Kirk post stroke health should be re-election issue

Although not mentioned yet in the media, my Illinois Senator Mark Kirk's health should be an issue in the 2016 election. His recovery from a near fatal 2012 stroke has been remarkable, but Kirk appears greatly diminished in his ability to articulate issues of war and peace, health care for all, and others, with wisdom and sensitivity. Listen to him discuss these issues now and he clearly struggles. Take health care. His reco...very cost must have exceeded $1 million. But when challenged to consider extending health care relief to tens of millions without health care insurance, Kirk, a vehement opponent of the Affordable Care Act, said simply, "We can't afford it." You could get a more nuanced answer from a Tea Party kook. But turn to defense spending and war and Kirk opens up the taxpayers' pocketbook with relish. He's never criticized our criminal involvement in multi trillion dollar wars that have killed hundreds of thousands and damaged or displaced millions. Instead, he's supported every war and voted every dollar of squandered treasure to prosecute.

But his recent statements and actions trying to scuttle the 5 Power nuclear deal with Iran really call his impaired mental acuity into question. He went off the rational rails calling the 5 Power agreement as a worse deal than British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin got from Hitler at Munich. Then he doubled and tripled down on idiotic hyperbole asserting the deal "commits Israel on a path to war with Iran", green lights Iran to "go at breakneck speed to a nuclear weapon...forcing Israel to clean up this mess", predicting "it would end with mushroom cloud somewhere near Tehran." Gosh, I thought when Condoleezza Rich left office we were done with 'mushroom cloud' allusions. We could probably get more insight into the 5 Power negotiations with Iran from an overserved patron in a bar.
Kirk took a year off recovering from his stroke and came back to office more extreme and inarticulate than ever on issues of war and peace, health care life and death. He should never have come back to work. He should not be running for re-election. He can best serve Illinois, the nation, the world by retiring forthwith.