RALEIGH, N.C._Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine says he was "stunned" by a North Carolina Republican Party tweet that mistakenly claimed he'd worn a Honduran flag pin at the Democratic National Convention.
Kaine, a U.S. senator from Virginia, addressed the incident during an interview with TV station WXII at a campaign stop in Greensboro on Wednesday. He noted that his son serves in the Marines and is based at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville. He had just deployed overseas as the convention began.
During Kaine's speech, the North Carolina GOP's official Twitter account posted that he was wearing "a Honduras flag pin on his jacket but no American flag," calling the wardrobe choice "shameful."
"I was stunned," Kaine said of the tweet Wednesday. "I wore a Blue Star family pin because I'm proud of him. He couldn't be with Anne and me and our family on an important day in our life ... because he's serving our country. I just shook my head when I saw it."
The tweet was quickly deleted and the state GOP executive director Dallas Woodhouse later issued an apology to Kaine for the mistake, which he said resulted in "severe internal sanctions and mandatory retraining" for the staffer responsible.
"They have apologized, and I'll let it rest there," Kaine said.
