Call it a grand slam. Say he hit for the cycle. Pick any sports reference you like, but one thing is clear – Mark Kirk is on a roll (and not in a good way) with his offensive, over-the-top rhetoric. As he panics at the start of his re-election campaign, he’s working hard to make sure that almost no bloc of voters in Illinois goes un-offended. Here’s a quick look at his most recent inflammatory remarks:
- As he and his party marched us to the brink of a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, Kirk suggested that in the event of a shutdown, Republicans “should build a number of coffins outside each Democratic office.” That’s right – his solution to the impending shutdown was not to stand up to those in his own party, but rather to stage a grotesque political stunt.
- After Republicans sneakily inserted anti-choice language into the human trafficking bill, Kirk compared Democrats who were standing strong on protecting women’s access to healthcare to slavery apologists from the 1800s.
- Just this month, Kirk likened the emerging deal with Iran to Nazi appeasement and even name-checked Hitler.
- And over the April recess, in an interview with the Peoria Journal Star, Kirk reinforced an offensive stereotype by saying that people drive faster through black neighborhoods and that more African-American billionaires was the solution.
“Panicked over his dismal reelection prospects, it appears that no bloc of Illinois voters is safe from the over-the-top and offensive rhetoric that seems to spew weekly from Mark Kirk’s mouth,” said Sadie Weiner, DSCC National Press Secretary. “Mark Kirk owes a barrel of apologies to voters across the state as well as an explanation about why he thinks it’s alright to liken his political opponents to Hitler and slavery apologists, while advocating for political stunts when Americans die and claiming everyone drives faster through African American neighborhoods.”
