Here in Chicago, one of our collective local fetishes is verbal stumbles and maniacal outbursts.
King Richard Daley the first was famous for misspeaking so much his press person finally demanded that reporters stop reporting what the mayor said and start reporting "what he meant."
One of our favorite all-time moments is this long-ago tirade, from an otherwise forgettable Cubs manager named Lee Elia.
Of course there was WGN's Cubs announcer Harry Caray, who kept 10-1 games interesting because he always offered the tantalizing possibility he would say something terrifically off-the-wall.
One of the reasons we keep voting for the current Mayor Daley is that during his nearly two-decade tenure, he has been rhetorically reliable.
Like the time a reporter questioned whether the the mayor's office had been sufficiently scrutinized on corruption charges.
"You guys scrooten me every day," he said.
When they scrootened him a couple of years ago—it was alleged that the Chicago Skyway tollway was open and flowing nicely whenever the mayor was returning from his vacation home in Michigan—the mayor thought it was silly. Really silly:
“Everybody’s caught in traffic every day. I don’t know where they got that. Don’t worry. I’m caught in traffic as much as anyone else. It’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard in my life. It really is silly. It’s silly, silly, silly. It is just silly. Silliness. It is silly. Completely silly…You’ve been on [the Skyway]. Come on. It’s silly…You know me. That is the silliest thing I’ve ever heard.”
And just this week, Mayor Daley uncharacteristically played the race card in order to win a fight over whether to put a new children's museum downtown. But he played the card with such clumsiness that the oppressed were too confused to be outraged:
"You mean you don't want children from the city in Grant Park? Why? Are they black? Are they white? Are they Hispanic? Are they poor? You don't want children? We have children in Grant Park all the time. This is a park for the entire city. What do you mean no one wants children down there? Why not? Wouldn't you want children down there?"
On the off-chance that Shades of Gray readers are half as delighted by this sort of thing as its writer, I'll toss precious Daley quotes into posts at the same rate that he produces them.
Comments (10)
Scrooten?? Really?? That's too funny! Say what you will about Daley, at least he's real, and we communicators are always moaning about how we wish people (politicians, CEOs, whatever) would talk like real people instead of automatons. That's pretty real - I mean the tabloids couldn't even make that up.
Scrooten, huh? I like that. I think I'm going to adopt "scrooten" and add it to my lexicon.
Posted by Kristen | September 20, 2007 7:41 AM
Posted on September 20, 2007 07:41
No, Daley is definitely real. And even people who loathe him love him and are comforted by him and will be damned scared whenever Daley quits.
But mostly we just like the way he talks.
Posted by David Murray | September 20, 2007 7:45 AM
Posted on September 20, 2007 07:45
I wish he'd go be "real" elsewhere.
(A loather who doesn't love him in the least.)
Posted by Diane | September 20, 2007 12:06 PM
Posted on September 20, 2007 12:06
I've had a soft spot for the Cubs since I started watching WGN on cable years back; I mean, who couldn't love the combination of Harry Caray and Don Zimmer? Not to mention the ivy-covered walls... Chicago is SO on my list of places I must go. And now I'll have to add a political event to my must-do-while-in-the-city list. I gotta hear this guy up close. Granted, my state boasts Ted Stevens's internet tubes, and Don Young's endless outspoken oratories, and a virtual soap opera of corruption tales; but none of it has come up to "scruten" or the "silly" splutter. I vote yes, insert these tales whenever you find them. Thanks, David.
Posted by Joan | September 20, 2007 12:15 PM
Posted on September 20, 2007 12:15
Diane--
Come on: Let's hear more. I hate Mayor Daley because ..... (My answer is always: he pushes poor people out of the city and if I wanted to live around all rich people I'd live in a gated community in Orlando Florida.)
Joan--
What are you waiting for? Are you stationed in Antarctica? GET TO CHICAGO. (But wait until next spring, because you'll want to see the ivy. The leaves are there by May.)
Posted by David Murray | September 20, 2007 1:09 PM
Posted on September 20, 2007 13:09
Is a gated or gatered?
Posted by Victor Zalakos | September 20, 2007 4:22 PM
Posted on September 20, 2007 16:22
We had a politician (state premier) in Australia that was not dissimilar. Joh Bjelke-Petersen. Here's some gems...
"Don't you worry about that"
"Goodness gracious, I know what you're trying to do."
"Just you wait and see."
"Let me tell you, what is good for Queensland is good for Australia."
On news conferences: "I call it feeding the chooks."
On unionism in his maiden speech on August, 1947: "It is a form of treachery and can only lead to economic upheaval of a severity not often experienced."
"The trouble is that Queenland gets branded as being a part of Australia"
On human rights: "What's the ordinary man in the street got to do with it?"
On condoms: "We don't want any of that sort of thing up here."
On press criticisms: "The greatest thing that could happen to the state and nation is when we get rid of all the media ... then we could live in peace and tranquillity and no one would know anything."
Posted by Victor Zalakos | September 20, 2007 4:27 PM
Posted on September 20, 2007 16:27
That is some wonderful stuff, Victor. Of course I had never heard of Mr. Bjelke-Petersen, but likely that is because my visit to your part of the world was to other countries: New South Wales and Victoria.
Posted by David Murray | September 20, 2007 4:36 PM
Posted on September 20, 2007 16:36
Let me count the ways . . .
Posted by Diane | September 20, 2007 4:41 PM
Posted on September 20, 2007 16:41
Come on, Diane. That's not sporting. Let US count the ways.
Posted by David Murray | September 20, 2007 4:43 PM
Posted on September 20, 2007 16:43