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The Spectacle Blog
It has been alleged by some of the media that the conservative and tea party movements are anti-intellectual and are avoiding substantive issues in primary campaigns against more moderate Republicans. Jeb Golinkin at FrumForum posted on Wednesday the following about the Illinois Senate Primary and allegations by one opponent that Kirk is gay:
If the debate were about issues, Andy Martin would not be running radio advertisements which mention a so called “solid rumor” that Kirk is gay. If this race were about issues, Lake County Republican leader Ray True would not publicly observe that Mark Kirk has “surrounded himself with homosexuals.”
It seems more than a bit of a stretch to conclude that Andy Martin is a serious candidate and that his actions speak for the right wing. Martin is a notorious shock blogger who has no reported FEC campaign contributions filing (although 4th quarter still has not been posted). Moreover, CBS Chicago reports that he was convicted of assault in Florida and denied entry into the Illinois bar because of a “character defect.”
Lake County Republican leader Ray True, who FrumForum quotes as saying that Kirk “surrounded himself with homosexuals,” has denied that he ever made such comments. The comments were cited as evidence in Martin’s advertisement, but maybe FrumForum has another source of True actually making those allegations.
In addition, the Illinois GOP has issued a statement denouncing the allegations — as has Pat Hughes, the candidate who has run second in financing.
CQ had a piece today jokingly suggesting that Andy Martin could be an agent of Mark Kirk — by releasing radicals throwing out wild accusations “they suck up what little media oxygen is in the room” away from other more conservative challengers of Kirk. If the media want to avoid an issue-based primary, the natural thing to do would be to group conservatives with Andy Martin.
View all comments (17) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Brian O'Connell
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/01/07/frumforum-props-up-mark-kirk-i
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Interested Conservative| 1.7.10 @ 8:34PM
Rep. Kirk is my congressman, and while I have a few quibbles with him (cap and trade), the local view and play on this is that it is a non-story. Kirk will walk in the primary, so the thinking is how could this affect the general.
It is Chicago, so there could be longer forces at work on the smear, but most of the press is stumped as to why this matters.
One rationale may be the twin successes which the POTUS had in his race for the senate - in both the primary and the general he eliminated his toughest opponents with conveniently released, previously sealed domestic court records. Of course, that's missing here, as nobody has ever alleged anything legal against Kirk - this is pure rumor.
Finally, "Andy Martin" isn't even Andy Martin - it's a short version of his name, to cap off his other history as noted.
Ran / Si Vis Pacem | 1.7.10 @ 8:38PM
Mr O'Connell, thanks, but the other solution is to simply ignore the squishies and focus attention instead on genuinely conservative candidates.
The rapid growth of the libertarian-conservative movement has disintermediated "moderates" from between the voting base and suitable candidates. FrumForum and their ilk may be entertaining to liberals who fear genuine libertarian-conservative "right wingers"... but for the emergent Right, they're a waste of time.
Florida Boy | 1.7.10 @ 9:02PM
Here is a video of the attack by Martin on a news crew in Florida:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMf9Zd6Sn_g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA7Yzy0rQG8
Don Gwinn| 1.7.10 @ 11:31PM
Andy Martin is a nut (he may actually track me down and sue me for saying that, and Mr. O'Connell should really be worried) and Mark Kirk is a gun-grabber. In short, nobody for whom I would vote is involved in this clusterfluff, unless one considers Pat Hughes "involved."
At least Hughes follows the Illinois GOP platform.
Siegfried X| 1.8.10 @ 6:01AM
I am a conservative from Illinois and I certainly won't be voting for Mark Kirk. One reason is his alleged role in rigging the primary. There were widespread media reports that Kirk threatened to not run for the Senate unless Republican Party leadership and his peers agreed that none of them would run against him in a primary. There was back and forth for days about this, widely reported in the media, before Kirk finally threw his hat into the ring.
The effect is that we have a rigged primary, one in which Kirk doesn't have experienced opponents. Which is sadly typical of the Republican Party, the primaries titled towards liberal Republicans. (i.e. presidential nominating system set up for that Democratic cross-over votes and early Democratic states would steal the nomination for Guiliani or McCain).
Then after my rights as a primary election voter were trampled, at general election time I am told by those same people who cheated me out of a primary that I must support the RINO as the "lesser of two evils" and out of party loyalty! Fat chance. If they rig the primaries against me, then they lose me.
Indiana Alex| 1.8.10 @ 8:46AM
As much as i don't like Kirk, gay or not, he is the only R that can win in Illinois unless those idiots run Carol Mosely Braun again.
Indiana Alex - Illinois Escapee '99
Siegfried X| 1.8.10 @ 9:24AM
"he is the only R that can win"
Same false argument was made against Reagan, that he was too conservative to win.
Bull. A conservative could win in Illinois, but the RINO party leadership won't let one run.
I never understood why I should care if an "R" that I totally disagree with, someone who votes like a "D" should get elected.
But that's today's Republican party, caring nothing about electing "R's". If Obama and Hillary Clinton were willing to call themselves Republicans, the Republican party leadership would welcome them with open arms. After all, then we would have more "R's" in office.
Indiana Alex| 1.8.10 @ 9:42AM
I would have to disagree with the idea that a conservative could win, (not running against Carol Mosely Braun) and that moderate Rs should not be elected.
I think this is a losing strategy.
We need to add all the Rs we can.
Siegfried X| 1.8.10 @ 9:58AM
Would you vote for Obama if he called himself a "Republican"?
That would be "add[ing] another R".
Stephen Zierak| 1.8.10 @ 10:00AM
Indiana Alex, yeah let's elect some more Spectors and Chafees, that will do the trick! It will succeed in finally showing everyone that the Republican Party cannot be trusted with power, and that it's time for them to go the way of the Whigs.
Indiana Alex| 1.8.10 @ 12:47PM
That is not what i am saying, and i find it hard to believe that you would compare Mark Kirk to Spector or Chafee.
Arguing the absurd is a liberal tactic.
Pingback| 1.8.10 @ 10:26PM
The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : FrumForum Props up "Mark … American Me links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
pallet racking | 1.9.10 @ 10:29AM
http://www.t-racking.com
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Don Gwinn | 1.9.10 @ 10:30AM
OK, let's compare Mark Kirk to Alexi Giannoulias, his probable Democrat opponent. Mark Kirk sponsored a new version of the expired "Assault Weapons Ban" in 2008. What would Alexi Giannoulias do to be more anti-gun than that?
Kirk voted for the cap-and-tax bill (now says he would have voted differently if he'd been in the Senate, because the hicks and the rubes who will now be his constituents are prickly about jobs and industry, unlike the Chicago suburbanites he represented in the House.) But I'm not quite buying that, and I'd like to know--what would Alexi Giannoulias do that would be worse for the economy than that?
I expect to hear that what Mark Kirk would do is break the 60-vote majority the Democrats have now. Just so you know, I'm not buying that, either. If all he has to recommend him is that he'll put "our team" in a better spot to "win the game," I don't have time for him.
I also expect to hear (again) that no "conservative" candidate can win in Illinois. I'm not buying that one, either, particularly in the upcoming mid-term elections. Being Barack Obama's pick-up basketball buddy will mean that Giannoulias will have a ton of money and the best professionals on his campaign, plus the built-in Chicago majority. But he'll have all that against Mark Kirk, who won't have the support of Republican voters. In other states, "conservative" candidates are excited about the mid-term elections and the chance to take back seats at a time when Obama's popularity is plummeting. In our state, the GOP wants to appoint a Senator who will make noise about "Obamacare" but make no meaningful opposition that's based on anything more than rooting for a different team than Obama does.