54 Comments - Seth - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 11:06 am: As a Democrat, I think her ads went too far. Note that he is a late on his payments, but leave it at that. Family should never be brought in. I said the same thing when people made fun of Bristol in ‘08. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 11:14 am: Wow …Let the blowback begin. You would be foolidh to think that this Ad will not have impact. Joe Jr. looked poised, looked un-rehearsed, and it wasn’t over the top or over dramatic. Sometimes less is more in a response. Well done Ad, and should make some noise. Tammy might have made a mistake going after the “family” THIS LATE, becuse this is going to paint her as petty, and dirty, and a politican. Time will tell. - Cheryl44 - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 11:20 am: I can’t watch. That poor child. He needs to change his name. And yeah, it was a stupid move by the Duckworth campaign and could mean we have to put up with this mouth another couple of years. As a Chicagoan, I blame Rahm. - wordslinger - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 11:23 am: Powerful spot. But I cringe at sending out one of the kids. Walsh is a big boy, who’s certainly not shy about mixing it up. He must know that there isn’t a candidate in the country who wouldn’t take a hit for an exes’ lawsuit alleging major child support arrears. That’s politics. You don’t have to like it, but you knew the way the game’s played going in. It’s an attack on Walsh, not his family. And Walsh should be able to defend himself. - LP - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 11:24 am: For someone who did not want his family involved, he spent money to make an ad starring his children pretty quickly. - NIref - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 11:25 am: It took court-ordered garnishment for Walsh to get involved. And after taking pictures of Duckworth dress shopping, he has the nerve to play the victim card? This is an ugly race. Win or lose, Walsh will be on TV for a long time. - Skeeter - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 11:29 am: Amazing how kids support their parents, no matter how repulsive the conduct. Maybe when he gets older he will understand. - Belle - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 11:34 am: Agree with LP. Walsh likes to have his bread buttered on both sides and gets away with it too frequently. - soccermom - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 11:42 am: Joe Walsh, please stop trying to make extremely personal decisions for me and my daughters. They’re my family, and they should be off-limits to you, and to everyone else in Congress. - MrJM - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 11:47 am: The DC Dems got the candidate they wanted and the opponent they wanted — and here we are just days from the election. Maybe next time they should leave it to the amateurs. – MrJM - anon - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 11:51 am: It seems that the news coverage of this has definitely been Walsh favored. Do we think this ad and the one its responding too will move the polls in either direction? - Esquire - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 11:54 am: Duckworth misplayed this attack on Walsh — it would have been more effective earlier in the campaign rather than less than two weeks before the election. Hundreds of exes are in Domestic Relations Courtrooms arguing over delinquent or late child support payments every day of the year. I do not condone this, but it is a reality. As for the son’s appearance in the commercial, it is a kill shot. I do not know if it will tilt the election results in a close race, but Duckworth’s campaign erred badly by timing its attack in such a way that Walsh could issue an effective rebuttal. - Carl Warlock, Protector of the Universe - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 11:56 am: I haven’t seen a guy human shield his kid like this since Dusty Baker’s with the Cubs. “Hey, you can’t come after me. I’m a dad.” The guy who started the grimey aspect of this campaign when he went after the amputee war veteran’s record as a soldier is using his own kid to fight his battles for him. That should tell the voters in his district all they need to know about the man. - Chicago Cynic - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 12:08 pm: Agree with Esquire completely. Let me also add that the move by Duckworth was dumb dumb dumb. She was winning. He was the bully. He was the one attacking women. She was the victim of his inappropriate stunt during the debate on the dress. And yet with this one off-message ad, she miraculously turned this vile SOB into a somewhat sympathetic character. Amazing political malpractice. Who is doing her media? - Cheswick - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 12:16 pm: It looks like he couldn’t take the heat, so he had to get his son to stand up for him. Who is the female in the still shots? - Observer - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 12:16 pm: - Cynic I believe Ken Snyder of Snyder Pickerill is doing her media. I don’t get the move to run the ad she’s running either. Even more dumbfounding has been her for lack of a better word mean spirited response to the press. - OneMan - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 12:40 pm: Wow, The level of hate of Joe Walsh has taken