Conflicting details in Kirk's 1976 lake rescue

[ccharles000]

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk for a decade has told the story of how he nearly drowned when he was 16 while sailboating on Lake Michigan and how his rescue by the Coast Guard inspired him to pursue a career in public service.

The story is sprinkled with attention-grabbing details, but there are inconsistencies in Kirk's statements that suggest parts of his real-life drama have been embellished, a Tribune review has found.

In the most recent instance, the 50-year-old North Shore congressman told a boating magazine that he stood on his overturned sailboat and watched the sun set, when in fact he was rescued in midafternoon on June 15, 1976.

Kirk also has said he swam up to a mile in 42-degree water and that he was rescued with his body temperature hovering two degrees from death. Those declarations are questionable, based on interviews with an eyewitness and medical experts.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/elections/ct-met-kirk-coast-guard-20100722,0,2441130,print.story

[RT Atlanta]

1. republicans...

they only lie when their mouths are moving

[valerief]

4. +1 trillion trillion googols! nt

[babylonsister]

2. Wow, this guy is a serial liar. Keep digging, Trib, I'm sure there's

lots more.

[The Magistrate]

3. Narrator's Voice At End Of Ad, Sir: "Mark Kirk...Do We Even Know He Lives In Illinois...?"

[mopinko]

10. i think he really lives in kenosha.

and never even had a boat.

[The Magistrate]

14. If said That Is Where He Lives, Ma'am

I would start looking for a mailing address around Terre Haute or Sheboygan. This man lies when the truth would do, and there is no cure for that short of the grave.....

[Tansy_Gold]

5. Next thing you know, he'll be saying his first name is really

Jim and he used to be a captain of a starship. . . . .


Seriously, this dude just needs to shut up. He appears to be a pathological liar.


Tansy Gold, who has known a few of them in her day. .. . .

[Politics_Guy25]

7. This is excellent news

IL is fast becoming our seat to lose again. Kirk was supposed to be a republican powerhouse the likes of which IL has nevr seen. Not so much lol.

[livetohike]

6. Quite an imagination this guy has. n/t

[Gidney N Cloyd]

8. I have to say I've been enjoying the Trib's journalistic resurgence the last year or so.

[teenagebambam]

9. He was also in labor when he started the trip

but was determined to have his baby in Wisconsin

[theothersnippywshrub]

11. Very reminiscent of the Great Prevaricator himself.

Republicans love Reaganesque lies. And profit over either people or patriotism.

[rug]

12. He should just come clean and give McCoy the credit.

[boppers]

15. Damn, I was predicting 5-7, it took until the 12th post.

[KingFlorez]

13. Just when you think you've heard the last of his fabrications, another one comes out

He's got a real problem with the truth.

[saltpoint]

16. I get the feeling that the U.S. Senate would be poorer

for having Mark Kirk as one of its members in the next Congress, so I'm hoping his fibs and flubs cost him this election.

I've seen a couple sunsets on Lake Michigan but I don't think they were at mid-afternoon.