The American Spectator

Dean| 10.2.09 @ 12:16PM

As a resident of a Chicago suburb, I have to admit relief that Chicago did not win the bid to host the 2016 Olympics. While having the games nearby would have been incredible, Chicago is so overwrought with corruption and poor money management that the risk to the taxpayers was overwhelming.

Additionally, the violence in the inner city, the poor schools, congestion, excessively high taxes and so many other issues have to be resolved before Chicago can honestly believe it can host the Olympics.

My hope and prayer now is that the same energy used to get the Olympics will now be put forth to ensure the young people of the city of Chicago can get an education and live lives that are not fearful of violence everyday.

bfwebster| 10.2.09 @ 12:27PM

Chicago is one of my favorite cities to visit on business, and my wife and I actually considered relocating there when we decided to leave DC and move west to be closer to kids/grandkids. But: Chicago in the summer vs. Rio in the (mild) winter? Climate alone would make that an easy choice. Add to that the massive corruption and congestion in Chicago, and I'm not at all surprised they lost. ..bruce..

Tim| 10.2.09 @ 12:35PM

What a devastating, personal rejection for Obama. I'm sure he'll do better negotiating with the Iranians...

Rantly McTirade| 10.2.09 @ 12:38PM

As another from suburban Chicago, I'm celebrating this reprive from bankruptcy, massive graft, and eventual neo-marital governance by incompetent 'leadership' and arrogant, wanna-be soldier boy
piggies on the ground.
Hillyer's nitwit rhetoric is why what are called 'conservatives' in the mainstream are viewed with ridicule and contempt. It's the same delusional-and arrogant- argument that says we should be wasting money and lives spreading 'freedom and democracy' to the failed and ignorant drecks of humanity 'round the globe-except in this case we should welcome the smelly hordes to our nation so the stink of incompetence and stupidity will magically fall away. Idiotic and insulting.

Tim| 10.2.09 @ 12:42PM

It's like one of those sci fi invasion movies where we throw everything at the aliens and it doesn't work. We used OPRAH for goodness sake and she bounced right off...

Daisy| 10.2.09 @ 3:39PM

Don't think so Tim: If you threw Oprah at that skinny little French IOC guy he would have been as flat as a crepe!

Tim| 10.2.09 @ 3:52PM

One can't argue with results, or the lack thereof. They have developed some sort of anti-Oprah force field.

Daisy| 10.2.09 @ 6:31PM

That's racist! Mmm, mmm, mmm.

rssg| 10.2.09 @ 12:47PM

I'm not interested in Olympics and I suspect, most Americans have not been interestede in Olympics for years - decades really.

I'm glad Chicago lost it because Hussein bin Obama made a fool of himself, hustling and lobbying to get the games, which was only a payback to his Chicago machine backers.

When can we de-elect this non-serious, celebrity "President"?

Liberal Reader| 10.2.09 @ 12:50PM

Mr Hillyer --

Why shouldn't Republicans cheer that Chicago lost?

They'll cheer ANY loss suffered by this country until the federal government is returned to their control.

And God knows that's best for the country. Just look at the Golden Age Republicans ushered in by their sage governance during the past decade!

From the party of ideas, to the party of cynics!

C4P| 10.2.09 @ 2:37PM

Whine, whine , whine.

It amuses me when a liberal gets in touch with his patriotic inner child. It's always self-serving.

But that's okay, we know they don't mean it anyway.

Tim| 10.2.09 @ 3:05PM

Watchit, he'll sick Oprah on you...

rssg| 10.2.09 @ 12:53PM

Do we really need to "introduce" the world to our country? Quin, have you seen immigration figures for the past 20 years? Half the world has moved here and most Americans are sick and tired of it.

I don't wanna speak Spanish and listen to Islamic calls to prayer, five times a day, as happens in my hometown of Dearbornistan, Michigan.

With 16% unemployment, yeah, lets have more immigration!! Duh.

astorian| 10.2.09 @ 12:54PM

I'm not as teary-eyed as i should be but it's not because I hate Chicago or because I enjoy seeing Obama fail. Truth is, I didn't want New York, Dallas or Houston to host the Olympics, either. And I didn't want New York to build new facilities for the Yankees or Mets.

