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Senate Candidate Mark Kirk Embellishing His Teaching Credentials?

06/18/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Does Representative Mark Kirk have a problem with the truth? Dodging allegations that he is gay, Rep. Kirk is also facing problems with the fact that he has been warned several times regarding his decision to campaign while on active duty in the military, a strict no-no. This was revealed after Kirk was discovered embellishing his military record rather heavily. Now, Kirk is facing questions regarding his service as a nursery school teacher. According to Kirk’s campaign he was a teacher in 1981 at a “United Methodist ministry called Forest Home Chapel in Ithaca, N.Y.” The campaign has not been forthcoming regarding verification, and apparently this cannot be confirmed independently.

Kirk’s campaign is busy dismissing this particular stream of attacks as being false, but the lack of substantial proof to the contrary and the fact that he had to reverse course on the issue ended up meaning that Kirk has begun to get a reputation for lying.

Rich Miller of Capitol Fax stated:

We are now in some very bizarre, dark territory in this US Senate campaign.

Mark Kirk is an accomplished, decorated Naval veteran who blew that reputation out of the water with unfathomable exaggerations about his military record. He’s an intellectual graduate of the London School of Economics who lied about his experience with liberal nursery school students carrying guns.

These accusations against Mark Kirk are no longer about mere “embellishments” or “exaggerations.” This campaign is now about whether anything he says is true, and why.

Mark Kirk complained about the possibility of children bringing guns to schools. In 2006, he stated “the kids who were the brightest lights of our country’s future, and I also remember those who bore scrutiny as people who might bring a gun to class.” It is interesting to note that there have been no incidents of toddlers bringing handguns or rifles to school, and it is unlikely that the school he taught at would have had more than one of those kids who brought the gun or a knife to school for show and tell and not to shoot up the place.

Representative Kirk now has a major problem with believability. While it could be argued that no politician is ever actually credible, the reality of being caught in such a strong stream of lies is problematic for someone trying to run for the Senate. With reports of Kirk having visited gay bars in DC to his turn around on the embellishments of his military records, should it be surprising that Kirk is now facing a point where only ten percent of voters believe he is telling the truth about his military record?