Shoot the Messenger

If there was any doubt about what Rahm and Company are trying to do, this ought to put it to rest:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel and newly confirmed police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said Wednesday that they're adding a "marginal" number of officers to the Near North Side to combat a spate of violence, even as they questioned the media's coverage of the attacks.
  
  McCarthy cautioned reporters about characterizing crimes correctly, pointing to the differences between shoplifting, robbery and criminal mischief. And the mayor suggested journalists be more judicious in using the term "flash mob."
  
  "We have to be sensitive to what it conjures up," Emanuel said.
  
  But the administration has played a role in creating the ongoing frenzy. Authorities slapped a mob action charge on some of the youths arrested in the attacks. And McCarthy has pushed "flash mob" into the Chicago crime vernacular since he arrived in May.

When in doubt, attack the messenger. Rahm's been doing that for years - under Clinton, in the House, as Obama's hatchet man. Now he's whipping it out here. And the Tribune Company is folding like a cheap tent, closing comment sections on all their articles as the questioning gets intense. We figure it's only a matter of time until a few other outlets fall into line. Rahm will threaten to deny them "access" to certain events, press conferences, etc., and attempt to bend them to his will. He'll be moderately successful, too.

Witness the spin at work already. These aren't "wildings" or "mob attacks" any more. They're being called "multiple offender incidents," like that's supposed to make the victim feel better and the liberal neighborhoods more understanding. The trouble is, that's not working any more.

The perception of crime being out of control has taken hold because crime is out of control, and that genie being out of the bottle is not going to be hidden as easily as it was with Shortshanks.