Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Now the Fun Really Begins... 40 Days to the Illinois Primary UPDATED x3

Well, I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, Festivus or whatever it is you celebrate this time of year. I didn't get a bit of work done over the last four days, but that's not what Christmas is about. I did wrap a lot of presents and then threw out a lot of wrapping paper, plus played Luke Skywalker to my 6 year old's Darth Vader (if I'd known my future son would be playing with basically the same T.I.E. and X-Wing Fighters I had when I was 10, I could have just saved all of that stuff, but who knew?)

In any event, things won't get super-heated politically until after New Year's, but since it's 40 days out, I wanted to offer a thank-you in advance to Dan Seals and Jay Footlik. As a team, they are going to do the voters of the 10th District a great service by beating the snot out of each other and exposing their true positions (or at least, what they say their true positions are) on at least some of the major issues, especially Iran and Israel. Without a primary opponent, it's likely Seals would be making the same old vague speeches about how he is "strong" on Israel, but opposes the war in Iraq and any action against aggressor nations like Iran, to make sure he has a good showing in the primary and bring in that DCCC money. With no primary opponent, there would be no reason for Seals to go beyond the same old rhetoric and he would simply waltz in and remind everyone that he is not Mark Kirk.

Not so fast this time, buddy. Jay Footlik, for all his apparent gaffs (although some I've spoken to actually liked the "squares" commercial and the "meshugana" mailing) as a candidate, is serving the very important purpose of ensuring that each candidate's position on the issues, especially Israel v. Iran, will be well documented and available for Mark Kirk to address in the general election, against whomever the winner on the Dem side is.

Why is the Israel v. Iran issue so important? Obviously, with a huge Jewish voting population (many say 20% of the total electorate in the 10th District), a large portion of the constituency has a direct interest in the issue. But, on a larger scale, it's important as to whether the voters will elect a liberal pacifist in the mold of Jan Schakowsky and Nancy Pelosi, or whether they will go with someone a bit more willing to say that there are instances in which the U.S. (and Israel) will have to meet aggression with force. Even, perhaps, go so far as to meet the THREAT of aggression with force, as in the case of taking action of some kind against Iran.

Mark Kirk himself has been out in front of this issue (see discussion on H.R. 2880), working on non-military and economic means to put pressure on Iran to fess up and give up its nuclear weapons program once and for all. But that does not stop the concern that such measures won't be enough, and that's the box that Seals and Footlik will both be in this January, as they try to pander to the leftist, pacifist Dem base, but "stand tough" on Israel, as any successful candidate in the 10th must be. This issue will continue to develop (see here) and, in my opinion, will be the defining issue of the Dem primary here in the 10th. Not health care, not Iraq, not immigration.

Mark Kirk is already in the lead on this issue, and neither Dem candidate can address the question by simply saying "I'm Not Mark Kirk." Which "I'm Not Mark Kirk" the Dems will put on the general election ballot is going to be a fun slugfest to watch. And the eventual winner will have to live with the position that gets him on the ballot. I find it amusing, because even though both Seals and Footlik no doubt clearly see the trap, there is no way they can avoid it.

UPDATED 12:50 p.m.: Still think Israel's concern over Iran is alarmist and irrational? Check out the latest killer missile system that Russia is selling to Iran. Let's hear Seals blame Mark Kirk for this. I can hear it now: 'Well, if the U.S. would tone down its aggressive imperialist rhetoric, poor Iran would not be so scared and have to spend all of its oil wealth on upgrading its missile defense systems.' Go ahead, Dan, just try to sell that one in the 10th District. I dare ya.

UPDATED 1:30 p.m.: Mark your calendars for Thursday, January 10, 2008 and Saturday January 12, as the League of Women Voters hosts Dan Seals and Jay Footlik in their first (and perhaps only?) live face-to-face public debates. The first debate will be at New Trier East High School in Winnetka (say, isn't that where Mark Kirk graduated from?) at 7:00 p.m. on the 10th. More info is here. The second debate will be at the Arlington Heights Library at 10:00 a.m. on the 12th. More info is here.

UPDATED 1:20 p.m. 12/27/07: Mark Kirk continues to make headlines by leading the push to insist on appropriate safeguards to the Bush administration's planned sale of JDAM bomb technology to Saudi Arabia. Read the latest here. As we have noted before, Mark Kirk is out showing his support of Israel while Dan Seals and Jay Footlik fight over who is the real carpetbagger. Sad, sad.


