I sincerely hope we've hit rock-bottom in this campaign, but alas, there's still over a week to go. Today's events have topped everything so far, though as Democrat Alexi Giannoulias today accused Congressman Mark Kirk of "economic treason." Yes, that's basketball banker Alexi, who never served a day in uniform, accusing Naval Reserve commander Mark Kirk of treason. Nice.
Kirk said in a statement in response:
Alexi Giannoulias is running a desperate and dishonorable campaign. I have worn our country's uniform for 21 years and to accuse me of treason in any context is beyond the pale. Giannoulias is a desperate candidate who is now dishonoring the office he aspires to.
Rich Miller over at Capitol Fax Blog said, "[C]alling somebody a traitor is truly beyond the pale in politics. Giannnoulias ought to apologize."
Look for a lot more comments like Rich's to be coming out soon, I think.
In a press conference today, Giannoulias rightly took it on the chin, and was called out for his own fundraising in Canada.
Updated: Video from NBC-5:
Desperation may be the key here, as early voter turnout in Chicago appears to be fairly low, and if the Dems don't have a huge showing in Chicago, it's all over for them. It's so bad, President Obama is parachuting back into town this weekend to try to get out the vote, but if the Dems haven't been excited enough to go vote after several visits from Obama and his surrogates, including Mrs. Obama, VP Biden, and others, it looks like the enthusiasm gap may just be too wide to bridge.
UPDATED x2: The Tribune calls out Alexi for his shameful behavior:
Be unkind and blame desperation, or be kind and blame fatigue. Either way, Democrat Alexi Giannoulias' juvenile pander to Big Labor — his charge that Republican Mark Kirk is guilty of "economic treason" — suggests that he's too reckless and immature to fill a seat occupied by Everett McKinley Dirksen, Adlai Stevenson III and Barack Obama. [snip[
Giannoulias trails Kirk in fundraising. He's making public appearances to draw free news coverage. Foolish charges of "economic treason," yes, that'll draw coverage. Expect reporters to ask any politician who stands with Giannoulias at a campaign event, "Do you, too, view Mark Kirk as a traitor?"
What Giannoulias did Thursday is shameful.
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37 comments:
TA, classess is too kind a word to use to describe Alexi. I'm not holding my breath waiting for that punk to apologize for his truly disgraceful remark. The only uniform Alexi has ever worn is his Greek basketball jersey. To use the word treason in any context when talking about Congressman Mark Kirk is sickening and disgusting, but not a surprise from this desperate jerk and his campaign team.
As a Marine Veteran and independent voter, I take the greatest possible umbrage at AG's comments. This is the worst sort of personal attack against a veteran and we should all stand with Kirk regardless of political affiliation against these types of baseless accusations.
I always thought there was something not right about AG and now I know it. He is a elitist, classless, piece of s--t that has screwed everyone he could to further his and his family's interests and try to get what he wants.
He should go back to Greece. I was wont to go hard against him before but now I will do everything to ensure my fellow veterans know what a piece of garbage he really is.
In the FMF (Fleet Marine Force) we used to say "Payback means a Medivac."
Stand by for some BIG payback AG!!!
Semper Fi
AG is a dirtbag. If he wins, I'm moving to Tennessee!
BTW, voted today for Kirk, twice :)
I hear Alexi is getting slammed with phone calls demanding he apologize to Mark Kirk....
here's his number:
(312) 738-6190
Hey TA and fellow supporters,
I'm Alex, I am from the 10th district, just graduated from Northwestern, and live downtown. Been a fan for awhile but this is my first post. Anyhow, if y'all have been watching the news, it's not looking good for Alexi...Chicago news is playing his conference debacle and the commentary is all negative. My guess is Alexi WILL apologize, at this point it can't hurt, but I doubt it makes it better...it's going to be interesting to see how this affects the big visits of Clinton and Obama...if the firestorm continues...won't look too good for them.
Hey TA and fellow supporters,
I'm Alex, I am from the 10th district, just graduated from Northwestern, and live downtown. Been a fan for awhile but this is my first post. Anyhow, if y'all have been watching the news, it's not looking good for Alexi...Chicago news is playing his conference debacle and the commentary is all negative. My guess is Alexi WILL apologize, at this point it can't hurt, but I doubt it makes it better...it's going to be interesting to see how this affects the big visits of Clinton and Obama...if the firestorm continues...won't look too good for them.
Hi Alex- glad you decided to take the plunge and comment. Let's hear more.
