Robert Ebert attacks Sarah Palin:
And how can you be her age and never have gone to Europe?
and
Palin is a shallow, chirpy person with those vaguely alarming eyeglasses. Now her fans all want a pair. Remember back when women wore glasses that departed their ears in plastic swoops and swirls? My theory is, anyone who wears glasses that look weird is telling me something I don't want to know.
It takes a certain sense of style for Roger Ebert to attack the beautiful Sarah Palin.In case we forget,Robert Ebert and his wife are part of Chicago's ethically challenged establishment.Here's
John Kass of the Chicago Tribune reporting on Roger Ebert's wife:
In Hapless Taxpayer World, where you and I live, here's what happens if you gamble at the casinos and lose your house:
Your wife leaves and takes the kids. And you end up alone in a motel, shrieking at the TV, eating microwave mac-and-cheese with a spork.
But if you live in Combine World, with the state's political insiders, here's what happens if you gamble and lose more than you can afford:
State Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) tries to bail you out with a nifty idea buried deep in a gambling bill, allowing you to recoup a combined $33 million in casino investment losses from the once-sure-thing (and since failed) Emerald Casino in allegedly non-Outfit-controlled Rosemont.
And after you get all of your money back, Jones will put you first in line to invest in new casino deals, in Chicago, Waukegan, the south suburbs or O'Hare International Airport. You'll make a fortune.
But what happens to the rest of us, in Hapless Taxpayer World? We can press our noses up against the window, watching politically connected investors raise champagne flutes, toasting to the benefits of being "disadvantaged minority" casino investors in Illinois.
"This whole saga is astounding," Jay Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association, told me on Tuesday. "You've been writing about this for years, and they keep on trying. If you or I invest in a business and lose, we cry in our beer. But in this case, the privileged insiders say, 'We made a bad investment, now reward us, and, while you're at it, give us a new casino.' "
This is not a joke. This is Illinois. There have been attempts at giving the so-called disadvantaged minority Emerald insiders their money back over the years. And each time I've written about it, I foolishly forget to burn the stumps with a torch, to keep the heads from sprouting and multiplying.
Late Tuesday, Cindy Davidsmeyer, a spokeswoman for Jones, called me to say the Emerald investor bailout had been withdrawn.
And I wondered: Who was going to break the news to mayoral brain Tim Degnan?
One of the investors is Connie Payton, wife of the late, legendary Walter Payton. She lost out in the Emerald deal. I do feel sorry for her. But if I die and my wife makes bad investments, will the Illinois Combine bail her out? I think not.
Another investor is Chaz Ebert, wife of the renowned Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert. I wanted to feel sorry for her too. Then one day, after one of my columns ran on another bailout attempt, she called to complain about my tone, while she was en route to the French Riviera.
Sarah Palin doesn't have Obama's mentor Emil Jones trying to rip off the taxpayers.
