Dems Vow To Make GOP Rep Pay For Questioning U.S. Credibility
The other day, GOP Rep Mark Kirk of Illinois seemed to say that he told China not to trust the United States. Kirk said that he’d told a meeting of Chinese leaders “that the budget numbers that the U.S. government had put forward should not be believed.”
Despite this apparent undermining of the credibility of the U.S. government to foreign leaders, the remark has gotten almost no attention in Washington, much to the frustration of Dems.
But now Democrats are signaling that they’re going to use Kirk’s flub against him in the race for Barack Obama’s old Senate seat, should Kirk run, as seems possible. The leading Dem candidate for the seat, State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, has now uncorked a scathing statement hitting Kirk over the China gaffe, in previewing a possible 2010 Senate matchup:
“In the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Mark Kirk is essentially telling China, which holds more U.S. debt than any nation on earth, not to trust the American government, and by extension, the American people. This puts the full faith and credit of the United States at risk and threatens to permanently wreak havoc on the credit markets that are essential to our recovery and our economic future.
“Congressman Kirk’s reckless actions demonstrate a terrible lapse in judgment and should be immediately retracted.”
It is a bit surprising that Kirk’s comments haven’t ginned up a bit more attention in D.C. They do seem like perfect fodder for aggressive ads amid the economic meltdown; if they become an issue in the Senate race they may get a bit more national attention.
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BFD. So Mark Kirk talks about the worthlessness of budget forecasts to the Chinese with the American public listening in. Hardly any different from saying the same thing to the American public with the Chinese listening in. Do you really think the Chinese need this guy to clue them into the realities of economic prognostication?
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Sure, it’s worth a guffaw because of the hypocrisy element. But that’s been standard GOOPer operating procedure since forever. Yawn…
jzap, you’re so jaded, man
Congress people have been flubbing their lines for decades.. see: Biden, Joe…
Seems like only yesterday that President Bush was troubled at the mixed signals sent by Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Syria. Remember the pundits freaking out over a member of Congress bypassing the president, who was supposedly the sole arbiter of US foreign policy.
Let’s see now. The administration and Dems in general seem to be dead set on killing the geese that lay the golden eggs and we think Kirk is giving something away? The Chinese are a good deal more savvy than that. They’ve moved towards capitalism and are probably thinking we’re crazy to be moving away from it. There may be an element of hypocricy, after all, it’s politics, but there is some truth to be said for accuracy of the warning even if it was really not needed. We’re throwing $ down the toilet hand over fist for nothing more than political reasons. Three years from now will this admin be blamed for the increase in poverty and decrease in wealth in this nation or will they successfully keep blaming Bush? It’ll be fun to watch if you’re economically secure. Less fun if you’re not.
And he calls himself an American???
He needs to be prosecuted under the Logan Act ASAP!
http://law.jrank.org/pages/8357/Logan-Act.html
That would nip all of the behind-the-back-of-America gutter sniping.
Whoa~!
And I bet he’s got flags all over hell, too – lapel pins, on his house, etc.
“They’ve moved towards capitalism and are probably thinking we’re crazy to be moving away from it”
Damn that damn Republican lie.
Y’all just can’t stop with the: “Obama is ruining the economy and is a Socialist Communist Muslim” ****.
IT’s ridiculous. Capitalism is alive a well in the US – but it needs to be regulated which is so painfully obvious at this point that y’all are making yourselves look and sound idiotic to the majority of Americans.
China shouldn’t trust the USA given the current leadership. Even the Chinese know that John Maynard Keynes was an economic idiot.
So now the Republicans/Conservatives/rightwing are advocating that the US act more like CHINA. Way to go guys!
LOL!
y’all get more pathetic daily. O I take that back – you get more pathetic hourly.
This was NOT a gaffe. A gaffe is an inadvertent error. Kirk knew exactly what he was doing and did it on purpose. People trying to equate this with actual gaffes (Bob) lack credibility.
This action is symptomatic of the Republican game plan. Their toy, the US, was taken from them and in a fit of childish anger they have decided that if they can’t have it, then they’ll destroy it so no one else can have it either. That attitude fits in with all their previous actions, looting the Treasury for their buddies (KBR, Halliburton, Boeing, Blackwater, Northrop, Bank of America, Wall St. in general, etc.), the reaction to Katrina (God cleaning out the undesirables so that the wealthy can cash in), putting the foxes in charge of the various henhouses (Dept. of the Interior, OSHA, Dept. of Labor, EPA, etc.), and doctoring scientific reports to conform to their imaginary universe.
Asking him to retract his statement is pointless because the damage has already been done. Just charge him with aiding the enemy, hang him and go on to more important cases of treason (Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, Hadley, Feith, …)
Texas Aggie, you hit the nail right on the head. The right says Dems hate the US, yet they would rather see the country fail, than a Democratic administration succeed. I don’t know how anything could demonstrate a hatred for America more.
Maybe because Obama’s budget actually includes items the Bushies left out, like Forever War and socialization. Including such into the current budget proves perplexing for Fantasy World Republicans. Therefore, they don’t think it’s trustworthy. Way too many NUMBERS for Repubs to even think about.
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After all, they did propose a numberless budget.
Gee, Mary and the left hasn’t behaved the same way? All far right and far left idealogues are basically the same. Their ideology and holding political power takes precedence over the public good and the long term well being of the people of this nation. Common sense is not a requisite.
And Tena, you think China is not becoming more capitalistic in its private sector? You think that U.S. government ownership of high powered economic sectors promotes capitalism? No one wants our government to be like China’s and obviously regulation is required to keep the economic playing field safe and level for those who want to risk participating and for those who purchase their products and services.
Texas Aggie, I doubt that your fellow alum, Neal Boortz, would agree with much you said. But then he isn’t much for conspiracy theories. BTW when do you want to hang Hanoi Jane, or has the statute of limitations expired?
Mr. Kirk needs to familiarize himself with Amendment XIV, Section 4: “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.”
Just sayin’.
“…perfect fodder for aggressive ads?” What the heck, greg? The first thing that comes to your mind is agressive ads? How about news reports and editorials.