Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) sunk to a new low when he suggested at a campaign stop that the family members of asbestos victims who were in a campaign commercial for Elizabeth Warren were actually paid actors:
During a question and answer session, one firefighter commented that both campaigns are publishing advertisements featuring family members of victims of asbestos-related illness. He asked Brown how Warren gets the victims’ family members to go on her commercial. “A lot of them are paid,” Brown said. “We hear that maybe they pay actors. Listen, you can get surrogates and go out and say your thing. We have regular people in our commercials. No one is paid. They are regular folks that reach out to us and say she is full of it.”
Guess what? They aren’t actors. And they’re pretty damn offended too.
One of the ads, titled “Ashamed,” features Kingston resident Ginny Jackson, whose husband died of mesothelioma after working at a Quincy shipyard that was filled with asbestos.
Reached through the Warren campaign, Jackson responded to Brown’s comments, calling them offensive.
“What Scott Brown said today is so offensive to me and my family after what we went through,” Jackson said. “He’s sunk to a new low.”
Jackson said going through her husband Sam’s sickness and death from mesothelioma was one of the most difficult situations she ever endured.
“Sam and I were childhood sweethearts and we had been together since I was 15 years old,” Jackson said. “I came forward in this campaign because Massachusetts voters need to know the truth about what Elizabeth Warren did to help families like mine who were affected by asbestos poisoning, rather than Sen. Brown’s misleading attacks.”
Yeah, that’s bad form to insult a grieving widow. Scott Brown later recanted and apologized, admitting he jumped to conclusions. That’s all fine and good, but it’s a little too little, a little too late. How many people heard the apology vs. heard the original false accusation?
Scott Brown Apologizes For Accusing Widow of Cancer Victim in Warren Ad of Being an Actor | Crooks and Liars: