The Chicago Way

Al Capone

Today on talk radio Mark Styne used the term “The Chicago Way” to describe the tactic that David Plouffe, a “political adviser” of President Obama, is using to smear the Republican head of the House Oversight Committee, Darrell Issa (see: Huffington Post Story).  Plouffe zinged Issa on Twitter as “Mr. Grand Theft” and “Insurance Swindler,” referring to 30 and 40 year old possible blots on Issa’s record.  No matter that these charges were not legally pursued in either case, clearly these libels are meant to blunt Issa’s attempt to get to the bottom of the numerous Obama scandals … shades of Bill Clinton’s response to his many dishonors (particularly his vicious and press-abetted smears on the Special Prosecutor, Ken Starr.)

We see the Windy City Way repeated over and over again in the career of the President … often spearheaded by his consigliore, David Axelrod.  First, when Obama ran for the Illinois Senate and then later for the U.S. Senate … for the sordid details in both cases see: US Politics Story.  Even, lily-pure Mitt Romney was besmirched last year as best as could be done … in that he “murdered” the wife of one of his employees … and he tortured his dog on the top of his car.  Now, under the aegis of our President, the Obama administration has been exposed for more Al Capone-type thuggery, but on a far far grander scale … in the IRS’s targeted suppression of conservative groups and the sordid and far-ranging Justice Department wire-tapping of AP and Fox News reporters.  Representative Issa now has the unenviable task of getting to the bottom of these political outrages.

How could anyone be surprised by these Chi-Town methods ... really?

Afterward: See also: Breitbart Story for a more complete explanation of the charges against Issa.

My Tinfoil Hat

Jack Welch (former CEO of General Electric), Donald Trump (The Donald), Mort Zuckerman (Editor of U.S. News & World Report, owner of the N.Y. Daily News, and founder of Boston Properties), and most right-wing talk-show hosts believe that the recent favorable 7.8% unemployment rate is very suspicious ... thinking that the data has been somehow rigged.  However, I have not yet seen any of them (including the New York Times in two stories) who can point to a possible reason for this misfeasance ... except for myself (bedecked in my tinfoil hat) among a very few others. 

And this is because I have discovered an Obama political operative who has been running the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) since June 14th of this year and whom I suspect is the reason that the unemployment rate suddenly dropped below 8% ... a big political plus for The Barry one month before the Presidential election ... strangely serendipitous.  Her name is Erica Groshen.  None of the luminaries mentioned above seem to know of this coincidence.  Even a recent ABC story seems to think that the BLS is still under the control of apolitical bureaucrats ... see: ABC News Story.  Nonsense!

In order to show you how far off the reservation I have sidled (excuse me, Elizabeth Warren), let me direct you to two wingnut websites I have uncovered ... see: Freedumb Nation and Net Right Daily (please indulge me and read them both).  Although these sites do seem a little odd, they both give one an idea of how really far left this new head of the BLS seems to drop her Birkenstocks.  And, if you believe that her political bent would not cause her to "persuade" her direct reports to follow her lead to the most bizarre adjustment for BLS unemployment statistics in at least 29 years, then you don't understand "the Chicago way."