A federal investigation of the Chicago Police Department “in my view would be misguided,” Mayor Emanuel asserted Tuesday in an interview with Politico Illinois.
Politicians prefer making clarifications to acknowledging complete flip-flops. George H.W. Bush won the 1988 presidency in part because of his famous pledge, “Read my lips: no new taxes.” Less than two years after he was elected, he clarified that no new taxes meant “except for tax revenue increases.” When Bill Clinton faced allegations that he’d had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, he set the record straight: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” He later clarified, in effect, “Except for the blow job.”
Ah. If only reporters covering the campaign had asked the mayor if he knew of any tapes showing a police officer executing a 17-year-old, Emanuel might have said that, yes, as a matter of fact, he did know of one—and he was outraged by it. But—they never asked!
