Democrats want Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to condemn what they’re calling a sexist remark targeted at his leading Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes.
It was revealed Wednesday that the National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman characterized the Kentucky Secretary of State as “an empty dress” who “babbles incoherently.”
“Alison Lundergan Grimes seems incapable of articulating her own thoughts, and faced with questions, either directly parrots the talking points handed to her by [Sen.] Chuck Schumer or she babbles incoherently and stares blankly into the camera as though she’s a freshman in high school struggling to remember the CliffsNotes after forgetting to read her homework assignment,” NRSC Communications Director Brad Dayspring said in an email to The Hill. “They say you can’t be something with nothing, but Alison Lundergan Grimes seems determined to test that theory. She’s an empty dress.”
Jumping on the attack, the Lundergan Grimes campaign is demanding McConnell step in and denounce the GOP staffer over the “degrading and offensive” remark.
“It shows his team’s true feelings towards women and continues his disgraceful pattern of not standing up for the women of Kentucky,” said Charly Norton, Lundergan Grimes spokeswoman, according to The Hill.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee cited his silence on the matter–and the senator’s position on the Violence Against Women Act and the Fair Pay Act–as an example of his ongoing “war on women” along with the rest of the Republican Party.
“This despicably offensive quote by a Republican operative who reports to Mitch McConnell is consistent with McConnell’s long history of leading the war on women,” said DCCC spokeswoman Regan Page in a statement issued Wednesday. “After all, just last week McConnell tried to take credit for passage of the Violence Against Women Act despite the fact that he’s repeatedly voted against it, and touted the endorsement of Todd Akin’s biggest fan Mike Huckabee. McConnell should call on this staffer to apologize.”
No comment yet from Team McConnell. Last Friday, in an attempt to woo female voters, McConnell launched the “Women for Team Mitch” initiative at a Louisville rally. The Republican chided his likely 2014 opponent for trying to “divide people with gender-based attacks.”
The latest poll conducted by the left-leaning Public Policy Polling suggested Lundergan Grimes poses a serious threat to McConnell’s long-held Senate seat. The August numbers show Lundergan Grimes actually beating McConnell by one point, 45% to 44%, a sign of McConnell’s tough road to reelection.
Sarah Muller