First, Republican Illinois Senate candidate Mark Kirk was caught constantly lying about his military service. Then, unbelievably, it turned out that he also lied about being a teacher. Now he is literally running away from reporters in Chicago. Now, perennial candidate and genuine crazy person Andy Martin is questioning Kirk's sanity.
Martin knows from unstable. He was denied entry to the Illinois bar in 1970 because of his "well-documented ideation with a paranoid flavor and a grandiose character." But he didn't let that stop him from becoming a prominent and successful crazy person! Since the '70s, Martin has run for senator and congressman and governor (and president!) from Connecticut, Florida and Illinois, from both parties and as an independent. This year, he was a Republican candidate for Senate from Illinois. Sadly, he lost to Kirk in the primaries -- but he has not ended his campaign. If anything, he is ramping it up. Here is a selection from his rambling press release on Kirk's questionable mental state:
Saturday I held a news conference and disclosed Kirk's "teaching" in London violated United Kingdom law. He was acting as an "illegal alien
And over the weekend Steve Benen, a blogger for Washington Monthly (see above), breached the dam and suggested Kirk's exaggerations rise to the level of a mental problem. I have not had any contact with Benen, and have no idea who he is. But I have been posting claims for some time that Kirk has a personality disorder.
Now that the issue of Kirk's sanity has been raised by an out-of-state writer, Kirk is doomed. The implosion of his campaign will be one of the most bizarre stories of the 2010 election campaign cycle. In 45 years of political involvement I have never seen anything like Kirk's record of lies and delusional claims. People outside Chicago have begun to notice.
My mother used to be a speech teacher at the University of Illinois, and is now a retired speech professor. She always told her students that ridicule is one of the most powerful forms of rhetoric. Kirk has now become the target of ridicule. He is doomed.
Other notable facts about Martin: He went to college with Roger Ebert, and he is a raging anti-Semite who invented the story of Barack Obama being a secret Muslim. (This got him a friendly reception on "Hannity's America.")
Before calling Kirk crazy, Martin called him gay.
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