McCaskill, Hawley point fingers in civility debate

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) and Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley (R) on Thursday both decried the bombs mailed to several prominent Democrats around the country this week and called for reducing the incendiary rhetoric in politics today, just before they blamed each other’s parties — and each other — for racing toward the gutter.

Hawley, a former Supreme Court clerk running his second statewide race after winning the attorney general office in 2016, pointed to Democratic “mobs” that accosted senators during the debate over Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination.

“It was the Senate Democrats who launched a personal smear campaign against Brett Kavanaugh,” Hawley said. “It was Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder who have encouraged, frankly, confrontation if not violence.”

{mosads}“Did you notice he blamed it on Democrats?” McCaskill asked. “There is incredible incendiary rhetoric used by the president at his rallies from time to time. We all know that.”

“This has been a terribly personal campaign,” McCaskill said.

“She has been attacking me relentlessly, personally, calling me a liar,” Hawley said later.

In their final showdown before November’s midterm elections, taped Thursday at KMBC-TV in Kansas City, two candidates with backgrounds as prosecutors spent an hour relitigating their respective pasts, with only the briefest hints at what the future would hold.

It was a debate in keeping with what has been one of the more negative races of a notably nasty election cycle.

McCaskill, fighting for her third term in the Senate, castigated Hawley for his participation in a lawsuit brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) that challenges the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. If a federal court in Texas strikes down the ACA, it would end protections for those with preexisting conditions — and McCaskill said Hawley’s office had asked the judge to delay a decision until after the midterms.

“When Josh Hawley decided to go to court with your tax dollars and wipe out preexisting conditions, your kids stay on your policy until you’re 26, women paying more for insurance, he made a conscious decision to do that knowing there was no backup. There is no backup. That’s why he doesn’t want this case decided before November,” McCaskill said.

Hawley said he supports a program to federally reinsure insurance pools that include high-cost individuals, as part of a plan to replace the ACA while ensuring protections for those with preexisting conditions.

“We do not need Obamacare to cover people with preexisting conditions, and I’ve said that federal reinsurance is one way to do it,” Hawley said.

Referring to advertising from McCaskill’s campaign that highlights what she paints as the dangers of ending the ACA, he added: “This whole campaign has been a big scare tactic for Sen. McCaskill. It’s about scaring voters.”

Hawley has aligned himself closely with President Trump, in a state that favored Trump by a 19-point margin in 2016. Hawley has declined to criticize Trump, even for the harsh rhetoric that has earned the president rebukes from others in his party. Hawley characterizes McCaskill as a “liberal Democrat,” a phrase he repeated Thursday more than a dozen times.

McCaskill has highlighted her own independent streak, including her votes for two-thirds of Trump’s judicial nominees and more than half his Cabinet nominees. She said Trump had signed more than 30 bills she sponsored or co-sponsored into law.

But McCaskill on Thursday more openly criticized Trump for misstatements, untruths and lies.

“Just lie after lie after lie. And he even admits sometimes. I don’t get why he feels the need to do that as the leader of what I think is an exceptional nation that has always been so proud of our values,” McCaskill said. “I don’t like it that he lies all the time. I think it sets a bad example.”

Still, McCaskill allies herself with Trump where she can. She said she “stand[s] foursquare with the president” on the need for increased security on the southern border with Mexico, pointing to an Obama-era law she shepherded through the Senate.

On Thursday, Hawley embraced Trump’s warnings about a caravan of migrants moving north through Mexico who plan on applying for asylum once they reach the United States.

He called the caravan “a potential national security crisis that is brewing by the hour.”

McCaskill at times appeared aggravated by her young challenger, at one point interrupting one of Hawley’s answers before apologizing and allowing him to finish.

“It’s hard not to get frustrated when someone keeps lying about your record,” McCaskill told reporters after the debate. “Truth matters. You don’t have to lie to lead.”

A few hours later, as she left a meet-and-greet with volunteers at the storefront offices of the Platte County Democratic Party, McCaskill explained her strategy to a friend, in earshot of several reporters.

“I decided the hell with it, I’m just going to swing,” McCaskill said.