Editor’s note: Weeks ago, Bruce Rauner and Jeanne Ives appeared before the Chicago Tribune editorial board and most viewers believed Jeanne kicked Bruce’s butt. An editorial that followed a few days later from the Leftists running the Tribune complimented Ives and scolded Rauner. The Tribune has been admitting Rauner’s fiscal policy failures all along, and did so again in that article.
Then — the Tribune endorsed Rauner over Ives anyway. Why? Laurie Higgins explained why in an article that is one of the best summations of what’s wrong with the thinking of those on the political right who prefer to run away from the social issues. Here is her article in full:
By Laurie Higgins
The Chicago Tribune has endorsed Bruce Rauner despite his lousy track record, his lousy debate performance, and his penchant for bald-faced lying (as amply demonstrated in his campaign ads).
The Trib sees Rauner’s resolve in opposing Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan as his chief accomplishment. But surely the editorial board knows that resolve in the service of principle is—along with her command of public policy—one of Ives’ most notable attributes.
So, why endorse Rauner who was named the “Worst Republican Governor in America” by National Review?
It’s those pesky social issues that some Republicans deem trivial while progressives—recognizing their critical importance—obsess over.
Despite Ives’ command of issues, self-discipline, and resolve, the Trib deems her unworthy of its endorsement because of her views on falsified birth certificates, the sexual integration of private spaces, marriage, family, and taxpayer-funding of human slaughter.
The Trib claims an Ives’ campaign ad “ridiculed people who are different from [Ives],” calling the ad “mean-spirited and often inaccurate.” Using actors to portray the constituencies Rauner’s social agenda serviced, the ad criticized—not people—but leftist bills that Rauner signed into law.
Ironically, the Trib accuses Ives’ ad of being “misleading” and “inaccurate” while at the same time claiming the birth certificate bill Rauner signed allows those who identify as the opposite sex to have their “gender designation” changed on their birth certificates. That’s either a dishonest or ignorant claim. Either way, it’s misleading and inaccurate. Doctors do not “designate” “genders.” They identify sexes.
The Trib makes the risible claim that “there is a way to be a compassionate conservative. And then there is [Ives’] way.”
Try civilly dissenting publicly from any progressive propositions on the nature and morality of homosexual activity, marriage, or the “trans” ideology. Then wait for the epithet-hurling to commence.
In an earlier editorial, the editorial board expanded their criticism of Ives beyond her campaign ad to her position on homosexuality and marriage, citing her views as “troubling.” In a 2013 interview, Ives described the union of two people of the same sex as a “disordered relationship.” It’s strange that Trib editors would find that description “troubling,” since it uses the exact language of the Catholic Church, and Ives (as well as some Trib editors) is Catholic.
The editorial board finds Ives wholly unremarkable beliefs on the sexual integration of private spaces, the intrinsic value of all human lives, marriage, children’s rights, and sexuality to be troubling and mean-spirited. But what if they’re true?
