slade's Link
The headlines throbbed with indignation; the editorial pages exploded in rage. Republicans pressured Ives to take down the ad: making fun of liberals must not be tolerated.
But Ives stood her ground. She told the City Club of Chicago this week: “I respect people who are different than me.”
Where she draws the line is where the state, in the name of tolerance, violates the rights — and raids the wallets — of Illinois residents who disagree.
Purely on tactical grounds, the ad is brilliant. Chicago media rarely cover a Republican candidate, unless he or she does something “wrong.”
No, the ad is not an accurate representation of transgenders — and it is not meant to be. It is a send-up of the liberal social agenda, which Rauner has advanced — in this case, signing a Democrat bill to let transgender people change the sex on their birth certificates, which some conservatives fear could lead to abuses.
Suddenly, Ives is surging — and Rauner is attacking her. Republicans in Illinois are waking up to the fact that they have an alternative — and she is the real deal.
The third-term State Representative, West Point graduate, U.S. Army veteran, and suburban Chicago mom offers more than a chance to force Rauner to account to the base he abandoned. Ives also offers a real chance to win the general election, and save Illinois from its continued slide into fiscal catastrophe.
I'm just waiting for my opportunity to exit this place.
