Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.
The conservative Chicago Tribune is reporting that attack ads are being run accusing Representative Mark Kirk, candidate for US Senate in the upcoming Republican primary, of being gay. link The ads are paid for by Andy Martin, another candidate in the February 2 primary.
Andy Martin is a well known right wing crank who went to law school but was not allowed into the bar because of his paranoid behavior. Martin is also the source of many birther accusations.
Martin was accused in the press of being the source of false rumors that U.S. President Barack Obama is secretly a Muslim. Later, in an interview with CNN, Martin asserted that Obama's real father was not Barack Obama Sr. but Frank Marshall Davis, an African American journalist of the 1950s. To counter these claims the Obama campaign posted an image of a certified copy of his birth certificate online. On October 17, 2008, Martin filed a lawsuit against the state of Hawaii calling for the public release of Barack Obama's long-form birth certificate. On October 22, 2008 the Supreme Court of Hawaii denied the request.
link
The Tribune reports:
Andy Martin, who has been sanctioned in federal court for filing hundreds of lawsuits and was found unfit to practice law by the Illinois Supreme Court, has previously used the airwaves to attack political opponents including presidential candidates George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
The Tribune goes on to discuss the specifics of the accusations:
In the radio ad, which aired Monday on WGN-AM and WBBM-AM, Martin attributes a "solid rumor that Kirk is a homosexual" to conservative Republican businessman Jack Roeser. Martin's ad also claims that Raymond True, the chairman of the conservative Republican Assembly of Lake County organization, says Kirk has surrounded himself with homosexuals. The ad says Kirk should address the rumors.
You can listen to the actual radio ad on Andy Martin's Senate campaign site. link
Local GOP leaders, dismayed that the clear frontrunner in the election is being slimed by one they usually count on to slime others, have disavowed Andy Martin.
The statements "are consistent with (Andy Martin’s) history of bizarre behavior and often times hate-filled speech which has no place in the Illinois Republican Party," said Pat Brady, the Illinois Republican Party Chairman. "Mr. Martin will no longer be recognized as a legitimate Republican candidate by the Illinois Republican Party."
Martin, a perennial GOP candidate, is running against Mark Kirk, the target of his radio ads. Martin has a history of anti-Semitic comments and legal disputes.
link
Of course, it matters not at all to me if Kirk is gay- If I were an Illinois voter, I would support or not support him as a candidate based on his stand on issues. If he is a completely closeted gay Republican, he probably wouldn't represent me on issues. Poor Kirk is actually on military duty and can't reply to the accusations. And election laws don't permit radio stations to refuse the ads.
Hannity brought Andy Martin on to trash Senator Obama when he was running in the Presidential Race.
And now this man who is the source of so many slanderous assaults on Senator, now President Obama, is doing the same sort of thing to Representative Kirk, who is very much the leading candidate in the primary. It would be laughable if it weren't so sad. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you! Republicans embrace the crazy guy when he is lying and attacking Democrats; now they consider him a disgrace.