Wisconsin Senate hopeful Tommy Thompson began running a new ad Monday attacking his Democratic opponent, Rep. Tammy Baldwin, for voting in 2006 against a resolution honoring the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
The ad began running statewide on Monday, capitalizing on the heightened focus on foreign policy surrounding Monday’s final presidential debate.
In the ad, veterans sharply criticize Baldwin for her 2006 vote and imply that she would be a dangerously ineffective leader.
“Tammy Baldwin had the opportunity to vote to honor the victims of 9/11, and she voted against it,” Janet Gaedke, who served in the Air Force, says in the ad.
Watch the ad:
“It is a slap in the face to every one of their families and anyone who has ever served in the United States military,” says Ron Amato, a retired member of the U.S. Navy. “Tammy Baldwin’s extreme, far-left approach leaves this country in jeopardy. ”
“It’s a very dangerous path Tammy is leading us on,” adds Timothy Thiers, another retired member of the Navy.
“What would you do if these were your children, how would you feel?” asks Amato.
“Wisconsin voters need to know that congresswoman Tammy Baldwin put her extreme views above honoring the men and women who were murdered by terrorists in the Sept. 11 attacks on our nation,” said Thompson. “From voting against providing our troops with proper body armor and medical supplies to siding with Iran on economic sanctions, it is clear that Tammy Baldwin’s far-left approach is too extreme for Wisconsin and too dangerous for our country. Unlike my opponent, there is nothing that I take more seriously than protecting and honoring our American heroes who put their lives on the line to defend our great nation in the pursuit of freedom.
“On Sept. 11, 2001, I stood on the front lines of Ground Zero with our first responders. And as Secretary of Health and Human Services, I executed the largest mobile response of emergency medical supplies and services in our nation’s history to help the victims and first responders at the World Trade Center site. After witnessing the most tremendous acts of bravery and human compassion that I have ever seen in my life, I am offended by Baldwin’s decision to turn her back on the survivors of that horrific day.”
Polls show the race between former Gov. Thompson and Baldwin in a dead heat.