By Jane C. Timm
Representative Joe Walsh (R-IL) isn’t backing down from his attacks on Democratic opponent Lt. Col. Tammy Duckworth. On Sunday, Walsh said that a “true hero” wouldn’t use her military past as part of her campaign, and Duckworth’s service was “darn near” all she talks about.
“This wasn’t a slip-up. I don’t regret anything I say,” Walsh said on CNN Thursday. Duckworth, who served as a Blackhawk pilot, lost both her legs and the use of one of her arms in 2004. She was later awarded the Purple Heart.
At the same town hall where Walsh went after Duckworth, he also praised Sen. John McCain for not wanting to speak about his military past, saying campaign aids had to talk the former Republican president candidate into it. On Thursday’s The Last Word, host Lawrence O’Donnell wryly noted, “I know a lot of you are probably surprised to learn that John McCain served in the military,” and pointed to McCain’s own ads trumpeting his service. Walsh is doing “everything he possibly can to make everyone who voted for him deeply embarrassed for having done so,” O’Donnell said. Speaking directly to the 48.5% of voters in Walsh’s district who helped him “sneak into office,” O’Donnell asked what he called the “threshold question:” “Do you really want to vote for a crazy person—again?”
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