The campaign spokesman for Greg Orman, the independent running for the U.S. Senate in Kansas, says it was “kind of dumb” of him to send out a tweet calling Republican incumbent Pat Roberts part of the “bedwetter’s caucus” over his opposition to a plan to transfer Guantanamo Bay detainees to prisons on U.S. soil.
In response to a recent report that President Obama was planning to close the Cuban facility — in fulfillment of a campaign promise — Roberts came out strong on Friday, saying that he would “shut down the Senate” by filibustering any legislation that sought to relocate the detainees to the homeland.
And Orman, who has mounted a strong run against Roberts, essentially agreed, saying Friday that Obama was “absolutely wrong” to consider the move.
Gitmo’s closure is a hot-button issue in the Sunflower State, which is home to Fort Leavenworth, a federal prison.
But a tweet sent on Saturday by Sam Edelen, Orman’s campaign spokesman, seemed at odds with his boss’s statement on the issue.
Edelen’s tweet included a link to an article from Washington Monthly titled “Who’s the biggest bedwetter?”
Natural leaders don’t excel by instilling fear & cowardice in their people. But does the Senate Bedwetter’s Caucus? http://t.co/6hK0RRIS1r
— Sam Edelen (@samedelen) October 11, 2014
A “bedwetter,” according to the article, is any politician who claims that transferring Gitmo detainees — of which there are currently 149 — to U.S. soil poses a threat to the U.S.
“Sen. Roberts does a good job of listing the most prominent members of the Senate Bedwetting Caucus, which is made up of the people most likely to urinate on themselves out of irrational fear,” reads the Washington Monthly piece.
But reached by The Daily Caller through email Saturday, Edelen clarified Orman’s position and explained his tweet.
“Greg has the same position on this proposal as Senator Roberts,” Edelen told TheDC, reiterating the statement Orman made on Friday.
Regarding the tweet, Edelen said that he was “just tweeting out a thing I thought was kind of funny.”
“Kind of dumb of me,” Edelen admitted. “But yes Greg’s got the same position on this as Roberts, that hasn’t changed.”
Orman, a Kansas City-area businessman, has caused Roberts grief as he seeks his fourth term in the upper chamber. Some polls have put Orman as much as ten points ahead of the 78-year-old. Others show Roberts with a small lead.
Much of that support in Kansas, a longtime Republican stronghold, can be explained by the lack of a Democratic nominee in the race. Democrat Chad Taylor dropped out of the contest last month.
Roberts has responded to his deficit by hitting Orman – who he began calling “Or-Man” at a campaign event earlier this week — over past support of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, and Obama.
Roberts has cited that support — as well as Orman’s refusal to say which party he would caucus with if elected — as evidence that Orman is actually a liberal Democrat posing as a moderate.
The Roberts campaign said that Edelen’s tweet was more evidence of that.
“Greg Orman’s campaign should be ashamed of itself for mocking Senator Roberts’ leadership to prevent Gitmo terrorists from coming to Kansas,” Roberts campaign manager Corry Bliss told TheDC.
“He is a liberal Democrat who gave money to Obama, voted for Obama, and supports Obama’s policies –- including amnesty, Obamacare, and higher taxes,” Bliss added.