Nuclear hawk Schock chickening out of foreign policy debate

As discussed earlier, State Rep. Aaron Schock is saying he cannot attend Wednesday's 18th District candidates' debate on foreign policy issues. It seems that Gov. Rod Blagojevich has called a special session to find a way to bail out the Chicago's mass transportation system.

Schock just couldn't possible miss this session because whether or not Chicagoans have to pay more for their ride to work is of such importance to voters in Peoria County. The Journal Star has details here.

The whole thing seemed to coincidental to me. Schock just happens to be forced to miss a debate where his two opponents for Congress can revisit the most embarrassing gaffe of the Schock campaign -- his plan to sell nuclear weapons to Taiwan. It would violate the nuclear anti-proliferation treaty and almost certainly create a shooting war with China. Schock was vilified in the national press and blogs all across the country. State newspapers ran editorial cartoons showing him straddling a bomb, like a scene from Dr. Strangelove:



Because this is the 21st century and there's this little thing called "the Internet," I was able to scour the Web looking for evidence on whether or not Schock really was needed in Springfield on the evening of this debate.

It took me, oh, about three seconds. I clicked on Rich Miller's Capital Fax Blog, which led me to this post on the Chicago Tribune blog Clout Street,

I found these paragraphs describing this week's "special session:"

"We are not going to vote for anything this week," said Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston), who has led two failed efforts to find money for the region’s transit agencies.

Though Gov. Rod Blagojevich issued his call for a special session before Christmas, many lawmakers are not expected to show up for Wednesday’s scheduled meeting. Included on that list is Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), who has tickets for the Rose Bowl pitting University of Illinois against the University of Southern California in Pasadena. Jones’ spokeswoman did not return calls. House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) also is not expected to turn out Wednesday.

As for the governor, he's planning on holding a news conference in Chicago Wednesday to talk up the mass transit issue before heading to Springfield. Blagojevich has not yet scheduled any meetings this week with legislative leaders, his spokeswoman said.

The leaders of the House and Senate won't be there. No one is going to vote on anything, because there are no meetings scheduled to create any legislation for anyone to vote on.

And even if there were any meetings, Schock won't be part of them, because he's in the minority party. And hold onto your hats, Schock is in reality a relatively minor player in the state GOP. He NOT in anything remotely close to a leadership position.

If he is going to be in Springfield on Wednesday evening, he won't be on the house floor. And if he is, he'll be very, very lonely.

Folks, this "special session" is nothing more than a photo-op for Blagojevich. Everyone knows it, except for, perhaps, the local mainstream media, which doesn't really follow state politics all that much. And because of that lack of coverage, Schock thinks the public is so ill-informed that he can get away with using the situation to duck out of an uncomfortable situation.

And besides, shouldn't we all just stop worrying and love the bomb?

But give Schock some credit. He plans to attend a televised debate on WEEK on January 14, even though there will be *gasp* video cameras.

Crossposted to Peoria Pundit.