It grieves me to say it but I think we might owe Mike Bloomberg for this. When even America’s most meddlesome micro-managing mayor endorses the libertarian approach on this subject, the Overton window of acceptable state interference is closed. Best for Rahm to have a spokesman issue a quiet climbdown and then slink away in defeat.

Cutting one’s losses is a “Chicago value” too:

Emanuel press secretary Tarrah Cooper called Friday to clarify the mayor’s stance on whether a Logan Square Chick-fil-A location would be vetoed because of the company’s views on gay marriage.

“He never said he’d block the restaurant from coming,” Cooper said…

To clarify, Cooper said Emanuel still believes “their values are not Chicago values.” But that doesn’t mean he would block them.

“If they meet all the requirements, they’re welcome to open a restaurant here.”

Taken together with yesterday’s retreat by Mumbles, that makes two Chick-fil-A dragonslayers who have thrown in the towel. Are there no hardcore liberal mayors left who are willing to try to quash the company’s First Amendment rights for the glory of The Cause? Actually, maybe:

Closest #ChickFilA to San Francisco is 40 miles away & I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer.

— Mayor Ed Lee (@mayoredlee) July 26, 2012

I hope he’s serious about that; we sure could use another week of easy traffic from halfwit Democrats threatening to illegally banish conservative businesses from their cities. Especially as a contrast to stories like this, of Jeff Bezos dropping a few million bucks on the pro-SSM movement in Washington state. Let me know when red-state mayors start threatening to kick Amazon warehouses out of town.

Exit question: Anyone else dreading the Twitter reaction to this terrible news? I’ve got a hunch there’s a Twitchy post collecting lefty reaction in the works as I write this, and it won’t be pleasant.

View more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.