Massachusetts Republican Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez called opponent Rep. Ed Markey (D., Mass.) "pond scum" during an interview with an NPR reporter on Thursday, Politico reports.
Gomez was asked about an ad his campaign released earlier this week accusing Markey of comparing Gomez to Osama bin Laden in a Web video that placed their images side-by-side:
"I don’t think there’s anything more offensive," Gomez said. "You know I’ve got four young kids, and they gotta sit there and gotta see an ad with their dad — who served honorably, talk to anybody I served with — whether as a pilot or as a SEAL, anybody I worked with. And for him to be as dirty and low, pond scum, like to put me up next to bin Laden, he’s just gotta be called what he is. It’s that simple."
The Boston Globe reports the Gomez campaign demanded that Markey take down the video, saying the juxtaposition is disgraceful since Gomez was a Navy Seal.