Alexi is 100% right. That is economic treason of the worst kind. It is not surprising though with Kirk. He is totally controlled by special interests and he only serves such interests. This "outrage" about "Veteran Mark Kirk" is silly. Kirk has lied so many times for so many things, including his military record, to the point that has lost completely credibility. Lets not forget that he was among the architects and big liars of the disastrous Iraq war.
I am impressed with Alexi. He is tough and he has no problem speaking the truth. He will win on Nov. 2.
Today Alexi jumped the political shark tank.
That Alexi sign falling off the wall behind him while he stammered and stumbled under hard questioning over his "treason" charge was symbolic of where his campaign has been heading.
Beyond pathetic.
Whoever advised Alexi to call that press conference and use the "treason" word must have overdosed on "stupid pills." And Alexi must have also overdosed on them. That is the only logical explanation for today's pathetic stunt.
So what's next Alexi? Blaming Kirk for supporting the big pharmaceutical companies who manufactured all those "stupid pills" you took today?
Louis G. Atsaves
Hey Semper Fi,
Chill out. Dont call names the next senator from IL. Maybe you should go to Greece instead of Alexi. And maybe you can have some ouzo there to calm down, as you sound really upset. Get used to the idea of senator Giannoulias. He will defeat Kirk and he will be one of the greatest senators in the history of IL. Cheers.
Blue, if I was inclined to ban someone for being a complete squid, you'd be gone.
Exactly what about this situation is 'treason'? Obama himself fundraised with American citizens in China (twice) in 2008, or didn't you know that?
You think that it's patriotic to refuse to do business with China? You think Americans shouldn't travel overseas to work and do business in China? Perhaps you would feel more comfortable if we just built a big wall around the U.S. I have news for you, we are now part of a global economy, whether you like it or not. Time to get used to it.
TA,
If you ever want me to stop posting here, you can just let me know. No need to ban me. As I wrote many times, it is your blog and it is up to you.
I believe that this is economic treason for some very obvious reasons. Raising money from Americans who have their business overseas and then voting the next day in favor of businesses who take American jobs to China, India, etc, is really shocking and, yes, economic treason. That is obvious and so remarkable that I am surprised that even you can not see it. Read some analysis here . I know you probably dong find Kos credible, but facts are facts.
Blue, I'm venting a bit at you because you seem to have become a lot more partisan lately with your blind worship of Alexi. You used to be a bit more intelligent and less dense - what fun is it to use you as a foil when you are so out in left field?
And save us the DailyKos talking points - if you watch the press conference video, you can tell even Alexi doesn't really believe the swill he's selling about there being a quid pro quo for Kirk's vote on that China bill and his fundraising.
I think, I believe that Blue is, in reality, ALEXI himself. Nobody would say what Blue is saying unless it's the jerk himself. Alexi has hit rock bottom in more ways that just his idiotic remark. November 2 can't come soon enough. Oh yes, is Alexi going to return his Canadian money? Alexi has shown that he is more than Burris "lite". Alexi is a shameful, not ready for anything rich kid totally devoid of understanding the impact of his words. Words count. Words matter. He and his campaign have hit a new low.
I believe we have just witnessed the total implosion of Alexi Giannoulias as a viable candidate. And since he is at the top of the "Dem-o-crap" ticket, we can hope his demise will be the anchor to drag down the entire Obama/Blago sycophant party in Illinois!
Trebor of Libertyville
Alexi apparently has learned to talk out of his ellen. sorry he's become catlady which is even worse.
Good to see some young kid at northwestern is not drunk on the socialist koolaid. Welcome aboard and if some bum named colonial or blue or nyberg offers you political advice, ignore him like the fat girl (they're usually democrats) in your psych 101 class or the green milk in your fridge.
team it's now been 72 hours since the pup lied about his resume and you have failed to call him out on it. I realize it's important to see michael bond joins the unemployment line (what a fall for that loser who once thought he could run for congress), but the pup is public enemy number 1 along with alexi and we have him on tape lying.
FOKLAEAPS
one of the best posts yet. My favorite part is lynn sweet ripping apart alexi in that clip. Lynn was a queen a-hole to mark in 2000 doubting he could win the primary then trashing him with radical emilyslist talking points up until he won. she treats alexi the way a teacher treats a badly behaving 5 year in that video. It's also funny that he kisses her ellen in that video by taking her questions first over other people, and she still kicks his ellen!
Alexi also says that it's "essentially in china". chicago is essentially in china! like pup living in the 9th is like "essentially in the 10th". there must be some factory for creating moron democrat politicians in cook county.
that editorial is just brutal. It really saddens me the tribune has been too preoccupied with their own internal messes to really destroy alexi the way they've try to destroy madigan and stroger. He kind of reminds me of a stupid version of carlton from fresh prince of bel air, clueless snob with no game.
