Posted on 10/07/2010 7:24:34 AM PDT by Maelstorm
What does Illinois Tea Party candidate Michael Labno have to do to get some attention around here? Does he have to be more like Christine ODonnell: should he make some bizarre comment about meatballs, get caught buying vibrators and boil some frogs?
Or does he have to be more like Illinois Republican candidate Mark Kirk: shall he create an imaginary life story where he single-handedly killed Osama bin Laden with his .50 caliber sniper rifle, was awarded a medal of honor and then devoted his life to reading fairytales to nursery school students?
On October 5, 2010, Rasmussen Reports announced that a statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Kirk picking up 45% of the vote, while Giannoulias earns 41% support. Four percent (4%) back Green Party candidate LeAlan Jones. Another five percent (5%) prefer some other candidate in the race, and six percent (6%) are undecided.
Rasmussen cannot justify its failure to name the some other candidate who has 1% more support than Jones. Disappointing. Rasmussen had a duty to name Labno in the interest of fairness to all parties, to ensure more accurate reporting by the media, and because voters rely heavily on polling numbers to help them make a decision.
Labno shouldnt be ignored for his lack of wack.
Warning to Republicans (or those who are considering voting Republican): If you vote for Mark Kirk, you will be voting for a liberal. So, if you are going to vote for a liberal, then make it easier on yourself and simply vote for Alexi Giannoulias, since hes the real Democrat.
Wait, before you get all worked-up and accuse me, an Illinois Democrat, of trying to persuade the right to lean left, please continue reading because my point has zilch to do with Giannoulias I simply want to make sure that the person you vote for accurately and properly represents you.
Michael Labno may be your guy, instead of Mark Kirk. Why?
Kirk is a Republican. Or is he? Kirk voted to allow the government to confiscate your legally owned firearm in the event of a national emergency. He is pro-choice, saved millions in funding for Planned Parenthood and was just one of 17 Republicans to vote to fund abortions for female inmates. Kirk is for cap and trade and voted for TARP not once, but twice.
Labno is a self-proclaimed recovering Republican; three years sober, officially. He wonders why we still havent found Osama bin Laden and is disappointed with the Republicans support of the bailouts. He wants small businesses and community banks to thrive again. He is pro-life and pro-guns. Labno owns his positions and he hasnt manufactured his qualifications or made up outlandish stories to gain support.
Fred Newbrough, one of Labnos Facebook friends, wrote, We are tired of the same old games by the GOP Kirk is the most horrible candidate imaginable for the Senate. He isnt even reliably fiscally conservative. The good thing is that you, Mike, are in the race. Illinois has a real choice: a Tea Party choice, a conservative choice, a libertarian choice.
Illinois voters, before you allow a senator to drive you to Washington, make sure some other candidate isnt hidden in a blind-spot; otherwise, he may crash before you even get to your final destination.
He sure isn't.
The irony is that most of the GOP leadership, and in fact some posters on this thread, would much prefer hard-Left Mark Kirk to anyone remotely resembling Alan Keyes.
Interesting take, and suggests that losing this seat could possibly be better than winning it.
But that presumes that Alexi would actually be found guilty of something, that the Illinois legislature wouldn’t take away the power of the governor to appoint a successor, or the democratic majority in the Senate wouldn’t simply refuse to remove Alexi from office — which I can’t see them doing if it meant losing the majority in the senate.
But still, a differing point of view. Thanks for pointing me to it.
My strategy is not “vote for the most conservative candidate that can win”,
it’s “vote against the RINO in the primary, against the ‘rat in the general”.
The support for both of the two major party candidates is soft. A majority of people still don’t like either of them.
Kirk is a candidate that has been forced on Illinois by the Republican establishment. He did not debate once, they held the primary ridiculously in Feb. He will not allow open discussion of the issues. It is time to support a third party and with enough money Kirk and Alexi could be defeated.
Also if Kirk gets in he will never be gotten out. He is to the left of Mike Castle. On election day he will be a piece of crap on the top of the Tea Party cake. A mistake and error and a constant problem for us. Alexi on the otherhand if he wins will be as corrupt as he always was and because of that will be vulnerable. I don’t want either of them to win and I believe Mike Labno can win if we throw our support behind him and stop running back to the establishment skirts and false arguments about winning.
I’ve never heard a person say “Wow that car over there has a great hood ornament but looks like a piece of crap I think I’m going to buy it”. I’d support Kirk if he wasn’t a die-hard on abortion, didn’t support thought crimes, and wasn’t 100% anti-gun even to the point of receiving endorsements over the Democrat.
