[Updated at 6:05 p.m. ET] An Illinois congressman has stuck to his guns – including during a testy interview with CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield this week – in a flap over his assertions that his double-amputee election opponent talks too much about her military service and war injuries.
Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Illinois, has said that the story has been blown out of proportion, arguing that it has been manufactured by liberal opponents who recorded his comments at a campaign event Sunday and then posted them on the Internet, with liberal website ThinkProgress.org starting the coverage.
But he’s defended his stance, arguing that Democrat Tammy Duckworth – a Black Hawk helicopter pilot who lost both legs when her crew was shot down in Iraq in 2004 – rarely makes campaign appearances in her bid to defeat him in Illinois’ 8th Congressional District. When she does, he said, she talks mostly about her background fighting overseas.
We’d like to hear what you think about the issue. First, here’s how it played out this week.
In a Sunday campaign event in a Chicago suburb, Walsh was recalling the 2008 presidential campaign of Republican Sen. John McCain, saying McCain was modest about his background as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. Walsh said McCain was reluctant to make that story a focus of his campaign, despite pressure from advisers to do otherwise.
“That's what's so noble about our heroes. Now I'm running against a woman who, my God, that's all she talks about," Walsh said. "Our true heroes, it's the last thing in the world they talk about. That's why we're so indebted and in awe of what they've done."
The comments spread online, and several groups, including VoteVets.org and Emily’s List, condemned Walsh’s remarks.
Walsh, elected in 2010 with support from the tea party, told CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blizter” on Wednesday that he believes Duckworth is a hero, but she gives voters a narrow window into her positions on political issues.
“She is a hero, and that demands our respect, but it doesn’t demand our vote. All she does, guys, is talk about her service,” Walsh said.
On Thursday, Walsh got into a heated back-and-forth with Banfield during an interview on CNN. After Banfield attempted to contradict Walsh’s allegation that Duckworth doesn’t talk about issues – she read a list of moments when Duckworth commented on things other than military service – Walsh responded:
“She spends a lot of time talking about her war service. I’ve asked her to debate me monthly. She won’t. I’ve asked her to get directly in front of voters with me. She won’t. She will not get in front of voters and take questions directly from voters. Because she’s a war hero, Ashleigh, that demands our respect. But that doesn’t demand our vote.”
While Walsh and Duckworth might not have debated frequently, they did debate on May 11. According to a Chicago Sun-Times account, Duckworth criticized the GOP’s federal budget proposal, accused Walsh of wanting to end Medicare and backed President Obama’s support of gay marriage, but she declined to answer a question about whether she would have supported the bank bailout of a few years ago.
Duckworth’s stances on issues, according to her campaign website
Duckworth hasn't hidden her war service or injuries. She highlights them on her campaign website. After last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the health care reform act, she referenced her injuries when discussing the act, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Walsh’s criticism of Duckworth isn’t new. Politico, on March 28, reported that he said this during a 30-minute interview: “I have so much respect for what she did in the fact that she sacrificed her body for this country. Ehhh. Now let’s move on.”
“What else has she done?” Walsh said, according to the March 28 Politico article. “Female, wounded veteran … ehhh. She is nothing more than a handpicked Washington bureaucrat. David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel just picked her up and dropped her into this district.”
He later backtracked on the “dropped her into this district” comment in an interview with Chicago Magazine.
Hitting back on Friday, Duckworth told CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" that she discusses the issues "a majority of the time" and argued that Walsh was trying to "distract" voters away from his record in Congress.
"It's very irresponsible for Mr. Walsh, as a sitting congressman, to try to muzzle war veterans and keep them from talking about their service," Duckworth said.
Duckworth said during a Tuesday interview with MSNBC that Walsh had disrespected veterans and called him an "extremist loudmouth for the tea party." On Wednesday, she told CNN affiliate WLS that Walsh’s comments were “not even worth mentioning.”
