In response to Mark Kirk's bizarre accusations that the White House of leaking his service records for political purposes, David Axelrod gave a blunt denial to reporter Lynn Sweet.
"Obviously, Congressman Kirk has some problems that are of his creation and he can't download them on us," Axelrod told me. "I assure you that everyone here has plenty to do. No one is trafficking in revelatory records about him."
....
I asked the White House for comment after the Kirk campaign -- facing another embarrassing story --pushed back with questions about how the document surfaced, right up to the Obama White House.
Kirk spokesman Kirsten Kukowski said on Wednesday, "This raises grave concerns and questions about who gained access to Kirk's confidential records. The document in question should be viewed for what it is -- a baseless political ploy by partisans bent on defending a U.S. Senate seat at any cost."
She also said in the statement that the Kirk campaign will file a Freedom of Information Act for all correspondence between "administration officials and Democratic campaigns or political operative regarding Mr. Kirk's personal military records."
Blogger Terry Welch, who published the document that blew up this aspect of the ongoing Kirk story, has been more than forthcoming about how he got it: "The memo was sent to me from someone who received it from inside Kirk's own camp. Suggesting it came from administration officials or political operatives is baseless."
Rather than answering the questions about whether he used his active duty military service for political gain--in the face of this uncovered document--Kirk goes on offense, suggesting that this is a smear.
There's another element to Kirk's accusations against the White House. He asserted in his statement that "the Obama administration changed the original language of the waiver, inserting concerns about his “partisan political activities.” He accused the White House of falsifying a document in his official military record, a pretty serious allegation. I've asked the White House for comment on that part of Kirk's statement, but haven't received a reply yet.