In a recent debate between Republican and Democratic candidates for a senate seat from Illinois, neither candidate was a fan of Donald Trump. Tammy Duckworth, the challenger, is a Democrat. Incumbent Mark Kirk, a Republican, is not completely stupid. He originally endorsed Trump, but withdrew his endorsement in June, citing failure to evolve. That was after Trump said U.S. District Court judge Gonzalo Curiel was “a Mexican” (Curiel is American-born) who couldn’t be fair to Trump in a legal case Curiel is presiding over.
Tammy Duckworth. Maybe that’s her birth certificate she’s holding. The long form.
Good for Kirk. But it seems as if he shares some of Trump’s campaign style, the random poopoo-flinging ha-ha-ain’t-I-a-bad-boy rudeness part.
After he was heard to call Lindsey Graham “a bro with no ho” because “that’s what we’d say on the South Side” and because Graham’s single, he did apologize. But not when he called President Obama the “drug dealer-in-chief.”
Mark Kirk at a commissioning ceremony for a Navy simulator.
When Duckworth said the drug dealer-in-chief remark was “unhinged,” Kirk said she was mocking stroke victims. Kirk had a stroke in 2012. Au contraire, Duckworth’s campaign replied, he’d been talking just as wildly before his stroke.
In the October 27th debate, Duckworth bragged about her family military tradition. “My family has served this nation in uniform, going back to the Revolution. I’m a daughter of the American Revolution. I’ve bled for this nation.” The context was knowing when and when not to go to war. “Families like mine are the ones that bleed first. But let’s make sure the American people understand what we are engaging in, and let’s hold our allies accountable, because we can’t do it all.”
Given 30 seconds to respond, Kirk merely snarked, “I had forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington.”
Duckworth ignored him. She didn’t speak or look at him.
Mark Kirk has just uttered his clever remark and is waiting for a reaction he is not getting.
Kirk knew Duckworth was born in Thailand. But perhaps he’d been too lazy to figure out that her mother was Thai (of Chinese descent), and her father was American from a family with, yes, a long military tradition.
More relevant than her family tradition was Duckworth’s own military service. It’s well-known she was seriously injured in Iraq when a helicopter she was co-piloting was hit by an RPG, leaving her a double amputee. With a Purple Heart, an Air Medal, and an Army Commendation Medal.
So Kirk’s zinger did not play well. There was much criticism. His office defended his remark: “Senator Kirk has consistently called Rep. Duckworth a war hero and honors her family’s service to this country. But [PIVOT!] that’s not what this debate was about. Rep. Duckworth lied about her legal troubles, was unable to defend her failures at the V.A., and then falsely attacked Senator Kirk over his record on supporting gay rights.”
Not exactly responsive to the you-Thai-folks-didn’t-fight-in-our-Revolution thing. Criticism continued. Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s current campaign manager, joined in. “The same Mark Kirk that unendorsed his party’s presidential nominee and called him out in paid ads? Gotcha. Good luck.”
Kellyanne Conway does not forget.
Hillary Clinton tweeted, “…It’s really not that hard to grasp, @MarkKirk.”
So Kirk tweeted:
Sincere apologies to an American hero, Tammy Duckworth, and gratitude for her family’s service.
Not good. As is so common, he doesn’t say WHAT IT WAS he’s apologizing for. If you’re sorry for something, name it. Damn it.
Also, different forum. Apologies should be made in the same channel where the offense occurred. If you defamed someone on the front page, the retraction should appear on the front page, not back among the paid death announcements. If you insulted someone in sky-writing, you need to hire another plane to apologize. If you tweeted slime, then you can apologize in a tweet.
There’s another Kirk-Duckworth debate coming up November 4th. That would be the appropriate venue for Kirk to apologize for a remark made during a previous debate.
What odds that’ll happen?
Respect for Tammy Duckworth, who treated this man’s words like the verbal fart that they were – didn’t even acknowledge them – and continued on the higher road. Would that the rest of us could get to that high road where civility and courtesy lives, but apparently since reality TV owns the playground, most feel that they must also use reality TV’s toys.
I am SO over this.