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Tuesday, Feb 26, 2013 8:08 PM UTC

Kentucky PAC slurs McConnell family

Group attacks Mitch McConnell's wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. Potential rival Ashley Judd responds

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Topics: Mitch McConnell, Racism, conspiracy theory, Asian American, Kentucky, 2014 elections,

Kentucky PAC slurs McConnell familyFormer Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and her husband, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.(Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

Progress Kentucky, a super PAC in the state that has made it its mission to take down Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, has repeatedly attacked his wife for being Chinese, WFPL reports today.

McConnell is married to Bush Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, whom the liberal super PAC targeted in a series of tweets.

In one sent on Valentines Day, the group wrote, “This woman has the ear of (Sen. McConnell) — she’s his wife. May explain why your job moved to China!” The Tweet links to a blog post on site run by conspiracy theorist and radio host Jeff Rense, who has promoted conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school shooting and Holocaust denialism. Another tweet noted that, “not many know McConnell’s wife is Chinese.”

Another read, “China Premier grateful to McConnell father-in-law/@KYGOPcontributor-4 his role in developing China industry.”

Curtis Morrison, a spokesperson for the group, downplayed the messages, telling WFPL a volunteer had posted them. “It’s not an official statement. It’s a Tweet. And we will remove it if it’s wrong… People make mistakes in Tweets. It happens,” he said.

Salon quoted Morrison recently for a story about Ashley Judd’s potential run.

UPDATE: Ashley Judd, potential McConnell opponent in 2014, responds via Twitter:

 

Alex Seitz-Wald

Alex Seitz-Wald is Salon's political reporter. Email him at aseitz-wald@salon.com, and follow him on Twitter @aseitzwald. More Alex Seitz-Wald.

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