Republican New York congressional candidate and Iraq War veteran Lee Zeldin responded forcefully Friday to a charge by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that he may be a "coward."
The DCCC's Marc Brumer even created a photoshop of Zeldin as the "Cowardly Lion" from The Wizard of Oz.
Zeldin blasted the DCCC during an interview on Fox and Friends, saying he was proud of his service. Zeldin is facing Rep. Tim Bishop (D., N.Y.) in the race for New York's 1st congressional district.
"You have some liberal Democrat hack who is hiding behind his Twitter account, stuffs his face with cheese doodles, sending out press releases on DCCC letterhead," he said. "Shameful attacks. The fact is Nancy Pelosi, Steve Israel, Tim Bishop, they've never served a day ... Fast forward to today and you have these Democratic hacks out of Washington who want to change the subject and fling insults and say I'm coward. It just doesn't fit."
Democratic Senator Mark Pryor (D., Ark.) also insulted his opponent's military record, saying that Rep. Tom Cotton's (R., Ark.) background as a soldier gave him a "sense of entitlement." Cotton responded with a humorous, forceful ad saying that his military time taught him responsibility and accountability.
"I think that they realize that our strongest suit is our character, our integrity, our honor, our personal courage," Zeldin said. "So they want to attack it because they're so desperate to hold onto power."