some of you to places that I can’t believe… Cherly44 I can’t watch. That poor child. He needs to change his name. Really, don’t recall you saying that about Blago’s daughters or George Ryan Jr. He should change his name? Skeeter… Amazing how kids support their parents, no matter how repulsive the conduct. Maybe when he gets older he will understand. Because you, obviously as someone who comments on CapFax have a much better idea of the dynamics of the Walsh family than his son does. Yeah we get it, you think Walsh is the worst human to ever breath in air… But I have a question for you? Would you say this to his son’s face? How would you feel if someone said that to your kid? - Tobor - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 12:44 pm: It is what it is, it took the courts to get joe to pay. - dave - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 12:47 pm: The Walsh family still hasn’t point out one specific lie from the Duckworth ads. They keep saying “the lies” — but they never identify one. They didn’t identify one lie in the letter. They didn’t identify one lie in any of the press releases. And they didn’t identify one lie in the press conference. That might make one think that there are not actually any lies in the Duckworth ads. - Meanderthal - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 12:51 pm: Duckworth overreached. Family issues involving minor children should generally be off limits and Duckworth may well pay the price with a narrow loss to Walsh. - Carl Nyberg - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 1:13 pm: Dear Joey Walsh, how did it feel when your dad attacked your mother in the media? Was it worse than when the Duckworth campaign attacked your dad? Or about the same? - also an observer - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 1:18 pm: I read that the Walsh kids are 25, 21, and 18—- not minors, and the ad wasn’t about them directly, was it? I thought the point was to show money is going everywhere except to the people who need it most. I really do want to know what Ms. Duckworth is “lying” about– didn’t he get in trouble about child support? - I understand it’s been resolved, but he DID get in trouble- right? had to go to court or mediation? and he makes a big old stink about leaving his family out of it, but all I am seeing are his sons at a press conference and now on TV … If we want to leave family out of it, then leave them out of it. I’ve been lucky enough to meet Ms. Duckworth and she seems sincere…. just want to know why they keep saying she is lying. About what? - Cheryl44 - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 1:26 pm: Since you’ve made assumptions about me, OneMan, I’m going to assume you really hate it when women express opinions you don’t like. Well guess what–that doesn’t change my opinion. If one of Blago’s kids was name Rod Jr, I’d feel the same way about that kid-she ought to change her name. I have always thought Jesse Sr did JJJ no favors with that name either. - reformer - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 1:27 pm: How did Tammy “attack the Walsh family” by pointing out that Joe was sued for $117,000 in back child support? I wonder if Joe Jr. contends the lawsuit was fabricated out of whole cloth and had absolutely no merit? In that case, it would seem unfair to bring it up. - OneMan - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 1:41 pm: Cheryl44 Wow, what assumption did I make? Did you not state.. I can’t watch. That poor child. He needs to change his name. Did I misquote you? Is quoting you making an assumption? then ask two questions? Also I am going to go out on a limb here and guess that skeeter is a dude (wow, there is an assumption) and I called Skeeter out on their comments too but yeah it obvious that the only reason I called you both out is because you are both women.. Whatever… But seriously what am I assuming about you? That you wouldn’t go up and say that personally to Joe Walsh Jr? I have to be honest, I would assume most people wouldn’t say that to another person, period. Is that the assumption I am making? So if that is the assumption you have a problem with, fine. More power to you, to be blunt I couldn’t be that blunt to someone to their face. It isn’t me.. So seriously, what did I assume about you? Also so I am not going to assume this, you think I called out skeeter because I think skeeter is a woman? - John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 1:52 pm: I am enjoying this whole campaign immensely. You could not pay for this kind of entertainment. I’m also enjoying the amount of support that I see for Joe Walsh, both inside and outside the new 8th. - OneMan - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 2:01 pm: The funny thing Cheryl44 I suspect (there I go assuming again) that you do not think too highly of Joe Walsh and I would basically agree with you. What I find interesting is the level it appears (again processing data to draw my own conclusion) that people have stronger feelings about Walsh in a negative way than just about any other candidate or for that matter just about anyone involved in politics in this state. It seems to me (again processing data in this case to form an opinion) that these feeling lead folks to view everything from Walsh in a certain light and tends to impact everything they say about Walsh. It would also seem (again processing data to form an opinion) that these