What True Independence and Thoughtful Leadership Looks Like...
i believe in wedge issues. i believe in positioning my candidate in between their opponent and the voters. but who would have thought that someone could use political independence as a wedge? that's exactly what mark kirk is trying to do!
mark kirk can't honestly be considered independent. kirk uses the phrase, "thoughtful, independent leadership," as a way of connecting himself to the voters of the 10th congressional district and the legacy of john porter. but kirk's ties to the conservative club for growth, his declared support for conservative roy blunt instead of the more independent john boehner, and his fervent support for bush and his war on iraq, all cast considerable doubt on kirk's claim to political independence. kirk packages himself as an independent, but doesn't actually demonstrate political independence (or necessarily vote with those who do). alone among those considered republican moderates in congress, mark kirk was not punished for opposing the delay agenda. it didn't seem to occur to the republican moderates that kirk was a beneficiary of tom delay's contributions to the club!
a lot of the problem is that the country has become bitterly divided since the election of george bush. perhaps it was bitterly divided before that, but the florida fiasco laid that division bare. so mark kirk can claim political independence while voting with the extreme right-wing congressional leadership because there aren't a lot of examples of political independence out there. this became clear last night, as the politically independent lincoln chaffee fought off another club for growth candidate, steve laffey.
consider the differences here. lincoln chaffee was opposed by the club for growth, mark kirk supported by them. lincoln chaffee has taken brave stands in opposition to the republican party and its congressional leadership, mark kirk has voted more than 80% of the time with the party leadership. even when kirk stakes out a position of independence from the right-wing gop leadership he asks for permission to do so! that's not political independence by any standard a reasonable person would use.
for the confused, below is an example of what independent, thoughtful leadership looks like. politically independent members of congress talk about crossing the partisan divide, not reinforcing the right-wing status quo. politically independent members of congress talk about solutions to real problems that voters face, not micro issues. politically independent members of congress stake out bold stands and don't slink from taking a position (ala the schiavo vote). mark kirk isn't politically independent, he just wants you to think he is. he's the faux moderate.
mark kirk can't honestly be considered independent. kirk uses the phrase, "thoughtful, independent leadership," as a way of connecting himself to the voters of the 10th congressional district and the legacy of john porter. but kirk's ties to the conservative club for growth, his declared support for conservative roy blunt instead of the more independent john boehner, and his fervent support for bush and his war on iraq, all cast considerable doubt on kirk's claim to political independence. kirk packages himself as an independent, but doesn't actually demonstrate political independence (or necessarily vote with those who do). alone among those considered republican moderates in congress, mark kirk was not punished for opposing the delay agenda. it didn't seem to occur to the republican moderates that kirk was a beneficiary of tom delay's contributions to the club!
a lot of the problem is that the country has become bitterly divided since the election of george bush. perhaps it was bitterly divided before that, but the florida fiasco laid that division bare. so mark kirk can claim political independence while voting with the extreme right-wing congressional leadership because there aren't a lot of examples of political independence out there. this became clear last night, as the politically independent lincoln chaffee fought off another club for growth candidate, steve laffey.
consider the differences here. lincoln chaffee was opposed by the club for growth, mark kirk supported by them. lincoln chaffee has taken brave stands in opposition to the republican party and its congressional leadership, mark kirk has voted more than 80% of the time with the party leadership. even when kirk stakes out a position of independence from the right-wing gop leadership he asks for permission to do so! that's not political independence by any standard a reasonable person would use.
for the confused, below is an example of what independent, thoughtful leadership looks like. politically independent members of congress talk about crossing the partisan divide, not reinforcing the right-wing status quo. politically independent members of congress talk about solutions to real problems that voters face, not micro issues. politically independent members of congress stake out bold stands and don't slink from taking a position (ala the schiavo vote). mark kirk isn't politically independent, he just wants you to think he is. he's the faux moderate.
posted by bored now at 4:52 AM
1 Comments:
Damn, that's a great video! I trust we'll be doing a low-budget version? I can mess with Adobe Premiere!!
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