One has to wonder if the teabaggers are trying to sabotage the special election for President Obama's Senate seat. That's the only plausible explanation I can think of for OneNewsNow's latest column by former Concerned Women for America president Sandy Rios.
I don't remember any such outrage at the accusation of Governor Mark Sanford for alleged adultery. I seem to remember newsmen and cameras running to South America simply to confirm or deny. I don't remember outrage over Senator Larry Craig and his "outing" for bathroom flirtation, just more "investigating" to find the truth.
Figure this one out. Rios concedes that it's impossible to take anything seriously that comes from the mouth of Andy Martin--but then wonders why no one is investigating his claims. Could it be that one of the people Martin says claimed that Kirk was gay denies ever making that statement?
Rios claims that Kirk shouldn't be ashamed either way about his sexual orientation because homosexuality is no longer stigmatized in our society. However, it's hard to believe Rios doesn't know that it's certainly stigmatized by the Republican base. From what I know about Illinois, the only difference between Republicans from downstate and Republicans from neighboring Kentucky is the accent.
She then suggests that somehow, Democrats know Kirk is gay, and are using that fact to blackmail him into voting with them. Well, let's take a look at Kirk's yearly scores from the American Conservative Union:
- 2001: 48
- 2002: 76
- 2003: 67
- 2004: 63
- 2005: 36
- 2006: 54
- 2007: 40
- 2008: 48
Only one rating above 70 in this whole stretch. For Rios' claim of Democratic blackmail to have any validity, Kirk would have had to have ratings of 70 and up from 2001 to 2006. Remember, House rules allow the majority to pretty much flip off the minority--so any Dem attempts to blackmail Kirk during his first three terms would have been laughed off.
It's pretty obvious here that if anyone is levying blackmail on Kirk, it's Rios. Does anyone believe that if Kirk were gay, the fundies in Illinois wouldn't just stay home on Election Day--effectively handing the Senate seat to whoever's on the Democratic line? Granted, while I want to see this seat stay Dem, we can do without the poisoning of the political climate, thank you very much.