Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Gerry Rafferty Dies. Comments on Chicago Mayoral Race



The 70s Scottish pop singer Gerry Rafferty died yesterday at age 63. He went the same way as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jim Morrison, reportedly succumbing to a necrotic liver -- as good a way as any to go, I suppose. He was best known for his melancholy hit, "Baker Street," -- that of the famous saxaphone riffs -- and "Stuck in the Middle With You."

I doubt he intended it, but being a political junkie of long standing, I always ascribed political subcontexts to the latter song's lyrics: "Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am: Stuck in the middle with you."

It perfectly sums up my view of the miserable field of candidates offered to Chicago voters in the upcoming election.

See the accompanying candidate photo spread: clown Mosely-Braun to the left, joker Rahm Emanuel to the right and stuck in the middle with a vaguely acceptable Gary Chico (below.)

Pitiful, isn't it?


2 comments:

  1. I wonder, do you think maybe Chicagoans are unaware there is another political party besides Democrat? That must be it. *eyeroll* Same ol' same ol'.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm afraid that in Chicago proper, there isn't another political party. The Chicago Republican "organization" is a bad joke. Many of its elected Ward committeemen are, in fact, Democrats who get can elected as "Republican" committeeman because there are so few Republican voters in their wards that they can just corral a score or so of Dems to vote for them in the GOP primary to get elected. Then they proceed to appoint fellow Dems to be "Republican" election judges.

    Everybody's asking why the Republicans didn't run a single candidate for Mayor, who could possibly come in second in a 7 person field and then get into the runoff. The GOP candidate could, at least change the conversation in the election to bring up things like over-taxation, corruption, etc. But the Republicans were too stupid and incompetent to even do that.

    Chicago Republicans couldn't organize a 2 car funeral procession.

    ReplyDelete

Comments invited, however anonymous commentors had better deal directly with the issues raised and avoid ad hominem drivel. As for Teachers' Union seminar writers -- forget about it.