Ad attacks Braley for missing VA hearings

Crossroads GPS launched its second ad slamming Senate hopeful Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) for missing several meetings of the panel overseeing the Veterans Affairs Department.

The arm of GOP strategist Karl Rove’s American Crossroads is pushing its attack, following a spot earlier this month. The new ad repeats charges that the congressman missed 75 percent of the full House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s meetings as a member.

{mosads}The VA has been plagued for months by scandals over patient wait times and some veterans may have died waiting for treatment.

The commercial, released on Tuesday, asks what would have happened if U.S. soldiers “skipped major battles” during the Civil War or “never showed up” on D-Day during World War II before skewering Braley for his absenteeism.

“Call Congressman Braley. Tell him to get to work and give veterans the healthcare they deserve,” the narrator says in the 30-second ad.

The $412,000 buy will air in the Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Quad Cities and Rochester, Minn., for ten days.

Braley is locked in a close race, against state Sen. Joni Ernst (R), a lieutenant colonel in the Iowa National Guard, that could decide which party controls the Senate next year.

A Braley campaign spokesman said the accusations made in the ad had previously been labeled “false and potentially misleading” by Factcheck.org.

“It’s shameful that Karl Rove is trying to play politics and distort Bruce Braley’s impressive accomplishments for Iowa’s veterans,” state Rep. Todd Prichard, a veteran who appeared in Braley’s newest ad, said in a statement.

He said Braley’s “number one priority is delivering results for Iowa veterans — and I know firsthand that he has the record to prove it.”