Sen. Mitch McConnell takes on group for criticizing his wife

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell lambasted a liberal group on Saturday for criticizing the Asian heritage of his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, calling its Twitter messages "racial slurs" and "the ultimate outrage."

Senator McConnell forcefully defended Ms. Chao, who was born in Taiwan and who moved to the US as an 8-year-old with her family aboard a freight ship.

"They will not get away with attacking my wife in this campaign," McConnell told about 100 home-state supporters at a Republican dinner in Winchester, Ky.

"This woman has the ear of @McConnellPress – she's his #wife," the group Progress Kentucky tweeted on Feb. 14. "May explain why your job moved to #China!"

Progress Kentucky removed the offending comments from Twitter after Louisville public radio station WFPL-FM aired reports about them. And the group issued two apologies over the past week for what it described as "inappropriate tweets sent by our organization."

"Elaine Chao is just as much an American as any of the rest of them," McConnell said. "In fact, she had to go through a lot more to become an American."

McConnell's aides had already criticized the tweets.

"Secretary Chao and her family are shining examples of the American dream: salt-of-the-earth folks who escaped oppression, came here with nothing, joined our great melting pot, worked exceptionally hard to build a thriving business, and then dedicated so much of their lives to giving back," said Jesse Benton, manager of McConnell's reelection campaign. "It is unconscionable that anyone would use blatant race-baiting for political gain."

Progress Kentucky executive director Shawn Reilly released a statement posted on the group's website.

1 | 2

Next