. I also contribute to the “Big” blogs and to the Washington Times. Prior to this, I had been involved in anti-tax policy advocacy and activism since the early 1990s. As a result, I have taken numerous politicians to task with difficult questions the media hasn’t taken too kindly to. The upshot is that it isn’t easy being a conservative but it, especially, isn’t easy being a conservative in Chicago.

However, it is a city I understand very, very well. Consequently, I knew all the politicians would be out in force at Columbus and Balboa Drive on Monday, where they always are on Columbus Day. I wanted to interview as many politicians as possible for my radio show and for my blog. I also knew that Rahm Emanuel, an announced candidate for Mayor of Chicago, would also be there. He had been getting softball questions from the Chicago media all week. Not a tough question in sight. I thought, great, this is a perfect opportunity to ask him about the stimulus bill – something that he might believe was his greatest accomplishment as President Obama’s Chief of Staff. I wanted to hear his answer to this question since many Americans are angry about the stimulus.

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We’ve often said that the media “protects” President Obama but this video from WIND radio host and Big Blogs contributor William Kelly shows this allegation literally.

Kelly, a Chicagoan, was there when Rahm Emanuel was pressing the flesh, kissing babies, and greeting reporters. Emanuel didn’t account for unassuming Kelly to fire off serious journalistic questions more pressing than the requisite “how’s it feel to be back?”

Kelly didn’t account for was the manner in which Chicago reporters behaved. Are these reporters or palace guards? In the video you see them physically move to shield Emanuel from Kelly’s questioning, as though their backs alone would deflect the questions. Kelly is berated and shoved by mainstream media journalists, but the scene stealer is when CBS2’s Jay Levine (who has not responded to my requests for comment) screams at Kelly, “Let him finish or I’m gonna deck you!”

Fireworks begin at about the 1:00 mark:

Who needs bodyguards with media like CBS2’s Jay Levine and the local ABC guy?

From Kelly’s release: (more…)

Rahm “the Ballerina” Emanuel may announce that he’s abandoning the foundering hulk of the S.S. Obama Administration to go back to the criminal racket known as Chicago Democratic politics.  According to the Wall Street Journal:

Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff who has one eye on the exit, has made scores of calls to Chicago politicians, businessmen and labor leaders to clear a place at the starting line in the race to succeed Mayor Richard M. Daley.

People close to Mr. Emanuel say he might resign from his current job as soon as Friday, though according to Rep. Danny Davis, family concerns are giving him pause. Said the Illinois Democrat, who met with Mr. Emanuel last week—and who may run himself: “I got the impression he’s very close to announcing. Much of our conversation centered around the likelihood that he would run.”

By sheer coincidence, Emanuel’s partner in the Obama brain trust, David Axelrod, recently announced that he, too, is returning to Chicago.

Considering Obama’s poll numbers — as well as those of Axelrod’s warmup act, Mass. Gov. “Cadillac” Deval Patrick… (more…)

From WGN:

David Axelrod, a top advisor to President Obama and the main architect of his election victory in 2008, will be leaving the White House next year and returning to Chicago to work on the president’s re-election campaign, a White House aide said Thursday.

Axelrod has not specified a departure date, but he plans to remain in his current position “well into 2011,” the aide said.

Axelrod, who calls himself a “Chicagoan on assignment,” has long made clear he missed his hometown and would return before the end of the four-year term. His wife still lives in the city.

One of Obama’s most trusted aides, Axelrod occupies a small office just steps from the Oval Office. On a wall in Axelrod’s office hangs a picture of the White House drawn by his daughter. The Chicago skyline is shown in the reflecting pool.

Axelrod, a former Chicago Tribune reporter and City Hall bureau chief-turned-campaign consultant, is the latest of the Obama crew to voluntarily dive overboard, joining Peter Orszag, Christina Romer, Larry Summers and, soon enough, fellow Chicagoan Rahm Emanuel. (more…)

Tammany Hall, the greatest criminal organization of its age, spanning the era from Aaron Burr to Boss Tweed to Boss Croker and Charlie Murphy, was the perfect marriage of Democrat Party politics and organized crime. Though thought dead and buried with Carmine DeSapio, it never really went away. In the 1930s, it molted and set up shop in the small city of Hot Springs, Ark., where gangster Owney Madden established a Tammany South, an open city that welcomed gangsters like Frank Costello and politicians like Sen. John McClellan alike, and sent a young William Jefferson Clinton back as its gift to America.

