GOP hits Dem candidate for saying veteran opponent isn’t ‘man enough’

by Cristina Marcos - 09/30/16 2:43 PM ET

A super PAC aligned with House GOP leadership is investing heavily in a competitive Florida House race, starting with a new video attacking Democrat Randy Perkins as a “short-tempered businessman.”

The Congressional Leadership Fund’s video, unveiled Friday, hits Perkins for asking Republican Brian Mast why his military service makes him qualified for Congress during a meeting with the TC Palm editorial board this month.

Perkins and Mast are facing off in one of the most competitive House races in the country to replace Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.), who’s running for Senate.

{mosads}The video shows a clip of Perkins saying directly to Mast: “So tell me why, why the sacrifices and the service that you provided for this country make you capable of solving issues.”

Perkins later tells Mast, who lost both his legs in an attack, that “you’re not man enough to stand behind your own ads.”

Perkins was referring to ads paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to elect GOP House candidates, that he had slammed as misleading.

Republicans are comparing the episode to the criticism lobbed at Senate Republicans’ campaign arm earlier this year after it posted a tweet saying Senate candidate and double amputee Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) “has a sad record of not standing up for our veterans.”