Republican Rep. Robin Hayes, who is locked in a closely contested House race in North Carolina, has also been criticized after telling a crowd Saturday that “liberals hate real Americans that work and accomplish and achieve and believe in God.”

At first, Hayes denied making the remarks, but he was forced to acknowledge them after an audiotape of the speech was produced. Clarifying his comment, Hayes said: “I actually was trying to work to keep the crowd as respectful as possible, so this is definitely not what I intended.”

The controversial comment came while Hayes, 63, was speaking at a campaign rally in Concord, N.C., where Senator John McCain appeared. The 10-year congressman said that he genuinely did not remember making the comment, which has come out “completely the wrong way”, via the media.
Hayes faces a tough challenge from Democrat Larry Kissell, whom he defeated by a mere 329 votes out of more than 120,000 cast in 2006. Hayes said conservatives and liberals differ greatly on the nation’s future, but his comment was the wrong way to deliver that message.

Hayes also said that as a conservative, he fights for “lower taxes”, and for policies that “strengthen our values”. He added: “Liberals are advocating higher taxes, which I believe punish success — and they are advocating policies like gay marriage that I feel undermine strong families.”

Meanwhile, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is spending money running ads critical of Hayes, in which it accuses Hayes of initially trying to deny his publicly-made statement.

DCCC spokeswoman, Kyra Jennings, said that Hayes’ comments should be “told to the voters’, and he should be “held accountable” for them.