Apparently undeterred by controversy over Missouri GOP congressman and Senate hopeful Todd Akin's decision to compare his opponent to a dog, an adviser to the Republican's campaign dug in on Monday, invoking a fictional breed to attack Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).
Here's his tweet:
During a weekend fundraiser, Akin, who months before was on the brink of being pushed out of the race over his notorious "legitimate rape" remarks, again took heat for a jab that many deemed insensitive.
"She goes to Washington, D.C., it's a little bit like one of those dogs, you know 'fetch,'" Akin said. "She goes to Washington, D.C., and get all of these taxes and red tape and bureaucracy and executive orders and agencies and she brings all of this stuff and dumps it on us in Missouri."
"It seems to me that she's got it just backwards," Akin added. "What we should be doing is taking the common sense that we see in Missouri and taking that to Washington, D.C., blessing them with some solutions instead of more problems."
(Video of Akin's remarks below)
Tyler, a veteran of Newt Gingrich's failed GOP presidential campaign who joined Akin in the midst of his "legitimate rape" controversy, had earlier attempted to downplay the significance of Akin's analogy.
“I think this cycle is becoming interesting because it’s becoming puerile and infantile with this parsing of little statements, while we ignore $16 trillion of debt and unemployment,” Tyler told The New York Times. "Everybody's going to find a reason to get their feelings hurt and get bent out of shape."
Akin's "dog" line was the latest on a list of comments that have been used by Akin's opponents to suggest that he has issues with women. Last month, he targeted McCaskill's demeanor, claiming that she had been more "ladylike" in her 2006 Senate campaign.
UPDATE: 6:00 p.m. ET -- McCaskill's camp responds in an interview with Missouri's KMOX.
“Frankly, we’re speechless,” spokesperson Caitlin Legacki said. “And very curious to know whether Todd Akin agrees with that comment.”
“We’ll leave it to Missouri’s voters to make judgements about the language being used by Todd Akin’s campaign,” she added.