MEANWHILE... what they're saying on other blogs:


The Democratic elected officials need to change the way they do business and speak out against the widespread fraud that's about to entangle more than just Link. First order of business? Get rid of Couvall. He should have been gone. He was the mastermind behind the scheme and everyone knows that. There's a criminal investigation going on and whether he is indicted or not, we all know that he was in the middle of the scandal. Yet, he continues in a position of leadership and is awarded with positions, business opportunities and perks particularly in Waukegan. This speaks volumes about the leadership in the Lake county democratic party.

Posted by "twocents" at Talk O' The Town.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let’s see. Should Dan Seals win the primary, he has made statements that will drive every pro Israel voter—and a few non-millionaires—to vote for Mark Kirk. Kirk wins easily and Seals runs back to Jan Schakowsky’s district with his tail between his legs waving to Hank Perritt and Lee Goodman on the way. That’s easy to see.

But, if Jay Footlik wins the primary, his position on Israel is as solid as Mark Kirk’s and his experience goes deeper. The Israel issue is off the table in the general election and we have a debate between Jay and Mark on all the other issues facing us. Why wouldn’t the district vote on that contest the same way it voted on Gore-Bush and Kerry-Bush?

Team America said...

Anon 4:24- your suggestion about Footlik's Israel experience being deeper than Mark Kirk's is quite interesting, as I have been trying to figure out exactly what accomplishments in foreign policy Footlik can take credit for, aside from simply being an 'advisor'. And as we saw from the Monica Lewinsky interviews, despite using that same picture of President Clinton over and over again, it appears that Footlik was nowhere near a top level advisor to the President, and needed a really good excuse to even get up the gumption to approach Bubba.

If you know of anything specific that Footlik can claim to support your premise, please come forth to establish the record.

Otherwise, it seems to me that Mark Kirk has 7 years of congressional experience to cite, which outweighs Footlik's touted "experience", which in the end, is just as amorphous a statement as Seals saying he is a strong friend of Israel, and one that Kirk will easily dispatch in due course.

Anonymous said...

Anon. 4:24 here. While Mark Kirk’s voting record on Israel is exactly what Aipac wants to see, there is no reason to expect Jay to be any different. Dan—stand on the side of peace—Seals, of course, is a different story.

Jay’s job in the Clinton White House was advancing the President’s agenda in the Jewish community, which had him interfacing with Jewish leaders and key members of Congress to secure support of Clinton’s Middle East policy. He was also present during the President’s meetings with Barack and Arafat including Camp David where his advice was sought.

After leaving the White House, Jay’s work for Shimon Peres’ peace institute involved meeting with not only Israelis, but Palestinians, Jordanians and Egyptians giving him a first hand look at the views of the areas from major players.

So, Mark has the background that comes from all the knowledge gained serving in Congress and as a staffer before that, while Jay brings administrative knowledge to the table gained both in the U.S. and the Middle East. That takes the Middle East issue off the table in a Kirk-Footlik race. They are both good, have excellent experience and will serve the District well on that issue.

So, again I ask, why wouldn’t the district vote on that contest the same way it voted on Gore-Bush and Kerry-Bush?

Anonymous said...

Anon 4:24 The Israel issue will not be off the table should Jay win the Primary. Congressman Kirk's record on support for Israel's security began in earnest when he secured the Eyes in the Sky real time technology 11 months in his FIRST term in Congress. No other country is connected to that early warning satellite system, thanks to Mark Kirk. And then we can quantify all that he has done in the past 7 years to make him recognized on both sides of the aisle for his unparalleled leadership. No, Anon, when it comes to Israel, Mark Kirk is head and shoulders above Mr. Footlik.

When you want to talk about Mr. Kirk's continuing commitment to the 10th District you need look no further than his bi-partisan success with Impact Aid, with the Capt. James Lovell VA Hospital, the double tracking of the North Central line, his successes in education, the environment. Should I give you more? Mark Kirk's leadership on Stem Cell Research is well known and appreciated again on both sides of the aisle. A couple of years ago he led what began as a district campaign to help keep Doctors in Illinois to a state-wide effort. I could go on but I think we can easily prove through his votes and his leadership that Congressman Kirk has more than earned the right to continue to represent those of us fortunate enough to live in this district.

Anonymous said...

TA:

Let's get back to the criminal investigation of the Link campaign launched last week by the Lake County State's Attorney.

My friends want to help get more affidavits for the case. I understand Waller's team is collecting more evidence. How can we help the investigation along?

Anonymous said...

Kirk served in our armed forces and is a decorated veteran.

Footlick and Seals forgot to serve their country in uniform when needed.

That is the kind of experience real voters will follow.

Team America said...

