The Democrats, Episode 3

Once again the Beachwood’s crack team of analysts gathered at HQ to size up the candidates for leader of the free world – this time the Democrats meeting at Howard University in a forum focused on race. Andrew Kingsford, Tim Willette and Steve Rhodes provide the commentary.
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Andrew: Look, there’s a white guy in the audience!
Steve: This is like bizarro debate.
*
Host Tavis Smiley begins speaking.
Steve: I’d like to say that as we speak, all whites are being rounded up . . .
Andrew: And put in cabs to Arizona.
*
Crowd shot of Cornel West.
Tim: Ever hear his record?
Andrew: He has a record?
Steve: It’s post-structuralist rap.

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Posted on June 29, 2007

This letter was recently sent to friendly real estate interests in support of the proposed demolition of the Lake Shore Athletic Club.
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June 19, 2007
Dear Friend in Real Estate,
As real estate professionals, we both believe that development in downtown Chicago will benefit the city with beautiful new buildings and economic opportunities. That’s why we are urging you to support Fifield’s proposed residential development at 850 Lake Shore Drive, a 100-unit, high-end condominium development that will further beautify the Gold Coast and Lake Shore Drive areas, as well as enhance property values in the neighborhood.

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Posted on June 26, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

The front page story in The New York Times this week probing the relationship between Barack Obama and Tony Rezko revealed a few new disturbing facts, though the article was short on explanation and analysis – and there is yet more to the story of Illinois’ favorite son and his dark patron.
Let’s take a look.
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“Mr. Obama has portrayed Mr. Rezko as a one-time fund-raiser whom he had occasionally seen socially. But interviews with more than a dozen political and business associates suggest that the two men were closer than the senator has indicated,” the Times reports.
“Mr. Obama turned to Rezko for help at several important junctures. Records show that when Mr. Obama needed cash in the waning days of his losing 2000 Congressional campaign, Mr. Rezko rounded up thousands of dollars from business contacts. In 2003, Mr. Rezko helped Mr. Obama expand his fund-raising for the Senate primary by being host of a dinner in his Mediterranean-style home for 150 people, including some whose names have come up in the influence scandal.

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Posted on June 15, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

The Tribune completed its “Making of a Candidate” series this week with an examination of how Barack Obama and his political consultants decided to craft the Obama brand and fix his politics around it. So much for authenticity.
Let’s take a look.
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“One evening in February 2005, in a four-hour meeting stoked by pepperoni pizza and grand ambition, Sen. Barack Obama and his senior advisers crafted a strategy to fit the Obama ‘brand,'” the Trib reports.
“Yet even in those early days [of the U.S. Senate term he had just won], Obama and his advisers were thinking ahead. Some called it the ‘2010-2012-2016’ plan: a potential bid for the governor or re-election to the Senate in 2010, followed by a bid for the White House as soon as 2012 or, if not, 2016.
“The way to get there, they decided, was by carefully building a record that matched the brand identity: Obama as unifier and consensus builder, an almost postpolitical leader.”

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Posted on June 13, 2007

By The Beachwood Preservation Affairs Desk

May 21, 2007
Ms. Gail Spreen
President
Streeterville Organization of Active Residents
Dear Gail:
I was very disturbed to receive your e-mail that the SOAR board had voted to recommend that 850 Lake Shore Drive be designated as a Chicago landmark.
Northwestern University strongly believes that such a landmark designation will have adverse unintended consequences and will result in substantial financial harm to Northwestern.
We explained our process and the Fifield proposal at a previous meeting with you but I would like to meet again with SOAR to further explain the situation in hopes that the SOAR Board will reconsider its decision.

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Posted on June 12, 2007

Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor:
I’m writing today to express my concern for an issue about to come up for vote at the City Council meeting on June 13 that will affect my work as a creator (and critic, and consumer) of public art.
As you may be aware, in mid-May at the request of the Commissioner of Cultural Affairs (Lois Weisberg), Mayor Daley proposed an ordinance to revamp the Public Art Program. Unfortunately, this proposed ordinance is bad government: bad for Chicagoans and particularly bad for the Chicago art community. In essence it wipes out public participation in the selection of public art. This is outrageous, and will not be tolerated by the Chicago art community.

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Posted on June 8, 2007

The Republicans, Episode 3

It was a little too soon for the Beachwood Mystery Debate team to bounce back from Sunday night’s Democratic debate to cover Tuesday night’s Republican debate – I mean, even we have our limits – so this is an edited and adapted transcript with commentary added this morning from Beachwood HQ. It’s still pretty good.
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MR. BLITZER: So let’s meet the candidates. We’ve asked for no opening statements. However, I’d like to ask each candidate to — in one short sentence, about five seconds or so, to introduce themselves to the voters of New Hampshire.
Let me begin with an example. I’m Wolf Blitzer, and I’m with CNN. (Laughter.) Let’s start across the stage, and we’ll begin with Tom Tancredo.
REP. TANCREDO: Hi. I’m Tom Tancredo.
Beachwood: And I’ll only be in this race for two more months.

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Posted on June 6, 2007

The Democrats, Episode 2

Once again the Beachwood Mystery Debate Theater team of Tim Willette, Andrew Kingsford and Steve Rhodes convened at Beachwood HQ to share Polish beer, takeout from Eat First #2, and a presidential candidates debate, this time the Democrats in their second such meeting.
The event actually exceeded our expectations; it was mostly a lively and substantive discussion – until question time from the public. Let’s just say that sometimes citizens are a buzzkill.

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Posted on June 4, 2007