I'm interested in what the 10th dems think of alexi. We know that only 29 percent of them voted for him in the primary-catlady backed cheryle jackson who now works for a defense contractor as a lobbyist-barf. For an outfit that considers itself sophisticated and elite (even though they've had their heads beaten in by team america, king louis astaves the alexi ellen and pup slayer, baxtersmom and a.bees for a decade), it's interesting they don't condemn alexi. It's pretty clear lauren beth gash learned nothing about politics during her time in dc, but you have thought she would have learned the law. certainly better than catlady who doesn't seem to have any clients-wonder why?
FOKLAEAPS
FOKLAEAPS - I did take a look at the Dold-Seals video on Chicago Tonight, per your suggestion. You know I would never defend Seals, but what I took away from the comment he made about his 'greatest failure in his current job' was that the unspecified 'startup' he worked for (we assume this was ThePoint.com, which we first exposed here, as everyone remembers) apparently screwed him (i.e., Seals says he should have gotten some things in writing) and he was disappointed with how that worked out. He didn't seem to be claiming that he founded the startup or that he was an entrepreneur, or that he learned some kind of lesson from the startup that was some kind of great business experience that he was now touting in the campaign.
Yes, he cited the 'startup' which obviously was defunct (from his comment) so it could not have been his 'current job' per the question, but most likely in the context of the debate, he probably didn't catch that specific part of the question. At worst, he has no current business experience so he had to dig deep to come up with something relevant. You could kind of tell he was reaching back in thought as he struggled to answer the question.
So, bottom line, yes another typical example of why Seals is an empty suit, but not in my opinion rising to the level of Professor-Gate or similar gaffs, and therefore not post-worthy, unless it's a really slow day. Things have been rather busy here lately, as you may have noticed. ;-0
Didn't the Point morph into Groupon which just got money from Governor Quinn?
Publia, I would be shocked, first, that Seals would be associated with any business enterprise that is even mildly successful, and Groupon is a huge success from what I read. It's business model is totally different from ThePoint, if you can even have characterized ThePoint as having a business model, so I'd be interested in where you picked up that notion from. Not saying you're wrong, but it's the first I'ver ever heard of it.
Journal and Topics just went with Seals. He's 5/6 now.
If I were a Dolt Supporter I'd start getting worried.
Well, Crain's just went for Kirk. That makes it about 16:2 for Kirk vs. Giannoulias (everyone else vs. the Sun-Time and St. Louis Post-Dispatch). But all the Alexi supporters tell us not to worry about that. Just sayin'.
How dare Alexi level these accusations at Kirk?
Another bone headed mistake by a bone headed candidate.
TA--
Does this mean that you've finally given up on Dolt?
Don't know if Kirk or Alexi will win, but all I can say is that I would rather have someone who is youthful and ready to learn than a liar with a track record of misrepresentation and support for sending jobs to China.
Until Next Time,
A Concerned Colonial
P.S. Heard the Dold campaign was having issues keeping ads on the air, I think the I.E.'s are scrambling away now that he's a sinking ship. Also, there was an IE purchased for Dold by the same guy that owns We Ask America--wonder how legit that poll looks now...
You'd rather have someone youthful and ready to learn. Good grief, CC, you are just as delusional as Blue on this one. Alexi is hardly a novice, although he is young. What that guy has done at his young age is nothing to brag about. That he has cost the American taxpayers, that's you and Blue as well I hope, is a whole boat load of money. I think 394 MILLION bucks is not chump change. And then there's his great genius at handling the Bright Start money. And this young punk sounded like a lunatic on Meet the Press when he couldn't or wouldn't answe what programs he would have opposed in this last Congress. He needs to find that old basketball jersey from the Greek team, wash it, pack it, and get the hell out of here before he does more damage.
dold has 800k left in his campaign chest according to the fec.
My guess is he's saving it up for a tv blitz this last week.
I also would not rule out a hit on dold from the national democratic party. They've been very very silent on him and I can envsion something related to pest inspections or his finances coming to haunt him. They are hitting brady on pets, pests are even less appealing and I'm sure there are reports of testing of chemicals or something or unpaid taxes that can and will bite him in the ellen.
I also can not envision a scenario where mark loses and dold wins. Dold needs brady to turn out the base for him and mark to bring moderates and soft d's out for him.
we'll see.
FOKLAEAPS
"Federal regulators on Friday seized First Suburban National Bank in Maywood..." - Crains Chicago Business
Oh snap! Another Illinois bank failure that must be Alexi's fault!
