What Does Joe Walsh Think Now? Mark Kirk To Stand With Jim Oberweis According to IR

We're thinking that Joe Walsh can come down off the ledge.  (You'll recall that Joe Walsh proclaimed that Senator Mark Kirk 'announced' that he was no longer a Republican' a few weeks back).

Why?  Well...because according to the Illinois Review, Senator Mark Kirk is saying that he's supporting the full Republican ticket.  That seems to jive with what Jim Oberweis has been saying all along.

Much ado about nothing, right?

Here's how IR covers it.  Notice the use of 'belatedly':

U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk has belatedly agreed to support fellow Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jim Oberweis. 

In a brief statement on Tuesday, Kirk told Michael Calhoun of the Illinois Radio Network “I will be campaigning for Jim Oberweis.”

A month ago Kirk said he would not campaign for Oberweis, in order to protect his working relationship with Durbin. The announcement angered many Republicans and alienated conservatives who have been suspicious of Kirk's close relationship with Durbin.

To us there's a difference between supporting/campaigning 'for' someone vs. 'against' someone else.  We're expecting that you'll see Senator Mark Kirk supporting the entire ticket, but not going out there and blasting Senator Durbin.  Which...if I were Jim Oberweis, I'd be happy with.  Mark Kirk isn't the attack dog needed in this case, in our eyes.  

Back to Walsh...we're hoping that between his NYC gig and this news, he'll back off going after Kirk here.  Mark Kirk - and now Bruce Rauner - are leading the ILGOP.  They're the path forward.

Take the Joe Walsh/LGBT Champion News Poll

Over on the Illinois Truth Team's Facebook Page, Lennie Jarratt from Champion News posted this request:

Please come register your vote in our new poll: Is Joe Walsh correct, is the LGBT community a group of "Constitutional Terrorists"?

We're guessing that the Truth Team might have a few things to say about this, right?  Go provide your input by voting here.  

Former Congressman Joe Walsh "Gets It" (We Think)

Image from Illinois Observer

Former Congressman-Turned-Rush-Lite Joe Walsh has done something that we applaud.  Now...we don't want to be too harsh, because frankly we don't know that much about Joe Walsh aside from what we see on YouTube (it ain't "Congressional" if you ask us...), but we're guessing that this is one of the times we're on the same page as him.  

Here's what we know about good 'ole Joe:

1.  He's passionate.

2.  Some people really like him and believe in him.

3.  He has the ability to marshall *some* votes.  

Those are all good traits for the ILGOP.  

So, we here at the Illinois Truth Team are applauding him for taking a step back and realizing that we need to focus on winning MORE seats in every form of Government in Illinois.  Not spend time fighting each other. 

Illinois Review is reporting that he's backing away from an endorsement he made in a GOP Primary race.  

Former Congressman and radio talk show host Joe Walsh withdrew his endorsement of Dr. Barbara Bellar who is running in the GOP primary for Cook County Commissioner against incumbent Republican Liz Doody-Gorman. 

Walsh, who named Bellar in his first endorsment list released in September, told Illinois Review that the reason he withdrew the endorsment was because he couldn't see a path for her to win. 

"Yes, I really like Dr. Bellar," Walsh said in an email. "But she hasn't done what she's needed to do to put together a campaign that can actually win. [Cook County Board of Reviews Commissioner] Dan Patlak told her the same thing."

Liz Doody-Gorman is a Republican.  She's been a Cook County Commissioner since 2002.  Know how many Cook County Commissioners are Republicans?  Just 4.  13 Democrats.

Joe Walsh is doing the right thing here and backing off of a primary.

Joe Walsh (in this case) is pulling down his weapon and walking away from the circular firing squad.  We need more of this.

Think what you want about Doody-Gorman.  Bottom line, she's a Republican.  And...if the party has a future here, we need to accept that, and support her.