Frankly, I don't understand why ANY city wants to host the Olympics, any more than I understand why cities regularly spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build stadiums for their local baseball and football teams.

Athens still has the facilities from 8 years ago, and they have tradition going for them. why not just have the Olympics in Athens every four years?

notmypresident09| 10.2.09 @ 1:10PM

Quin, I just dont understand you. Just when I think you get it, you come up with a post like this one. The chicago machine, could care less for the rest of the country. Whats really funny, is that the kings of corruption and bribes didnt pony up enough payolla to win the bid. Now, that my friend, is irony! They should have sent ACORN instead of the president.

Liberal Reader| 10.2.09 @ 1:15PM

Contemptible.

This response to the Olympics is contemptible, weak, shallow, and cynical.

I'm writing you people off. You're hopeless.

tonypal| 10.2.09 @ 1:44PM

We'll certainly miss your wacky antics here at TAS.

Daisy| 10.2.09 @ 2:51PM

I know why Chicago didn't get the Olympic Games: THE IOC IS RACIST!! Ha ha ha.

Tim| 10.2.09 @ 3:07PM

Prepare the fainting couch.

Amor de Cosmos| 10.2.09 @ 3:49PM

Where was your ire and contempt when President Bush was being defamed on a daily basis? Oh, I forgot, you were in the cheering section.

Anyone with half a brain knew before last November that Obama was an empty suit and would be a disaster as president. This incident shows that not everyone in the world bought the hype of "Hope and Change".

Too bad for Chicago that the Olympic Committee couldn't be dazzled by droning, vacuous platitudes.

Pete Chagnon| 10.2.09 @ 1:19PM

Give me a break. With all that is facing this nation, this idiot president wastes his time pitching for Chicago, while he can't take a moment to see his General in charge of our troops, and you bemoan the decision?Sometimes your brain goes into neutral. Impeach the incompetent fool.

JP| 10.2.09 @ 1:31PM

Unemployment high and rising.....expected to hit 11% by some economists next year. Debt, deficit both worse than even under Bush. Unemployment worse than under Bush as well.

Our military standing against militant Islam is weakening, as well as against the Russians and Chinese.

Pal'ing around with Chavez, Ortega, Castro and pandering to the Iranians, whom we've been in a virtual state of war with since 1979.

BHO is an anti-American with socialist and Islamic sympathies. He needs to go ASAP.

Frank Marschino| 10.2.09 @ 2:26PM

Amen, JP!

Becky| 10.2.09 @ 1:31PM

America is well known enough to stand or fall on its own when it comes to the Olympics. The Olympics does not seem to have the allure to me that it used to when I was young. Maybe it was the USSR/USA competition, the fact that our athletes were truly amatuers, or that we only got a couple channels on our tv roof top atenna, so looked forward to something to watch.

As the Olympics has diminished (my opinion), why the president would choose to interject himself, along with his wife and her best chat buddy, one senses he believed it was a slam dunk, he needed the ego stroke after the last few bad months, and he really doesn't understand that Presidents need to keep out of the politics of the Olympics. Carter's decision to boycott was disasterous. Bush's refusal to participate in turning the Olympics into a political spoil system was smarter.

Campy| 10.2.09 @ 1:32PM

Pete, spot on! To quote another commenter on a different site, “Meanwhile…..back at the outhouse…things were piling up…” (Jeff from WI)

LR... My dismay is not in that Chicago lost, but in the total arrogance and hubris that surrounded O's bid. MSNBC and CNN used language like: SHOCKER! STUNNING DEVELOPMENT... The announcer literally sputtered and repeated himself in disbelief. Da Man was sent in to railroad this politically, and Axelrod blames international politics as the reason Chicago lost. If that isn't arrogance and hubris, I don't know what is.

Liberal Reader| 10.2.09 @ 1:43PM

Campy --

Yes, I know. I'm listening to Limbaugh now too. You're doing a fine job parroting his glee (right down to complaining about the "sputtered" response on CNN).

