During the 2008 presidential debates, John McCain got off one good line on Barack Obama. After Obama tried to tie him to George W. Bush, McCain shot back, “If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago.”
Pat Quinn needs to tell Bill Brady something similar: “If you wanted to run against Rod Blagojevich, you should have run four years ago.” Because both of Brady’s new TV ads attempt to make Quinn look like a protégé of the impeached governor.
First, Rod Blagojevich embarrassed us, and now Pat Quinn’s made things worse. Lost jobs and exploding deficits. Criminals released early. Staff pay raises. Calls for higher income taxes. Quinn even kept 75 percent of Blagojevich’s appointees. Under Quinn, we have suffered enough.
The second ad is even more biting. It begins with a photo illustration of Quinn reading a volume entitled The Blagojevich Handbook.
Pat Quinn learned a lot of Rod Blagojevich. Now, just like Rod, Quinn secretly sold us out for political gain. After sticking taxpayers with a $250 million pay raise for government workers, he got $450,000 in campaign cash. He vetoed bipartisan job creating reforms to get even more campaign cash. Quinn so admires Blagojevich that he kept 75 percent of Blago’s cronies. If we wouldn’t re-elect Blagojevich, why would we elect his partner, Pat Quinn?
Politics
Blagojevich was a boob of a governor, but he’s been out of office almost as long as George W. Bush. The voters of Illinois no longer blame the state’s problems on Rod Blagojevich. And they never really thought of Quinn as a Blagojevich crony to begin with. He was the shady governor’s goody-goody sidekick. During the impeachment crisis, Quinn was one of Blagojevich’s sternest critics.
Brady is probably going to win this election. But he’s going to have to do it by beating Pat Quinn, not Rod Blagojevich. He’s wasting the last six days of the campaign by attacking a man who’s not even on the ballot.
