Thompson Baldwin 9/11 Attacks

Thompson Baldwin 9/11 Attacks, Republican Senate candidate Tommy Thompson is airing a new ad statewide that criticizes his Democratic opponent, Tammy Baldwin, for voting against a resolution honoring the victims of Sept. 11, 2001.
Baldwin, however, is taking issue with the ad and sent out a statement as the spot began circulating. Factcheck.org offered its own analysis and found that key facts were left out.

The Thompson ad is the latest attempt to portray Baldwin, a congresswoman from Dane County, as extreme. In this case, Baldwin voted against a resolution in 2006 that paid homage to the victims of the attack.

The vote in the House of Representatives was 395-22. Twenty-one of the 22 “no” votes were Democrats.

“Wisconsin voters need to know that Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin put her extreme views above honoring the men and women who were murdered by the terrorists in the Sept. 11 attacks on our nation,” Thompson said in a statement.

But the Baldwin campaign in a statement called the ad a “dishonest attack that tries to suggest Tammy Baldwin opposes honoring the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.”

Baldwin’s spokesman John Kraus said that the congresswoman voted to honor 9-11 victims nine times.

But she voted against the 2006 resolution because it included divisive language, including an endorsement of the Patriot Act and immigration bills that Baldwin believes are punitive.

“Rather than offering a bipartisan resolution that unites us on this solemn occasion, the Republican leadership converted the bill into an endorsement of the PATRIOT Act, punitive immigration bills, and other highly controversial measures, which many of my constituents oppose,” Baldwin said on the floor in casting her vote.