The Senate campaign of Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., on Monday is launching its first attack on Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., taking aim in a video at a series of verbal gaffes that has landed Kirk in hot water.
The video, intended to move on social media, marks a new phase in the Duckworth campaign, with the timing coming after Kirk in a WRKO interview last week called President Barack Obama ”Barack Hussein Obama.” Kirk also said in that interview Obama “wants to get nukes to Iran,” which is not true.
Kirk made the comment after the announcement last week of a deal to curb the ability of Iran to make a nuclear weapon, an agreement that Kirk has been highly critical of while it was being negotiated. Use of Obama’s middle name in this context is seen by some as a coded way to suggest Obama is a Muslim.
The video is titled “Mark Kirk’s Outrageous Statements” and also includes clips of Kirk calling a single Senate colleague a “bro with no ho,” and his comment about people being scared to drive through a black neighborhood.
For well over two centuries, U.S. senators have gleefully pressured, berated, interrupted and otherwise verbally abused witnesses who appear before them. Perhaps that’s all that Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., was up to in an extraordinary grilling of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief Richard Cordray at a Senate Banking Committee hearing last week.
But after a series of jaw-dropping comments by Kirk in recent weeks, some may see something else in the hearing, during which Kirk suggested that Cordray’s agency is at least complicit in spying on members of Congress and U.S. Supreme Court justices.
This is a bizarre video. It’s almost as if it’s packaged as propaganda, obvious to the viewer, and doesn’t stack up. They’re presenting the charge and the evidence doesn’t hold up with the clip that follows. Oddly, this poor effort might even help Kirk. It certainly will with GOP voters and right leaning Indys.
Really a poor (and droning) effort. Hard to believe this has even been approved to go forward. Bizarre indeed.
Guy, there’s no way that video of Kirk speaking helps him in any way.
I’ve given Kirk points on gay marriage and guns, and defended him when the gay-baiters went after him, and others tried to push him out of office after his stroke.
But the fact of the matter is the guy is a goof, always has been, a weirdo crank with a tenuous grip on reality, as he so often demonstrates in his public remarks.
He barely beat a weak candidate in Alexi in a historic GOP year. He’s going to get beaten like a rented mule next year.
Kirk has made a career portraying himself as a moderate but his over the top rhetoric and sheer recklessness on the Iranian issue has made Kirk’s claim to moderation an increasingly hard case for the Senator to make.
The Iran issue is obviously an extremely difficult one but surely reasonable people can differ on whether President Obama’s deal is the best way forward. So when Kirk gratuitously uses the President’s middle name and claims the president wants Iran to have nuclear weapons, he reveals his true self which is both ugly and extreme. In my view, the moderate label is no longer credible.
“Might” is doing an awful lot of work in that sentence.
Hinz’ column demonstrates the danger Kirk is in. His questions, at least on paper, seem an order of magnitude more anodyne than his previous few comments. Weird, sure, but not really offensive. But they don’t occur in a vaccuum. Kirk’s got a record as the guy who says weird things, and everything else he says is going to be viewed through that prism.
Senator Kirk narrowly defeated a one-term, youthful and underfunded opponent in a GOP wave year. This is going to be tough and the DSCC has basically made Kirk their #1 target.
I really like Senator Kirk, and I did what I could to help in out in 2010. Now?! Er…
Guy, there’s no way that video of Kirk speaking helps him in any way.
I’ve given Kirk points on gay marriage and guns, and defended him when the gay-baiters went after him, and others tried to push him out of office after his stroke.
But the fact of the matter is the guy is a goof, always has been, a weirdo crank with a tenuous grip on reality, as he so often demonstrates in his public remarks.
He barely beat a weak candidate in Alexi in a historic GOP year. He’s going to get beaten like a rented mule next year.====
Sling, I have no idea whether Kirk will win or not. He won’t get beaten like a rented mule. For one thing, while I personally like Tammy, she is not a terrific candidate. She’s not a good campaigner. Like him, she’s even got severe limits as to how much of it she can do. Kirk is prone to a dopey comment on a regular basis. Fortunately for him Trump is saying even more dopey things these days.
