Kelli Ward blasts media while defending 'Political correctness is like a cancer!' tweet

Yvonne Wingett Sanchez | The Republic | azcentral.com

Show Caption Hide Caption Kelli Ward: Media ran with 'false narrative' on John McCain comments Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kelli Ward held a press conference on Aug. 27, 2018, to discuss her comments about the late Sen. John McCain.

Against the backdrop of a nation in mourning and just hours before Election Day, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kelli Ward lashed out against the media and those who were offended by her comments about U.S. Sen. John McCain, a war hero who died Saturday following a 13-month battle with brain cancer.

Ward, a former state senator from Lake Havasu City, said her remarks have been misunderstood by the media and others.

At a news conference at her campaign office in Tempe, she did not fully apologize for her remarks that involved the timing of the senator's announcement about ending medical treatment.

"I do understand how many could have misconstrued my comments as insensitive," she said. "And for this, I apologize.

"But again, the intention of my comments were in no way directed at Senator McCain or his family."

Ward's media event drew a large number of reporters from around the nation, who have descended on Arizona to report on McCain's death and the hotly-contested Senate race. The race could help decide control of the GOP Senate.

'I never mean to hurt people's feelings'

Earlier on Monday, Ward compared "political correctness" to cancer on Twitter, amid intense criticism of another one of her social media posts from Saturday.

In that post, Ward insinuated that the announcement from the McCain family that he was ending medical treatment was timed to hurt her candidacy. In the final stretch of the primary race, Ward was on a "Road to Victory" bus tour and was hoping to make positive headlines of her own.

Ward wrote, “I think they wanted to have a particular narrative that is negative to me.” She immediately drew widespread condemnation for the post, with people accusing her of being self-obsessed and disrespectful. She took down the comment, which came in response to a Facebook post by one of her campaign staffers, who questioned if it was "just a coincidence" that the McCain family released the statement the same day that Ward was kicking off her campaign bus tour, "or if it was a plan to take media attention off her campaign?"

On Monday morning, tshe appeared to double down on Twitter.

"Political correctness is like a cancer!" she wrote.

Political correctness is like a cancer! — Dr. Kelli Ward (@kelliwardaz) August 27, 2018

She lashed out at her critics, writing, "Now they call us 'degenerate' & 'trash people.' Are there no depths to which these people won't sink?"

Ward posted a sampling of some of the responses she received, including one from GOP strategist Rick Wilson, who condemned her and her supporters.

"Once again, a national reminder that Kelli Ward is a trash person supported by trash people," Wilson wrote.

At her news conference, Ward said she was misunderstood and said political correctness is a tool used by the media and liberals to "silence the voice of conservatives" like herself.

"Whenever those voices are silenced, eventually their messages die," she said. "And so political correctness, yes, is exactly like a cancer."

Ward said she speaks from the heart, "directly to the people," and without scripted talking points like her opponents.

"I never mean to hurt people's feelings or say something that would be untoward," she said.

Ward said her differences with McCain over the years were strictly political, not personal, and that she considered him a hero "who was willing to sacrifice himself, just like I do with all veterans who are willing to sacrifice themselves."

Ward would not specifically say if she would want to work in a Senate building named after McCain.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said shortly after McCain's death that he would introduce a resolution renaming the Senate's Russell office building after him.

"I mean, you know, that's going to be up to whoever's there and we'll see what happens," she said. "I have to fly out of the McCain terminal (at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport) sometimes here."

McCain's death eclipsing election

In the final stretch of the primary race, McCain's death has eclipsed coverage of all political campaigns. Ward is in a three-way race for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. Jeff Flake. She is vying against former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Fountain Hills, and Rep. Martha McSally, a two-term congresswoman.

Polling suggests McSally, the GOP establishment favorite, is ahead.

In 2016, Ward unsuccessfully challenged McCain from the right for the GOP nomination for that Senate seat. McCain easily defeated Ward.

Ward said Monday her comments about McCain, given the governor's reverence for McCain, should not disqualify her from being appointed to McCain's seat.

Ducey is required to nominate a Republican to fill the seat until the 2020 election.

"I don't think that I'm disqualified in any way, shape or form," she said. "I'm highly qualified to go to the United States Senate and that's when we are going to find out tomorrow when the people elect me to be the GOP nominee.

"The governor has a big decision to make and so I hope that he weighs those carefully and my hope is that he appoints another very conservative senator that can work very well with me."

McCain will be honored in services and tributes this week. He will lie in state in both the Arizona state Capitol and the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., before being buried in the cemetery at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Follow the reporter on Twitter @yvonnewingett and on Facebook. Contact her at yvonne.wingett@arizonarepublic.com.

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