Pryor says Cotton exudes vet ‘entitlement,’ riling GOP

Correction: Erik Dorey is the deputy campaign manager for the campaign of U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark. His title was incorrect in this article.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor said Wednesday that his opponent, war veteran U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton, acts like his military service in Iraq and Afghanistan entitles him to represent Arkansas in the U.S. Senate.

The race between the two term Little Rock Democrat and the first-term Dardanelle Republican is one of the most closely watched in the nation, and millions of dollars are already being raised and spent on television advertising.

Cotton was a U.S. Army infantry officer from 2005 to 2009, receiving a Bronze Starin 2009. Pryor has no military experience.

Pryor’s comment came in an MSNBC segment on the Senate race that ran Wednesday morning. Pryor said that Cotton hasn’t done much since entering the House in January 2013.

“I don’t see where he’s passed a bill, I don’t see where he’s really accomplished anything in the House,” Pryor said. “He seems to have run for the House just in order to run for the Senate.”

NBC News political reporter Kasie Hunt then asked how Pryor views Cotton’s military experience in that context.

“I will never criticize anyone for service to our country and I say, ‘Thank you,’ for that,” Pryor said.

“But you don’t see it as a qualification to become a senator?” Hunt asked.

“Uh, no,” Pryor replied, smiling and chuckling. “There’s a lot of people in the Senate that didn’t serve in the military. In the Senate we have all kinds of different people, all kinds of different folks that come from all kinds of different backgrounds and I think that’s part of this sense of entitlement that he gives off, as almost if like ‘I served my country, therefore let me into the Senate,’” Pryor said. “That’s not how it works in Arkansas.”

The segment was broadcast during Morning Joe, a daily news show. Host Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida, and co-host Mika Brzezinski expressed dissatisfaction with Pryor’s statement as soon as it aired, calling it “unbelievable” and “a misstep.”

But fellow Morning Joe co-host Willie Geist said Pryor “wasn’t saying that the military service of Congressman Cotton was insignificant; he was saying that alone should not qualify you to be senator of the state of Arkansas.”

Partisan critics swiftly responded to Pryor’s comments.

Several Republican state legislators lined up Wednesday alongside Republican Party of Arkansas Chairman Doyle Webb at the party’s Little Rock headquarters to ask Pryor to apologize.

“Sen. Pryor audibly laughed out loud when he was asked about this, suggesting a sense of arrogance that I can barely even begin to comprehend,” Webb said. “How out of touch and offensive could one United States senator be? Sen. Pryor should immediately apologize to Tom and all of Arkansas’ veterans for his outrageous remarks.”

State Rep. David Meeks, R-Conway, said that as a veteran, he was offended by the remarks.

“Senator Pryor should apologize for his disgusting remarks and show a little more respect to those who are in the military,” Meeks said.

National Republican organizations also quickly criticized Pryor on Wednesday, saying that as the son of David Pryor, a former U.S. senator and governor, the incumbent is the candidate who acts entitled.

The Democratic Party of Arkansas declined to comment.

Pryor campaign manager Erik Dorey said there needs to be context for the senator’s statement.

“Of course Mark is grateful for Congressman Cotton’s service, but this campaign is about two very different records in Congress and it’s Cotton’s irresponsible votes against Medicare, Social Security and affordable student loans that matter most to Arkansas voters. Cotton himself has stated that ‘military experience shouldn’t be the sole or primary qualification’ for higher office,” he said in a statement.

Cotton campaign spokesman David Ray said the Republican lawmaker is not asking for an apology.

However, Ray said Pryor’s comment shows he is out of touch.

“This is a sad display of arrogance from a career politician who has been seeking office for more than two decades and an insult to everyone who has served,” he said by phone.

Pryor’s campaign said the senator’s comment was similar to what Cotton said in late January 2013 about the nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., to be secretary of defense.

In a Jan. 31, 2013, news release Cotton said, “As military veterans, we admire Chuck Hagel’s honorable and valiant service during the Vietnam War. His courage and commitment in uniform are well documented. At the same time, military experience shouldn’t be the sole or primary qualification for Secretary of Defense. Nor should it stifle a vigorous examination of Mr. Hagel’s statements and votes.”

Webb said Cotton’s comment on Hagel is different than Pryor’s comment on the congressman.

“It’s totally different words, he said primary qualifications,” Webb said. “I interpret what Sen. Mark Pryor said based on his words. I’m not reading anything into it or out of it. He said he viewed it as an entitlement.”

Webb then shut down the news conference and said he would not be answering any more questions. When a television reporter asked for clarification about the difference, a GOP staff member said Webb had answered the question “just fine.”

A handful of veterans gathered at the senator’s campaign headquarters Wednesday afternoon to defend Pryor, saying the remarks were not offensive to veterans. Several of them credited Pryor with introducing and supporting pro-military and pro-veteran legislation.

Retired Col. Mike Ross, who spent 37 years in the military, said he was proud of Cotton’s military service, but that he wasn’t sure he had the experience to be a senator.

Doug Wood, a retired helicopter and gunship pilot in Vietnam and the Dominican Republic, served in the Arkansas Legislature with Pryor.

“I think what’s more important is looking at the qualifications for the office, where you have a track record,” Wood said. “We have a track record of what [Pryor] has done in the past and what he has accomplished. And I think those are the kinds of qualifications you look for when you decide who is going to continue to serve.”

Cotton’s 2012 House opponent, Democrat Gene Jeffress, also said Cotton had nothing to run on except his military service.

Jeffress, a former high school choral director, was quoted in an Associated Press article about Iraq and Afghanistan veterans running for office.

“I appreciate all of our veterans, and I respect them,” Jeffress said in the article. “But I think it’s been overdone. If he [Cotton] hadn’t have had that, I don’t know what else he would have had to run on.”

Arkansas, Pages 9 on 03/06/2014

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