Campaign chairman defends Kirk over military record error

The chairman of the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm on Sunday defended
Illinois GOP Senate candidate Mark Kirk for his handling of disclosures
that he misrepresented his military record.

Kirk, currently a
congressman running for the seat once held by President Barack Obama,
acknowledged last week that he had wrongly claimed to have won the
honor of “Intelligence Officer of the Year” by the Navy — a distinction
that went to his unit rather than him.

{mosads}“Mark Kirk made clear that his company or his organization got that
medal and not him personally, and he apologized for any
misunderstanding,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Cornyn is the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Cornyn had sharply criticized the Democratic Senate candidate in
Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, over his own misstatements about his
war record, most notably when he falsely claimed on repeated occasions
that he had served in Vietnam. Asked if he had a double standard,
Cornyn suggested Blumenthal had handled his situation worse than Kirk.

“I think the problem with Mr. Blumenthal was when he misrepresented
his service in Vietnam, he had a press conference shortly thereafter
and said that he had misspoken. That’s like shooting yourself in one
foot and reloading and shooting yourself in the other foot,” Cornyn
said. He said Republicans continue to believe Kirk will win his race
against Democrat Alexi Giannoulias in Illinois.

After initially defending his military service while voicing
“regret” about his misstatements, Blumenthal offered a more
full-throated apology days after the revelations were first published
in the New York Times.

Kirk has since faced other accusations of exaggerating his military
record, including a false claim that he served in Iraq and that he was
shot at during combat. He has apologized in several interviews, at one
point claiming he “simply misremembered it wrong” when speaking about
his record.

Appearing alongside Cornyn on ABC, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)
declined to criticize Kirk and said both Kirk and Blumenthal would be
judged by voters in their states. Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War
veteran whose record was called into question during his 2004
presidential campaign, said the controversies were part of the “strange
aftermaths” that have followed Vietnam.

“Vietnam seems to be the gift that keeps on giving,” Kerry said,
repeating an observation that was made to him during his White House
run.

He said Blumenthal had “stepped over a line” but had
apologized and moved on, and he praised his record as state attorney
general in Connecticut.

He declined to give his own views as a veteran about the
misstatements by Kirk and Blumenthal. “I think every veteran had their
own personal feelings about it, and obviously it didn’t sit well with a
lot of folks,” Kerry said.