ANDY MARTIN: Mark Kirk’s “drowning” may have been a teen suicide

Andy Martin analyses the undisputed “facts” of Mark Kirk’s alleged “drowning” and suggests that no sensible person could believe Kirk’s own version of the facts. “We are drowning in Mark Kirk’s lies,” Martin says. Read Andy’s analysis of Kirk’s undisputed “facts” and decide for yourself.

Internet powerhouse Andy Martin takes a closer look at Mark Kirk’s “drowning” episode and finds more questions than the Chicago Tribune

Martin suggests Kirk’s own version of the story displays a “Tarzan” complex or, worse, a teenage suicide attempt

“No rational person can believe Kirk’s own ‘undisputed’ facts,” Martin says

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Andy Martin takes Mark Kirk’s own “facts” and shows how Kirk’s alleged “drowning” incident was nothing more than Mark Kirk’s irresponsible or self-destructive behavior

“Why is Mark Kirk bragging about being stupid?” Martin asks. “Who would jump back in dangerous water after just escaping?”

Martin suggests Kirk was troubled by teenage angst after being unable to deal with his homosexuality

Andy lines up the facts and focuses on what the Chicago Tribune missed; you be the judge: drowning or self-destructive behavior?

(CHICAGO)(July 26, 2010) Let me start with two basic facts: First, we were all “sixteen” once. Second, Mark Kirk is a pathological liar.

Last Friday the Chicago Tribune carried a story analyzing Mark Kirk’s claim to have almost “drowned” in Lake Michigan:

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

I actually think the analysis of an anti-Kirk blogger is more germane:

http://ellenofthetenth.blogspot.com/2010/07/
mark-kirk-and-boat-ordinary-people-or.html

The Tribune says that:

“Basic elements of Kirk's story are not in dispute. He did capsize his boat, was pulled from the water by the Coast Guard and was taken by ambulance to a hospital. He said any inconsistencies in news accounts or his own words are minor and do not diminish the significance of the traumatic, life-changing experience.”

But the Tribune then goes onto miss the significance of Kirk’s own disclaimer:

“According to news accounts and interviews, Kirk and a friend took Kirk's family Sunfish sailboat, a small craft, out from a Kenilworth beach in the afternoon and quickly ran into trouble keeping the boat upright. After dropping off his friend on a nearby private beach, Kirk went out alone to try to return the sailboat but capsized repeatedly.”

What is critical, and where the Tribune went wrong with its analysis, is that the Tribune failed to appreciate that Kirk rescued himself and his friend, and then voluntarily submitted himself to a life-threatening situation after already being aware of the dangerous situation on the lake.

The anti-Kirk blog (above) reads the “saved friend and then jumped back in the lake” fantasy the same way I do:

“Kirk's story is that he and his friend were out on the lake on the boat when it ran into trouble and Kirk swam the friend to shore, saving his life. Then, Mark went back in the water to return the boat to Kenilworth. If the water was 42 degrees, it seems far less likely Mark would have been willing to go back into the water. He'd have to be highly motivated to do so and more so if the water was that cold.”

So, after “rescuing” his friend, who apparently did not need much rescuing because Kirk immediately abandoned the friend who had just been in the “cold water,” Kirk voluntarily jumped back in the dangerously cold water and voluntarily exposed himself to a life-threatening situation. I call that “teen suicide.”

Mark Kirk is a small man. If he and his friend together could not right the small craft, what logic was there to the belief Kirk alone could right the boat on his own? Kirk suffers from a “Tarzan” complex where, because of his small size, he always has to be doing “big” things.

I now return to my “everyone was once 16” opening. I can say without fear of contradiction that if I had just swum through hundreds of feet of bitterly cold lake water, and if I had the same exposure to lake water as Kirk attributes to his friend, and I had just “rescued” my friend from drowning, I would not jump back in the lake and endanger my life all over again. What sane person would? Even, what 16 year-old?

By his own defense or explanation, Kirk went back into water he already knew to be dangerously cold, and voluntarily subjected himself to the very dramatic conditions he now claims “focused” his life. If engaging in self-destructive and suicidal behavior “focused” Kirk, what kind of focus does the man have?

Kirk, who grew up and graduated from high school in posh Kenilworth, then attended an obscure downstate college for a year, before heading to a left-wing Mexican university to attend college. Hello? Not many Americans in 1978 would have seen going to college at a left-wing Mexican institution as a very logical or rational move, unless---yes, Kirk’s Tarzan complex again--you perceived of yourself as a left-wing “rebel” in search of gay sex. There was certainly much more anti-gay hostility and repression in the 1970’s.

It seems likely that Kirk was wrestling with his homosexuality, and taking impulsive steps in his life because he was frustrated by his inability to understand matters that he did not feel comfortable discussing with family or his tony Kenilworth “friends.” Kirk was engaging in impulsive and self-destructive behavior.

I remember my teenage years reasonably well. As a high school senior I wrote a manuscript that was almost published by St. Martin’s Press. The narrative featured a teen suicide. Other than writing about blowhards such as Kirk, I do not remember engaging in any self-destructive behavior. Teens sometimes do stupid things; but then don’t brag about them as adults. Kirk’s habitual “misremembering” is a serious personality disorder.

Once you boil down Kirk’s “facts” and “defense” to their essence, what do you have: a tiny kid and his friend capsized a boat. They swam to shore, through very cold water. Kirk then jumped back in the lake, knowing the water was dangerously cold, and subjected himself to some risk, all to rescue a small piece of property that could have been easily saved if Kirk called the Coast Guard without any danger or life-threatening drama.

Today we call people like Kirk “Drama Queens.” I don’t know if Kirk is a “Queen,” but I now his drama is all self-inflicted and self-invented. If I had done something as arrogant and just plain stupid as he did, I would not have spent the last decade of my life lying to the public about my own stupidity.

Maybe Kirk’s “drowning” was life-changing, but only when he became a congressional candidate in 1999. He quickly realized how stupid the media were and how gullible the public was, and so he kept inflating his personal life and lying about his military service. Kirk progressively created the imaginary drama and service record that has now been punctured as one of the biggest scandals in American military-political history.

We are still “drowning” in Mark Kirk’s lies. The alleged Lake Michigan “drowning” is just one more of them.

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ABOUT ANDY: Andy Martin is the legendary New York and Chicago-based muckraker, author, Internet columnist, radio talk show host, broadcaster and media critic. He has over forty years of background in radio and television and is the dean of Illinois media and communications. He promotes his best-selling book, “Obama: The Man Behind The Mask” and his Internet movie "Obama: The Hawai'i years." Martin has been a leading corruption fighter in Illinois for over forty years. He is currently sponsoring www.AmericaisReadyforReform.com
Andy is the Executive Editor and publisher of the “Internet Powerhouse,” www.ContrarianCommentary.com. He comments on regional, national and world events with more than four decades of investigative and overseas experience. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law and is a former adjunct professor of law at the City University of New York (LaGuardia CC, Bronx CC).

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