Kirk's actions more damaging than his rhetoric

"I hope I'm remembered as a careful, bipartisan lawmaker.... someone who was in the end not judged by the heat of his rhetoric but by the effectiveness of his actions."

So stated outgoing Illinois Senator Mark Kirk summing up his 16 years in the House and Senate. I certainly don't judge Kirk by his post stoke verbal gaffes, the most notorious of which was his racially insensitive remark that white folks speed up when driving though black neighborhoods to avoid being shot. Though comments like those made me wince, it was his actions that revolted me. 

Kirk spent every one of his sixteen years voting trillions of dollars for our senseless and failed post 911 military ventures that got hundreds of thousands needlessly killed, including 7,000 GI's. Kirk became so obsessed about regime change in Iran he signed on with 46 other Republican senators to urge Iran to quash the 5 power nuclear deal which likely avoided another catastrophic Middle East war. He can never live down that arguably treasonous dagger at sensible, successful American diplomacy. 

Kirk went on TV to tout his miraculous post stroke recovery that allowed him to return to promoting crazed militarism in the Senate. Kirk's medical miracle was actually fueled by million dollar medical care courtesy of the US taxpayer. When asked whether the forty million shut out from simply normal health care should also be provided for, Kirk callously retorted "We can't afford it." Kirk was true to his belief, working endlessly to defeat, defund, discredit and dis the law that has likely saved 50,000 lives and $12 billion in medical cost to date. 

No, Senator Kirk. It's not what you say we'll remember. It's what you did.