Thinly veiled — and sometimes not so thinly veiled — shakedowns were a way of life for Tammany politicians. At first they were backed up by the power of muscle, of Tammany’s fleet of thugs and gangsters who made sure their voters got to the polls and made equally sure the other guy’s stayed well away. In New York, informal precinct bosses — called “sheriffs” — were recruited from the city’s notorious street gangs, including the Eastmans, the Five Points Gang (whence sprang Al Capone) and Madden’s own Gophers, the terrors of the west wide in what is now Chelsea. The New Black Panthers, standing outside that Philly polling place with billy clubs, are nothing new in American politics. If you knew what was good for you, you voted for the Tiger early and often and you gave and gave and gave.

Illegal? So what? Effective? You bet. (more…)

OBAMA: The party’s hemorrhaging elderly voters over ObamaCare despite Andy Griffith’s help.   And even the Times says the plan’s numbers don’t add up.  What now?  David?

AXELROD:  Two tracks, sir.  Short term, lure seniors back.  We need their votes in November to keep the Senate, at least.  Long term, address the program’s fiscal time bomb.

OBAMA:  OK.  How do we get Democrats bragging to oldsters about their support for the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”?   HHS?

SEBELIUS:  Sir, announce that attorneys reviewing the law have determined that language in Part 3, Sec 1141, (a), (1) suggests seniors’ pets may be considered ”partners,” and therefore eligible for health insurance as dependents of covered humans.

JOE BIDEN:  Nice!  But . . . who’d, uh, vet the claims?  Hahahahaha.

OBAMA:  Be quiet, Joe.  Remember, Hillary’s in the wings.  Whaddya think, Tim?

GEITHNER: Too costly, sir . . . unless the only treatment option for animals was to put them down.

LARRY SUMMERS:  That works for me.  Even so, there’s just enough scratch in the budget we haven’t passed yet to euthanize felines.  Dogs will have to wait.

OBAMA:  Agreed.  Let’s call the subsidiary program “Medicat.” “Peticare” sounds too  . . .  inclusive.  Other ideas to energize old folks?  Nancy? (more…)

Democratic National Committee

Minutes, Oval Office Meeting

Sept 1, 2010

MEMBERS PRESENT

Tim Kaine, Chairman

Howard Dean, Chairman Emeritus Idiotis

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, DNC mascot

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker pro tempore

Harry Reid, Majority Leader

Senator Charles Schumer

Katie Couric, Network Liaison

Eric Boehlert, Media Matters

Keith Olbermann, DNC Cable Guy

ALSO PRESENT

Rahm Emanuel, WH Chief of Staff

Michael Moore, fabulist

George Soros, DNC Sugar Daddy

President Obama

John Zogby, pollster

James Clyburn, CBC observer

Unidentified Hamas Observer

Proceedings:

Chairman Kaine called the meeting to order at 7:00 p. m. in the Oval Office after aides fetched a booster seat for Mr. Kucinich and removed American flags from the room per request Mr. Moore and Mr. Soros.

President Obama left, pleading a golf date. (more…)

DAVID AXELROD:  The labor picture threatens our control of Congress, sir.  That means key initiatives like gutting Defense, forcing the richest 50% to pay their fair share, and passing an immigration bill with an amnesia rider are on the block in November.

OBAMA:  Man, those jobs reports are killin’ us.  And everybody knows the 9.5%, 15 million unemployed figures are probably way off.  Unfortunately, my new Bureau of Labor Statistics czar won’t be in place to fudge the truth until January.

ROBERT GIBBS:  Our media friends can do just so much to downplay conditions, sir.

OBAMA:  So, we only have until the October report to drastically reduce unemployment and convince people the economy’s turned the corner.  Suggestions?  George?

SOROS:  Tomorrow I hire vun million community organizees zu spy on neighbors and alert local media to Tea Party aviliation, zir.  Und anudder ten tousand tugs vill be contracted to vear Palin 2012 tee shirts ven attacking our candidates and dere fam’lies as dey worship. (more…)