The Man Behind The Curtain

8:26 pm, 6/23/05

The Man Behind The Curtain
I told you that Mayor Daley's offhand comment was the driving force behind Durbin's apology, and you probably thought I was being silly, but who's laughing now?

Durbin started Tuesday with no intention of backing down from his June 14 remarks, delivered from the Senate floor, which touched off a fire storm and the biggest crisis of his career. Democratic senators were gearing up to defend Durbin, the No. 2 Democratic leader.

Daley's off-the-cuff criticism Tuesday morning forced a change of strategy. Daley's strong words came at the end of a Navy Pier press conference to promote a new anti-prostitution policy, listing the names of alleged johns on a Chicago Police Web site.

The mayor responded to the question about the apology saying, "It's a disgrace and [Durbin] is a good friend of mine. But I think it's a disgrace to say that any man or woman in the military acts like [Nazis] or that a report is like that," Daley said. "You go and talk to some victims of the Holocaust, and they will tell you horror stories and there are not horror stories like that in Guantanamo Bay."

Daley, however, never intended for Durbin to apologize, he was just playing the crowd:

Daley, said Heard, thought he was offering to the reporters an updated version of his anti-Washington rhetoric. For years, Daley has complained about Washington partisanship even when his brother Bill was the commerce secretary under President Bill Clinton.

Walking back to their car at Navy Pier, Heard said she and the mayor looked at each other and said, "Whoa, there you go again.'' Heard told Daley his words were going to be a national story. The mayor thought, Heard said, he did not make any news.

Meanwhile, Durbin staffers were told about the mayoral hit and called Heard to find out what happened. Handling an attack from the White House, GOP senators and the rabid right wing was one thing for Durbin's team. A slam by one of the nation's most prominent Democrats -- the mayor of the largest city in Durbin's state -- was another.

Heard briefed the mayor in his fifth floor City Hall office. "The moment he realized that this had gone to a different level, he called Durbin to say this was not meant to hurt him,'' Heard said.

But Daley never connected with Durbin. Heard said the senator was already on the floor of the Senate when Daley phoned.

Heard told me Daley and Durbin talked Wednesday afternoon for about 20 minutes. They will have dinner together in Washington on Monday night -- previously planned.

Mayor Daley is so powerful in Illinois that he can casually criticize one of our United States Senators, and that Senator will rush to the Senate floor and cry.

This place is amazing.