Discussion for article #246326
He is up for re-election! He’s intelligent enough to know to not side with the squirrely Senators from Ohio and Pennsylvania.
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Yes. 
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I hope Obama’s nominee was never a member of the Lawyer’s Guild. What with Joseph Welch being dead and all, you know?
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Must’ve read the new PPP poll.
"-Only 29% of voters approve of the job Toomey is doing to 40% who disapprove, and just 30% approve of the job Portman is doing to 39% who disapprove. They’re both very much in the danger zone for reelection based on those low approval numbers. One thing complicating their path to reelection is how bad the overall brand of Senate Republicans is. Mitch McConnell has a 13/56 approval rating in Pennsylvania, and a 14/57 one in Ohio. His extreme unpopularity is going to be a weight on his party’s incumbents running across the country.
-Strong majorities of voters- 58/35 in Ohio and 57/40 in Pennsylvania- think that the vacant seat on the Supreme Court should be filled this year. What’s particularly noteworthy about those numbers- and concerning for Portman and Toomey- is how emphatic the support for approving a replacement is among independent voters. In Ohio they think a new Justice should be named this year 70/24 and in Pennsylvania it’s 60/37. Those independent voters are going to make the difference in these tight Senate races, and they have no tolerance for obstructionism on the vacancy.
-Voters are particularly angry about Senators taking the stance that they’re not going to approve anyone before even knowing who President Obama decides to put forward. By a 76/20 spread in Pennsylvania and a 74/18 one in Ohio, voters think the Senate should wait to see who is nominated to the Court before deciding whether or not to confirm that person. Toomey and Portman are out of line even with their own party base on that one- Republicans in Pennsylvania think 67/27 and in Ohio think 63/32 that the Senate should at least give President Obama’s choice a chance before deciding whether or not to confirm them."
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He probably shouldn’t have said this:
’ Kirk said that a “partisan or extreme nominee would not be prudent,” and said he hoped Obama would select “a nominee who can bridge differences, a nominee who finds common ground and a nominee who does not speak or act in the extreme.” ’
Obama has a couple of fine, moderate District Court judges ready to go, fresh off a recent Senate approval vote with many Republicans supporting. And this guy will now have to argue that they’re extreme. Proof, once again, that it’s just much simpler to go along with the hive mind - thinking for yourself will only cause trouble with fellow Republicans.
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It was a stroke, but nevertheless.
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Yah, I removed that. Neither a stroke or heart attack is anything to laugh about.
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Doing the job you are being paid for by the people of the US should not be up for debate.
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Yes, I just read the story about this on the Great Orange Satan blog. Also, there’s Ron Johnson of WI (now pronounced “WHYYYYYY?!!!”) - you know, the “Einstein of the Senate” - who was already getting his balls kicked in by Feingold, and is STILL too fucking stupid to finesse his way out of this SCOTUS controversy so, being the Ron Johnson we know and love, has decided to go all out and suck on those vinegary Teabagger balls, showing his lapdog loyalty to the Turtle God. I think he might be better off worshipping Hypnotoad instead.
ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD, RON!
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Of course he is. Everyone needs to stop running around like their hair is on fire when the Senate does not even have a nominee to ignore.
24 Senate Republicans are up for re-election this year versus 10 Democrats. Many of these Senators, Like Kirk, are in states Obama won. There is nothing so gutless as a Senator running for re-election.
This is why people like Cruz want to bully the POTUS into not even nominating someone – because they know it will be a real fight.
So let’s all take a breath, wait for the POTUS to actually nominate a replacement for Scalia and then we can all start applying pressure on these vulnerable senators to act.
This is a tough fight, but it’s far from over and both Harry Reid and the President have proven to be pretty good tacticians on these sorts of things.
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Scalia ,from a white, hetrosexual, tax-free conservative heaven: I cant believe Mark Kirk is so eager to replace me. I will make sure he doesn’t win the re-election.
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The first crack in the wall of crazy. Brought to you by a blue-state electorate.
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Rats leaving the sinking ship?
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And he’s likely facing a war hero (Duckworth) who already sent one idiot packing.
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From a quick review of his Wikipedia page this guy sure has had to walk back many things that he’s said starting with his time as a teacher in England and all through his military service. Seems like a ready fire aim kind of guy.
Any chance he’ll go bye bye in this election season?
See above. It says that in 2002 he told C-SPAN that he was "Intelligence Officer of the Year"
Just one of the many things he’s had to walk back. Guy looks like a serial liar to me, I’m surprised he made it to O5, even in the reserves.
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I think Duckworth will send him packing. I’m crossing my fingers. Although the stroke seemed to have leveled him out a little bit.
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To quote TO
If it’s Duckworth, get ya popcorn ready.
He should be primed for a beating, but '16 has been a weirder year in regards to starts.
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True.
It appears that Duckworth has a lawsuit hitting the courts in a few months also. Something about mistreatment of Veterans while she was head of the Illinois VA.
But dear lord it does look as though Kirk has very questionable integrity. How could anyone trust what this guy says?
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Kirk is a shameless weather vane — one that tilts rightward for five years out of six.
A painfully obvious example: In prep for his 2010 Senate race, he voted for carbon cap and trade. Then, in 2015, when it looked like he might face Tea Party opposition, he said climate change wasn’t caused by humans. But after it became clear that his main opposition would be in the General Election, he suddenly changed his mind back to the scientific consensus. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/01/08/sen-mark-kirk-r-ill-describes-global-warming-as-natural-phenomenon/
The GOP has become so extreme that the only choices for rational moderate Republican office holders is to switch parties or to give up their integrity. Kirk long ago chose the latter. Election year roleplaying doesn’t mean anything. He still votes for voodoo economics, judicial appointment foot dragging, and Mitch McConnell as majority leader.
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