views result in the assignment of what some might feel what may be considered a ‘negative’ viewpoint on everything that may involve Walsh without at least taking all possibilities into account. But then again I am processing data and forming opinions so what do I know. - OneMan - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 2:08 pm: I also suspect that part of what drives people with the Walsh comments is the fact there shouldn’t have been much of a Walsh discussion. Between the remap and his issues, he should have been a dead man walking. Not worth anyone putting money into 3rd party ads for his at this point. But that has not turned out to be the case. The latest example is this ad, did the Duckworth people not think they had a counter to this? That Walsh and/or his people did not have a plan for if this issue came up and that the kids were a possibility for that counter? Someone else earlier said it, you managed to make Joe Walsh look sympathetic. Did anyone think 6 months ago that Joe Walsh would look sympathetic? I sure didn’t. This race is still relevant and the fact that it is (and it isn’t my district) is surprising and entertaining as hell. - Just Observing - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 2:09 pm: === Amazing how kids support their parents, no matter how repulsive the conduct. Maybe when he gets older he will understand. === I don’t think us commenters are in a position to judge how Joe Walsh’s kids perceive him. - Responsa - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 2:53 pm: If I may play hall monitor for a second—This thread has gotten awfully personal and in some respects has taken on the tone of a free for all newspaper comment section. I think the issue here is about how the voting public will react to the interplay of Tammy’s and Joe’s ads–not what commenters here think of of the individual 8th district candidates or each other. (If I have overstepped bounds by saying this, Rich, I apologize.) - Anonymous - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 2:54 pm: “I don’t think us commenters are in a position to judge how Joe Walsh’s kids perceive him. ” Leave it to the Walshes to stubbornly ignore the anti-Walsh narrative the rest of the public champions… - Skeeter - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 2:56 pm: One Man, The kid doesn’t yet get that treating your (former) wife and kids badly is as low as you can get. Apparently, you don’t get it either. - D.P. Gumby - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 2:58 pm: Typical T-Bagger…she’s lying about me by what she didn’t say and she better stop. How dare she say something that’s true. Son, tell her to stop cuz it’s hurting your feelings. - Skeeter - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 3:02 pm: “How would you feel if someone said that to your kid?” I can’t imagine any possible scenario in which I would have money to pay child support and fail to do so (yeah, I do get how people get divorced, but now how they then ignore their kids). That would be inconsistent with everything that I’ve stood for my entire life. If I did that, I probably would 1) Get serious psychological help to figure out why I did it; and then 2) Spend just about every waking minute apologizing to my kids for having done it. In the meantime, I would hope people would be gentle with telling my kids but I would hope that they get the message that my conduct was beyond awful. One Man, it is shame that you still do not seem to get that treating your kids badly is terrible. - OneMan - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 3:03 pm: Skeeter What I get is that what a family feels within a situation, no matter what I may feel about a situation matters. That it is easy to judge a situation when you are not in the situation. Lucky there people like you who are happy to judge, because obviously you have a better understanding of the situation than he does… Apparently, you know better than he does, we are all thankful for your obvious wisdom.. - Skeeter - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 3:11 pm: One Man, I don’t think it is going out on a limb to conclude that deliberately not paying child support is a pretty lousy thing to do to your kids. Any father who does so is a pretty horrible father. Again, that doesn’t seem too controversial. However, you disagree. That’s why we have elections. - OneMan - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 3:11 pm: What I don’t get is how you feel you can speak to the situation inside the Walsh family better than a member of the family can. Do you know them personally? Do you know his ex-wife personally? Are they neighbors? If any of these are true I could get it, but using media reports and court filings as a way of saying basically “His son is wrong and it is sad he doesn’t get it” Seems, well a bit much to me. I guess that is what I don’t get. We had a candidate a while back who had his now ex-wife make a claim about him, a claim to be blunt is worse in my mind that witholding child support she then appeared with him the night he won. The claim became a non-issue. Would you say “she didn’t know better” ? Sincerely curious why you think you know the situation better than someone who lived it. - OneMan - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 3:13 pm: Again, I am not a Walsh fan. I just don’t get the hostility for the son… You should change your name? That