About that Mark Kirk claim to have been named the U.S. Navy's Intelligence Officer of the Year, the Washington Post does a little digging:
Kirk was assigned to a unit based in Aviano, Italy, during the conflict. A professional group, the National Military Intelligence Association, gave the unit an award for outstanding service, according to a revised résumé posted on Kirk's Web site Saturday.
The association's Vice Admiral Rufus L. Taylor Award celebrates "the exceptional achievements of an outstanding Naval Intelligence career professional," but the citation in 2000 contains no mention of Kirk and instead designates the entire Intelligence Division Electronic Attack Wing at Aviano.
Kirk, whose campaign has emphasized his military service as a reservist, similarly misstated the award during a House committee hearing in March 2002. In a remark recorded by C-Span, he said, "I was the Navy's Intelligence Officer of the Year," an achievement he depicted as providing special qualifications to discuss national security spending.
Eric Elk, a spokesman for Kirk's campaign, declined to comment except to say "we found the award was misidentified and corrected the name."
C'mon, give the guy a break. It's a mistake anyone can make. Say you're an extra in a movie that wins an Oscar. It's totally the same as you winning the Academy Award for best actor. Right? And it explains why you wouldn't issue a correction, but instead just quietly change a campaign website without acknowledging error.
Update: As Eman points out, according to the Wayback Machine, it's worse: the military award has been listed on Kirk's official taxpayer-funded site from 2003 until the present.
