There is no doubt the race for the Illinois 8th Congressional District seat is one of the most hotly contested races in the country. It also features one of the starkest contrasts between two candidates.
Incumbent candidate Joe Walsh (R) is one of the most conservative candidates in the U.S. House of Representatives. After his 2010 upset over veteran Democratic Congresswoman Melissa Bean, Walsh has quickly moved into the spotlight as a fiery Tea Party favorite. His challenger this year, Democrat Tammy Duckworth, who was handpicked by David Axelrod, represents a radically leftist choice for voters in the 8th.
Walsh and Duckworth are set to square off in a debate Tuesday night. Walsh, an outspoken advocate for taxpayers and conservative values who has even parted ways with the GOP on several votes, will have the opportunity to challenge Duckworth’s radical views in front of the voters.
Duckworth hasn’t done much more during the campaign than continue to point out her status as a disabled Iraq war veteran. When Walsh pointed this out earlier in the year at a townhall forum, government propaganda outlet Think Progress seized on the opportunity to parlay it into an attack on Walsh.
Think Progress distracted the voters from a real discussion about who Tammy Duckworth is, manipulating her genuine status as a war hero so that today’s issues of policy and principle are overlooked.
Should Duckworth’s honorable service grant her immunity from scrutiny on her policies and principles as she seeks elective office?
KLSouth of the Furthermore blog certainly has not been deterred. The blog details Duckworth’s radical ties, the far-left nature of which places her far outside traditional Democratic stances. Their investigation reveals that it may be beyond dangerous to give Duckworth a “pass” for her past heroism as details of her extremist agenda begin to take shape through his research.
To wit: People’s World, the news outlet that, according to its website, “enjoys a special relationship with the Communist Party USA,” wrote a piece detailing how lifelong Communist Party USA leader Frank Lumpkin led a labor march in support of Duckworth in 2006. Lumpkin, who has since passed away, rests under a tombstone with the word “Communist” etched for all eternity just beneath his name.
Further, Key Wiki cites a 2008 mention of Duckworth in Chicago-based Socialist journal In These Times as one of its editorial staff’s top progressive choices for President Obama’s cabinet, including writer Luis Carlos Montalván’s recommendation that Duckworth be appointed in President Obama’s Secretary of Veterans Affairs:
We asked that contributors weigh ideological and political considerations, with an eye toward recommending people who have both progressive credentials and at least an arguable chance at being appointed in an Obama White House.
This group of people would represent at once the most progressive, aggressive and practical Cabinet in contemporary history. Of course, it is by no means a definitive list. It is merely one proposal aimed at starting a longer discussion about the very concept of a progressive Cabinet–and why it will be important to a new administration, especially if that administration is serious about change.
Duckworth doesn’t just cavort with extreme progressives, socialists and communists. Recently, Duckworth was revealed to have attended an Islamic cultural center in Villa Park, Ill., just days after the terrorirst attacks on the U.S. embassy in Libya. Duckworth, dressed in a full hijab head-covering, was welcomed to the stage by Council on American Islamic Relation’s (CAIR) Ahmed Rehab. Duckworth used the opportunity to reprimand the people of her district, scolding them for being uncomfortable with “changes in demographics” of their community.
At first glance, Duckworth may appear to be a benign, traditional candidate. But she has savaged her detractors, making an example of anyone who questions her policies by using her veteran status as cover.
By distracting and deflecting from any substantive questions about her current radical ties, Duckworth has been an enemy to truth and transparency. Her dismissive and condescending view of her own constituency, all while living a jet-setting life as a private-plane owner, shows that Duckworth is too extreme even for her own party.
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