still blows my mind. I understand your situation and what happened better than you do… Sorry can’t make that logical leap. - Skeeter - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 3:16 pm: One Man, Are you really claiming the facts are in doubt? If so, do you want to buy a bridge? It is a good Republican bridge. Well constructed. I’ve got title free and clear. If you think there is doubt about whether Walsh paid child support, then you sure look like a bridge buyer to me. We should talk. - OneMan - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 3:26 pm: Skeeter, Fine, for the sake of this argument, I will grant you he didn’t pay child support. It would now appear that the situation was resolved to the satisfaction of the parties involved such there is no longer a court case. You willing to agree to that? If so why does his evaluation of the situation have no value? Does he need you to express the indignation he wouldn’t? Does his mom? What motivation would he have for doing so unless it was a sincere feeling? You really feel you have a better understanding of the situation that the Walsh children? I get and agree not paying child support is bad, what I don’t get is why there is this feeling to pour judgement upon his children. - Skeeter - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 3:32 pm: One Man, why do I suspect that if we were talking about people who live in Englewood who have kids and then don’t support them you might give a different answer? Joe Walsh treated his former wife and his kids miserably. There can be no excuse for the conduct. His kids may not yet get how badly the father acted. Hopefully, one day they will so they don’t grow up to act like their father. - Skeeter - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 3:34 pm: “For the sake of argument” — I love that phrase, One Man. Similarly, for the sake of argument let’s assume that the sun will rise in the east tomorrow morning. - wordslinger - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 3:34 pm: I don’t think there’s any hostility to the son. I think there’s a great deal of antipathy to a grown man, a politician, a Congressman, putting his son out in the arena to take arrows for his own troubles. Again, there’s not a candidate in the world who wouldn’t have got whacked when his ex filed a lawsuit and got garnished for child support. That’s life in the NFL. Cowboy up and deal with it. “I’m Joe Walsh and I approve this message.” As a father, I never could have said those words. You shield your kids from this kind of stuff, you don’t throw them into it. - OneMan - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 3:38 pm: Skeeter Would I say “Those kids should change their name” No, be in englewood or Aurora.. If a 25 year old has dealt with and addressed whatever his father may have done to impact him, more power to him. I have known too many people in too many places who haven’t been able to get beyond what family did to them and it eats them up inside. So if you want to be rightously angry on their behalf, fine Also why do I suspect if Walsh’s politcs were different you would look at this differently too? There are lots of political figures who have done wrong where the ‘victims’ don’t seem angry. Do you feel they don’t understand either? - OneMan - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 3:40 pm: I don’t think there’s any hostility to the son. I can’t watch. That poor child. He needs to change his name. That isn’t hostility, than what is it? - dave - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 3:40 pm: **Fine, for the sake of this argument, I will grant you he didn’t pay child support.** Really? For the sake of argument? Walsh has publicly admitted to not paying his court mandated child support. This is not an issue of dispute. - Skeeter - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 3:44 pm: OM, You need to calm down and focus. I’m not Cheryl. I really can’t address her points. In response to your question, if the party was different no, I absolutely would not justify it. I would find it equally repulsive. You talk about other situations and other “victims”? Again, that seems to reflect poorly on your own values. You just don’t seem to get that abandoning your kids is about as bad as it gets. In any case, you seem to reject the basic and well established facts of the case. You see to reject that not paying child support is all that bad. When we can’t agree on those basic matters, I think the conversation has run its course. Have a good day. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 3:49 pm: OK, enough. Attacking the kids is wrong and Walsh screwed up by not paying his child support and initially dragging his family through the mud months ago. Let’s all stipulate to that and move on please. Give others a chance to talk. - Jaded - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 4:24 pm: I think Duckworth should be ashamed as well. Maybe not so much for the ad (which was pretty ill advised) but for not being able to put this guy away. Walsh has lobbed her softball after softball, and she just keeps whiffing. No wonder the folks in the 8th seem to be skeptical of her candidacy. - Chevy owner/Ford County - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 4:56 pm: Given the recent positioning by Republicans across the country that children are “a gift from God” even if they are a product of rape, I don’t