WINCHESTER, Ky. (AP) - Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell
lambasted a liberal group on Saturday for criticizing the Asian heritage
of his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, calling its Twitter
messages "racial slurs" and "the ultimate outrage."
"They will not get away with attacking my wife in
this campaign," McConnell told about 100 home-state supporters at a
Republican dinner in Winchester.
"This woman has the ear of (at)McConnellPress -
she's his (hash)wife," the group Kentucky Progress tweeted on Feb. 14.
"May explain why your job moved to (hash)China!"
McConnell forcefully defended Chao, who was born in
Taiwan and who moved to the U.S. as an 8-year-old with her family
aboard a freight ship.
"Elaine Chao is just as much an American as any of
the rest of them," McConnell said. "In fact, she had to go through a lot
more to become an American."
McConnell's aides had already criticized the tweets.
"Secretary Chao and her family are shining examples
of the American dream: salt-of-the-earth folks who escaped oppression,
came here with nothing, joined our great melting pot, worked
exceptionally hard to build a thriving business, and then dedicated so
much of their lives to giving back," said Jesse Benton, manager of
McConnell's re-election campaign. "It is unconscionable that anyone
would use blatant race-baiting for political gain."
Progress Kentucky removed the offending comments
from Twitter after Louisville public radio station WFPL-FM aired reports
about them. And the group issued two apologies over the past week for
what they described as "inappropriate tweets sent by our organization."
"Those tweets did not reflect our values, and we
are committed to making sure nothing like that happens again," executive
director Shawn Reilly said in a statement posted on the group's
website. "We also apologize to our many supporters, and all Kentuckians
working for change in 2014, for those communications. Comments with
references to race, ethnicity or sexual orientation have no place in any
debate, and we are deeply embarrassed by such a mistake."
Reilly said the volunteer who posted the comments no longer is affiliated with the group.
Criticism of the group wasn't limited to McConnell
and his supporters. Numerous Democratic leaders, including actress
Ashley Judd, who is considering a challenge to McConnell in next year's
election, spoke up, too.
"Whatever the intention, whatever the venue,
whomever the person, attacks or comments on anyone's ethnicity are wrong
& patently unacceptable," she wrote in a Twitter message last
Sunday.
Kentucky Democratic Party Chairman Dan Logsdon said
the comments were "deplorable" and "have absolutely no place" in
Kentucky politics.
McConnell and his wife have faced similar slights
in the past. In 2001, former state Democratic Party chairwoman Nikki
Patton apologized for saying that McConnell "passed up some good
Kentucky pork to chow down at the Chinese money buffet."
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