McCain Lashes Out At GOPer For Using ‘AWOL’ To Attack Opponent

US Senator John McCain speaks during a pro-European rally on the Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, 15 December 2013. As Ukrainian President Yanukovych and leaders of Ukrainian opposition participated in a round t... US Senator John McCain speaks during a pro-European rally on the Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, 15 December 2013. As Ukrainian President Yanukovych and leaders of Ukrainian opposition participated in a round table event to discuss public proposals aimed at achieving political stability, public peace and tranquility in Ukraine, the mass demonstrations in Kiev continued, with up to 20,000 anti-government protesters reinforcing barricades, emboldened by police assurances that they would not be cleared by force. Photo by: Jan A. Nicolas/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) lashed out at a Republican Senate candidate in Iowa Tuesday for using the term AWOL to attack one of his opponents in the Iowa Republican Senate primary.

McCain is criticizing candidate Mark Jacobs for using the term on a website his campaign created to attack Republican state Sen. Joni Ernst over her missing votes from the Iowa legislature. Ernst partially missed the votes because of her National Guard duty and partially to campaign, according to the Des Moines Register.

“It was bad enough that Mark Jacobs called Joni Ernst ‘AWOL’ while she was on duty serving in the Iowa National Guard, but the fact that he has refused to remove this offensive term from his website is inexcusable,” McCain said in a statement on Tuesday, according to the Register.

In April, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reviewed Ernst’s missed votes and reported that most of them did not directly coincide with her National Guard commitments.

Ernst has also made national headlines recently for her campaign ads. One featured her shooting a gun and vowing to “unload” on Obamacare. Another focused on her experience castrating pigs which, Ernst argued, is how she would handle pork barrel spending if sent to Washington.

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: