A Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) official described a new ad featuring Sen. John McCain and Sen. Jon Kyl as a “hostage video” — a somewhat unfortunate choice of words given Sen. McCain’s military history.
DSCC Communications Director Matt Canter tweeted Monday afternoon that, “The new McCain & Kyl #azsen ad is awful. Talk about a hostage video. Why not admit we like Carmona a lot but now he has a D after his name.”
McCain was held hostage in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War.
The ad in question was released Monday in support of Arizona Republican Senate hopeful Jeff Flake. It attacks Flake’s Democratic opponent Richard Carmona for an ad he began running last week, which also features the two senators, highlighting their praise for Carmona during the hearings on his nomination to surgeon general.
Carmona served as surgeon general under President George W. Bush.
Since the ad began running, McCain and Kyl have pushed back hard, calling it “dishonest” and “shameful” on the basis that they say it implies that they support Carmona for Senate, when, in fact, they have endorsed Flake.
Canter apologized for the comment in a later tweet, writing: “Poor choice of words in a tweet earlier. I apologize for that. I think Kyl and Mccain’s praise for Carmona deserves real attention.”