It's precisely the image Kirk wants because he knows that its the ONLY way he could ever win Texas.
Excerpt from newsweek. My corrections of factual inaccuracies are included: http://www.msnbc.com/news/813573.asp?cp1=1
"But that?s not the Johnsonian ?come, let us reason together? tone in, say, the pivotal U.S. Senate race in Texas, the foundation and anchor of the modern GOP. There, Rove is out to destroy Ron Kirk, the popular, politically moderate and business-friendly Democratic mayor of Dallas. [NOTE: HE IS NO LONGER MAYOR OF DALLAS, AND IF RON KIRK'S A MODERATE THEN BOB TORICELLI IS AN HONEST MAN] The task for Bush?s longtime friend and handpicked GOP candidate (Attorney General John Cornyn): don?t allow the affable Kirk to claim philosophical or political membership in Club Bush. And while you?re at it, make him lose his cool?a precious commodity for any candidate.
The best way to do both: attack him on national security. Last August?back when Enron and WorldCom were news [NOTE: THE DEMS HAVE BEEN TRYING TO MAKE ENRON NEWS FOR OVER A YEAR NOW WITH VIRTUALLY NO SUCCESS-IT WAS NEVER THE TOP NEWS STORY BACK IN AUGUST]?the GOP?s senatorial committee began bombing Kirk, among others, with ads denouncing their ties to the Council for a Livable World, which champions cuts in defense spending. Cornyn followed up by accusing Kirk of ?foot-dragging? and, by implication, of lacking the proper patriotic zeal. The attacks had their desired effect: Kirk blew up, at a raucous meeting with black and Hispanic war veterans in San Antonio. ?I am ready to stand behind this president and go to war,? Kirk declared. But he didn?t stop there. It would, after all, not be the children of Cornyn?s wealthy friends who would fight this war, he said. ?I wonder how excited they?d be if I get to the United States Senate and put forth a resolution that says the next time we go to war, the first 500,000 kids have to come from families who earn $1 million or more?? Cornyn solemnly denounced the remarks as divisively race-conscious, and Kirk eventually was forced to express ?regret? at having made them. [NOTE: KIRK NEVER SAID HE REGRETTED THE EXTREME POSITION HE TOOK - HE SAID HE REGRETTED HIS CHOICE OF WORDS AND NOTHING MORE AND STUCK TO HIS POSITION OUT OF "CONCERN" FOR THE PEOPLE ON THE FRONT LINES]"