I criticized Mark Kirk extremely harshly last June when he voted for the House’s cap-and-trade bill while offering a lame excuse on behalf of a big energy company in his district.  A good friend has since worked to help raise money for Kirk’s U.S. Senate campaign (to fill Roland Burris’ seat) and the Democrats have selected Alexi Giannoulias, a Chicago mafia banker whom I wrote about before anybody outside of Chicago had ever heard of him. That article is, in my opinion, still worth reading.

One might think that this combination of events, along with the importance of getting a Republican majority back in the Senate would lead me to lighten up on Kirk and grudgingly support him.

Hell no!

Kirk is already backing away from his call, just a couple of weeks earlier, to fight hard for repeal of Obamacare.

Quoting from the article linked just above:

“Another day and yet another shifting explanation from Congressman Mark Kirk on his stated position to ‘lead the effort’ to repeal health care reform,” (Giannoulias spokeswoman) Strand said.

What started out as fierce opposition has softened, she said, wondering whether Kirk may have to continue to “blow in the political wind” and end up supporting the reforms.

How pathetic is it for the Republican Party that their nominee is someone who can be so accurately criticized by the campaign of a man almost certainly more eligible for a prison cell than political office (at least political office anywhere other than Chicago)?

I don’t care if Mark Kirk wins or loses.  If, theoretically, Mark Kirk lost by one vote and I learned that I caused that one Republican voter to stay home (I’m not ever going to urge someone to vote for the lowlife Giannoulias), I’d be fine with that.

I feel the same way about Kirk that I did about John McCain in 2008:  If he represents winning then we’ve already lost.

This election must not be about electing Republicans.  It must be about electing principled leaders who respect and understand the Constitution and fundamental principles of the American Founding.  So far, there is no evidence that Mark Kirk satisfies those requirements. No evidence at all.