Once again, Mark Kirk has shown he has nothing to offer the people of Illinois’ 10th district other than more of George Bush and Karl Rove’s ugly politics of smear and fear – and why we desperately need a change in Washington.
Instead of trying to end the catastrophic war in Iraq that he helped start, or explaining why he voted last week to protect tobacco companies instead of providing health care to millions of uninsured children or why he remains silent on President Bush’s ill advised proposal to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, all Mark Kirk can do is try to distract the voters with outright lies.
This time, Kirk sent a lapdog to attack my strong connection to Israel and to the Jewish people.
Let there be no doubt about my views and my record:
Unlike Mark Kirk, I have lived in Israel, and for much of my time there, Israel was experiencing the most violent period in recent memory. Homicide bombers were blowing up cafes and buses nearly every week. I worked alongside Israel’s leaders devising strategies to improve safety and security – and help strengthen the US-Israel relationship. My wife, an Israeli, wore the IDF uniform, serving in the Israeli Air Force. My family and I were in Haifa when the first missiles hit during last year’s Israel-Hezbollah war. I know what security and peace would mean to Israelis – and I will work my hardest to achieve it.
I have come face-to-face with anti-Semites, and in every instance – every single one – I have condemned any form of anti-Semitic speech. Whether it comes from the mouth of a blogger or a preacher, anti-Semitism – like xenophobia, racism, and homophobia – has no place in the 10th district, in Chicagoland, in Illinois, in the United States, and the entire world.
I suppose I should be astonished that the Kirk campaign would attack me – a Jew and someone who has lived in Israel – on whether I am sufficiently pro-Israel or sensitive to anti-Semitism.
Yet when it comes to saying the indefensible, supporting the unfounded, and voting for some of the most failed policies we’ve seen in a generation, Mark Kirk no longer surprises. The voters of the 10th district have seen it all – this is just another sad display of Kirk’s politics of personal destruction and division.
The fact is, Mark Kirk has done this for years. It’s time to send a message – the safety and security of Israel is much too important to be tossed around in a partisan contest. It’s time for the Bush-Kirk-Rove lie machine to end in 2009.
I call on Mark Kirk to denounce these types of divisive and dishonest attacks.
[…] ArchPundit also notes that Dan Seals has a sensible and forceful policy paper on Israel (PDF). In essence, this is a Seals “pre-sponse” to such goofy innuendo hit pieces as the Lappin email. Jay Footlik’s campaign also had a direct response to the Lappin hatchet job (which, as James Boyce notes in his own Daily Kos diary, borders on slander). ArchPundit lists the Footlik reply, which reads in part: Unlike Mark Kirk, I have lived in Israel, and for much of my time there, Israel was experiencing the most violent period in recent memory. Homicide bombers were blowing up cafes and buses nearly every week. I worked alongside Israel’s leaders devising strategies to improve safety and security – and help strengthen the US-Israel relationship. My wife, an Israeli, wore the IDF uniform, serving in the Israeli Air Force. My family and I were in Haifa when the first missiles hit during last year’s Israel-Hezbollah war. I know what security and peace would mean to Israelis – and I will work my hardest to achieve it. […]
I don’t see this as a campaign or political issue. As an American Jew, I take this very personally as an assault on my right to participate in the American dialogue and the world community.
What does Jay Footlik (IL10) bring to the party – other than Monica Lewinsky?
Why is Jay Footlik running for Congress in the Tenth District of Illinois? This Washington insider hasn’t lived in the state since high school, and he grew up in Skokie, which isn’t even in the district. And what has he ever accomplished besides introducing Monica Lewinsky to Bill Clinton? According to Lewinsky, it was Jay Footlik who helped her get her internship. http://a255.g.akamaitech.net/7/255/2422/16apr20041404/icreport.access.gpo.gov/hd105-311/vol4/tab21.pdf
According to his testimony to Ken Starr, he personally escorted her to a party at the West Wing where he facilitated an encounter with Bill Clinton. http://a255.g.akamaitech.net/7/255/2422/11may20041152/icreport.access.gpo.gov/hd105-316/1167-1170.pdf and http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5087/is_199810/ai_n18478684
He’s a registered lobbyist from Washington, a job most people liken to pond scum. In fact, his firm was fired by the University of California at San Diego for charging $100 an hour for lunching with federal officials and congressional staffers, not notifying the university that they were registered lobbyists and failing to file articles of incorporation with the state of Virginia. http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2007/03/21/this_just_in/746dinovo.txt