GOP Rep. Running For Obama’s Senate Seat Also Lied About Military Record

by Glynnis MacNicol | 9:54 am, May 30th, 2010

» 10 comments

Apparently falsifying military records is the new political infidelity. News broke today that Rep. Mark Kirk, who is running for President Obama‘s former Senate seat in Illinois, claimed in his official bio that he had received the U.S. Navy’s Intelligence Officer of the Year award for his service during NATO’s conflict with Serbia in the late 1990s. He hadn’t.

One wonders whether politicians hadn’t better acquaint themselves with the Internet before taking creative license with their own personal histories. Anyway, the Washington Post found out about it and outed Kirk.

Rep. Mark Kirk, a Navy reservist who was elected to Congress in 2001, acknowledged the error in his official biography after The Washington Post began looking into whether he had received the prestigious award, which is given by top Navy officials to a single individual annually.

The Post’s inquiries were sparked by complaints from a representative of state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, Kirk’s Democratic opponent in the Illinois Senate race. Cmdr. Danny Hernandez, the Navy’s assistant chief of information, said for several days last week that he was having trouble finding records to clarify the matter.

And here is the new version of “I misspoke”:

In a message on his blog, Kirk wrote that “upon a recent review of my records, I found that an award listed in my official biography was misidentified” and that the award he had intended to list was given to his unit, not to him individually.

Word to the political wise, probably a good idea to have those bios fact-checked ahead of this summer’s pre-midterm mania.

Mark Kirk, Midterms 2010, Washington Post

The_Reasonable_Lib

Bloomin Blumenthals this guy’s a liar too, Batman.
Snipzor

Dang, it’s usually tough to get 1 person lying about their record in one month. But three?! That’s unheard of.
Bootleghaircut

So is this Rep. Kirk’s “Katrina, Watergate, or Iranian Hostage crisis?”
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

Richard Blumenthal didn’t serve in Vietnam and now we learn Mark Kirk didn’t win any awards for intelligence.
jrcmi

Blumenthal should have been specific about serving in the Vietnam era, not in-country, and saved himself needless grief.

Kirk, on the other hand, knowingly misled and is just plain dirty.
http://none pyrope

jrcmi: Blumenthal said SPECIFICALLY that he served in country–HE LIED. So did Mark Kirk. Do you see a pattern here cupcake? If not, please check out some of Mr. -0bama’s list of whoppers.
jrcmi

I read a newspaper article – about the NYT article – that only mentioned one instance of “exaggeration.” I’ve just seen the Mediaite article. It does appear he’s another Mark Kirk.

I’m not your “cupcake,” crumb.
Fidoohki

Welll.. technically if his unit received that award and he was a part of the unit at the time.. he won the award. Now if he repeatedly said he did then it would be different. Blumenthal outright lied about being in vietnam
more than once and only corrected it after getting caught.
Liberty – Not Redistribution

LOL….hahahahaha…man these neocons/liberals are all the same.
http://none pyrope

Awwww….I’m crushed.