I am aghast that Bill Clinton made the statement at the end of this
excerpt from a piece in the Chicago Tribune. Want to jump-start a
failed economy? Start a war! Is he trying to get us acclimated to the
idea of attacking Iran? Maybe a few other countries, just to make
it "worthwhile"? Are you still voting for Hillary?

I'm sure you have heard from hundreds of readers by now that Mayor Daley has not been in office since 1914.  That would be his father, Richard the First.  Not to mention he would be a hell of an old man by now.

Clinton's point was, of course, that working to overcome cases of extreme adversity, such as the World Wars and climate change, can often yield unexpected--and seemingly unrelated--benefits. Hell, the second World War is generally credited as what really ended the Depression. That's not to say that these things are good in and of themselves; just to say that there is often opportunity hidden within the tragedy.

Of course, if you're just looking for an excuse to attack a politician, there's always something you can take out of context and find a way to make it prove your point, isn't there?

Of course, the 1914 remark was recognized as satire. However those of us who are familiar with Chicago recognize that we've actually had a couple of non-Daley mayors in the last 50 years and they were even worse than Richard and Richie. Very depressing.