Tillis Slams Hagan For Absence on The ISIS Threat

Republican Thom Tillis is out with a new ad slamming Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) for her numerous absences from Senate Armed Services Committee hearings and failing to raise warnings about the threat of the Islamic State.

The ad, released Monday highlights Obama’s initial labeling of the Islamic State or ISIS as a “jayvee team” and Hagan’s apparent absences from key hearings on the threats.

“President Obama failed to take the threat of ISIS seriously at the same time Sen. Kay Hagan stayed quiet and skipped over half of her Armed Services Committee hearings that addressed vital national security issues,” Tillis, who is in a tight race against the incumbent Hagan, said in a statement. 

“While I support keeping all options on the table to completely destroy ISIS, the President and Kay Hagan still have no strategy and continue to lead from behind,” he added. “This election presents the opportunity to reverse course on President Obama’s failed foreign policy and restore America’s standing in the world.”

Watch:

 

In its response, reported by The Hill, the Hagan campaign attacked Tillis for his “waffling” comments on the ISIS threat. 

“Speaker Tillis is desperate to distract from the fact that while he has no position on how to eliminate ISIS and his comments have been called ‘waffling’ and ‘vague’ Kay has been decisive and clear about what action must be taken to destroy these terrorists,” Hagan spokesman Chris Hayden told the Hill. “Just last week Speaker Tillis admitted that he doesn’t know what we should or shouldn’t do to eradicate ISIS and North Carolinians — especially our servicemembers and their families — deserve better than Speaker Tillis’ spineless fence-sitting on this pressing national security threat.”

In recent days Tillis has spoken out more about the ISIS threat, campaigning with Sen. Lindsey Graham on Friday and even delving into foreign policy matters during his delivery of the Republican Weekly Address over the weekend — which focused on economic growth.

“As we look at the crises boiling over across the globe, we see a President who has been leading from behind with a failed foreign policy that has weakened America….And the President still doesn’t have a strategy to destroy the terrorist group known as the Islamic State. Simply put, America lacks leadership and is no longer considered to be an exceptional nation by our allies and our adversaries alike. But this November, we can change that,” he said. 

Read the ad transcript: 

Voice Over: In January, President Obama referred to the Islamic State as a “jayvee team.”

Days later, the Armed Services Committee holds a hearing on new global threats.

Senator Kay Hagan? Absent.

In fact, Hagan’s missed half the Armed Services Committee hearings this year.

While ISIS grew, Obama kept waiting and Kay Hagan kept quiet.

 The price for their failure is danger. To change direction, we have to change our senator.

THOM TILLIS: I’m Thom Tillis, I approve this message.