think it is out of bounds to discuss how Republican candidates and/or elected officials have or have not cared for their own “gifts from God”. I don’t see this as a misfire by Duckworth at all. - Liandro - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 5:30 pm: I’d have to disagree with Wordslinger that a 25 year old man who is asking to speak publicly be denied his voice because he is my son. Under 18, sure, I’ll take the political hit. Twenty-five? Heck, the man who is about to be my next State Rep is twenty-five…and he will be speaking for over 108,000 people. Should his dad step in and prevent him from engaging politically? At what point do you stop blocking your son from speaking up? Thirty? Fifty? Joe Jr. asked to speak. He is in a better position than Skeeter, or anyone else, to know how good of a father Joe Walsh was. That anyone on this board would take it upon themselves to disagree, without any real knowledge of the actual dynamics, is presumption–exactly as OneMan is pointing out. And frankly, arguing it is politics-as-usual to do so might not be the best counter-point. I don’t think people want politics-as-usual, especially from a woman running on her honorable service! Maybe Joe is a bad dad. I don’t know. His kids don’t think so. Even if you disagree with them, they are a higher authority on the topic, and that means it’s time to move on to actual policy differences. They ain’t ten, and you just look silly telling a grown man (that you don’t know) that his father (who you also don’t know) wasn’t a good father. That is the position Duckworth, and others on this board, have put themselves in. Tammy, drop the ad and get back to issues. You’ll have better ground to attack from. - wordslinger - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 7:28 pm: –I’d have to disagree with Wordslinger that a 25 year old man who is asking to speak publicly be denied his voice because he is my son. - Liandro, I see where you’re coming from, but here’s the deal: I have no issue with Joe Jr. He’s sticking up for his Old Man, as a good son will. I’m disappointed in Joe. Sr. in putting him out there. If I’m Walsh, it’s my campaign fund, so I have to approve producing the spot and the buy. His son is not a decision-maker. The spot also can’t run unless Walsh puts on the disclaimer “I approve this ad.” I won’t roll that way, not with my kids. I’ve done more than a few things in my life that I would not allow my kids to take the arrows for, even if they wanted to. Especially if they wanted to. I’ll take the arrows. That’s what the Old Man does. Having said that, here’s to Young Joe Walsh. He’s put himself out there fighting for his old man. Splendid behavior. - Culver - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 9:57 pm: I’ve got to admit, as a resident of Walsh’s district, I was pretty sour on him this entire election cycle. Seeing his kid stick up for him has softened me significantly. They are sticking together and fighting, that is the kind of stuff I want to see in Washington. I realize Duckworth was in the military, but I’ve never gotten a ‘fight’ vibe from her. Maybe that’s because she wants to appeal to suburban women, so called ’soccer moms’, but to me Walsh is coming off much tougher than Duckworth. Will I vote for Walsh? Dunno. But that used to be a NOT A CHANCE a few weeks ago. - Team Sleep - Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 10:55 pm: I’m 32. I have two young children whom I love more than anyone on the face of our planet. If my wife and I were to divorce, would I fight her on child support? Damn right. It’s 2012. She makes as much as I do and has a more steady job and career than I currently have. There are many options around nasty divorces and child support fights. Perhaps mediation or arbitration. Agree to split the costs of raising a kid. One spouse can pay one week of daycare and food; the other could pay for the following week. I remember when Matt Leinart fathered a child out of wedlock with a fellow USC Trojan athlete. Since Mr. Leinart was readying his entry into the NFL Draft, the mother of his child asked for $30,000 a month in child support. Let me repeat that. $30,000 a month. One of my favorite football bloggers asked the question, “What - is the kid going to eat dolphin for breakfast?!” Where am I going with all of this? Depending on how you feel about child support and which side of the sword you fall upon, the matter of child support and court orders can be subjective. Joe Walsh can be a sympathetic figure. There are many men who may have felt wronged by a child support order and may feel a bond with Joe Walsh. Was it wrong for Joe Walsh not to pay child support? Yes. Was it wrong for Tammy Duckworth to make such a big issue about it? Yes. I hate to say it, but Joe Walsh not paying his child support is (at least in the eyes of the law) the same as Tammy Duckworth being sued by her employees. They are both LEGAL issues that are handled by the courts. Society may view the comparison as apples-to-oranges, but they are civil matters in the eyes of the law. Joey Walsh didn’t have to do the ad. Megan McCain spent a good deal of 2008 ripping her dad in public. Alan Keyes’s daughter has routinely and openly disagreed with her father’s social stances. Not every political offspring has a relationship and follows the marching orders like that of the Costellos Jerry. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.