A press release by the Arizona Republican Party which shows Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) opponent on a “wanted” poster riddled with bullet holes, has been denounced by Democrats, including former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ), 12 News reported Thursday.
The poster was delivered personally to McCain’s opponent Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ)’s office by Kevin Kuk, chief of operations for the Arizona Republican Party, 12 News reported. It gained criticism because of the bullet holes and struck a chord with Giffords who barely survived a 2011 shooting that left her with a severe brain injury.
“In a state and country that know the toll of gun violence too well, there is no room for invoking the use of firearms in our politics,” Giffords, a gun-safety advocate who was gravely wounded in the Tucson shootings five years ago, said in a statement, according to the station.
Giffords demanded an apology from the Arizona Republican Party for using the image, according to the statement provided to the station. But, Matt Specht, who is running the GOP campaign against Kirkpatrick, said that they would not apologize and it was not offensive.
“Nobody, including the hundreds of reporters who received the press release with the image, linked it to violence until the Kirkpatrick campaign tried to use it as a way to distract the media from Ann Kirkpatrick’s absence from the campaign trail,” he told the station.
The new line of attack was meant to show what the Arizona Republican Party said is a lack of public appearances by Kirkpatrick. She and McCain are in a tight race, with recent polls showing the race as a toss up.
See the full ad below via the Arizona GOP:
Ah, yes- the party of Reagan and Lincoln. Bring out the guns, boys! Democracy by murder and assassination. (We were just kidding, right? Can’t ya take a joke?)
This is actually pretty damn classy for the GOP. Tasteless and vile, but GOP classy…
Yeah, wanted posters don’t remind people of violence.
And bullet holes on the wanted poster . . . yeah, those don’t remind people of violence either.
Keeping it classy AZ GOP. I mean these people are running to be statesmen/women, clearly criminal wanted posters are relevant.
They know this shit works. They want her shot, just like Giffords.
Funny how the typical elderly, golf course living, early bird dining, Arizona GOP voter thinks they are still living in the wild, wild west.