Last Friday night I was walking through the Gold Coast near Hugo’s Frog Bar when I noticed a large black SUV with congressional license plates so I snapped a photo.
I wasn’t sure which of our illustrious Illinois congressmen this was – I assumed it was our local Danny Davis (who doesn’t even pretend to represent the prosperous downtown, as I note here) – but in fact I did some digging on the internet and according to this post it is Jesse Jackson Jr. who is leasing a Lincoln Navigator at taxpayer’s expense at over $1100 / month (a new one retails for over $50,000).
I wonder what Jesse Jackson Jr. was doing up here? Based on a link to his 2nd congressional district map he is FAR from his hometown – he should be hanging out in Harvey or in nearby Calumet City (home of the Blues Brothers) if he really wants to go out for a good time. Why would he want to venture so far from his constituents? According to a simple google map he is about 25 miles out of his district on a Friday night.
Isn’t it amazing – the hypocrisy – of a “stone” democrat like Jesse Jackson Jr. driving a giant, gas-guzzling, environmentally destroying SUV like a Lincoln Navigator? Shouldn’t he paint it white so it at least reflects sunlight like a “green” roof, at the very least? Why isn’t he driving a Prius or something like that, or perhaps is it because he believes that conserving energy and leaving a smaller carbon footprint is for those that he taxes, not himself?
I won’t even pick on Mr. Jackson Jr. for his “alleged” attempt to raise money for Blago for a senate seat… we know that he is above suspicion, of course, since he is obviously a man who sticks to his principles.
Cross posted at LITGM
Great catch – I detest those who impose laws and don’t feel that they need to be part of the fun. Daley should be the FIRST to disarm his security squad, since guns are so scary. Just like Rosie.
Are you joking me?! Seriously, do you not see the enormous “1” on that back of that truck!?!? How bout you do one more simple google search next time and learn that Bobby Rush represents the FIRST DISTRICT and Jesse Jackson Jr represents the SECOND DISTRICT. Any car Jr. has would have a big…wait for it… NUMBER 2 on it!!!!
What a joke.
And another thing, “I wonder what he was doing up here?” This is your “great catch?!?!?!” Newsflash guys: Congressman, of any district, are likely going to come into Chicago once in a while. Why? Because it’s a great city with tons to offer!! This is just hilarious.
Nice snag. I mean, you’ve got an exlcusive here. Not one single other outlet reported on this groundbreaker. Regular Woodward and Bernstein over here.
So Mayor Quimby, even if it is Rush, is it OK for the donks to be sporting around in gas guzzling Navigators, while the peasants should be driving around in little Priuses?
No, I think that’s about as ok as posting slanderous non-sense on a blog without doing one ounce of fact checking, intellectual reasoning or using common sense. Both are pretty embarrassing in my book. Oh yeh, please keep using wikipedia as a source. It gives you Fox News-esque air of credibility.
Keep up the sleuthing though guys. I’m sure somewhere our state’s comptroller paid sales tax in a state other than Illinois or the IL secretary of transportation was caught driving on an Indiana road. And I’m sure that if you guys don’t point it out, literally no one else will.
You’re doing the first amendment proud, boys!
Mayor Quimby’s IP address resolves to the US House of Representatives.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it may partly explain his interest in the matter.
Of course there is nothing wrong with an Illinois Congressman driving his SUV in Chicago. But accusing the wrong Illinois Congressman of driving his SUV in Chicago is a low move and worth rebutting. Looks like Carl touched a nerve.
So here’s Bobby Rush’s legislative report from On the Issues. Note the energy and environmental policies:
Voted YES on tax incentives for renewable energy. (Feb 2008)
Voted NO on authorizing construction of new oil refineries. (Oct 2005)
Voted NO on passage of the Bush Administration national energy policy. (Jun 2004)
Voted NO on implementing Bush-Cheney national energy policy. (Nov 2003)
Voted NO on raising CAFE standards; incentives for alternative fuels. (Aug 2001)
Voted YES on prohibiting oil drilling & development in ANWR. (Aug 2001)
Regulate wholesale electricity & gas prices. (Mar 2001)
Preserve Alaska’s ANWR instead of drilling it. (Feb 2001)
Rated 100% by the CAF, indicating support for energy independence. (Dec 2006)
Even if Carl did misidentify the congressman his man point of hypocrisy still holds. Should someone so hostile to the development and use of oil really be driving a SUV? After all, he vote against raising CAFE standards which forces lower income people to drive small cars that will be crushed by the Lincoln. He claims to support energy independence but drives a vehicle with high gas consumption. If he lived in the sticks such a vehicle might be justified but in Chicago, it’s clearly just a status thing.
Looks like “Mayor Quimby” has had a nerve touched indeed up at the House of Representatives. You will note that MQ has not yet adressed the blatant hypocrisy of a Donk guzzling gas at an astonishing rate. Aren’t Republicans the party that hates the earth?
What we DO know is that it was a Democrat congressman’s vehicle, and that Dem congressman is from Chicago, guzzling gas and killing mother gaia.
See my correction in the next post, Mayor Quimby.
The facts are essentially the same – Jesse Jackson Jr. drives a gas guzzing monster of the type that Democrats routinely condemn.
He also seems to be a pretty lousy negotiator, at least compared to the other democratic Illinois representatives that drive giant gas guzzlers.