No win or lose Mike Labno is the only candidate on the Ballot for US Senate in Illinois that a conservative with any conscience could vote for. We don’t need Kirk. Let’s show some balls and kick him to the curb now rather than having to watch him betray us later as he has consistently in the past.
No they shouldn’t. Mark Kirk is a ‘John Kerry’ Republican. He clearly inflated his military service as a way to increase his political career. I find it disgusting personally because I know families who have lost loved ones who didn’t get to put on a uniform just for show and a tick on their resume.
It was important to make an example of someone, pour encourager les autres, and Castle was the right choice.
Kirk probably wouldn't make it into my lifeboat in normal times (by contrast, I think the snow bunnies are as good as it gets in Maine).
However, the times are abnormal, and Kirk will work for me as #50, whereas Castle wouldn't.
My advice for IL FReepers: Hold your nose and vote for him.
Voted YES on limiting medical malpractice lawsuits to $250,000 damages. (May 2004)
Voted NO on additional $825 billion for economic recovery package. (Jan 2009)
Voted NO on $15B bailout for GM and Chrysler. (Dec 2008)
Voted YES on military border patrols to battle drugs & terrorism. (Sep 2001)
Keep sanctions against Syria until WMDs are dismantled. (May 2007)
Voted NO on granting Washington DC an Electoral vote & vote in Congress. (Apr 2007)
There are a bunch more issues that Kirk would support that no Democrat would. Yeah, he’s a socially liberal RINO, but he is still far better than a liberal Democrat.
http://www.ontheissues.org/IL/Mark_Kirk.htm
RINOs are a large part of what got us here...I see no need to continue supporting them when they are just ‘Rats in disguise.....
Nothing is practical about electing Mark Kirk. He is worse than Mike Castle, he is worse than Olympia Snowe, he is worse than Susan Collins, and most certainly worse than John McCain.
He is to the left of Harry Reid on most issues. Would you elect Harry Reid to “win”?
The "Principled Conservatives" would rather destroy America than support anyone who is not sufficiently pure enough for their exhalted standards.
Right now the polling shows most voters in Illinois do not want either of the major party candidates. They hate them both. Those that say they are certain of their vote is not a majority of the voters. Alexi may be bad but Kirk is worse because with Kirk he will be our albatross. The media will go on about how he proves the rule that “far left moderate Republicans are what we need to win”. I’ve never supported a Libertarian before other than Rand Paul who is running as a Republican but I have gotten to know Mike Labno. He is an honest principled hard working man who right now can not be on the campaign trail because he is working.
Win or lose I am tired of feeling dirty or keeping quiet while good men like Chuck DeVore, Patrick Hughes, and Mike Labno are ignored. Greatness is not achieved through compromise but great evil most surly has been.
This article was written to help the Democrat win! It’s a political trap, for all non-leftist readers of this article! The MSM, really, wants all of the Democrats to “win it all”, any way that they can win, on November 2! The MSM doesn’t care about, either, Mike Labno, or Libertarianism, unless they can help Democrats win, on November 2! Don’t fall for this “puff piece” on Mike Labno, because the MSM is, just, trying to split the total non-leftist votes among the Libertarian candidate and the Republican candidate, on November 2!
Actually, the irony is that Mark Kirk might have stopped Obama in 2004 had he chosen to get into the race.
There aren’t enough Dem legislators in IL that could remove that power to appoint on a purely partisan basis, since the GOP minority could sustain a veto (now, if the Combine all got together...). I believe, even with Alexi elected, the GOP will win a majority. I don’t expect Alexi to be in office long, anyhow (and if he tries to linger, with a criminal trial persisting, it will be more of a black eye to the Democrats and the WH). Brady won’t appoint Kirk (not with the way Kirk has been behaving towards Brady on the campaign trail... he would toss him under a bus). But, yes, that’s my take.
Link in post #9 explains everything.
So, support your Leftist, just because he's got an "R" by his name. Nothing I can do about it.
Honestly, I know the feelings you describe. I was simply trying to capture the Dim’s thinking as he penned the piece.
He is also against cap and tax, and Obamacare.
Harry Reid isn’t running in Illinois. Good try at diversion.
Kirk is a terrible man and a terrible candidate. But he’s better than his opponent.
That’s all that counts.
You can throw away your vote on an also-ran if you want. Free country and all that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.