You're a dutiful follower. Not a very original thinker, though.

Campy| 10.2.09 @ 1:50PM

LR
See, this is what most of you libs don't get... I have never even listened to Limbaugh or Beck, or any of the talk shows you presume lead individuals around by the nose.

I watch the news and that was what I concluded, yes, LR, all on my very own....it was pretty obvious and would be amusing if it was so embarrassing that 'we' thought it was a sure thing.

But in your arrogance, you believe that only you, the wise and wonderful wizards of O know how to think.

Dean| 10.2.09 @ 1:37PM

"Contemptible. This response to the Olympics is contemptible, weak, shallow, and cynical. I'm writing you people off. You're hopeless."--Liberal Reader.

What is contemptible about our response? Those of us who have lived with the near-Daley (pun intended) corruption in Chicago and the state of Illinois have very good reasons for feeling relief about the Olympics. There is no way the Olympics in Chicago would not have been overwhelmed by graft, greed, corruption and a money-grab of the taxpayers' wallets.

There have already been at least 2 cases where individuals tied to the Daley administration had purchased land that was going to be used as Olympic sites.

We haven't earned the right to be cynical here in Chicago; it has become a responsibility was thrust upon us by politicians and their cronies interested only in their own pocketbooks and legacies.

Liberal Reader| 10.2.09 @ 1:46PM

What is contemptible about being cynical?

Oh, I don't know. You're right. Probably nothing.

I give up too. You've convinced me. Screw it. Humanity is doomed. The city has fallen.

God, you people are WORMS.

Would you be MEN for once in your lives? Can you not be BRAVE?

Or, are you going to blubber like hysterical women your lives like Glenn Beck does on television.

Cruelty and weakness are the same thing.

It's all I see in you people anymore.

Torture Arabs! Screw the poor! They deserve it anyway! Surrender Chicago! Give up! Fear for your country! Fear! Fear!

C4P| 10.2.09 @ 2:43PM

Jeremiah just wet himself.

Stop whining and crying, baby; admit it, Obama & Co. have lost their mojo. Didn't take long; we knew he was all smoke and mirrors, anyway.

Besides, don't be so selfish; South American has never hosted the Games, I'm glad for them.

Tim| 10.2.09 @ 3:09PM

I thought you were done with us?

It's a Brokeback Mountain scenario: "I just can't quit you."

Daisy| 10.2.09 @ 3:33PM

Ew! You make me laugh, Tim.

Jeremiah goes crazy when you go THERE, you know.

Tim| 10.2.09 @ 3:44PM

Ever notice how you never see Liberal Reader and SL Toodard on the same thread?

Daisy| 10.2.09 @ 6:33PM

Yeah, and what happened to Boob...er, Bob?

Lullaby's, Legends and Lies| 10.3.09 @ 6:32PM

Wait a second, Liberal Reader is a guy? I didn't know that!! Whoops!! Sorry dude!!, but you sound like a Gal to me. But it doesn't matter anyway, he/she's done with us now, and he/she's never coming back again.

Actually, I just assumed you were S.L. Toad's wife, and that's why we never saw your two names on the same thread (you've only got one computer in the homestead). And once again, I'm Sorry dude!! (I thought you were a gal)

Daisy| 10.3.09 @ 7:45PM

It's absolutely understandable that you're a little confused about LR/Jeremiah's sexuality, LLL; so is he/she.

Dean| 10.2.09 @ 3:12PM

LR--Surrender Chicago? Give up? Fear?

Absolutely not. I want the city to turn it around. Now it can focus on those issues that are most critical to making Chicago a World-Class city--reducing crime, better schools, improved transportation, a balanced budget, etc.

You may not know this, but in the city of Chicago every day school kids are in fear for their lives. Last week, 2 students were murdered for no reason. That's what has to be addressed. Here, the politicians (actually the Democrats in charge) have chosen to worry most about lining their pockets rather than protecting its citizens.

By the way, you are a typical Liberal...once you lose the argument, resort to name-calling, rather than addressing the points someone you disagree with makes. Very classy on your part.

