“I think that the decision to raise taxes by 50 percent in Illinois is political suicide,” Kirk said of Quinn’s proposal to raise the tax rate to 4.5 percent from 3 percent, coupled with an increase in the personal deduction. “I think the people of Illinois are ready to shoot anyone who is going to raise taxes by that degree.”
Rich:
Perhaps someone who hasn’t yet lost his or her mind in the Illinois GOP could advise this distinguished gentleman to turn it down a notch or two?
Seriously. What the heck? I mean, I’ve heard of dogwhistling the base, but that was like a foghorn in a library. I thought Kirk was supposed to be a moderate? He sounds a bit like Alan Keyes on meth. Or maybe Rod Blagojevich before he was hampered by federal bail restrictions.
People say stupid things. I do it. However, I apologize for it. The kind of rhetoric is going way over the top right now and someone who is supposedly a moderate doesn’t say that people are ready to shoot somebody. Why not? Because some loon might take you up on it.
Then again, he also seems to think McHenry and DuPage are downstate:
* Congressman Mark Kirk says he will make a decision about running for statewide office “by the end of next month.” He told NBC5 that he wants to read the Blagojevich indictment before making a final decision.
Asked if he’d made any downstate trips to learn more about the state, Kirk said he’s so far been to McHenry, DuPage and Champaign counties. [Hat tip: Team America]
As a person from downstate these drive me batty.