That set of film clips with the MSNBC clips et al. isn’t going to get it done. Heck, they even qualify one charge by saying “he was on the panel but didn’t lead it”.
If the people who produced this piece hang around, it will be to Kirk’s advantage. We can’t know this early just what the environment is going to be for 2016. That will help determine how this race plays out.
How big is the victory that defines a rented mule? Guessing, I’d say more than 10 points. If we agree on that…no way that will happen.
Sorry - that first part should have noted that Alexi was a one term State Treasurer. Nothing against that seat, but it wasn’t like Kirk took out a sitting U.S. Senator.
- Judgment Day (on the road) - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 11:18 am:
“… Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief Richard Cordray…”
———-
Mark Kirk didn’t address the CFPB issues very well, but once people figure out how Cordray is taking CFPB off the rails regarding building their consumer database information, they are going to freak.
Especially if the feds do their usual classic job of protecting our information against data theft (see the recent OPM debacle). Only this one would be nationwide. To date, these guys don’t have the tech smarts to realize what they are playing with - and what the impacts can be if things go wrong.
Duckworth better be careful on this one. She might want to take a closer look before she jumps in. This one could bite back hard.
The C-SPAN clip is devastating for Kirk. It’s like he’s barely connected to reality. If he keeps performing like this in a debate or a televised interview, he’s done. The sooner the RSCC figures this out, the sooner they can find a replacement and try to hold this seat.
I almost feel sorry for Kirk. He’s clearly not well.
- Robert the Bruce - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 11:24 am:
Kirk’s immoderate behavior is making it hard to believe he is a moderate.
Whether or not Tammy is a great campaigner won’t matter. This is not a race for the state house. In a statewide race, maybe 0.3% of voters will actually meet either Tammy or Mark (or Andrea) on the campaign trail. A race like this comes down to: money, message, national environment, and gaffes. Now, an unskilled candidate can make gaffes while campaigning, but I think it’s pretty clear at this point which candidate is the most gaffe-prone. Tammy will have great ads and a winning presidential ticket (in IL). Frankly, despite how late it is now, I’m starting to think there’s a 10% chance that Kirk ends up retiring.
Lol. This from A guy who said Mark Kirk’s “Barack Hussein Obama wants the Ayatollah to have nukes” comments were much ado about nothing. Dude, even Kirk disagreed with you on that one.
Good luck cleaning up after this guy for the next 18 months. You’re going to need a bigger mop because Kirk’s mouth is now, officially, a weapon of self destruction.
Guy, you’re a laugh riot. I hope somebody is paying you for it. I have no idea why someone would do what you do for nothing.
– Her anti Israel views–
What 47 said. Back it up.
- Under Further Review - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 5:59 pm:
The background music is enough to induce a headache. Stupid stuff to be sure. It won’t help Kirk in the least, but much of it is old news.
The footage of an off balance Kirk shuffling to the podium while wearing an American Legion cap seems odd to include in an ad from Duckworth who is a disabled veteran herself.
Numerous conservative op-eds have compared Obama to Prime Minister Chamberlain (recently and over the years) to paint him as ineffectual.
Didn’t Obama used his full name when taking the presidential oath?
I really hope that the debate rises to a higher level than the material used in this ad. Otherwise, it is going to be a long election cycle.
- Mouthy - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 9:29 am:
He went to the Bill O’Reilly school of public oration..
- hisgirlfriday - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 9:30 am:
The Southern Illinoisan has an editorial calling him the love child of Michele Bachman and Ted Cruz.
- A guy - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 9:41 am:
This is a bizarre video. It’s almost as if it’s packaged as propaganda, obvious to the viewer, and doesn’t stack up. They’re presenting the charge and the evidence doesn’t hold up with the clip that follows. Oddly, this poor effort might even help Kirk. It certainly will with GOP voters and right leaning Indys.
Really a poor (and droning) effort. Hard to believe this has even been approved to go forward. Bizarre indeed.
- Wordslinger - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 10:10 am:
Guy, there’s no way that video of Kirk speaking helps him in any way.
