* Last fall, state Senate candidate Tom Pliura (R-Ellsworth) went a bit off track during a tea party forum…

Pliura said he was “disappointed” to see the passage of a civil-unions law in Illinois earlier this year, saying it “wasn’t necessary” and “wasn’t appropriate.”

The LeRoy physician and attorney said he was “strongly opposed to gay marriage.”

“I don’t think society ought to be condoning that anymore than, quite frankly, if a guy wants to get married with a donkey,” he said. “If you want to have relations with your donkey, that’s fine. Just don’t ask me to say, ‘OK, now that we have a civil union here, my donkey can get health care benefits.’”

And now somebody has posted a mocking video of Pliura’s moment…

Oy.

I called Dr. Pliura today and asked if he would do anything different if he had to do it over again. Pliura said he was talking in the forum about how his late brother was gay and how he was personally opposed to civil unions, but did admit “I probably should have just stopped right there.”

No kidding.

“I’m learning very quickly,” Pliura added. “I’m a newbie to this.”

* This TV ad isn’t so humorous. As subscribers already know, Rep. Randy Ramey was whacked for his DUI…

* Congressman Don Manzullo goes after Congressman Adam Kinzinger on government spending…

…Adding… Congressman Kinzinger also has a TV ad up…

*** UPDATE *** We Ask America’s latest poll has Kinzinger up by 13 points…

From the pollster…

A deeper look into where the responses to this poll came from reveals that Manzullo continues to lead comfortably in the areas he represented prior to the re-map, while young Adam Kinzinger is cleaning up in both his former area and the areas that are new to both candidates. As we always like to point out: a single poll in a given district should never be taken as a prediction of the inevitable. But the internal numbers–especially WHERE the responses came from–point to Kinzinger as the clear leader for now.

       

19 Comments - Confused - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 11:04 am: At first I thought he was referring to Democrats… - bored now - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 11:10 am: the ad on ramey is great. hope pankau has plenty of money behind it. couldn’t possibly overplay it… - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 11:19 am: The best rule of thumb in public speaking: Have an answer, cut that answer in half, THEN cut THAT answer in half, then you have your response. A rule of thumb I wish more Pols had, not because its cool, or a sign of power, or anything of status; You have an “Honorable”, you get a driver. You go out with family, someone drives you. You are out with friends, be a passenger. You are out on “business”, or business, get a driver. Easy fix for something you don’t want the impression of trying to “fix” during a sobriety test. Good luck, Randy. Manzullo’s ad get a passing grade, but it could always be better. In the “own words” is nice, but now its a “oh yeah … YEAH” ad, which is boring, but could lead to other better ads. “C+” - wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 11:20 am: Farmers in Central Illinois might want to keep an eye on Dr. Pliura around their livestock, based on what he thinks is “fine.” He obviously does a lot of deep thinking on the subject, comparing consenting adults to donkeys and goats. - Shore - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 11:25 am: the ramey ad is one of the better I’ve seen. I didn’t know you could get that video. - Skeeter - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 11:39 am: The Ramey ad is really disturbing. First, he wasn’t even close to the legal limit. He would have a tough time standing up much less driving. That goes beyond mere poor judgment. The “do you know who I am” takes it so much further. He needs to drop out of the race. - Just Observing - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 11:40 am: It’s hard to beleive someone who is bright enough to be a doctor and an attorney, resorts to an idiotic man-donkey marriage argument in opposition to gay marriage. Obviously a donkey can’t consent. - mark walker - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 11:42 am: Being a “newbie”, or talking too much, is no excuse for the profound ignorance of even thinking of linking civil-unions to bestiality. Its a cheap play to a most frightful crowd. I feel for Randy. He was mostly respectful, and honest, and didn’t really push his position as some other public officials have, but he did make more than one mistake that night. - YNM - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 11:44 am: Pliura is not a “newbie to this”. He’s been closely involved in Bill Brady’s races for years. That statement wouldn’t surprise anyone who’s familiar with him at all … - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 11:48 am: “Do you know who I am?” Do You Know Who I Am ???? That is not sounding too respectful. It sounds more like, “Hey, why aren’t you respecting ME?” Feel for Randy, “Only by the grace … go I”, but you can’t say those “magic words” to the police, and expect to be seen as respectful. Just sayin’ - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 11:50 am: ===Pliura is not a “newbie to this”. He’s been closely involved in Bill Brady’s races for years=== Until you finally wear that candidate jacket, you’re a newbie. - Dirt Digger - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 12:14 pm: This Manzullo-Kinzinger primary is so strange. Manzullo’s absolute best hit on Kinzinger is his weird $200 billion calculation on roll calls? And Kinzinger’s best hit is Cash for Clunkers and “earmarks”? Talk about research failures. The customary conservative hit on earmarks is to illustrate silly ones, usually via amendments offered by Rep. Jeff Flake. And if Manzullo’s team actually went through an opposing vote report presumably they have, like, a vote or two they can actually talk about instead of just adding up spending. - YNM - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 12:15 pm: Fair enough. Being a candidate is totally different than being “involved”. No argument there. New to being a candidate, granted. New to the world of politics, politicians, campaigns … or to being interviewed or in the spotlight, not really. I’d say he knew better, or should have. - Team Sleep - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 12:15 pm: That Pankau ad is damning. A+ Manzullo’s ad is flat and boring - just like Manzull. C- I like Adam Kinzinger’s ad. It doesn’t hurt that he’s a young, handsome politico. A- - Solomon - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 12:16 pm: “Drunk with power” Zing! - Gregor - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 12:35 pm: I want Springfield to fully cleansed of any leftovers of the Pate era, and Pankau’s spot is dead-on. Nothing galls a voter more than seeing an elected flaunt a sense of entitlement. I wonder where he got THAT from? - the Other Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 12:43 pm: The whole analogy of same sex unions to a union between a human and an animal is valid only if the person saying it believes that homosexuals are animals — subhuman. If you don’t believe that, you’d never say something so ridiculous. - OneMan - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 12:53 pm: Panku ad is really good… Love the cop “I can care less” - wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 21, 12 @ 2:14 pm: I thought Kinzinger’s first ad, where he brought in his military record, was much better. Still, he whacked Manzullo pretty good, and kept a smile on his face doing it. So he’s the “change” guy now? It’s been done, lol. He’s a heck of a candidate, and I imagine he’ll win going away. I don’t watch cable yakfests much, but he doesn’t seem to have much of a national profile. The GOP would be wise to raise it. There are going to be some tough decisions for him and Schock in the future. Take a chance statewide, or build seniority in the GOP House? Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.