“Instantly disqualifying” -- unless you’re a Republican (con’t)
June 02, 2010 12:49 pm ET by Jamison Foser
When news broke that Connecticut Democratic Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal had misstated his military record at least once, The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder wrote that “Lying about it [military service], even exaggerating about it, is therefore instantly disqualifying.” As I noted at the time, that isn’t always true -- it wasn’t true of Lindsay Graham or George W. Bush, for example. (Nor was it true of Ronald Reagan.)
Now the Mark Kirk story brings a more contemporary example of the media’s apparent belief that It’s OK -- If You’re A Republican. As Media Matters has demonstrated, CNN was far less interested in the news that Kirk, a Republican Senate candidate in Illinois, has made a false claim about his military record than it was in the Blumenthal revelations less than two weeks earlier.
Here’s another data point: On Sunday, the Washington Post reported Kirk’s admission that he had “inaccurately claimed to have received the U.S. Navy's Intelligence Officer of the Year award for service during NATO's conflict with Serbia in the late 1990s.” Then on Monday, the Washington Post devoted one-third of its Memorial Day editorial to Blumenthal’s misstatement -- and didn’t even mention Kirk.
It’s OK -- If You’re A Republican.
And I can't for the life of me understand why Kirk is, for the most part, getting a pass here by the MSM. After all, he repeatedly was dishonest. In his personally created bio's. In his depiction of his "combat" activity. In his statements about his role in the Pentagon War Room. In his falsehood about being the only Congressman to have served in OIF. In his testimony in front of Congress. In a campaign ad created by him! In discussing how he found these "errors" and in how he corrected those "errors"! In his failure to apologize for those gross misstatements of his service history. Here's one link, but every other point I made has been backed up with evidence here or elsewhere. In his interview with Joe Scarborough in 2003, where Kirk was described as having served "overseas in OIF". Kirk should have corrected the error, made in his presence, but didn't!