I’ve given Kirk points on gay marriage and guns, and defended him when the gay-baiters went after him, and others tried to push him out of office after his stroke.
But the fact of the matter is the guy is a goof, always has been, a weirdo crank with a tenuous grip on reality, as he so often demonstrates in his public remarks.
He barely beat a weak candidate in Alexi in a historic GOP year. He’s going to get beaten like a rented mule next year.
- DecaturGuy - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 10:21 am:
looks like kirk was going hard after cordray. glad someone is holding these guys accountable==too many data breaches already
- Sir Reel - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 10:22 am:
Kirk’s 15 minutes of fame are fading.
- slow down - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 10:41 am:
Kirk has made a career portraying himself as a moderate but his over the top rhetoric and sheer recklessness on the Iranian issue has made Kirk’s claim to moderation an increasingly hard case for the Senator to make.
The Iran issue is obviously an extremely difficult one but surely reasonable people can differ on whether President Obama’s deal is the best way forward. So when Kirk gratuitously uses the President’s middle name and claims the president wants Iran to have nuclear weapons, he reveals his true self which is both ugly and extreme. In my view, the moderate label is no longer credible.
- Arsenal - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 10:46 am:
==Oddly, this poor effort might even help Kirk.==
“Might” is doing an awful lot of work in that sentence.
Hinz’ column demonstrates the danger Kirk is in. His questions, at least on paper, seem an order of magnitude more anodyne than his previous few comments. Weird, sure, but not really offensive. But they don’t occur in a vaccuum. Kirk’s got a record as the guy who says weird things, and everything else he says is going to be viewed through that prism.
- Team Sleep - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 10:54 am:
Senator Kirk narrowly defeated a one-term, youthful and underfunded opponent in a GOP wave year. This is going to be tough and the DSCC has basically made Kirk their #1 target.
I really like Senator Kirk, and I did what I could to help in out in 2010. Now?! Er…
- A guy - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 11:04 am:
== Wordslinger - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 10:10 am:
Guy, there’s no way that video of Kirk speaking helps him in any way.
I’ve given Kirk points on gay marriage and guns, and defended him when the gay-baiters went after him, and others tried to push him out of office after his stroke.
But the fact of the matter is the guy is a goof, always has been, a weirdo crank with a tenuous grip on reality, as he so often demonstrates in his public remarks.
He barely beat a weak candidate in Alexi in a historic GOP year. He’s going to get beaten like a rented mule next year.====
Sling, I have no idea whether Kirk will win or not. He won’t get beaten like a rented mule. For one thing, while I personally like Tammy, she is not a terrific candidate. She’s not a good campaigner. Like him, she’s even got severe limits as to how much of it she can do. Kirk is prone to a dopey comment on a regular basis. Fortunately for him Trump is saying even more dopey things these days.
That set of film clips with the MSNBC clips et al. isn’t going to get it done. Heck, they even qualify one charge by saying “he was on the panel but didn’t lead it”.
If the people who produced this piece hang around, it will be to Kirk’s advantage. We can’t know this early just what the environment is going to be for 2016. That will help determine how this race plays out.
How big is the victory that defines a rented mule? Guessing, I’d say more than 10 points. If we agree on that…no way that will happen.
- Team Sleep - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 11:06 am:
Sorry - that first part should have noted that Alexi was a one term State Treasurer. Nothing against that seat, but it wasn’t like Kirk took out a sitting U.S. Senator.
- Judgment Day (on the road) - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 11:18 am:
“… Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief Richard Cordray…”
———-
Mark Kirk didn’t address the CFPB issues very well, but once people figure out how Cordray is taking CFPB off the rails regarding building their consumer database information, they are going to freak.
Especially if the feds do their usual classic job of protecting our information against data theft (see the recent OPM debacle). Only this one would be nationwide. To date, these guys don’t have the tech smarts to realize what they are playing with - and what the impacts can be if things go wrong.
