Chicago Tribune slams "apron dancer" Giannoulias over "treason" remarks

Failed Mob Banker Alexi Giannoulias discreetly traveled to Canada, eh, in July for an "apron dance" fundraiser with other Democratic US Senate candidates. They performed in front of some wealthy American trial lawyers.

No one accused him of treason.

But the Chicago Tribune says Giannoulias' comments about Kirk's online fundraiser are "shameful."

Be unkind and blame desperation, or be kind and blame fatigue. Either way, Democrat Alexi Giannoulias' juvenile pander to Big Labor — his charge that Republican Mark Kirk is guilty of "economic treason" — suggests that he's too reckless and immature to fill a seat occupied by Everett McKinley Dirksen, Adlai Stevenson III and Barack Obama. [My note: Dirksen was the best of the bunch.]

Giannoulias invoked treason, the only crime defined in the Constitution, ostensibly because, a day before a congressional vote on overseas business, Kirk conducted an Internet videoconference fundraiser from the U.S. with a dozen U.S. businesspeople working in Beijing. Note that these are American citizens, not foreign nationals. This is legal — as presidential candidate Obama's campaign surely knew before it scheduled two 2008 fundraisers with Americans in China.

Kirk then joined other Republicans in opposing a bill aimed at limiting relocation of jobs overseas. The opponents viewed the bill as grandstanding that raised taxes by $47 million and added $54 million to the federal deficit. Argue the merits until doomsday. But it's just loopy for Giannoulias to tie the $6,000 Kirk raised from Americans in Beijing to Kirk's vote in the U.S. House: "It can be nothing but an act of economic treason." Huh? Did we mention that the fundraiser was scheduled nine days before the vote was scheduled? Or that, as Kirk's campaign notes, Giannoulias is the only candidate in this race to leave the U.S. to raise money (from trial lawyers in Canada)?

Giannoulias trails Kirk in fundraising. He's making public appearances to draw free news coverage. Foolish charges of "economic treason," yes, that'll draw coverage. Expect reporters to ask any politician who stands with Giannoulias at a campaign event, "Do you, too, view Mark Kirk as a traitor?"

Technorati tags: politics news democrats gop Republican Illinois illinois politics Senate Alexi Giannoulias unions organized labor Canada tort reform