Joe Walsh Blasts Crippled Iraq Vet for Touting Service

Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh is taking heat today for accusing opponent Tammy Duckworth—who lost both her legs in Iraq—of talking about her military service too much. In a video that started circulating online yesterday, the GOP rep said John McCain had been admirably reluctant to discuss his military service, the Washington Post reports. "Now I'm running against a woman who—I mean, my God, that's all she talks about. Our true heroes … that's the last thing in the world they talk about."

Walsh released a statement yesterday clarifying his remarks. "Of course Tammy Duckworth is a hero," he wrote. "However, unlike most veterans … who rarely if ever talk about their service or the combat they’ve seen, that is darn near all of what Tammy Duckworth talks about." Duckworth fired back in an MSNBC appearance last night, calling Walsh an "extremist loud mouth for the tea party," who had "disrespected 23 million veterans," Politico reports. (More Tammy Duckworth stories.)