Enraged By Rahm Emanuel On ABC? Let It Go, Like Rahm's Fart On TV

CHICAGO — Rahm Emanuel took a beating on Twitter after last week’s Democratic debates for saying candidate Julian Castro should be disqualified for being “mean” and “vindictive” because he criticized former Vice President Joe Biden’s apparent debate-night forgetfulness.

Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter to call out Emanuel, a veteran foul-mouthed meany, for having the gall to chastise Castro for being impolite.

“To clarify: Rahm Emanuel once mailed the body of a dead, decomposing fish to bully a Dem he disliked. Then, as a mayor of Chicago, he worked to hide footage of the murder of Laquan McDonald from the public. Now he’s an investment banker & on TV. And all this is seen as normal,” the New York Congresswoman posted on Twitter.

To clarify: Rahm Emanuel once mailed the body of a dead, decomposing fish to bully a Dem he disliked.

Then, as a mayor of Chicago, he worked to hide footage of the murder of Laquan McDonald from the public.

Now he’s an investment banker & on TV. And all this is seen as normal. https://t.co/XJgL3lQ8ve
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 13, 2019

[COMMENTARY]

It is, of course, normal, a sign of the times. Chicago’s former mayor regularly exhibits the worst qualities of reality TV contestants oblivious to their own arrogance with a propensity for gaslighting critics and a desire to win at all costs. That makes Emanuel a perfect addition to network political coverage that apparently aims to mimic the absurdist theater playing out on cable news.

Last week, Tribune columnist John Kass sarcastically, I think, attempted to feed Emanuel's ego in hopes of convincing Chicago's former boss to "drop the punditry nonsense and get into the presidential race."

That's a terrifying thought for Chicagoans who know Emanuel and how he operates.

Emanuel was forced to step aside as Chicago's mayor, the job he always wanted, because voters didn't trust him after finding out his administration tried to keep video of Laquan McDonald's murder secret. In Chicago, he's done, unelectable. Still, Emanuel managed to re-write his own legacy and get hired by a major network to tell Americans his opinion on the Democratic Party's future. And there's nothing we can do about it except complain. Maybe that's why hearing Emanuel spit his self-serving political analysis and telling lies on TV gets people so upset.

Since Emanuel started popping up on national TV, I developed a coping mechanism for dealing with my own Rahm-induced rage.

It's simple; a tried-and-true Google search: “Rahm Emanuel Farts.”

What usually comes up are links to video proof that Rahm stinks on TV that you can send to your friends. You can see Emanuel’s knowing smirk after he lets one rip mid-interview on the Charlie Rose Show on April 20, 2010, the same show when he first hinted his mayoral aspirations. The clip always makes me giggle. Sure that's juvenile, but it's an effective reminder: Don't take anything Emanuel says seriously.

After last week’s debate, though, the video clip capturing Emanuel’s flatulence on PBS was “unavailable” on YouTube. The clip also has vanished from every blog, Reddit thread and news story that linked to it, including my warning that Emanuel used the city's free time on electronic billboards to pimp his podcast while he was a lame duck trying to score a pundit gig.

Given Emanuel’s history hiding videos from the public, and my chronic cynicism, I couldn’t help but think that something stunk about that. I quickly checked it out.

A YouTube spokesman said the “video was not removed by YouTube, rather was removed by the user.”

A search on the “Wayback Machine,” an online archive of websites, appeared to turn up a June 12 copy of a clip of Rahm's fart video. But when I clicked on the link, it didn't show up.

Could it be that Emanuel, a notoriously thin-skinned fellow, used his clout to remove his embarrassing gas-passing incident from the internet?

I sent Emanuel a note (through a former spokesman) asking whether he had anything to do with whitewashing the clip from YouTube. Rahm didn't reply.

“This seems pretty trivial to me,” the spokesman said. “Also, it seems like a pretty unlikely thing for him to do.”

Maybe he’s right. The thing is, knowing what everybody knows about Emanuel and his firm belief that a good crisis should never go to waste, I wouldn’t put anything past him, including a late decision to run for president. Just thinking about it raises my blood pressure.

Anyway, I did a little more online digging and found it — the cure for Rahm-induced anxiety: A full-episode on the Charlie Rose Show archive.

I made a short clip — figuring PBS wouldn't protest since our tax dollars paid to record that on-air fart —and uploaded it to YouTube as a public service reminder: Rahm Emanuel is full of it.

Hot air, that is.

I hope watching it makes you feel better, too.