Sen. Mark Kirk: Booze and boat parties smoothed bipartisan gun deal

washingtontimes.com ^ | April 11, 2013 | Cheryl K. Chumley

[ilovesarah2012]

Sen. Mark Kirk says the real driving force behind the gun deal that was hatched by bipartisan work was booze and boat retreats.

The Illinois Republican said to reporters that visits to the Black Tie, a yacht owned by Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin, played a large role in the Democratic-Republican come-together over background checks and other legislation related to gun control, Roll Call reported.

“You guys really ought to go out to National Harbor and see the Black Tie, which has been much of the reason for much of the bipartisan cooperation around here,” he said, as quoted in Roll Call.

Frequent visitors to the luxury vessel: Democrat Sen. Kay Hagan and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Mr. Kirk said.

[Lurker]

“If voting changed things politicians would make it illegal” Mark Twain, I believe.

[WeatherGuy]

The boys on the boat probably took turns with her.

[WVKayaker]

Wasn’t the miners union involved in a murder about thirty years ago?

It was alleged that Trumka did it himself! He surely had his hands in it!

Now, he is Thug-In-Chief, and Frequent White Hut visitor extraordinaire!

... Eight years later, UNW thuggery proved fatal. In the spring of 1993, Trumka, in an effort to ensure that no one would be able to find employment as a miner without paying dues or agency fees to the UMW, ordered more than 17,000 mine workers to walk off their jobs. Moreover, he explicitly instructed striking miners to "kick the sh-- out of every last one" of their fellow employees and mine operators who resisted union demands. In response, UMW enforcers vandalized homes, fired gunshots at a mine office, and cut off the power supply to another mine, temporarily trapping 93 miners underground. ...

... Soon thereafter, York's widow charged Trumka and other UMW officials in a $27 million wrongful death lawsuit. After fighting the charges for four years, UMW lawyers quickly decided to settle out of court in June 1997 once federal prosecutors announced that they planned to release evidence from the trial of Jerry Dale Lowe, whom a federal jury had previously convicted of conspiracy and weapons charges in connection with York's murder.... A guide to the Political Left! -

[cradle of freedom]

Good for you!

Is West Virginia run by the Democrats? Machin seemed like a decent guy but by now I have learned to not accept politicians at face value. This yacht made my jaw drop! How could he have gotten away with this charade this long? This is just another case of the politicians faking another *Mr Smith goes to Washington* type. I swear, politics must be 90% fakery.

Do you think that the gun issue will wake up enough voters in West Virginia?

[cradle of freedom]

Was there a Democrat running against the Tea Party guy?

[cradle of freedom]

Hmmn, a twitter war against these scoundrels. How about Facebook too?

[Jim Noble]

How many voters in West Virginia knew about the Black Tie when they voted for Manchin, for Governor and then for the Senate?

[cradle of freedom]

Look back over about 50 years of history and it is plain to see that the GOP does not like conservatives. They were against Goldwater and Reagan, didn’t call themselves conservatives then, only when Reagan won two times and they saw that the people were behind him did they start calling themselves *conservatives*. They used the title of conservatives when it served their selfish interests but when they saw that conservatism is about values and not just a title, they soon dropped the real conservatives and attached themselves to phoney moderates. Conservatives are supposed to have a conscience and these people do not like people with a conscience looking over their shoulder. It makes them unconfortable and cramps their money-grubbing style.

[cradle of freedom]

So he’s a decorated military vet, this seems to be a favorite subtrefuge of both the Dems and the RHINOS. Even veterans and miltary heroes can sometimes turn. Look at Benedict Arnold!

We have to look past the bright lights of the political resume and start looking deeper into their character. Things to look for: Do they present different faces to different people? Do their values fit with the basic core values of the American people?

[cradle of freedom]

Was he born to money or did he sell his soul to get it?

[cradle of freedom]

There must be something that keeps drawing them to D.C. Washington is like the local pick up bar, everyone knows what goes on there, its reputation precedes it.

[longtermmemmory]

picture of the boat?

the medium is the message

a luxury yatch. (how much security)

the yatch is the message.

[cradle of freedom]

So tell me about this Reggie Love? I know who he is and what his realtionship to Obama is subposed to be but I do not know what Kirk may or may not have had to do with it.

[cradle of freedom]

I live in Massachusetts where the local tv news is useless, I would imagine that probably all local tv stations are owned by people who want to gain riches and be popular with the in-crowd.

[BlackElk]

Based on reputation, Kirk may well have an interest in Reggie Love and his/its ilk. His voting record shows undue enthusiasm for every fudge-packer agenda as well. Let’s speculate that Reggie would be the pitcher and Kirk the catcher if they played softball or house or, ummmm, whatever.

[cradle of freedom]

Co-opting is their favorite way of defeating us. They just pretend to be us and we end up voting for them. This is how the Republic became a den of thieves.

Here is one of my favorite quotations from James Madison. It explains beautifully how we came to wake up one day and wonder which country we were living in:

“There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power then by violent and sudden usurptions.”

[cradle of freedom]

Is he married?

[fieldmarshaldj]

Divorced in 2009 after 8 years of marriage.

[Impy]

Sounds like they bused people in from the city.

[Impy]

The downside to that enforcement of party voting is that it could bite small government Conservatives on the butt. I don’t want a rep that votes party line, I want a rep that votes the IDEOLOGICAL line.

That, is an excellent point. I suppose they would have made something like Bush's Medicare thing a 3-line whip if they could. And various unsavory spending bills.