Mr. Kelly Goes to Springfield
December 24, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Cook County, Elections, GOP, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment
-By Warner Todd Huston
Columnist Bernard Schoenburg from the State Journal in Springfield, Illinois’ state capitol, made a prediction for the New Year: William Kelly won’t get the GOP nomination for Comptroller.
Early Christmas week Kelly appeared at the state house and tried to remove an atheist “Christmas” sign that announced to one and all that there isn’t a God. Of course, Kelly got detained by the police for the “stunt.” Schoenberg, for his part, seemed to see nothing but amusement as opposed to a serious message in it all and titled his segment “Surely he jests.”
Schoenberg noted that Kelly’s initial press release about his intentions was incorrect:
The showman in him was on display Wednesday, when, after his own incorrect press release about his own event, he went to the Statehouse rotunda and started to turn around a display of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, of Madison, Wis. The display calls religion “myth and superstition” and says there isn’t a God.
Kelly had wrongly advertised that he would be trying to remove the display of the American Civil Liberties Union. That’s actually a different display lauding free speech, including religious speech.
Anyway, as Kelly started his stunt, secretary of state’s Capitol Police stopped him. He was detained briefly before being advised not to return that day, said HENRY HAUPT of the secretary state’s office.
For his part, Kelly released a statement saying that there is “a lot of false information coming out about what happened” during the incident in question.
After I left the press room, I went to the rotunda where about more than a dozen police officers were guarding the sign, waiting for me. I picked up the atheists’ sign, turned it around, and I was immediately asked by the Illinois state capitol police to follow them. Because I respect the wishes of law enforcement, I immediately complied. The officer took me to a detention room and a report was filed. After that, I was escorted out of the Capitol building and the police are further conducting an investigation. As a candidate for comptroller, I believe it is absolutely wrong for Illinois’ officials to be spending tax dollars to denigrate and mock good people of faith. It is faith that gets us through all of our great tragedies of life and brings us together. That is not something that should be disparaged. No good that comes from that. And how is that freedom of religion? Clearly, Governor Quinn and the atheists need some sensitivity training.
We need to stop the hate against Christians and the stripping of religion, tradition, and history for our holidays, our history books, and our culture in general. I want to reaffirm that – not only should this sign be removed by Governor Pat Quinn – but as comptroller I will guarantee that we will never have hate speech in Illinois’ state Capitol in Springfield – especially at Christmas time.
Schoenberg also brought up Kelly’s now famous drunk videos, excerpts of his various TV sports shows, and cited those as reasons why he isn’t to be taken seriously. For his part Kelly has proudly owned up to his TV shows and has said that he isn’t the sort of fellow that would dishonestly pretend he doesn’t enjoy a good time. Early in December, for instance, Kelly told me, “Not one of those other candidates would bat an eye at having some fun and drinking beer. And I am not a pansy trying to hide that I like a beer and to have some fun.”
So, you decide, is Kelly a crusader against corruption, or the clown prince of the primary? At least you will get the chance to make that decision on Ground Hog’s day, February 2, 2010 in the primary.
friendsofwilliamjkelly.com/
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, TheRealityCheck.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, and the New Media Journal, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. Warner is also the editor of the Cook County Page for RedCounty.com.
He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
Fair Use: This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in my efforts to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. I believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research, educational, or satirical purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site/blog for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
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