Duckworth better be careful on this one. She might want to take a closer look before she jumps in. This one could bite back hard.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 11:18 am:
The C-SPAN clip is devastating for Kirk. It’s like he’s barely connected to reality. If he keeps performing like this in a debate or a televised interview, he’s done. The sooner the RSCC figures this out, the sooner they can find a replacement and try to hold this seat.
I almost feel sorry for Kirk. He’s clearly not well.
- Robert the Bruce - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 11:24 am:
Kirk’s immoderate behavior is making it hard to believe he is a moderate.
- @MisterJayEm - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 1:20 pm:
“Kirk is prone to a dopey comment on a regular basis. Fortunately for him Trump is saying even more dopey things these days.”
Mark Kirk: Not as dopey as Donald Trump
Now THAT is a winning campaign theme.
– MrJM
- Arsenal - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 1:51 pm:
Donald Trump isn’t running against Mark Kirk. He’s not going to be running against ANYBODY in October of 2016.
- SAD - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 2:13 pm:
Duckworth is a flawed candidate.
- Jonah - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 3:03 pm:
Tammy, is a respected veteran like Kirk, but is a below average speaker and campaigner.
She will never outraise $$$ Rirk ,with Rauner’s money. Her anti Israel views will not help her either.
- Jonah - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 3:16 pm:
I do agree, the Dems are hoping Kirk does not resign and allow Rauner to appoint.
Any ideas on that scenario? Kitzinger?
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 3:38 pm:
===Her anti Israel views===
Huh? What are you talking about?
- A guy - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 4:01 pm:
“The C-SPAN clip is devastating….”
The most auspicious way to start a debate I’ve heard. Oy.
- 60611 - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 4:10 pm:
Whether or not Tammy is a great campaigner won’t matter. This is not a race for the state house. In a statewide race, maybe 0.3% of voters will actually meet either Tammy or Mark (or Andrea) on the campaign trail. A race like this comes down to: money, message, national environment, and gaffes. Now, an unskilled candidate can make gaffes while campaigning, but I think it’s pretty clear at this point which candidate is the most gaffe-prone. Tammy will have great ads and a winning presidential ticket (in IL). Frankly, despite how late it is now, I’m starting to think there’s a 10% chance that Kirk ends up retiring.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 4:33 pm:
===Oy===
Lol. This from A guy who said Mark Kirk’s “Barack Hussein Obama wants the Ayatollah to have nukes” comments were much ado about nothing. Dude, even Kirk disagreed with you on that one.
Good luck cleaning up after this guy for the next 18 months. You’re going to need a bigger mop because Kirk’s mouth is now, officially, a weapon of self destruction.
- Wordslinger - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 4:41 pm:
Guy, you’re a laugh riot. I hope somebody is paying you for it. I have no idea why someone would do what you do for nothing.
– Her anti Israel views–
What 47 said. Back it up.
- Under Further Review - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 5:59 pm:
The background music is enough to induce a headache. Stupid stuff to be sure. It won’t help Kirk in the least, but much of it is old news.
The footage of an off balance Kirk shuffling to the podium while wearing an American Legion cap seems odd to include in an ad from Duckworth who is a disabled veteran herself.
Numerous conservative op-eds have compared Obama to Prime Minister Chamberlain (recently and over the years) to paint him as ineffectual.
Didn’t Obama used his full name when taking the presidential oath?
I really hope that the debate rises to a higher level than the material used in this ad. Otherwise, it is going to be a long election cycle.
- Wordslinger - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 6:32 pm:
– Numerous conservative op-eds have compared Obama to Prime Minister Chamberlain (recently and over the years)–
LOL, you’re right.
How many times, do you think, can a president be a “Chamberlain,” over the years? How many Munichs are there, lol?
And UFR, you know why Kirk kept saying “Hussein.” Do you think it’s smart or clever to pretend that you don’t?
- Not Alan Keyes - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 8:42 pm:
I think Kinzinger or maybe Shimkus or someone needs this appointment
- Wordslinger - Tuesday, Jul 21, 15 @ 8:56 pm:
NAK, there is no appointment. Kirk is a United States Senator and he’s running for re-election.
If someone in the GOP wants to replace him, they better get their primary petitions going.