JohnD| 10.2.09 @ 1:37PM

Boy, the IOC slapped down the arrogant, messianic B. Hussein Obama good. What a humiliation! Hope B. Hussein Obama does better with the Iranians and North Koreans.

That said, the Olypics in Rio should be wonderful. How many athletes will be kidnapped? Even the statue of Jesus at Mt. Coracovada has his hands up because he is being robbed.

Grzmlyk| 10.2.09 @ 1:38PM

Liberal reader, is that a promise?

Even if it is, like all liberals, you won't honor your word. You'll be back.

More's the pity.

Liberal Reader| 10.2.09 @ 1:53PM

You people have no civic spirit. Weaklings!

Tim| 10.2.09 @ 3:09PM

OPRAH FAN!

Amor de Cosmos| 10.2.09 @ 3:54PM

You are right. I have no civic spirit for kleptocratic governments be they on the Chicago River or the Potomac?

BTW, ARE YOU QUESTIONING MY PATRIOTISM? Isn't that a Liberal no no?

Grzmlyk| 10.2.09 @ 1:57PM

Told ya.

Took all of 8 minutes.

Campy| 10.2.09 @ 2:09PM

Grz! You always make me laugh! I posted to you yesterday, but then it got deleted. LR must have thought it wasn't civic spirited enough.

Hope you've been well. C

louis tully| 10.2.09 @ 1:59PM

The whole world is laughing at Obama, and he is the only one who doesn't realize it.

As for Chicago....who cares. Its a dump.

Daisy| 10.2.09 @ 2:47PM

Louis, don't hold back, tell us what your really think. lol

SC Mike| 10.2.09 @ 1:59PM

I thought that Rio had the best odds all along. No Olympiad has ever been held in South America, and Brazil is now among the top ten economies in the world by some measures.

The arrogance of the Chicago crowd is amazing. Oprah is an American phenomenon, not a world-class celebrity. And our media mavens don’t seem to get out too much; their admiration for the first couple overshadowed their news judgment and impaired their ability to analyze the politics of the Olympics. They are legends only in their own minds.

Dan| 10.2.09 @ 2:10PM

Not all of Chicago desired the Olympics, and what with the corruption rampant throughout the buildup to today's decision, --------------- it's mighty odd to figure this as a loss for the United States.

We just hosted the Winter games in Salt Lake City, and before that hosted Summer games in Atlanta during the Clinton tenure.

Viewers from around the world have had ample opportunity to observe America through the various Olympics coverage, and was hardly in need of additional viewing.

This was a MASSIVELY positive outcome, for the people in South America will be able to get a much closer look at the Olympics than they would ordinarily get.

And as for the Obama, and his creepy Mrs. getting shot down, and getting publicly shot down, that's an absolutely beautiful thing.

So to sum up, Quin is as dead wrong about this as a man could get.

Todd| 10.2.09 @ 2:11PM

Give me a break Quin, don't be such an Olympic suck-up. The last thing Chicago needs is the Olympics and the corruption that goes with it. It is a huge waste of money and we all know that Obama was trying vainly to pay-off his former masters in Chicago. We are right to be gleeful at the dismal failure of the Obama's and Oprah, the arrogance displayed by them was astounding. Obama himself is responsible for degrading the office of the presidency with this pathetic attempt to get the Olympics in Chicago. Get lost LR you useless jerk.

Webster| 10.2.09 @ 11:08PM

What do you mean "former" masters? The little guy on the 5th floor at City Hall in Chicago still pulls the strings.

Stumpy Pepys| 10.2.09 @ 2:35PM

Unfortunately, when the worlds laughs at Obama, they're laughing at us. When we react, we're deemed contemptible?

C4P| 10.2.09 @ 2:45PM

I've said it before, and I meant it--"The world can kiss it!" I don't care what they think.

JPK| 10.2.09 @ 3:12PM

The President had enough on his plate without adding to the distractions of the 2016 Olympics to it. His ego at some point must be checked.

The MSM here painted a false picture of the President's popularity overseas. What is disturbing is he bought into it.

