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* UPDATED x1 * The two Kirks collide via proxy

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* Talk about your bad timing. Last night, Republican gubernatorial candidate Kirk Dillard announced he had been endorsed by ultra-conservative radio talk show host Sandy Rios. From a press release…

“I’m so honored to have your endorsement,” Dillard told Rios. He called Rios a strong voice in the conservative community. “Her support is a huge boost to my candidacy for governor.”

Rios is a prominent Christian radio host, television commentator, and political writer. Her talk radio program, The Sandy Rios Show, airs for two hours each weekday afternoon in Chicago.

Sometime yesterday, Rios penned a horrific piece of scurrilous nonsense for Townhall.com entitled: Do We Have a Right to Know If Candidates Are Gay? As you might expect, it’s a truly nasty swipe at Congressman Mark Kirk. I don’t recommend that you read it unless you have a strong stomach.

I called Dillard’s campaign for comment, and they eventually said they wouldn’t have anything to say. Congressman Kirk probably won’t be too happy to hear that.

* Meanwhile, the AP leads with the gay angle in a new story on Mark Kirk…

Republican Mark Kirk is responding to ads from a fringe candidate in the U.S. Senate race by flatly stating that he’s not gay.

NBC5 front-paged a story on its website with the headline: Mark Kirk: I’m not gay…

Speaking at the Union League Club concerning his recently completed Naval Reserve duty in Afghanistan, Kirk said simply: “No, it’s not true.”

To which he added that he’s getting tremendous support from his constituents concerning the issue.

WGN…

Kirk called the ad “disappointing” and says it demeans the people of Illinois.

* In actual news, Kirk made a surprising claim at the ULC today…

“All the major leaders” of the Taliban opposition in Southern Afghanistan are former Guantanamo prisoners who have been released, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) said Thursday.

The White House responds…

“We have been presented with no information that suggests that any of the detainees transferred by this administration have returned to the fight. The President created the Guantanamo Review Task Force to conduct the thorough work that had not been done before: to review the relevant information about each detainee, including the threat they pose, to determine whether they should be prosecuted, detained, or transferred. Decisions about detainees are made on an individual basis only after all of that information is considered by an interagency group that includes the Defense Department, law enforcement, and the intelligence community.”

You can listen to Kirk’s entire speech by clicking here, courtesy of the Union League Club, of which I am a proud member.

And this breaking story won’t hurt Kirk’s anti-Thomson prison sale stance one bit…

A manhunt is under way for three federal prisoners who bolted from a detention center near the southern Illinois town of Ullin.

The U.S. Marshals Service isn’t saying how the three men on Wednesday managed to make their way out of the Tri-County Detention Center in Pulaski County.

*** UPDATE *** Andy McKenna saw the same thing I did. From a press release…

“Today’s escape of prisoners in southern Illinois is a stark reminder of the dangers Illinoisans could face if Governor Quinn allows GITMO detainees into northwest Illinois.

“This plan, much like Governor Quinn’s early prisoner release program, is another ill-conceived, hastily arranged Blagojevich-style scheme that could put our families in jeopardy.

“I call on President Obama and Governor Quinn to seriously rethink this dangerous plan.”

[ *** End of Update *** ]

* Congressman Kirk also has a new radio ad, which you can listen to by clicking here. It’s a 60-second intro ad, and it’s pretty good.

* And Paul Green rates Kirk’s chances as “excellent” in a USA Today story…

Illinois.Republican Rep. Mark Kirk has an “excellent chance” of winning the Senate seat that once belonged to Obama, says Paul Green, a political science professor at Chicago’s Roosevelt University. Kirk has won two tough races in a congressional district that Obama carried with 61% of the vote last year. There are five Democratic candidates vying for the party’s nomination in a primary Feb. 2.

* Other campaign stuff…

* Giannoulias: Obama response to terrorism should have come quicker

* Schoenburg: Giannoulias’ ‘bravo’ seems out of context

* U.S. Senate candidate Hoffman hosts town hall meeting in Decatur

* Senate candidate Meister makes stop in DeKalb

* Republican candidates hope to capitalize on ‘fed up’ voters

* Sizing up the GOP’s governor candidates

* Schillerstrom would serve only one term as governor

* Illinois governor: Bob Schillerstrom vows to serve only 1 term

* Dillard blasts Quinn

* Murphy campaign backed by Senate GOP leader

* Candidates can disclose voluntarily: Three Republican candidates for lieutenant governor are letting the sun shine on their campaign contributions. Other candidates should do the same.

* Treasurer candidate tours Southern Illinois

* Stroger sees racial divide in media

* Stroger rivals blast sales tax

* Stroger says he’s good at job, bad at PR

* Daley mum on Emanuel’s rumored run for mayor

* Daley brushes off Emanuel-as-mayor gossip

* Quigley, others urge court to leave handgun ban alone

* Check Out the New Dan Seals for Congress Web Ad

* Ill. lawmakers: Keep waterways open

* Congressional Candidates Talk Health Care at Voter Forum

* Congressman Schock Shares Afghan Trip Experience

* Candidate forum coming

* 18th District: Collecting endorsements name of the game

* Local politicians to share ‘Love Letters’

* County treasurer announces candidacy

* Impending big Illinois primary election hardly noticed in Metro East

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 2:16 pm

Comments

Whoever can pin the prison escape on Quinn first should get some type of award or something.

Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 2:23 pm
every day we meet a new kirk dillard. one day he is the obama endorser, then obama’s a socialist, then he’s edgar’s chief of staff and family man, then he aligns with smut like rios. kind of reminds me of alicia silverstone trying on 40 outfits for school in a movie called…..clueless.

the gay story was dead, now kirk has brought it back. party foul.

Comment by shore Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 2:27 pm
Should a Kirk meet a Kirk
Coming through the rye
Should a Kirk kiss a Kirk
Need a Kirk cry?

– Robert Burns, “Comin’ Through the Rye”

Comment by MrJM Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 2:32 pm
Dillard should have grown a spine and repudiated Rios’ comments.

At least when Mark Kirk constantly flip flops to appease the conservatives, he does so on policy issues. The personal attack stuff…it’s pretty gross.

Comment by JonShibleyFan Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 2:33 pm
I wish we could take a cue from Johnny LaRue and move on once and for all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB89HrTd7OA

That said, Kirk Dillard could benefit from better judgment.

Comment by T.J. Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 2:36 pm
the porter sexual harassment suit that rios mentions is a new one that i have not heard. either it did or did not happen.

Comment by shore Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 2:39 pm
Once this is all over, could Mark Kirk sue Martin for libel?

Comment by Big Policy Nerd Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 2:39 pm
Turns out the strength of my stomach was woefully insufficiently.

“A strong voice in the conservative community”?

In the same way that a car alarm has a “strong voice.”

– MrJM
http://twitter.com/misterjayem

Comment by MrJM Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 2:40 pm
please. I still support Mark Kirk for U.S. Senate.

Comment by Will County Woman Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 2:46 pm
“Once this is all over, could Mark Kirk sue Martin for libel?”

The bar for libel and slander in political communications is exceedingly high. Typically lawsuits are filed more as PR than as pursuit of actual damages. A suit would only give Martin a platform he doesn’t deserve.

Comment by JonShibleyFan Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 2:51 pm
Andy Martin worded his commercials correctly. All he did was broadcast comments made by others, such as Jack Roeser (another Dillard supporter). Not sure there is libel to be had there on Martin.

Comment by John Bambenek Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 2:52 pm
This insane Kirk gay issue and all it’s fall out personifies why I, as a Democrat, am not the slightest bit worried that whomever comes out of the Republican primaries will be competitive. Mark Kirk would have a shot but his own folks will skewer him.

BTW, I believe Quinn T. Sential on another post has already tied Governor Quinn in with the recent prison escape-so he should get the award

Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 3:00 pm
townhall is a major force in american politics and on the right. either there was a suit and kirk has to explain or there wasn’t and they issue a retraction.

i dont want another jack! ryan.

Comment by shore Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 3:02 pm
Shore,

Please, if there was a suit it would be in the public record. I think I speak for most Republicans in this state who would have to say, who cares.

Comment by oneman Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 3:35 pm
then townhall.com should take down the column and apologize so the nuts don’t start a fire about this.

Comment by shore Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 3:36 pm
Looks like it will be a race to the bottom for both parties.

At this rate all the candidates will expire from the blood lost from all the damage inflicted as a result of the various charges.

Comment by Plutocrat03 Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 3:39 pm
Not to change the subject…But since we are talking about the GOP destroying itself… What is the over-under on the Illinois Review/Teabaggin’ crowd starting a 3rd party and mounting challengers for the Senatorial and Gubernatorial races. After Adam A gets 6% of the vote, I could picture him doing it.

Comment by Big Policy Nerd Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 3:54 pm
I honestly don’t understand why the panel of lawmakers even bothered yesterday to take the vote to close Thomson.

When Obama failed to secure the money for the purchase of this prison, this issue effectively became a non-starter. Of course the Christmas Day attempted terrorist attack was pretty much the final nail in the coffin for making thomson the new gitmo.

I agree with Mark Kirk, the Thomson deal is DEAD!

Comment by Will County Woman Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 3:57 pm
“A strong voice in the conservative community.”

No she isn’t. The only community she speaks for lives down by the river. In vans. Vans jacked up onto concrete blocks. They have running water only when the river floods.

If Dillard thinks this woman speaks for conservatives - he has a pretty low opinion of conservatives, and stereotypes them as one would expect from an MSNBC commentator.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 3:58 pm
Hey Jim Edgar — proud of your endorsement of Dillard now?

Comment by lake county democrat Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 3:58 pm
Not that I would ever stereotype her supporters.

They’re nice vans.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 3:59 pm
To Mr. VanillaMan: I, sir, live in a van down by the river, and take offense to being called a fan of this woman.

