Mark Kirk was recently secretly recorded talking about watching out for possible voter fraud in the Chicago and Rockford on November 2nd.  Like it or not, it is a valid argument considering Illinois' interesting voting past.  The terms "vote early and vote often" and "the dead vote" didn't come into everyday parlance from out of the blue.  Just off hand, will the secret recorder be prosecuted considering in Illinois, both parties must consent to being recorded?

There is nothing wrong about being diligent and having poll watchers - members of either party watchdogging the election judges - at polling places.  I've done poll watching in the past, not because I suspected voter fraud in my district and in fact, my election judges are some of the nicest people and are well trained by our County Clerk.  I did poll watching to keep track of who has voted and who hasn't and then I used that information to make some last minute phone calls to remind people to vote before the polls close. 

When Mark Kirk's secret recording came out, the media, Democrats and others started to cry foul, not only because of allegations of possible voter fraud, but because in discussing poll watching Mark Kirk said:

"These are lawyers and other people that will be deployed in key, vulnerable precincts, for example, South and West sides of Chicago, Rockford Metro East...where the other side might be tempted to jigger the numbers somewhat."

The Democrats and others are really upset that Kirk used the word "jigger" because as the Rev. Albert Tyson of St. Stephen's AME Church explained,

"The problem I have is that it sounds so much like another word".

Now I don't have to explain to you what word the good Reverend is referring to, but the overreaction of Democrats, et. al, smacks of another desperate move to on behalf of the Giannoulias campaign to make a dent in Mark Kirk's slight lead in the polls.  So using the Reverend's logic, that means other words that we cannot say anymore because they "sound so much like another [racial] word" would be "Like", "Bigger", "Sap", "Sink", "Mop" and other similar sounding words.  Ridiculous.  Political correctness has gone absolutely crazy.

It gets better.  6th Ward Alderman Freddrenna Lyle, trying to tie Kirk's use of the word "jigger" to something more sinister said,

"He said what he meant.  He may not have meant to say it in that manner, but he said it and it's, it's offensive".

Before the Alderman gets too bent out of shape, maybe we all should examine another use of a word that "sounds so much like another word".