Anon 8:36- if you would like to lend a hand, which would no doubt be appreciated, I would either call the Johnson campaign (although I do not have a direct contact number, I am pretty sure it's based in North Chicago), or go over to the Talk O' The Town website (the link is given in the main post, after the pullquote) and leave a message for KellyAnn, who seems to be one of the big coordinators.

Team America said...

Anon 8:36- just to be clear, I think the only way to get invovled is through the Johnson campaign or with the other grassroots activists--Waller has his own professional investigators and you can't really 'volunteer' to help with that angle.

Anonymous said...

A couple of points in response to Jay's campaign manager-normal folks don't use words like interface, thanks for playing.

We don't know yet whether carpetbagger today Jay will beat also-ran Dan, it's a tough go and will take retail politics that D.C. lobbyists who get FARA'd-TA thats worth a post, usually don't like to do. As an FYI, the President usually travels with about 1,000 people when he goes overseas so Jay being one of a 1,000 is a lot less impressive than Mark keeping North Korea from starving to death.

Also what we forget is how important Mark is to this district on a local level. Springfield is raising taxes and screwing the suburbs every chance we get-in the noise over Iraq it's easy to forget that Mark tends this district like your grandmothers garden, which is almost as important as any vote out of 435 members he makes on the house floor.

I say Seals rolls 60-40 and Footlik is back on K street taking his kid to pre-school in Bethesda by Passover.

Anonymous said...

Sorry Team. FARA Foolik or Also-Ran Dan.

Not sure which one I like more.

Team America said...

For those not in the know:

The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) was enacted in 1938. FARA is a disclosure statute that requires persons acting as agents of foreign principals in a political or quasi-political capacity to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities. Disclosure of the required information facilitates evaluation by the government and the American people of the statements and activities of such persons in light of their function as foreign agents. The FARA Registration Unit of the Counterespionage Section (CES) in the National Security Division (NSD) is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Act. See http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fara/

Is having a job as a foreign lobbyist any worse than working for an Internet startup? Who knows, but at least Footlik doesn't appear to be trying to hide it, even if he doesn't emphasize it. I've yet to see one acknowledgment by Seals that he had a 3 month job that doesn't appear on his official bio.

So far nothing on the resume of either Seals or Footlik comes close to matching Mark Kirk. If the war is off the front page in Nov. 2008, Kirk wins, simple as that.

Anonymous said...

I read in Pioneer this morning that Couvall succeeded in kicking Kalbfleisch off the primary ballot. I wonder what the Democratic Party is affraid of. Maybe Seals and Footlik are worried that their anti-war rhetoric will look unimpressive next to a veteran against the conflict. I hope Couvall gets indicted. That would make me believe in karma.

Anonymous said...

Fyi, Of those 1,000 people that traveled with the president, How many of them flew aboard Air Force One with the president as Jay did? Now that IS impressive.

Anonymous said...

Come on, Anon 11:04. Do you really think that Jay rode WITH the Clintons in ther private area of Air Force One? Get serious. Nice try. Jay's a nice kid, period, end of the story. He lacks the experience of a substantive nature to be effective on the local, national or international level in today's world. We HAVE the representative we need. Jay and Danno are clueless about our district. These two guys have shown nothing that indicates a real knowledge of and for the issues they'd face nationally. Let's not even begin to talk about what they lack on the international level. Mouthing the old Dem talking points is getting more than old hat. This is not on the job training. We have the real deal in Congressman Mark Kirk.

Anonymous said...

Team we need to get a Northwestern CR or someone to videotape those debates for the lunacy likely spewing from Dan and Jay. Would be great for freedoms watch to have one of them saying something pro-moveon/Ellen, Anti-America/ Israel to use come November.

Also Ran Dan-that's catchy, I like it and, (from) Far Away Footlik, are nice guys, neither of them need to do anything if Obama wins the nomination and puts a guy like Bloomberg as his number 2. That would end the moderate wing of our party.

Whoever is suggesting that Footlik being close to Clinton is a sign of his significance I ask you who was closer than Monica or Hillary and how good are THEY?

Inside scoop riding with POTUS on air force one is a perk given to everyone and their brother. Jay was a low level no one who was at the DNC when Clinton won and got a patronage job. He's a hack, the Democrats version of the K street project and that's not what this distict needs. Seals shows he didn't get much of an education in the ways of D.C. by not defining Jay on these points several months ago.

Back to the beach.

Anonymous said...

Jay "Lobbyist-to-the-Dictators" Footlick

and

Dan "Can't-Keep-A-Job" Seals

Oh boy, I am sooo excited about these candidates!