'Nixonian': US senator attacks release of Ashley Judd tape

Mitch McConnell attacks recording of meeting in which his staff discuss 'emotionally unbalanced' actress

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 14:Ashley Judd attends Ashley Judd in Conversation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime at the United Nations on March 14, 2012 in New York City.(Photo by Da
(Image credit: 2012 Getty Images)

A SECRET tape recording of a senior Republican senator and his staff discussing ways to exploit Hollywood actress Ashley Judd's history of mental illness if she stands for election, has "stripped bare" the take-no-prisoners nature of US politics, The Times says.

Rather than apologise for the conversation – in which Judd is labelled "emotionally unbalanced" – Senator Mitch McConnell has condemned the release of the tape to Mother Jones magazine as "quite a Nixonian move" by his opponents on the left. He was referring to the Watergate scandal which linked former US president Richard Nixon to a plan to install secret listening devices in the Democratic National Committee's headquarters in Washington.

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