CapitolFax.com - Latest Comments in Question of the day

Re: Question of the day

Rich Miller — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:51:22 -0000

===According to the latest poll by the NRSC,===

I'd like to see those numbers.

Re: Question of the day

PhilCollins — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:48:38 -0000

The question is unimportant because Mike Psak will win the primary. He told me about his campaign 14 months ago, and he officially announced his campaign on March 10. He supports President Bush's Iraq policies. Psak is pro-tax cuts, pro-spending cuts, pro-life, anti-illegal alien, and pro-gun rights. According to the latest poll by the NRSC, he's the most popular Republican in the race, with about twice as many supporters as the second-place candidate. Psak campaigned at the Du Quoin Fair for three days, and Sauerberg was there for a few hours. Please read Psak's site, www.psak4ussenate.com.

Re: Question of the day

Sigmund Freud — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:04:19 -0000

I hope so.

Re: Question of the day

Bill Baar — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:55:54 -0000

Are there really coattails anymore?

I don't know but as far as I can tell that's all the Dr. has going for him.

Google around on the net and look for an interview with Dukakis about this election. He explains all of the potential wild cards out there.

It's fun to forecast these numbers but this is a very unusual election in unusual and volatile times.

I think Democrats have badly over reached and missed a great opportunity to join with Bush (and split the GOP) on immigration reform.

Durbin's gone one way with the senate and HRC is going to tack farther right next year leaving Durbin a guy with one foot on two logs drifting further apart.

Durbin an elastic fellow with bucks in the bank but with all the unknowns out there, who knows...he could sink.

Re: Question of the day

Skeeter — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:01:54 -0000

Sig,
This idea that doctors get sued for malpractice all the time is ridiculous.
Go to the Cook County court website and do a search for your own doctor. I am pretty confident you are not going to find seven suits since 1995.
Moreover, this guy does internal medicine (family practice). It is not like he is a cardiologist or like he's delivering babies, where there are more suits than in other areas.
It not a matter of "doctors are bad." This is a simple matter of "THIS doctor is bad."
I can't wait until the press starts asking questions about what, as United States Senator, he would do to crack down on physicians.

Re: Question of the day

Sigmund Freud — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 09:26:05 -0000

Mr. Baar: Are there really coattails anymore? Look at the districts that went Reagan/Simon in '84 and G-Ryan/Braun in '98.
I admit the Sauerberg/McKenna thing confused me.
But I still wonder what is in it for The Doctor if and when he gets eviscerated?
Yes, he's not a lawyer, but I said "judgeships or anything."
And if no one thinks Durbin will not drum up the anti-doctor sentiment, (even if it is a minority viewpoint) they are wrong.
I know that Doctors get sued for malpractice all the time. It comes with the territory, especially in Illinois.
But who is to stop Durbin and his ilk from manipulating those statistics?

Re: Question of the day

Bill Baar — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 09:12:22 -0000

The base will turn itâ€™s back on those two.

I'd say those two are Sauerberg's only chance.

Re: Question of the day

The Conservative — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 07:49:21 -0000

"Republicans will turn out in record numbers to defeat Hillary" I would say that statement is correct except if Rudy or McCain are the winners of the primary. The base will turn it's back on those two.

Re: Question of the day

T.J. — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 07:43:54 -0000

36%. No way does he do worse than Keyes.

Re: Question of the day

Bill Baar — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 07:24:07 -0000

Carl,

Bill, arenâ€™t all the Republican candidates except Congressman Ron Paul running as the heirs to Bush policy?

No and especially McCain who was bitterly critical of Rumsfeld for a long time. It many respects he's been the most critical of anyone running. Critics are not all doves.

The Republican Party branded itself the party of GWB. That doesnâ€™t go just b/c heâ€™s not allowed to run for re-election.

This election is all about rebranding. The GOP is figuring that out faster than the Dems.

Bill, do you think Bush would bomb Iran to create a rift in the Democratic Party between the Israel hawks and the Dems who see unnecessary wars as a bad thing?

No, but this kind of talk won't help Dems.

Would you support Bush starting a second elective war to give the GOP a domestic political advantage?

Bill, say Durbinâ€™s base is disillusioned. Whereâ€™s Sauerbergâ€™s campaign money going to come from? Whatâ€™s Sauerbergâ€™s best case finish on election night 2008?

It's not disillusioned yet but it will be when HRC starts triagulating right, and trying sound like the toughest bunch in town i.e. picking a General Clark for VP.

Getting cash will the Saurbergs hurdle, but I think the question Durbin needs to worry about is if the Democrats haven't peaked in 2007 instead of 2008.

Re: Question of the day

Sigmund Freud — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 03:02:44 -0000

Frank: The Democrats do it all the time: It's called slating.

Re: Question of the day

Frank — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 01:09:29 -0000

Is there a reason why Republican party officials are endorsing a candidate in a primary with more than one candidate? Yes, the others may not be as distinguished, but this only discourages our democratic process.

Re: Question of the day

Skeeter — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:39:02 -0000

I have to say that I am really tired of the people who have decided that the only way to beat Sen. Durbin is to lie about his record.

Read what he said about the prisons and the interrogations. Any American with any sense of decency and values should be standing up behind him on that one. He was completely right, and his critics on that issue are cheap hacks.

For those of you who claim that he made some offensive comments: Please spell out what comments you believe were offensive, or just crawl back away. The attacks are really pathetic.

