GOP House candidate uses ISIS beheading footage in ad

A long-shot Republican House candidate is using footage from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) video of the beheading of American journalist James Foley to paint freshman Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) as soft on terror.

{mosads}Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Wendy Rogers’s (R) campaign ad appears to be the first to use footage from an ISIS execution video this election cycle. While the ad doesn’t show the actual execution, it shows the moments leading up to the death of the U.S. journalist. 

This summer, Allen Weh, the Republican trying to oust Democratic Sen. Tom Udall (N.M.), released a campaign ad that included a still photo from the Foley video.

A Sinema campaign spokeswoman said she had seen the Rogers ad but had no immediate comment.

Tyrone Gayle, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, called on Rogers to pull the ad and apologize to Foley’s family, saying it was “reprehensible” for her to “use the footage of an American tragedy for political gain.”

“For Wendy Rogers to use such a reprehensible tactic to make baseless claims just to smear Representative Sinema proves how desperate her campaign has become,” Gayle said.

“Terrorists threats are growing. Are we secure? Are we protected?” a narrator says in the ad over images that include Foley kneeling next to his masked captor. “Keeping us safe and secure is Congress’s job. Kyrsten Sinema hasn’t done her job.”

The ad accuses Sinema of voting to give terrorists full legal rights and to allow terrorists imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to return to their home countries.

“It’s true. It’s wrong,” the narrator continues. “Kyrsten Sinema allowed her liberal agenda to get in the way of our safety.”

The terror threat from ISIS has become a central campaign issue in the November midterm elections as the Obama administration struggles to figure out how to combat Islamic militants who have seized parts of Syria and Iraq.

Sinema represents Arizona’s 9th Congressional District, which includes parts of Phoenix and its suburbs. The district appears much safer than two other Arizona House seats controlled by Democrats.

Updated at 4:13 p.m.