Tammy Duckworth

You would think that after his incredibly insulting characterication of Tammy Duckworth two weeks ago, Joe Walsh, or someone on the tea party Republican congressman's campaign staff, would be a bit more careful. But no. Over the weekend, the campaign website included a challenge to his Democratic opponent in Illinois's 8th district. He asked her to show up on Sunday to debate the issues at a town hall meeting. The web invitation seems more like a gotcha: I-know-you-won't-come-but-this-will-let-me-diss-you-to-the-audience-when-you-don't-show-up.

In fact, Duckworth couldn't show up because she was attending to her obligations as a lieutenant colonel in the Army National Guard. Unless Walsh's campaign staffers are utterly incompetent, they had to know what Duckworth's schedule was before the challenge was issued. Ten bucks says they did know.

This would be in keeping with Walsh's disrespecting Duckworth a couple of weeks ago when he said:



“I have so much respect for what she did in the fact that she sacrificed her body for this country,” said Walsh, simultaneously lowering his voice as he leaned forward before pausing for dramatic effect. “Ehhh. Now let’s move on.” “What else has she done? Female, wounded veteran … ehhh,” he continued. “She is nothing more than a handpicked Washington bureaucrat. David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel just picked her up and dropped her into this district.”

Rancid.

Duckworth lost the lower parts of both legs and partial use of her right arm when the Blackhawk helicopter she was co-piloting was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade in Iraq in 2004. But that didn't stop her from continuing government service. Before seeking the congressional seat, she was assistant secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. And she's still doing her National Guard duties.

The question isn't what Tammy Duckworth has done. The question is what deadbeat dad Joe Walsh has done with his single term in office besides being an obstacle to reasonable governance and one more loon on the roll call of climate-change denying, worker-unfriendly extremists who think there should be no social safety net because it isn't called for in the Constitution. If you said "nothing," you'd have it right.

Fortunately, a single term is all he's going to get.

