The junior senator from Wisconsin does not want to hug it out with al Qaeda. Now go tell Leah Vukmir.
A leading candidate for the GOP Senate nomination, Vukmir just accused Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., of harboring terrorist sympathies. “She would rather give the man behind the 9/11 attacks and other terrorists hugs and safe spaces than take adequate action to protect America,” Vukmir argues in a press release complete with a side-by-side graphic of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the Wisconsin Democrat.
What’s the basis for the attack? Baldwin hasn’t made up her mind on Gina Haspel, the nominee to become the next CIA administrator yet. But that shouldn’t disqualify her for elected office.
Reasonable people should be able to disagree over the Haspel nomination and the morality of torture. One of my colleagues, for instance, couldn’t be more supportive of a former spook taking over the CIA. Others worry that giving her the job signals to the rest of the world that the U.S. is suddenly cool with torture. Haspel, after all, supervised a black site where terrorists were tortured for information.
Making a decision about that nomination is difficult. It requires deliberation, the kind of advice and consent Vukmir apparently finds treasonous. But that is precisely the job of a senator and that is why the Vukmir slander has all the substance of a Tomi Lahren rant.
Vukmir is a good candidate with smart conservative ideas on how to bring innovative good Wisconsin government to bear in Washington. Another one of my colleagues spent some time cataloging her policies and capturing her politics in a recent profile. But this attack is a distraction from her own candidacy and a serious mistake.
Just ask former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson.
Thompson tried belittling Baldwin’s patriotism in the 2012 race. He even cut an ad accusing her of voting against a bill “honoring the victims of 9/11” and giving “a slap in the face to everyone of their families.”
The only problem?
Baldwin didn’t put down any victims. She voted, as several outlets noted, to award Congressional Gold Medals to victims. What’s more, she prides herself on her work to support the World Trade Center Health Program that guarantees healthcare for first responders. If Baldwin wants to give a safe space to terrorists, she sure has an odd habit of soothing the pain and providing care for their victims.
Baldwin ended up beating Thompson by almost 6 percentage points that year. If Republicans keep up baseless attacks like these, she will do the same thing to Vukmir. Wisconsin, be better.
