Column: A 'Schock'

By: Christopher Kromphardt/Columnist

Posted: 7/15/08

The Quad City Times reported this past week that President Bush will be coming to Illinois later this month to take part in a fundraiser. This is his first trip to the state since January 2007.

The Times reports that the event will be for U.S. House candidate Aaron Schock of Peoria. While the White House has not confirmed the event, Schock has confirmed and says that he is "honored" by Bush's involvement.

This will be part of a series of fundraisers Bush has conducted recently. The Washington Post reported that Bush has raised nearly $70 million for the Republican National Committee in 31 events. The RNC and many of its candidates are benefiting from the appeal Bush evidently still has, despite a recent Los Angeles poll indicating a paltry 23% approval rating.

Apparently those 23% of Americans have deep pockets. The Bush-Schock affair is expected to cost $500 to get in the door and an additional $4,600 for a picture with the president. If past events are repeated, Schock will reap huge financial benefits, not to mention whatever less-tangible boost a visit from the president may provide.

Just how large a boost is not clear. While those 23% who approve of Bush might make a positive association to Schock, what about the other 77%? Is Schock playing dangerously by accepting the involvement of such an unpopular president?

Schock's campaign website boasts that he "represents a Republican reconnection with tried and true conservative principles" and "a clean break from all that voters feel has gone wrong with the Republican Party." Evidently, Schock does not see this as a result of the Bush presidency, but the Republicans in Congress. The distinction between the two is not clear, but it is reasonable to assume that Schock's tacit embrace of the former and virulent denouncement of the latter is his vision of that "clean break".

Let me stop right there and repeat something: Schock is embracing Bush while trumpeting himself as a clean break from Republican mishaps. Wrap your brain around that.

Schock, a 27-year-old graduate of Bradley University, recently drew flak for his comments following the shooting at Northern Illinois University in February. Schock claimed that if Illinois did not have laws against conceal-and-carry, the mayhem would have been much less because the shooter "might have thought twice" if he had thought students might return fire. Representative Edward Acevedo, a former police officer on the Southwest side of Chicago, questioned the logic of Schock's claims, comparing a concealed weapon-laden campus to the Wild West.

Schock has proven successful at making the right contacts to succeed in Republican politics, and his ability to draw Bush to a fundraiser in Illinois, a state the president has avoided pretty effectively, suggests a flair for getting what he needs to win. I just have to question Schock's willingness to associate with a man generally reviled by the American public, especially when he claims to be a clean break from Republican business as usual.

Christopher Kromphardt is a senior political science major