People on the left should be celebrating this tremendous victory for the grassroots activists in Chicago who were able to stop this boondoggle. Fewer than 50% of Chicago residents support the Olympics bid in the latest poll. Why would the IOC pick a city that didn't even want the Olympics? That just doesn't make sense.

I remember when our pathetic excuse for a Mayor Michael Bloomberg used the 2012 Olympics bid to push through a lot of corruption, most of it focused on shoveling city money at his rich friends through stadium deals and less obvious means. Like any New Yorker with an IQ over 60, I opposed the bid as catastrophically stupid in a city that is crowded and already a top target of terrorists. Besides, it wasn't like middle class and poor people here would be able to afford the sky high ticket prices for Olympic events.

A huge segment of Chicago's population was smart enough to oppose the bid despite the steady stream of pro bid propaganda from the elite media which was beholden to the wealthy interests that would make money off of it. It appears that Chicagoans for Rio has been taken down, but it was a delightful site filled with creative and delicious snark about why Chicago shouldn't win and would be better off without the games.

No Games Chicago pushed a more serious effort to stop the games, and they won. The provided the IOC with a brief with evidence about why the IOC should reject the bid. The Chicago Reader did excellent reporting on how awful the Olympics would be for the middle class and the poor in Chicago.

Partisan Republicans and Democrats are exchanging "blame" for a good thing, the defeat of the Chicago bid. The unpopularity of the bid in Chicago caused it to be rejected, not Obama nor the Republicans. The fabulousness of Rio didn't exactly hurt either.

People need to stop getting so upset over good news.