WINCHESTER, Ky. -- Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell lambasted a liberal group on Saturday for criticizing the Asian heritage of his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, calling its Twitter messages "racial slurs" and "the ultimate outrage."

"They will not get away with attacking my wife in this campaign," McConnell told about 100 home-state supporters at a Republican dinner in Winchester.

"This woman has the ear of @McConnellPress — she's his #wife," the group Kentucky Progress tweeted on Feb. 14. "May explain why your job moved to #China!"

McConnell forcefully defended Chao, who was born in Taiwan and who moved to the U.S. as an 8-year-old with her family aboard a freight ship.

"Elaine Chao is just as much an American as any of the rest of them," McConnell said. "In fact, she had to go through a lot more to become an American."

McConnell's aides had already criticized the tweets.

Ashley Judd joins GOP in rebuking Kentucky Progress

"Secretary Chao and her family are shining examples of the American dream: salt-of-the-earth folks who escaped oppression, came here with nothing, joined our great melting pot, worked exceptionally hard to build a thriving business, and then dedicated so much of their lives to giving back," said Jesse Benton, manager of McConnell's re-election campaign. "It is unconscionable that anyone would use blatant race-baiting for political gain."

Progress Kentucky removed the offending comments from Twitter after Louisville public radio station WFPL-FM aired reports about them. And the group issued two apologies over the past week for what they described as "inappropriate tweets sent by our organization."

"Those tweets did not reflect our values, and we are committed to making sure nothing like that happens again," executive director Shawn Reilly said in a statement posted on the group's website. "We also apologize to our many supporters, and all Kentuckians working for change in 2014, for those communications. Comments with references to race, ethnicity or sexual orientation have no place in any debate, and we are deeply embarrassed by such a mistake."

Reilly said the volunteer who posted the comments no longer is affiliated with the group.

Criticism of the group wasn't limited to McConnell and his supporters. Numerous Democratic leaders, including actress Ashley Judd, who is considering a challenge to McConnell in next year's election, spoke up, too.

"Whatever the intention, whatever the venue, whomever the person, attacks or comments on anyone's ethnicity are wrong & patently unacceptable," she wrote in a Twitter message last Sunday.

Kentucky Democratic Party Chairman Dan Logsdon said the comments were "deplorable" and "have absolutely no place" in Kentucky politics.

McConnell and his wife have faced similar slights in the past. In 2001, former state Democratic Party chairwoman Nikki Patton apologized for saying that McConnell "passed up some good Kentucky pork to chow down at the Chinese money buffet." 

鳴叫部長趙小蘭：“他們不會逃脫攻擊我的妻子，”麥康奈爾說，
羅傑·奧爾福德，美聯社
溫徹斯特，肯塔基州 - 美國參議院共和黨領袖米奇·麥康奈爾上週六批評亞裔他的妻子，前勞工部長趙小蘭罵得狗血​​淋頭一個開放的，調用其Twitter消息“種族辱罵”和“最終憤怒。”
“他們不會攻擊我的妻子在這場運動中，”麥康奈爾說，約100家國家支持者在共和黨晚餐在溫徹斯特。
“這個女人有耳的@ McConnellPress - ，她是他的＃妻子，”本集團肯塔基進展啾啾2月14日。 “也許可以解釋為什麼你的工作轉移到＃中國！”
麥康奈爾有力地捍衛了潮，誰是出生在台灣和一個8歲的一艘貨運船和她的家人移居到美國。
“趙小蘭是美國任何其餘的人一樣多，”麥康奈爾說。 “事實上，她經歷了很多更成為美國去。”
麥康奈爾的助手們已經批評的鳴叫​​。
阿什利·賈德加入譴責共和黨在肯塔基進展
“趙小蘭和她的家人都閃耀著的”美國夢“的例子：鹽的地球人逃脫壓迫的人，來到這裡什麼也沒有，加入我們的大熔爐，工作非常努力建設一個繁榮的商業，然後專門所以他們的生活回來了，說：“傑西·本頓，經理麥康奈爾的競選連任。 “這是不合情理的，怎麼會有人為了政治利益而使用赤裸裸的種族誘餌”。
進展肯塔基州路易斯維爾公共廣播電台WFPL-FM刪除有問題的意見後，從Twitter發表報告。及本集團在過去的一周，他們稱之為“不恰當的推特發送我們的組織發出兩份道歉。”
“這些tweet沒有反映我們的價值觀，我們致力於確保沒有發生類似的事情再次執行董事肖恩·賴利說：”在本集團的網站上發表的一份聲明中。 “我們也道歉，我們的許多支持者，以及所有肯塔基工作的變化，在2014年，這些通信。比賽，種族或性傾向沒有任何辯論的地方，我們深感尷尬，這樣的錯誤。”
Reilly說，志願者發表的評論不再是附屬於本集團。
麥康奈爾和他的支持者不限於本集團的批評。許多民主黨領袖，包括女演員阿什利·賈德，誰正在考慮一個挑戰，麥康奈爾在明年的選舉中，談到了。
“她說，”不管是什麼意圖，任何場地，任何人的人，任何人的種族攻擊或意見是錯誤的，顯然不能接受，在一條Twitter消息中的最後一個星期日。
肯塔基州民主黨主席丹·洛格斯登的評論說，“可悲”和“絕對沒有的地方”在肯塔基州的政治。
在過去，，麥康奈爾和他的妻子都面臨著類似的玩法。在2001年，前國家民主黨董事長尼克巴頓道歉說，麥康奈爾“錯過了一些很好的肯塔基州豬肉州城下在中國人的錢的自助早餐。”