Kirk is not electable in IL. Remember me on Nov. 2. He will not get the conservative vote that he desperately needs for a variety of reasons. The most important one? Lying repeatedly about his military record. Many conservatives, especially veterans, would never vote for someone who tried to de-fraud voters by misrepresenting his military credentials. Those people will stay home and that will be enough for Kirk to lose on Nov. 2. It is as simple as that.
Over at Ellen of the 10th, she reports on a "rally" in Waukegan by top Democrats including Quinn, Giannoulias and Seals.
Quinn wants the Democrats to win "because its all about the remap." (of legislative districts). Remember that because "reformer" Quinn has talked on multiple occasions about the remap and reforming the map and the process.
Tells the public one thing, tells Democrats privately something else. Pure Patrick Quinn, pseudo-crusader/reformer.
Lake Forest is represented by Democrats in Springfield not by choice, but because we were gerrymandered into an area that guaranteed the election of Democrats. A look at past election results show that Karen May has never "won" Lake Forest or Lake Bluff.
Speaking of the Karen May/Lauren Turelli race:
Ellen has taken a few cheap shots at Lauren Turelli, who is challenging Madigan Puppet Karen May. And cheap shots is all Democrats have left after their pathetic performance in Springfield and Washington running governments into the ground.
Seems she is upset that Turelli received $17,000 from the Republican House Committee to assist in sending out mailings. She forgot to mention that Madigan just gave May $90,000 to try to save his little Highland Park puppet!
Classic Ellen.
Louis G. Atsaves
For anyone who considers themselves socially moderate and are thinking to vote for Dold, they may want to check this website:
http://www.doldfacts.com/
The endorsement of Dold by the "Illinois Federation for Right to Life" is scary. That extremist organization wants to change the constitution and criminalize a womans choice. Wow... If Dold disagrees with them he could have simply denounced them and decline their endorsement. He did not. That summarizes the case.
Blue,
You created an opposition research website. Congratulations.
While out today I began to ask myself, self, alexi is an awful candidate down in the polls about to be slaughtered, how many princess nudelmans will the 10th dems turn out this year to vote for him?
answer-too many.
FOKLAEAPS
FOLKlEAPs,
What makes you think that created that site? I found it, did not create it. As always, you interpretations are wrong.
dear team dold,
Not since rex grossman took a superbowl caliber bears team in the middle of the last decade and f'd it up have I seen such horrible incompetence.
In sunday's new york times I read a column by jim warren where your moron candidate gets endorsed by a pro-life group because dold told them he supports language in a law requiring abortion providers to "vividly explain what the abortion procedure will do to the unborn child." Kirk is against this but your moron candidate, let me underline moron 6 times, and lackluster campaign which has never released an internal poll-wonder why-is for it. Apparently in 40 years of living on the north shore your candidate failed to understand that abortion is a deal breaker in this district for voters, which have not backed a prolife candidate for president in 22 years.
Have fun with your tear in a beer 10 days from now. Stupid bs like this-it won't be a shock why you lost.
FOKLAEAPS
Oh snap...Dold's true bias comes out again:
Robert Dold, a Republican who’s running for Mr. Kirk’s north suburban congressional seat, publicly asserts he’s pro-abortion rights, but he keeps being endorsed by anti-abortion groups, the most recent being the Illinois Family Institute.
The key abortion question on its candidate questionnaire relates to proposed federal legislation to require that providers speak vividly to mothers. The proposed script for doctors includes the line, “There is substantial evidence that the process of being killed in an abortion will cause the unborn child pain, even though you receive a pain-reducing drug or drugs.”
Mr. Kirk said that he’s against the proposal. Mr. Dold, the self-proclaimed Kirk Redux moderate, said that he’s for it.
Face it: Dold does not & cannot represent the 10th, even more so than Kirk.
Dold is a radical anti-choice candidate. Anyone who would want that statement to be told to women who want to have an abortion, is radical and not different than other weird leaders of the radical right like Sarah Palin and Christine O' Donnel. Dold is very similar to them and I am surprised that TA who considers himself socially liberal can vote for someone like that. It shows how desperate the situation in the republican party of today is. Sad.
But it's not extreme to advocate for a government run health care system where your doctor will be told (via "guidelines") what to tell you regarding EVERY medical condition?
I think all y'all ought to stay out of the exam room. How about an actual moderate for a change.
So, Anon @ 1:29, are you saying that you do not and/or will not nor will any one in your family ever apply for Medicare/Medicaid/VA benefits? Tell the truth.
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