BOSTON — Republican Senate candidate John Deaton is going after Ed Markey with both barrels, calling the longtime senator a "massive hypocrite" for grandstanding on Iran while staying silent for decades whenever a Democrat president launched unauthorized military action.

In a statement released Monday, Deaton, a U.S. Marine veteran, tore into Markey's record on war powers, zeroing in on one glaring example: President Obama's 2011 intervention in Libya.

"Take President Obama's 2011 Libya intervention, the most egregious War Powers violation in modern history, dragging on for 210 days without a shred of congressional authorization," Deaton said. "U.S. forces were dropping bombs and launching missile strikes, yet Obama claimed we weren't engaged in 'hostilities.' Where was Markey's righteous indignation then? Silent as a stone."

Markey has been in Congress since 1976, first in the House and then the Senate since 2013. That is nearly 50 years on Capitol Hill. And in all that time, Deaton argues, the senator has never once held a Democratic president to the same standard he is now applying to Republican military actions on Iran.

"Over his decades in office, Markey has never once called out his own party's presidents for overstepping, from unauthorized drone strikes to other military escapades that put our troops at risk without proper oversight," Deaton said in the statement. "It's always crickets when it's a Democrat in charge."

Deaton framed the attack as something bigger than partisan point-scoring.

"This isn't about red jerseys or blue jerseys. It's about people over politics," he said. "Massachusetts deserves better than a lifelong politician who plays favorites with our nation's security."