Funk chooses fight over flight

The tallest mayor in all of “cantankerous” Kansas City, Mark Funkhouser, announced yesterday that he chooses fight over flight. Funkhouser spent half of his State of the City address declaring war on those who dare challenge him.

“Now I realize that if you are in a war, you have to fight back,”

Funkhouser said. “The attacks — the attempts by your opponents to

define you and your positions — must be challenged. If you don’t

challenge the attacks, you let someone else define you. I will not let

that happen anymore.

“Reconciling the need to be honorable, ethical, honest and straight

with the need to fight back has been hard. But I have to fight. And I

will. But I will fight fair.”

Funkhouser admitted that he has “gotten off to a slow start” but denies that he is “a lovesick puppy.”

“I am damn near 60 years old,” Funkhouser said. “I have traveled the world and built an international reputation as a performance auditor. And all without my wife. You might have heard — she doesn’t fly.”

Uh, congrats?

Read Funk’s full speech after the jump.