The complacent local media has taken up the charge that the a current campaign commercial released by the McCain campaign is unfair.

As Mister Dooley once observed “Politics ain’t bean bag.”

The mayor and his brother, former Secretary of Commerce William M. Daley, have complained that the political advertisement linking Barack Obama to the corrupt Chicago machine is an example of political mudslinging. More specifically, Bill Daley resents the assertion that he has ever served as a political lobbyist.

Excuse me for my astonishment and disbelief. While Daley may have never registered as a lobbyist or made this activity his full-time occupation, I find it difficult to believe that he has not regularly communicated with a wide variety of politicians.

When Bill Daley worked for the politically connected Amalgamated Bank, Cook County taxpayers were taken to the cleaners when various government agencies and office holders in Chicago and Cook County deposited funds in non-interest bearing accounts. Millions of dollars were on account and earned absolutely nothing.

Following the completion of his term as a cabinet secretary, Bill Daley became a trusted campaign advisor to former Vice President Albert Gore, Jr. When Gore organized his campaign, Daley was tapped to serve as the campaign’s chairman. On the night of the general election, Gore had been prepared to telephone his concession to George W. Bush. Daley intercepted Gore and urged him to not to concede and recommended that Gore contest the election returns from Florida.

Had Gore carried his home state of Tennessee or the home state of President Clinton, Arkansas, no concession would have been required. After accepting Daley’s advice, the Democrats attempted to steal the election in Florida to deprive Bush of a narrow victory in the Electoral College.

It became an embarrassing sideshow as the Democrats objected to the form of the “butterfly ballot” used in various Florida precincts. A virtually identical ballot booklet had been employed throughout Cook County, Illinois, but why bother with inconvenient details.

The ensuing weeks turned into a national nightmare. The attorneys for Gore attempted to disenfranchise members of the United States military by claiming that their absentee ballots were spoiled or untimely.
The naked power grab continued so long that it nearly provoked a constitutional crisis.

The entire mess had to be decided in the United States Supreme Court. Upon review, the high court rejected the recounts conducted in Florida as lacking uniform standards for processing disputed ballots. Despite the fact that Gore never obtained a majority of the votes cast in any of the multiple recounts conducted in Florida, forever afterwards Democratic activists decried the legitimacy of Bush’s victory claiming that the forty-third president had been “selected” and not “elected.”

If you doubt my recollection, rent the movie “Recount.” Actor Mitch Pileggi plays the role of Bill Daley in the picture.

Take a look at your telephone bill. After Bill Daley returned to Illinois, he assumed the position of president of SBC Communications, Inc., and helped steer the ownership change of SBC through the Illinois Commerce Commission, the cost of local telephone service sky rocketed as a result.

Now, Bill Daley is rumored to have gubernatorial ambitions. As such, he is displeased to be linked to Obama, Tony Rezko, Emil Jones and Rod Blagojevich in a campaign ad.

Lynn Sweet of The Chicago Sun-Times rated the commercial which linked Obama to the Chicago Democratic Machine. She found fault with some of the assertions contained in the spot and went so far as to claim that Obama was never particularly close to Governor Blagojevich. Really? Of course, it is convenient for Obama to deny associating with Blagojevich today, but in a rare moment of candor, Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-5th) admitted that Obama was once a member of Blagojevich’s inner circle. This was early on. As Blagojevich’s popularity began to plummet, Obama began to keep his distance.

Sweet also maintains that Obama is a Hyde Park independent. While his career may have begun in that manner, his advancement would not have progressed beyond the Illinois General Assembly if he had remained faithful to the IVI-IPO movement.

At some point, Obama sold out to the Machine and it is ridiculous not to admit as much.