Illinois politics

I was driving along in the western suburbs of Chicago the other day and saw a large and rather rare political sign reading “Tammy Duckworth for Congress” planted off the shoulder of the road. I haven’t seen a whole lot of them around in DuPage County. It was odd, not so much because of the large size, but because it made for a reality check that this really is the candidate for this race for Congress.

It’s for the 6th Congressional District of Illinois. Henry Hyde’s seat. The Honorable Henry Hyde has served the 6th District for 32 years now, and he has been widely viewed and celebrated as a just and moral giant, the leader of the House Judiciary who cited the remarks of Sir Thomas More on the floor of Congress in a stirring address about integrity, and how we each are responsible for our own.

Running for his seat is Illinois Republican State Senator Peter Roskam, with twelve years in the Illinois legislature and a solid voting record and a strong pro-life position. And Democrat Tammy Duckworth, with service in the Iraq war but none in government, with a strong pro-abortion position, who was enlisted by the ‘Chicago machine’ political experts. She doesn’t even live in the 6th District. These two could hardly be more opposite.

So, fine. Let the election be on their merits and those of their positions on the issues. But Duckworth’s campaign has not been about her positions on the issues. She tends to turn the subject back to her Iraq war experiences.

Last night on one of the cable TV news shows on Fox, I heard a Democrat strategist state that the Democrats “want to clean up Washington, and Tammy Duckworth’s race is an example of that.”

An example of what? This is Henry Hyde’s seat. What would she be cleaning up? What would she even do, besides back abortion on demand any time for any reason? It’s a fair question, for every candidate. Especially ones who want to take the place of traditional moral leaders.

You know, the more they don’t answer, the more they really say.