GOPer On Ad With Foley Killer: Journalist Not Depicted Out Of Respect

Republican Allen Weh’s U.S. Senate campaign said a campaign video that featured the image of the masked man that beheaded journalist James Foley did not use Foley’s image itself out of respect for Foley’s family.

“Out of respect for the Foley family, no picture of James Foley was used,” Weh campaign manager Diego Espinoza told Politico in an email published in the Morning Score newsletter. “Tom Udall’s feigned outrage over the inclusion of a now familiar image of this Jihadi terrorist, who is clearly the face of the evil that threatens our nation. [sic] Senator Udall’s comments about our diplomacy being ‘good’ reflect his naiveté and inexperience in matters of national security.”

Similarly, the New Mexico Republican Party also defended the ad in a statement.

“The image of the ISIS member in the video is not to place any disrespect on the death of Mr. Foley or his family. Instead, it is a reminder of the danger our country faces all while our president hits the golf course,” he said. “For a Senator to say he is confident with the ‘diplomatic path our nation is on is a good one’ – well that is just scary.”

Espinoza’s statement is in response to an ad for Weh, who is running to replace Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM), that featured the masked man who appeared and beheaded foley in a video released to the public. The masked man’s image appeared for only briefly and was in the middle of a video that otherwise featured President Barack Obama golfing with some quotes from Udall.

The man in the video has not yet been identified.

Text at the end of the video read “to change Washington, you must change your Senator.”