Author: Jim Bowman

Jim Bowman covered religion 1968-78 for the Chicago Daily News, since then has written books, articles, etc., mostly on corporate history but also on religion (Company Man: My Jesuit Life, 1950-1968), and more recently on politics (Illinois Blues: How the Ruling Party Talks to Voters -- Lulu.com, Kindle). Longtime Oak Park, Illinois, resident, he lives now on Chicago's North Side, where four of his and Winnie's six children live close by.

The dimensions of the Rauner victory: historic and convincing

From Matt Custardo, his North Shore campaign field manager:

Historic: It was “the first time the president’s governor lost a re-election since 1892.”

Rauner “won by 5% in a state President Obama won by 25% — a 30 point swing.”

Quinn “outspent Rauner on advertising in the final 3 months of the campaign.”

A day and two days before the polls opened, “[Expert forecaster] Nate Silver predicted a Rauner loss. Public Policy Polling . . . said Rauner would lose by 2%,” toppling conventional wisdom that a Republican had to be ahead at that point.

Convincing: Rauner bested Bill Brady and Mark Kirk, winning “moderates outright (52-45%) . . . independents by more than two to one (64% to 29%) . . . a larger share of Democrats . . . class voters by a larger margin (55-44%) . . . ”

He bested Brady, winning “both Republicans (93%) and conservatives (81%) by larger margins.”

He “closed the gap with 18-29 year old voters to single digits.”

So much for (simply) buying the election, as Mark Brown and other commentators said beforehand.

The Justice Department becomes a schoolyard bully in Wisconsin — Geo. Will in WaPo

War on non-govt institutions goes apace:

It is as remarkable as it is repulsive, the ingenuity with which the Obama administration uses the regulatory state’s intricacies to advance progressivism’s project of breaking nongovernmental institutions to government’s saddle.

Eager to sacrifice low-income children to please teachers unions, the Justice Department wants to destroy Wisconsin’s school choice program. Feigning concern about access for disabled children, the department aims to handicap all disadvantaged children by denying their parents access to school choices of the sort affluent government lawyers enjoy.

I’m all right, Jack, say affluent govt lawyers.

Don Harmon taking flak from anti-fracking people

Among other things, they do not like his attitude:

After the vote, Harmon said the committee was weakening the rules because the Department of Natural Resources made them stronger after an unprecedented turnout at public hearings. “We aim to displease both sides equally.”

That’s the kind of flippant comment a legislator usually makes in a Springfield session bar when they’re too intellectually lazy or too inebriated to explain their actions. It’s embarrassing language when discussing an issue that puts communities and lives at risk.

It’s a “Profile in Cowardice,” they say.

Sad day coming for U.S., when Obama goes royal (his word for it)

Royal, not presidential in character, he said.

Tomorrow promises to be a sad day for the United States, as the president will knowingly overstep his constitutional authority to regularize the immigration status of millions of illegals for narrow partisan purposes. Juliet Eilperin and Ed O’Keefe report Obama’s anticipated executive order at the Washington Post.

Consider “the instances and the relevant quotations here.” Plus videos.

Yes. He “he has baldly lied about his past statements.”

He “is a famously cold-blooded character. He now proves himself once again to be a cold-blooded liar.”

Bad news day from both sides of Atlantic

British Prime Minister Cameron says ‘red warning lights’ flashing on global economy – The Washington Post.

Not good to hear this:

LONDON — In a starkly downbeat assessment, British Prime Minister David Cameron has written that the world’s economy could be headed for another fall.

“Six years on from the financial crash that brought the world to its knees, red warning lights are once again flashing on the dashboard of the global economy,” Cameron writes ina piece published Monday inBritain’s Guardian newspaper.

Nor this:

David Stockman Interview On HedgeEye TV: The Bubble Is Global And Its Already Popping

SmarterTimes catches NY Times in self-concentration mode

Apology for mistake, saying IT WASN’T THE REPORTER’S FAULT!  Point is, who cares whose fault within the NYT, which is giant COLLABORATION for the sake of the reader who is the consumer whose interests are supposed to be supreme.

It’s like the counter man at a local “juice bar” cum coffee shop who, when I took note of the high price of their coffee, began to explain it as the high cost of doing things organically, not how much more I would enjoy the coffee knowing it’s good for my health.

Is it?