This election year marks Duckworth's second run for Congress. The Iraq War veteran made an unsuccessful House bid in 2006, before being tapped by President Barack Obama in 2009 to become an assistant secretary at the Department of Veterans Affairs. She is a lieutenant colonel in the Illinois Army National Guard.
The two candidates are fighting for a seat representing the new 8th Congressional District outside Chicago and created by the state's recent redistricting process.
– CNN's Ashley Killough contributed to this report.
What do you think of Walsh's stance? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
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He served the good old country-side very well .
Military service is a big plus when running for office, but any objective person should know it is not the only factor. The woman looks tough, so why not debate this guy? Actually, this guy is the sitting congressman, so she must debate him! I'm sure she has had plenty of challenges, so why not?
I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to be in the same room with this loud-mouth tea bagger.
Only in America can repubs demonize war heroes for a vote and their idiot followers believe it. It's amazing what we've become.
They did the same thing in Georgia.
why won't she debate?
I grew up in Walsh's district and for the life of me can't understand how he was elected. Must have been a 3-way race. As for this interview, any time he's interviewed he employs the same tactic: repeat the interviewer's name constantly, ask the interviewer questions in an effort to not answer questions put to him, and shout over the interviewer to get his point across.
For those of you who don't know his district, it's an upper middle class, suburban part of Chicago. The last thing these people are worried about are foreclosures, jobs and health care. He's just parroting party talking points.
I thank Duckworth for her service and it should be a part of her campaign information, but not a central part of her election efforts. Walsh's comments trying to belittle Duckworth shows what desperation leads to.
I think she was serving her country in Iraq while he was safe at home being a dead beat dad.
It's hard to say who is the most obnoxious bullying man in the GOP. Joe Walsh or Chris Christie–both dreadful toxic sources of hot air. Surely Illinois voters will be smart enough to kick this nasty brute out of of office.
This guy is an idiot!! TEA Party, Republican, Democrat, Indpendent, I don't care, he is an IDIOT!!! He's a loud-mouth, partisan hack who doesn't know the meaning of the word compromise and doesn't know how to pay his child support. How much of a leader or MAN can you be if you don't want to take care of your children. I hate to bring that up, but again, this guy IS a "loud-mouth" as Tammy Duckworth called him. Can't Illinois vote for someone besides him?
point should be G W did nothing but take up space in the reserve
When I was a kid my dad and his friends used to talk about their WWII service all the time. Sometimes they'd laugh and talk about the good times, sometimes they'd get somber and talk about the bad, but they talked about it a lot because it was a defining moment in their lives that tended to color the way they saw everything in life after; none of them came back the same person as when they left. A lot of today's vets feel as if they're supposed to come back home and just pick up their old lives as if nothing has changed, and if they talk about what they went through with anyone but another vet they get these looks from people, as if they're going to go into a PTSD episode and start mistaking waitresses for VC or Taliban insurgents. So they just keep their mouths shut and everything bottled up because nobody wants to hear about what they've been through and how it's changed them and will start crossing over to the other side of the street when they see them coming. Apparently, Walsh thinks that's the way things ought to be.
To my last point, dead center in his district is Lake Zurich, about 10 minutes from where I grew up. The median family income is $104K (double the median income for Illinois) and median home price is $353K, compared to $202K statewide. Grayslake, Barrington, etc. all have a similar profile. Again, I wonder (not really) why Walsh is talking jobs, housing and Obamacare.
what a pos this guy is.
Any vet who plays off their disability rather than abilities doesn't deserve office. I'm a Wounded Warrior and I don't use my injuries as a way to manipulate the situation. If this women is capable of doing the job playing off her injuries wouldn't be an issue and it sounds like Walsh feels the same way. It is sad when vets use their situation to force public opinion.
This guy is a total doofus and windbag!!
I think Walsh should have said that Duckworth spoke of her service when she was asked questions not related to her service.