I'm looking over your questions now and they look fairly softball questions to me. I've seen some rather hard hitting questions where Kirk has gotten fluttered and I'm not seeing it from you. I suppose your paraphrasing, but it seems the topics were vague enough that Kirk could make whatever his record is sound good on the surface.
>> 1. How can a US Senator possibly effect the onerous taxes presently inflicted on the citizens of Illinois. (Blago crap and spin but basically nodda) Fair answer. Ans. He really can't. <<<
More to the point, since "he really can't" why is running campaign ads about the tax climate within Illinois and implying a vote for him will change that? Isn't he intruding on Bill Brady's campaign turf? I don't see Brady running ads about policies that only U.S. Senators can affect, like saying we need to elect Brady governor so Obama's judges can be stopped.
>> 2.Is there anything you can do in Washington to moderate the present situation in Illinois to improve the business climate. Ans. Support Bill Brady. <<
Again, more to the point, since Kirk had said he "supports" Brady, why he has not lifted a finger to DO anything to help him? Why is Kirk AWOL at Brady events? Why won't Kirk speak out publicly in favor of the rest of the GOP ticket? It's a legitimate question. Jason Plummer, Dan Rutherford, Steve Kim, etc. actually DO make an effort to support Brady and the rest of the GOP ticket, not claim offhand that they endorse his candidacy.
>> 3. Illegal immigration , your stance? <<
What kind of question is this?! That's like asking "Wasteful spending, what is your stance?" "Corrupt politicians, what is your stance?" Everyone on the planet will say they're against it. Ditto with the topic of illegal immigration. All politicians will claim to be against, including those who lobby for amnesty for illegals (they will say that "comprehensive immigration reform" and "a path to citizenship" will solve the problem since the individuals in question will no longer be illegal)
A more pointed question would be "You've repeatedly said in the past you oppose illegal immigration. Why then did you vote against legislation that would require hospitals to report illegal aliens, support the 245(i) mini amnesty, and oppose the Arizona law that follows the federal guidelines for border enforcement?
>> 4. Abortion Ans I support a womens right of choice.(OUCH) <<
A very vague question. We all know Kirk "supports a woman's right to choose". The media would have us believe Kirk is a centrist on the issue and believes Roe v. Wade should be kept on the books but is not nuts about abortion. His record says otherwise. A pointed would be:
"Congressman, you've often described yourself as a social moderate. However, in the last two election cycles, the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) reported that you were the only Republican in the House who voted with them 100% of the time, even supporting partial-birth abortion when polls show over 70% of Americans oppose it. Why do you feel your support for abortion on demand is a "socially moderate" position when the vast majority of American voters are not as liberal as you? If you're moderate, what restrictions do you think should be allowed for underage girls seeking abortions and third trimester abortions, if any?"
>> My comment: But who stands up for the unborn's choice? Ans: The Supreme court. <<
My comment: By confirming Elena Kagan, Congressman? She's "moderate" in your eyes, right?
>> What separates you from Giannoulias? Ans: Fiscal conservatism. Reduce taxes to stimulate the economy, especialy on small business. <<
Followup: Fiscally conservative organizations report that you voted with Taxpayers for Common Sense 33% of the time, The Club for Growth 19% of the time (9 / 48 votes), and Citizens for Tax Justice 17% of the time, Congressman. They do this for a living and dispute that you are a "fiscal conservative". Furthermore, do you believe your votes in favor of Democrat Charlie Rangel’s 90 percent bonus tax, the Democrats SCHIP program, and TARP bailouts were fiscally conservative? Do you feel Alexi would have voted differently than you on these purely fiscal issues?
>> 5.Everything being equal, in your estimation, what percentage of the time would you vote with conservative Republicans. Connection lost, damn. <<
Had Kirk been able to respond, he would have (falsely) told you he votes "the Republican position" 80% of the time and cite some BS Congressional quarterly review of a bunch of issues introduced by Republican Congressmen like "House Resolution expressing the sense of the House that Hitler was a bad man", which everyone agreed with anyway.
If Kirk was speaking to a liberal audience, he'd spend the entire time talking about how he "Stood up to President Bush and the right wing Republicans", and gloat about how left-wing organizations rate him more liberal than Obama.
The actual numbers, without all the smoke and mirrors, is that Kirk votes with the GOP on wedge issues about 20-30% of the time. That's worse than many card-carrying Democrats. True, he's not as liberal as Alexi, HOWEVER, Kirk will be FAR more effective than Alexi in getting Obama's marxist positions rammed down our throats the other 70-80% of the time.
>> I'll vote for him, not thrilled but there it is. <<
Mark Kirk has shown over the past 10 years that if you elect him to the Senate, you'll basically get the reincarnation of Jim Jeffords. He will side with the left the vast majority of key issues and be THE instrumental goto guy when Obama needs a "Republican" sponsor to mask his radical agenda for American and pretend it has "bipartisan" support. If you're comfortable with that for the next six years, feel free to vote for him. As for me personally, I wouldn't support Kirk for dog catcher.
Sorry, I did the best I could. I’m not a professianal and was frankly shocked I got the opportunity.
Hindsight is definately 20/20. Try the hotseat sometime, it ain’t as easy as it would seem.
Mark Kirk will vote for a Republican to be Senate Majority Leader. That alone is enough to warrant voting for him.
I got called the other day from a Michele Bachmann townhall on the phone.
And as far as the whole Brady thing, I am happy Kirk is staying away from Brady, Brady is up by 13 points, Kirk would only hurt Brady.
Wish that Candidate A had accepted the job from the combine, I have no idea why they turned it down, no clue. Candidate A would be up by 20 points on Alexi if Candidate A accepted.
And sorry folks cannot disclose who Candidate A is because I promised I wouldn't and don't want to get sued.
While I agree in principle that tougher questions would have been more appropriate it is, as Mark said, “academic” since he failed on the ‘easy’ ones.
Was he the best that the GOP could prop up, or did someone(s) engineer this choice?
Too bad I can’t vote against him.