The UpshotSenate candidate caught embellishing past … again
A Republican Senate candidate hoping to snag Barack Obama's old seat in Illinois has been caught fibbing again.
The Chicago Tribune reports that congressman and Navy Reserve officer Mark Kirk embellished a story about almost drowning in Lake Michigan when he was 16 years old. The paper says they decided to look into the story after Kirk was caught repeatedly overstating his military service.
According to the Tribune, Kirk recently told a boating magazine that he watched the sunset while he waited for rescue after capsizing his boat. In reality, he was rescued in mid-afternoon. He also claimed that he swam a mile in 42-degree water and that he would have died if his body temperature had dropped two more degrees. An eyewitness and medical experts told the Tribune they doubt Kirk was that cold, or that he swam a mile.
Kirk is developing quite a record for himself for telling tall tales. In case you're having trouble keeping track:
He said he was named "Navy Intelligence Officer of the Year." In fact, a different intelligence award went to a unit that Kirk led.
His campaign claimed he served in the Gulf War. He didn't.
Kirk mentioned participating in the invasion of Iraq, but he was in the United States at the time.
Kirk claimed to have sometimes run the Pentagon War Room, even though his work was limited to intelligence.
He said he came under fire while flying missions in Kosovo and Iraq, but recently backtracked on the claim.
He says he never improperly mixed political and military duties. The Pentagon says he did on two occasions.
He claimed to have been a teacher at a nursery school in upstate New York, but the New York Times found he only worked part-time in a work-study program as a student there.
Even so, recent polls show Kirk leading his opponent, Democrat Alexi Giannoulias.