Comment by Matt Foley Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 4:01 pm
I am also very interested in which Bizzaro-Kirk is going to win this virtual primary.

If Paul Green says it, it must be correct. Your grade depends upon it.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 4:02 pm
I was thinking of you Matt, after I posted my comments.

I recognize that not all of our van living river people have a radio.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 4:04 pm
That entire article gave me an ulcer. I really hate people sometimes. The comments were worse.

What is wrong with Kirk Dillard? I don’t get this guy. I had serious reservations about a future Dillard candidacy when he was not even able to win over his own caucus.

Comment by Team Sleep Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 4:09 pm
As someone who spends a good deal of time in Republican-land, I’ve never heard of Ms. Rios. She is certainly no political driving force. And her frothing-at-the-mouth column is standard fare for the Roeser/Martin/Lauzen/etc, etc, crowd.

With respect to her “questions,” Kirk seemed to say pretty clearly that he is not gay. Fine. If it’s so important to the knuckle-dragging crowd, prove him wrong. If he was sued by someone back in the Porter days, doesn’t anyone think that the Democrats would have stumbled on that during one of the intensely targeted races he’s already run?

This idea that Pelosi is blackmailing him is just typical of the kind of crap that results from wearing tin foil hats all day long.

Comment by Abe Froman Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 4:15 pm
V-Man’s on a roll. lol (Thank you for the laughs V-Man and Matt.)

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 4:26 pm
Good summary Abe. Now go tell Mark Kirk to let it whither and die on the vine.

And for anyone who says the Democrats would have brought it up anyway - think again. They wouldn’t touch this in a general election. The wacko right-wing group of republicans who always seem to take over the primaries do this crap all the time. Make sure somebody gets nominated who can’t possibly win in a general election.

Comment by RJW Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 4:41 pm
Abe, they only wear partial tin-foil hats. You have to let the right signals in…

Comment by OneMan Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 4:44 pm
U.S. intelligence is sure it knows the identity of all al Qaeda leaders?

And Mark Kirk is sure U.S. intelligence is 100% accurate?

It seems hard for me to fathom that the U.S. intelligence community has a complete roster of al Qaeda leaders with no mistakes. The only scenarios that would make this claim plausible is if the ISS is paying all the al Qaeda leaders and we’ve accessed the ISS records.

If al Qaeda is a clandestine operation operating in remote regions it just seems implausible that U.S. intelligence knows them all like researching players on MLB.com.

And even if the intelligence community makes such a grandiose claim, any member of Congress who isn’t skeptical is a fool.

Mark Kirk may have done a great job punching tickets in his life, but the guy doesn’t know near as much as he thinks he knows. He has poor judgment in evaluating what information to believe and what information to be skeptical about. And he has little to no common sense about evaluating others’ claims.

Comment by Carl Nyberg Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 5:04 pm
When I clicked on the link to Ms. Rios”article” , I noticed there was an Ad for Andy McKenna posted next to her article. kind of curious

Comment by calculator Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 6:33 pm
All the Sandy Rios endorsement does is further dilute the kook vote.

I’ve always liked Dillard personally, but I wonder if he recognizes his own reflection in the mirror these days.

Comment by LincolnLounger Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 6:36 pm
If gay is okay, what’s the big deal in wondering if someone might be gay? Kirk’s campaign shows its confusion by acting like being gay is a slur or insult.

It’s an honestly issue. Isn’t that what we heard when Mark Kirk’s allies like Judy Baar Topinka were destroying Jack Ryan?

Comment by just sayin' Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 8:03 pm
===
If gay is okay, what’s the big deal in wondering if someone might be gay?
===

How long are you going to keep “wondering” in this case, just sayin’? You got your answer, so you might want to stop obsessing at some point.

===
…Mark Kirk’s allies like Judy Baar Topinka were destroying Jack Ryan….
===

Again, you might want to check your facts. Many of “Kirk’s allies” were very actively and publicly supporting Jack from day one, through and including, the day Jack stepped down. Some of them were even what others like to call “RINOs”.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 8:30 pm
OK, I checked out the Dan Seals for Congress web ad. He’s tall and good looking and has a nice young family. His Mama loves him and he is buds with Barack. But, still no real information on why he wants to be in Congress so badly that he is going after it for the 3rd time, or what he’ll “bring” if he gets to Washingon.

Comment by Responsa Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 9:00 pm
The problem with Dillard is there really is no Dillard. He doesn’t even speak for himself in his commercials, Edgar does. Dillard has no core principle as others have said he is on both sides of this issue as he is on taxes and abortion. Which Dillard will we elect if he wins the primary will he really stand up for the issues that are important for conservatives?

Comment by Dnstateanon Thursday, Jan 7, 10 @ 9:30 pm
–“All the major leaders” of the Taliban opposition in Southern Afghanistan are former Guantanamo prisoners who have been released, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) said Thursday.–

This nonsense shouldn’t be allowed to slide. If you base your candidacy on your military and foreign policy bona fides, you should pay the price when you say stupid stuff like this.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, Jan 8, 10 @ 1:13 pm