Wah!

By Alicia Dorr in News on Jun 19, 2007 6:19PM

Sort of like the point in an old person's life when they decide they're not going to look behind them when they back out of their driveway anymore, Daley has clearly well past the point in his career where he gives two shits what the media says or thinks about him.

Manifesting itself in "playful banter" a'la Dubyauh, his new tactic of dodging questions from reporters by making fun of them is actually pretty hilarious (we're sorry, but it is). It started with the same flabbergasted appeals as his dear old dad used to get the press off the scent and has now evolved into outright mockery, like the time when he called journalism a "leisure job."

The latest hilarious word vomit came yesterday when he became a leeeetle defensive about the city's environmental record in the last six years since the city pledged to reduce emissions with the other members of Chicago Climate Exchange. In response to an article the Trib ran titled "Daley's city not so 'green'", Daley blasted the paper for its use of, well, paper.

"Go talk to the Tribune. Chop another tree down. Great," the Trib quoted him as saying, referencing the wood pulp it's printed on.

We are of the opinion that if something is funny, it's funny — people who miss the humor in something because they are easily offended are not our style. And this? Well, this is really funny. A grown man who has been in charge of one of the largest and most internationally recognized cities in the United States of America just picked a playground fight with one of the largest and most internationally recognized newspapers in the city he presides over. He did everything but stamp his feet, and god knows he was red in the face.

The only thing that is not hilarious about this situation is that Daley knows they are right. He's not stupid and definitely not this childish. But maybe he was actually caught off guard when someone referred to the city as something other than "green." We love that he's a bicycle enthusiast, that his rooftop garden initiative is successful and that he genuinely cares about making this city green and has taken steps to do so.

What we don't love is that he couldn't admit that the words written on that wood pulp were absolutely irrefutable: the city's emissions of greenhouse gases have increased in the last five years, a lot of it due to the increasing demand for electricity from businesses in the city. The Tribune isn't perfect, but this story, which is based on facts procured through the Freedom of Information Act, represents exactly the kind of thing that the media is supposedly there for.

Daley's argument, which was a version of "Well, he did it too, Ma!", only served to prove that the mayor knew it was true. On top of that, the newspaper DOES require the loss of a lot of trees. So, like the parent who has to separate two children screaming, "He's touching me! He's touching me!", we're left with no other choice but to send them both to bed without supper.

Image via allposters.com.