Chicago dodged a bullet. The Olympics have essientially been loses for the host city. The expenses that Chitown would have had to incur would have been enormous. Thier freeways alone need about $20 billion in repairs. Who knows what Chicago's finances will be like in 7 years.

nextus| 10.2.09 @ 3:18PM

B. Hussein is a joke folks. A flim-flam man. A smooth talking lawyer whose father was a communist official with Kenya govt, as well as a moooslim. Step-father was a mooooslim.

So is it any wonder Barry-boy has Marxist and Moooslim sympathies?

Oldefarte| 10.2.09 @ 3:29PM

I have no sympathy for Chicago!

Oldefarte| 10.2.09 @ 3:32PM

BECAUSE Chicago is home to Boeing, Obama and his UAW friends who have prevented Mobile Alabama's cost efficient contract bid for the KC-45 construction; all because of Boeing's "Chicago-Way" political power!!!!

brucet| 10.2.09 @ 3:36PM

Mmm, mmm, mmm, this our big eared chimp from Kenya is sinking like a stone. I guess lack of any executive experience, lack of business experience, lack of military experience matters after all.

Daisy| 10.2.09 @ 6:37PM

Brucet, you lost me at 'chimp', otherwise your post was great. Racism is a loser.

Liberal Reader| 10.2.09 @ 7:04PM

Oh .. no. You guys aren't racist. "Chimp." Nice, brucet.

Daisy| 10.2.09 @ 7:50PM

What a loser; you have absolutely no life do you? Pathetic.

Nolann Ryann| 10.2.09 @ 8:44PM

I thought you were done, but that is yet another promise by a freaking liberal that has reached the expiration. You clowns don't fall far from each other in your cluster. Whine some more you loser. I can only hope your taxes get raised disproportionately when our savior enacts his socialist scheme, but that is only a hope because someone on a laptop in a refigerator box under an overpass never made a dime, thus has no liability with the IRS.

brucet| 10.2.09 @ 3:41PM

Sorry Oldefarte, as you call it, Mobile Alabama's bid for the next generation air refueling tanker aircraft was European, Airbus.

Don't ya think American arms/weapons should be built ah......here in America?

Airbus has zero experience in building air refueling aircraft, whereas Boeing wrote the book on it. Plus, Airbus/Mobile had "plans to build an assembly factory" whereas Boeing has several already built and ready factories.

It's a moot point anyway, Barry Soetoro doesn't want any weapons built - didn't you hear? He's on his disarmament philosophy that will leave our nation weak and ready to be picked by the Chinese, Russians and Mohammedans.

Nick| 10.2.09 @ 8:24PM

"Torture Arabs! Screw the poor! They deserve it anyway! Surrender Chicago! Give up! Fear for your country! Fear! Fear!"

Shhhhhhh! Marxist Reader -- don't give away our double secret vast-right-wing conspiracy plan to take control of the world.

Rolfe| 10.3.09 @ 12:16AM

Wow. You folks are proud to be un-American. Your delight stinks. My nation, your nation lost. Your glee is rot.

I never thought I'd see the day. Proud un-Americans. Sheesh.

Rolfe| 10.3.09 @ 12:39AM

Revel in your rot you un-Americans. Your reward awaits. I doubt it takes the shape you wish, but it awaits.

C4P| 10.3.09 @ 1:01AM

Rolfey, we know you're Jeremiah--have you no dignity, have you no shame?

Speaking of rot; know thyself, silly liberal.

Curtis Rasmussen| 10.3.09 @ 2:31AM

You seem to have dropped your supercilious rants today, GLib Screeder, Rolfe, Toadturd in favor of straight insults.

Do us all a favor. Go see a movie tomorrow, go walk at a park, anything but post here. It is obvious from your negative ubiquitous posts that you haven't seen daylight in weeks, your percentage of sexual excretions is .01% of normal from all the excitement you derive from posting here. Wipe off your keyboard, soak the rag in water and take a big gulp. That should get you back to normal.

I'm glad that Obama lost. I hope that it teaches our naive and arrogant commander in chief that his cult of personality means nothing without conviction to back up his words.