Sen. Durbin is now, and always has been, a class act and a person who deeply cares about America and American values. His opponent is a bad doctor who keeps getting sued for malpractice. This election isn't going to be close. Sen. Durbin will rightfully win this election easily, because he is a far better man for the job of United States Senator.
Of course, if he loses, his opponent will likely stop seeing patients, and from the looks of the court docket, that also would probably be a good thing.

Re: Question of the day

Leatherneck — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:34:13 -0000

Yeah I am sticking with Mike Psak. The kid in Mike Psak's video sounds less "scripted" than Sauerberg does in his video.

Re: Question of the day

Carl Nyberg — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:48:09 -0000

Bill, aren't all the Republican candidates except Congressman Ron Paul running as the heirs to Bush policy?

The Republican Party branded itself the party of GWB. That doesn't go just b/c he's not allowed to run for re-election.

Bill, do you think Bush would bomb Iran to create a rift in the Democratic Party between the Israel hawks and the Dems who see unnecessary wars as a bad thing? Would you support Bush starting a second elective war to give the GOP a domestic political advantage?

Bill, say Durbin's base is disillusioned. Where's Sauerberg's campaign money going to come from? What's Sauerberg's best case finish on election night 2008?

Re: Question of the day

Sigmund Freud — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:24:39 -0000

I guess it was just my "Freudian slipping" frustration that Durbin will not be adequately challenged this time around.

Our Senior senator has said some very bad things and has been a disappointment on so many different operating levels.

Maybe it's not "the combine." That said, why doesn't McKenna run himself if he is the repository of all things GOP? He had no problem running four years ago.

Maybe people do like their doctors; I may be skewed--many times I have participated in trials where doctors testified as treaters, testified as experts, and jurors seemed to have been put off by their arrogance: natural, contrived or otherwise.

No matter what, that "M.D." on Sauerberg's campaign signs will separate him from the pack.

And maybe it will separate him from Durbin's prior two GOP Senatorial opponents.

Re: Question of the day

Bill Baar — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:07:48 -0000

Carl, How fired up are you going to be with HRC and Gen Clark at the top of the ticket? Talking tough about Iran.. moving back to the center (and probably far right as far as you'd see it).

Dick Durbin will be right with the pair of them.

If Iraq not an issue then, but what to do about Iran is... so, things could look very different in a few months. Dems won't be running against Bush anymore. We may have two sets of candidates trying to look tough with the Dems trying harder.

Durbin may have a very disillusioned base.

Re: Question of the day

Anon — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:45:12 -0000

Will go down at 35 at best. Self-funding won't even help. The troops haven't been really energized, hopeful, fascinated, and/or willing to get out there to compete since the time leading up to the 04 Primary--and McKenna/Sauerberg certainly won't be able to get them out. Doubt that there's even a good story to tell.

Re: Question of the day

Rich Miller — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:00:03 -0000

Sigmund, your post is way off the mark...

===Face it, the GOP (I hate to use the word â€œcombineâ€ but I see a certain columnistâ€™s point, especially here) does not want to beat Sen. Durbin.===

It's not that they don't want to beat him, it's that nobody has stepped up to the plate, and they really don't have anybody good enough, well known enough or rich enough to do it. Who are they hiding? That combine stuff is way overused.

===Face it, no one likes Doctors, really. ===

That's ridiculous. The reason why the GA and Congress passed med-mal reform was precisely because of all the doctors lobbying their patients. People love doctors, in general and in particular.

===The GOP has no judgeships or anything right now===

He's not a lawyer, so he couldn't be a judge even if he wanted to be.

Re: Question of the day

Sigmund Freud — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:51:31 -0000

22nd Street: Steve Sauerberg is not a nutbag?
Running the suicide squad for the ineffectual Andy McKenna is about as delusional and/or psychotic as you can get. What can he possibly get out of it? The GOP has no judgeships or anything right now. No reward for him to go down hard. Just a loyal plastic robot for a GOP that does not care. Can he self-fund? Even better, considering the Illinois GOP is destitute.

I do not want this guy operating on me, that's for sure.

This is a vanity campaign, pure and simple.

Nalepa, unleashed, would be able to at least attack Durbin on the issues. And attack him personally. I still do not know why he backed down at the last minute and endorsed this guy.

Face it, no one likes Doctors, really. Unless your life was saved by a a particular one, chances are you took off work, and waited three hours after your scheduled appointment reading Highlights for Children and Newsweek from 1987.

Then got misdiagnosed by Dr. Butcher so your life was ruined. And you had to go to another Dr. Butcher to fix that. And you still are not covered if you are on your own.

Face it, the GOP (I hate to use the word "combine" but I see a certain columnist's point, especially here) does not want to beat Sen. Durbin.

For reasons that make me wonder why I should vote for them at all.

Re: Question of the day

Rich Miller — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:34:22 -0000

So, "serious" means "dream." You have nobody like that in your party these days except maybe Schillerstrom. And he's not suicidal.

Re: Question of the day

cermak_rd — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:25:52 -0000

Oh, I forgot, I'd peg him at 35%--he won't go as low as Keyes because I don't think he's a nutbag.

Re: Question of the day

cermak_rd — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:25:25 -0000

Isn't Durbin the only statewide office-holder not from the Chicago Met area? Obama, Blago, L. Madigan, Giannoulias, and Hynes are all from the Chicago Met area, so I would think that those from Central, Southern and Western IL would want to keep Durbin.

Re: Question of the day

Super Mega — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:10:30 -0000

Serious meaning a high-quality candidate, most likely having held elective office previously, has a large political operation, some name ID, and the ability to raise millions of dollars.

Also, someone who can receive endorsements from outside their party chairman.

Re: Question of the day

Tom — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:57:06 -0000

err that should be $850 billion in AMT relief.