McHenry County Blog

8/28/6 - Carol Marin displayed palpable bias in her WTTW Chicago Tonight interview of three Cook County commissioners and an alderman on July 19th.

This is a woman, who is showing more and more of her organization Democratic Party bias.

You remember her.

She became a national media heroine by quitting WMAQ-TV when the station hired former Democratic Party Cincinnati Mayor and then and now TV shock show host Jerry Springer to do commentary.

Then, in 2000, she was given carte blanc to create the “liberal thinking woman’s” nightly news show by WBBM-TV, but bombed.

This summer, she didn’t utter a public peep when WTTW hired no-longer-on-Chicago schlock radio host Mancow for similar guest commentaries.

On Chicago Tonight, Marin had been questioning just-named interim Cook County Board President Bobbie Steele about the financial situation at county government when she turned to Republican Party nominee for Cook County Board President Tony Peraica.

On the panel were three Democrats (Alderman Todd Stroeger, named the day before by the Cook County Central Committee to replace his father on the fall ballot, Cook County Commission Forrest Claypool and Steele), plus Republican Party nominee for Cook County Board President Tony Peraica.

A pretty normal 3-1 WTTW bias against conservatives. (Despite, the odds, conservatives are able to hold their own on these WTTW panels).

I finally got her exact words. You can listen them to here. (7 minutes in.)

Here’s what I was able to transcribe.

After interviewing Steele on substantive governmental questions, Marin changes course in what had to be a pre-planned attempt to smear Peraica:

Commissioner Prisonni (she mispronounces Peraica’s name), let me jump to you and ask about a political question…

Peraica says, “Sure.”

…because there are plenty of Democrats out there who might want to protest by voting for you, but they see you as an anti-gay, pro-gun, anti-abortion (pause) guy in the bluest state and county in the state, so what do you have to say to them on the social issues that are going to make you attractive if they do decide to jump the traces?

Peraica then tries to follow up on what Steele had said about doing a quick study to figure out how to save money, pointing out that 30 years of studies are already on the shelf and gets in that he has taken a pledge against raising taxes before Marin charges back to her agenda of trying to frame the fall election in favor of Todd Stroger:

OK, but, but, to my question first.

What are you going to do on, on the pro-gun, anti-abortion, anti-gay kind of, you’re not a social liberal.

Peraica responds,

There’s not anti-gay anything. That’s, that’s a myth that was created by some to paint me as some kind of an extremist.

I am pro-life. I am pro-2nd amendment. I am anti-tax. I’m a fiscal conservative. And I think that these issues that you try to kind of raise as a division between myself and the Democratic electorate who voted for Forrest Claypool are really a myth.

People care about their pocket books….

He challenges Stroeger and Steele to tax a no tax hike pledge, but Marin, surprise, surprise, fails to follow up.

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Photo of Carol Marin, looking left, taken from the WTTW 7-19 interview of Peraica and others.

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Labels: Carol Marin, Tony Peraica, WTTW