The Republican Senate candidate in Massachusetts is a real piece of work:
Massachusetts GOP Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez called his opponent, longtime Rep. Ed Markey, "pond scum" during an interview with an NPR reporter on Thursday.Here's the Markey Web ad Gomez that has Gomez's knickers in a twist. You know why bin Laden shows up in this ad? Not because Markey is comparing Gomez to bin Laden. Bin Laden shows up because in 2012 Gomez was a spokesman for a group accusing President Obama of endangering the lives of U.S. servicemembers in the aftermath of the raid ordered by the president that killed bin Laden.
"I don’t think there's anything more offensive," Gomez said, according to a YouTube clip of the exchange, which took place after an event at a local Chamber of Commerce. "You know I've got four young kids, and they gotta sit there and gotta see an ad with their dad -- who served honorably, talk to anybody I served with -- whether as a pilot or as a SEAL, anybody I worked with. And for him to be as dirty and low, pond scum, like to put me up next to bin Laden, he’s just gotta be called what he is. It's that simple."
Gomez was asked about an ad his campaign released earlier this week accusing Markey of comparing Gomez to Osama bin Laden in a Web video by juxtaposing images of the two.
Gomez whines that he's "got four young kids, and they gotta sit there and gotta see an ad" that attacks him. Hey, you know who else has young kids? The president of the United States. And they "gotta sit there and gotta see" a group Gomez joined, and publicized, basically calling their father a murderer and a traitor to his country:
And yes, the group is still making these charges. For that matter, so is Gomez. Before using his kids as human shields in that NPR interview, he took the opportunity to accuse the president of life-threatening misconduct once again:
For a guy to come out, with his first Web video, to put me next to Osama bin Laden, a former SEAL -- maybe he doesn't understand who actually killed bin Laden. The SEALs did. All because I criticized the president and was critical of him because they released so much classified information regarding that raid that even Secretary Feinberg -- uh, Senator Feinstein -- came out and agreed with me....Secretary Feinberg, Senator Feinstein -- you know all those people look alike.
*****
People in Massachusetts are tough, but voters there don't like it when politicians get nasty. Scott Brown ran a nasty campaign last year and failed miserably. Right-wing Democrat John Silber was expected to win the 1990 gubernatorial race against socially liberal Republican William Weld until a Silber interview aired in which he attacked a local news anchor for asking him what he considered his weaknesses:
Brown lost last year. Silber lost in 1990. So Gomez is going to have a hard time walking back "pond scum."
*****
UPDATE: Greg Sargent debunks the rest of what Gomez said in the interview.
