Congressional candidate Martha McSally took on a former superior officer and pilot trainer in the Air Force who called into The Morning Ritual radio show with Garrett Lewis on Tucson’s KNST. The former superior officer of McSally’s, said that McSally was an inferior pilot and was only interested in getting promotions.
An angry McSally called in to challenge the caller claiming that “they didn’t want women in the Air Force. For the most part I had a wonderful experience in the Air Force. I had incredible hostility coming from people like him.”
The officer responded, “I was not Martha’s instructor when she was going through initial training, but I did fly with her more than in the combat operational squadron. We were debriefing, going through exhaustive debriefing and she said, ‘You just don’t get it, it does not matter what my grades are, I just want to get my promotion.”
McSally responded that that was a lie. “My motivations have always been to serve my country. I was a public servant and a leader in my career. Now we are ready to move on from this kind of stuff I have dealt with my entire career.”
The caller responded, “Having been a long term resident of Arizona I know what I heard I know what others heard. I don’t think she is doing this for the people if Arizona but for her own self interest… she has other motivations.”
A later caller said the he knew the caller, and that he had a impeccable reputation.
McSally has come under fire for her interview with a Tucson tabloid, in which she told the reporter that she did not know what SB1017 was and who Congressman Paul Ryan is. She explained her lack of knowledge to the reporter, “I’m sorry, I have been out of the country for awhile.”
SB 1070 is Arizona’s immigration law which has stirred controversy across the country. Paul Ryan is the conservative congressman who is the author of the popular Ryan budget plan.
Last week, McSally attacked opponent Jesse Kelly and advised him to use his GI bill to go back to college and study geology. The reference was to Kelly’s statement that the U.S. has as much oil as Saudi Arabia. Many republicans viewed her attack, which was met with boos from the debate audience, as confirming perceptions that she is an “angry elitist.”
“She should go back to war college because she didn’t learn anything, you don’t belittle and NCO,” said Nina Samuels. “When she attacked an NCO, it was if she was attacking her crew. She was attacking the people who kept her alive.”
Rumors about McSally’s performance in the Air Force and reported inability to get along with her colleagues have haunted her campaign. She retired from the Air Force in order to return to Tucson and run for the seat vacated by the retirement of Congresswoman Giffords.
Later caller Lisa, a former Air Force pilot called in to say that she was disgusted that McSally would claim discrimination. She said that she couldn’t believe McSally “threw that down” as an excuse for the call from Tom.