The National Republican Congressional Committee is out with a new ad in Arizona, painting Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick as nothing more than a pair of legs in high heels.
In what may be the most sexist ad of the 2014 election cycle, the attack ad seemingly targets Kirkpatrick’s chromosomes and a handful of oversimplified votes: she’s criticized for voting to raise the debt limit, though it kept the country from defaulting and the Republican leadership routinely voted for the same increases; Kirkpatrick is also knocked for saying she completely supports the Affordable Care Act, but it omits the fact that she’s also criticized its flawed rollout.
“The NRCC really blew it. They’ve been in Washington too long — or in the 1950s,” a spokesman for Kirkpatrick told msnbc.
NRCC spokesman Andrea Bozek argues that their own party’s leadership aside, “voters in Arizonans are particularly concerned about debt and spending, and Kirkpatrick has continuously supported policies that spend more and increase our debt, including the failed stimulus.”
Bozek wouldn’t comment on the depiction of the representative as a pair of legs—arguing that the query was a Democrat talking point.
“She’s not independent, she just votes the party line,” the narrator says.
The ad’s chief criticism—and presumably why the second-term representative is illustrated from the waist down—is the suitcase pictured. Kirkpatrick is carrying “President Obama’s baggage,” the ad says, using just two, brief sound bites with Kirkpatrick saying she supports the health care law and another where she says she’s not going to “second guess the president.”
“Kirkpatrick’s quotes in the ad speak for themselves – that’s her in her own words,” Bozek said.
It seems they’re popular soundbites for Republicans–Kirkpatrick’s last Republican challenger, Jonathon Paton, used exactly the same ones in a 2012 ad.
Kirkpatrick’s campaign also responded on her Twitter with a cheeky retort.
Short skirt & high heels? Nope, not me. TV attack ad consultants need some Rural AZ 101: #AZ01 pic.twitter.com/kMlgyakT8c
— Ann Kirkpatrick (@Ann_Kirkpatrick) September 4, 2014
Jane Timm