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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (526693)	11/6/2009 3:23:47 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1577020

Poor Kirk......teabaggers have scared the bejezus out of him. Moving right might cost Kirk election November 6, 2009 Rep. Mark Kirk has long been a voice of reason in Illinois. A moderate Republican with an independent streak, Kirk isn't known for pandering. In our endorsement of Kirk for re-election last fall, we noted the North Shore congressman's efforts at bipartisanship, his knack for doing his homework and his penchant for speaking his mind. Take, for example, his blunt answer last fall to our question about then-presidential candidate John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate: Palin, he told us, would not have been his choice. Few other Republicans at the time dared say that out loud. Fast-forward one year later. Whose endorsement is Kirk seeking in his bid to win a U.S. Senate seat? None other than Sarah Palin. The same Sarah Palin he dismissed. The same Sarah Palin who is so fiercely partisan it's hard to imagine her uttering the phrase bipartisan. The same Sarah Palin whose history of failing to do her homework has earned her well-deserved ridicule. Since announcing his bid to win President Obama's former U.S. Senate seat, Kirk has tacked right to woo more conservative voters. In June, he disavowed his crucial vote in favor of a climate bill. Then it came out this week that Kirk wants Palin's support. She is coming to town later this month to appear on the Oprah Winfrey show. We appreciate the political realities Kirk faces. To win, he must appeal to a broad spectrum of voters, including the most conservative. Those pressures forced another moderate Republican out of a special election for a New York congressional seat just last weekend. Leading national conservatives went after the moderate, with many, including Palin, rallying behind one opponent, Conservative Party candidate Douglas Hoffman. Knocking off the moderate initially looked like a win for conservative Republicans. But the final outcome offers a cautionary tale for Kirk. In Tuesday's election between a Democrat and conservative Hoffman, the Democrat prevailed in a district that has been a Republican stronghold. For Kirk, courting conservatives may help him solidify a primary win; he is the presumed front-runner. But it also could easily cost him a general election win in Democrat-leaning Illinois. Kirk built a successful political career by staying true to his values and beliefs. suntimes.com