Opinion: The Re-Cub-licans

" There’s not much you can tell a 70-year-old billionaire. He’s too old and too rich to care what anybody thinks. 

But the Ricketts children need to sit down and have a talk with their father. Like so many right-wing Republicans, Joe Ricketts has allowed his disdain for what he sees as a socialist Muslim Kenyan squatting in the White House to cloud his judgment. In his mania to defeat Barack Obama, Old Man Ricketts is disregarding how his political activism affects his public image or his family businesses. 

Ricketts was caught red-handed plotting to spend $10 million on ads linking Obama to Rev. Jeremiah Wright. After a source leaked a copy of the plan to The New York Times, Ricketts disavowed it. But the damage was done. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has negotiated with the Cubs to spend public money on renovating Wrigley Field, is so angry he’s breaking off talks with the team. Emanuel sees the hypocrisy of a father leading a campaign against runaway spending while his son asks for a government handout. Ricketts may also be alienating Cubs fans. If the family owned the Texas Rangers or the Arizona Diamondbacks, this might not be such a big deal. But this is the president’s hometown. Even though the president is not a Cubs fan, most Cubs fans are Obama supporters. As the Ricketts plan pointed out, "they're not ready to hate this president" as spitefully as the Old Man does.  "

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