Obama Criticizes Kirk

Lots of coverage this past friday of Senator Obama's criticism of Mark Kirk. Never a good sign when the most popular politician in your state goes after you.

The Sun Times had quoted Kirk as saying:

"I'm OK with discrimination against young Arab males from terrorist-producing states. I'm OK with that."...

"I think that when we look at the threat that's out there, young men, between, say, the ages of 18 and 25 from a couple of countries, I believe a certain amount of intense scrutiny should be placed on them," the Highland Park congressman was quoted as saying. "I'm not threatened by people from China. I'm not even threatened by people from Mexico. I just know where the threat is from. It's from a unique place, and I think it's OK to recognize that.''

The Tribune, Sun-Times and Daily Herald all reported at least part of Obama's remarks:

"I like Mark Kirk, enjoy working with him and believe he cares deeply about our nation's security, but I believe his statement indicates a cavalier attitude towards civil liberties,'' the Democrat said. "His comments do a disservice to the public diplomacy process that's required to win the war on terror.''

The Democrats are making a big issue of this as it is now the main entry over at TenthDems. They're also celebrating the fact that the Tribune recently referred to the 10th as a "tossup congressional district". One has to wonder how many slip-ups like this Kirk can afford over the next 52 weeks as the national Republican Party slowly disintegrates.