Wilmette Halloween Display Mocks Politics
WILMETTE (WBBM) -- A Wilmette man is having a ghoulishly good time this Halloween lampooning politicians in a front yard display that has a mid-term elections theme.
LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Bob Roberts Reports
Podcast
The gravestones, Frankenstein and witches are all there. But the witch on the broom represents Delaware Tea Party politician Christine O'Donnell, trailing a sign that reads, "I am not a witch."
One gravestone represents the Chicago voter, with the legend "vote early and vote often" on the stone. Frankenstein represents the early voter, holding a gubernatorial ballot in one hand that reads "Quinn, Brady, Whitey" --with the "Whitey" crossed out and the name "Whitney" written next to it.
This is obviously not your typical Halloween display.
The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is represented by a figure meant to be former BP CEO Tony Hayward in a BP uniform spilling oil from one hand and an hoisting an oil-slickened fish in the other.
The Obama figure is on the far left of the display, the Sarah Palin figure on the far right -- although homeowner Mark Weyermuller said the windstorms of the past week seemed to blow them together.
Joe the Plumber remains in the background, hoisting a plunger.
And at the door, Weyermuller said, is the only figure who stays on message, a ghoul representing New York gubernatorial candidate Jimmy "The Rent is Too Damn High" McMillan.
Despite that, Weyermuller said, the star remains Rod Blagojevich. His figure comes complete with a hairbrush in one hand.
Obviously, Weyermuller keeps up with his politics, and he said he gets daily inspirations from headlines he hears on WBBM.
"The kids love this," he said. "They love especially Blagojevich. They're not quite sure who he is but they love him."
And the adults?
"Some have political things to say," he said. "Some think I'm nuts. Other people just enjoy the Halloween display and want to know what kind of candy we're going to give away."
Weyermuller said he tells them he's trying to decide whether to give out fat-free candy, copies of the health care bill, stimulus money or juror surveys for the next Blagojevich trial. But in the end, he said, it's probably going to be ordinary, high-fat Halloween candy.
"The health care bill won't fit in their bags," he said.
Weyermuller said, despite sometimes daily changes to the display, there is one corner back for a 10th consecutive year. It's the "graveyard of Cub fans' hopes" -- although this year, he said, it has a sponsor: Toyota, just over the left field fence.
