Calling it "sick" and saying it made him "want to throw up" a senator from Connecticut ripped into Republican presidential contender Sen. Ted Cruz and a PAC that supports him over an ad using the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary school as a reason to support his candidacy.
According to the Hartford Courant, Sen Chris Murphy (D-CT) issued a blistering statement condemning the ad that trades on the deaths of the 26 people -- 20 of them children -- to commend Cruz for standing up for gun rights after the horrific mass shooting.
"If Ted Cruz wants to brandish his pro-gun credentials to Republican primary voters, that's his right," Murphy said. "But it's sick that he thinks he'll win votes by specifically pointing out that in the wake of 20 dead first-graders, he was the face of the fight to ensure no action was taken to stop more deranged killers from walking into elementary schools with military-style assault weapons loaded with 30-round clips of ammunition."
The ad, produced by the pro-Cruz Courageous Conservatives PAC, takes aim at Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) asking, "What has Rubio ever done?"
"After Sandy Hook, Ted Cruz stopped Obama's push for new gun control laws," the ad continues.
While the Cruz campaign has no control over the PAC, Murphy slammed the candidate just the same.
"The new Ted Cruz ad makes me want to throw up, and I'm pretty sure that's a feeling shared by many who lived through the horror of Sandy Hook," Murphy said.
Murphy added that "showing off how callous he was in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting may win him some right-wing votes that get swept up from Donald Trump or Ben Carson, but it disqualifies him in a general election."
"Middle-of-the-road, common sense voters support measures like expanded background check," Murphy said. "But more importantly, they won't be impressed by a campaign whose opening pitch to voters is portraying the candidate as the one senator who took on the parents of Sandy Hook in the wake of the most horrific mass shooting in our lifetime."
