In response to Dem Candidate Says Iraqi War Vet Opponent Not Up for ‘Real Job’ :
Snide, passive aggressive attacks on their opponents’ military experience is becoming a thing among Democrat candidates, this year.
Gansler may have backtracked on his remarks, but his original elitist disdain for the military came through loud and clear and will be remembered. The same is true for Senator Mark Pryor, who’s defending his Senate seat from Rep. Tom Cotton, an Iraq and Afghan war vet who currently serves in the fourth Congressional District of Arkansas in the US House of Representatives.
Cotton joined the Army in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, which occurred during his final year in law school. He gave up a clerkship with the U.S. Court of Appeals and a brief period in private practice to join the armed forces. Rather than take the commission of JAG attorney he was offered, Cotton joined the United States Army as an Infantry Officer.
Tom served nearly five years on active duty, completing two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He served in Iraq with the 101st Airborne, where he led an infantry platoon in daily combat patrols. Tom’s military decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, and Ranger Tab. Between his two combat tours, Tom served as a platoon leader with The Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery. He then served in Afghanistan as the operations officer for a Provincial Reconstruction Team. After leaving active duty and before Congress, Tom worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Co.
Pryor suggested in an interview with NBC News, that this military background gave Cotton an undeserved “sense of entitlement.”
“There’s a lot of people in the Senate that didn’t serve in the military,” Pryor told NBC News. “Obviously in the Senate we have all types of different people, all kinds of different folks that have come from all types of different backgrounds–and I think that’s part of that sense of entitlement that he gives off is that, almost like, I served my country, let me into the Senate. But that’s not how it works in Arkansas.”
Cotton has now hit back at Pryor with a campaign ad that gently mocks him for those comments, featuring his drill sergeant.
“Sen. Pryor says my military service gives me, quote, ‘a sense of entitlement.’ So I brought in an expert,” Cotton says before his former basic training drill sergeant enters.
“Drill Sergeant Norton taught me to be a soldier: Accountability, humility, and putting the unit before yourself. That training stuck,” Cotton says after Norton gives him permission stand “at ease” in the humorous spot.