Discussion for article #234938
Holy crap, a sane Republican?!
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The opening salvo between fiscal and social conservatives in Congress.
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I hope Kirk issued this statement because he truly believes it and not because he’s up for reelection soon and wants to appear moderate.
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Don’t get too excited - '16 is an election year for him, in a blue state, and he’s gonna tack to the left from now till then. He’s still a right wing militarist prick when you take away the present pandering.
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Sane is a bit of a stretch, it’s more like shrewd. This is a guy who is sitting in Barack Obama’s former seat, a guy who won almost solely because he ran in a wave election during a midterm, a guy who realizes it’s quite likely he’s going to have to run against a veteran, a woman who is a double amputee as a result of serving her country. He probably realizes he’s going to have to run against this woman with the first woman candidate for president at the top of the ticket and he’s going to be running in a state that is almost certainly going to go to the Democratic woman at the top of the ticket who also happens to have been born there. He’s got very long odds against him and it sure doesn’t hurt him to be able to bash a border state by taking a liberal stance on an issue with which most of his constituents agree. As we get closer to 2016, look for more of this kind of sanity from Ayotte, Toomey, Portman, Johnson, and whomever runs for Rubio’s seat.
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On this issue, it’s both. He’s pandering heavily this year, no question. But he’s not a Tea Partier, he’s a corporate Republican—not a homophobic bone in his body.
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Portman, Toomey, and Johnson have their work cut out for them in trying to appear “moderate”. At least Kirk’s record kind of bears that out (or used to, when he was in Congress…)
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Excuse me, Johnson, as in Ron Johnson a “moderate”?? I think you’d be sorely mistaken.
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He’s pretty conservative, especially money-wise, but you may remember that Kirk had a stroke back in 2012, after which he kind of said life’s too short and precious to worry about stupid bullshit like who people should be allowed to love. No doubt that stance might be helpful in a blue state, but I remember thinking it seemed sincere, and his record has been OK on those issues.
But, he is another Republican who seems to discover empathy only after suffering a personal hardship.
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He can feel Tammy Duckworth’s warm breath close behind him.
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His record as a Senator has been almost 100% in lockstep with the GOP. Remember, Kirk only won in 2010 by 2%. In a major wave election he only eked out a small victory. And he’s going to need a lot of luck explaining to Chicago voters why we didn’t need gun reform.
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not a big fan of kirk, but have to agree on this one. this “religious freedom” law has never been about religious freedom. it has always been about feeding red meat to the base and allowing discriminatory practices. btw, this might be used in other issues besides lbgt.
this is an example of republicans governing from their “mandate” from the recent election. they think that they can get away with the crazy bullshit. arrogance and cluelessness reigns.
sensible voters need to take note of what is going on and toss the bums out in 2016.
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Wow. Somebody’s sure running for re-election! Kirk is doomed, I believe he will lose his seat in 2016.
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Betcha he draws a Tea Party primary challenger.
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I dont think he will…a teabagger aint got a chance in Illinois as far as national senate level, only in redrawn house seats.
Ah yes, if it is Wednesday Senator Kirk is a moderate.
While’s he’s been acting relatively moderate on social issues, he’s also been equally busy throwing bones to the far right.
For example, he has been playing ultra hard-line on Iran (signing the Tom Cotton letter and frothing at the mouth calling for increased sanctions and denouncing any potential deal). He accused John Kerry of being “anti-Israeli.” He has stated that is “okay” with racial profiling of young males of Arab extraction. He recently insulted President Obama by stating "“You go to war with the president you’ve got, which would give us all pause.”
Taking a moderate stance on some social issues may be a good way for Kirk (whose sexual orientation has been called into question in the past by Republican primary opponents) to appeal to the critical suburban swing voters he needs to win if he has any chance of re-election. But he’s more than willing to balance that with being a loyal Republican vote in just about every other issue, and to engage in jingoistic foreign policy rhetoric for the sake of keeping the right wing happy.
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“pandering”
That’s why this is such a genius career move. Either he wins or else Lincoln Park Zoo’s panda paddock is totally free and open for immediately occupation.
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I know that the state of politics in this country has gotten bad when a Republican says something reasonable and I find myself both astonished and not being able to remember the last time this happened.
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As the rebranding and kinder-gentler-izing of Mark Kirk continues…