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NORWALK, Conn. A need to support jobs in Connecticut was part of Republican senate candidate Linda McMahon's speech Monday in Norwalk. Campaign representatives for U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy agreed on the importance of jobs but attacked her choice of a Republican senator to endorse her.
Standing before up to 300 people at the Norwalk Inn & Conference Center with U.S. Sen. John McCain, McMahon slammed Murphy on jobs. "He's voted twice over this past year to not fund the defense appropriations. That means we could lose jobs here in our state, we could lose jobs at Electric Boat. We cannot have that. I will absolutely fight to keep every defense job we have in our state."
Murphy campaign spokesman Ben Marter, in an email, fought back. "It's surprising that Linda McMahon would campaign on Connecticut defense jobs with the Republican senator who tried to shut down Electric Boat and destroy the local economy. The truth is that Chris Murphy voted against the defense sequestration bill that Sen. McCain supported and is fighting to save local defense jobs that are being held hostage by the right-wing Republicans Linda McMahon is running for the Senate to support."
Murphy claims McMahon would jeopardize defense dollars coming to Connecticut by swelling the deficit, according to The Associated Press. Murphy opposed the bills because they supported an open-ended timeline for troops to stay in Afghanistan.
The Washington Post estimates that the cost of staying in Afghanistan is $2.05 billion a week. The cost of a new Virginia-class fast-attack submarine is about $2.3 billion, Military.com says.
McMahon also attacked Murphy for supporting Obamacare. "I will not support any budget that will reduce funding for Medicare or Social Security," she said. "Murphy has already voted to take 716 billion out of Medicare to pay for the all the programs in the health care act. I will not support that budget."
Murphy campaign spokesman Eli Zupnick said, "Considering Linda McMahon's extreme policies to end Social Security and privatize Medicare, it's no surprise that she's decided to campaign with someone who thinks it's just a matter of time until Congress privatizes Social Security.
"Linda McMahon has made it clear that she will vote in line with far-right Republicans to end Social Security and privatize Medicare, deny Connecticut women coverage for birth control, and cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires like herself. Connecticut voters rejected her radical positions two years ago, and campaign stops with Washington Republicans won't help her case."
The campaign had no reply for another McMahon charge. "I have a plan that will reduce taxes on the middle class, Congressman Murphy has voted to raise taxes on the middle class three times," she said. "Now he's talking about how he's going to reduce taxes on the middle class. I can't figure it out."
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