CHARLESTON — The family of the late Robert C. Byrd blasted the GOP nominee for his U.S. Senate seat Sunday for including an image from Byrd’s West Virginia memorial service in a TV attack ad.

The campaign of Republican John Raese defended its use of the image, which shows President Barack Obama sitting with Gov. Joe Manchin at the state Capitol ceremony marking Byrd’s June 28 death. The ad seeks to tie Obama to Manchin, the Democrat running in a special election for what remains of Byrd’s term.

“That’s a stock photo. We had no idea it was from the memorial service,” campaign manager Jim Dornan said Sunday.

Byrd’s family said they were “deeply angered and disturbed” by the image’s use and called for the campaign to withdraw the ad.

“This is a tasteless and insensitive act by Mr. Raese,” said the statement. “His act is insulting to the memory of Robert Byrd and should have no place in a West Virginia political campaign.”

Marjorie Byrd Moore, one of Byrd’s two daughters and a Virginia resident, e-mailed the statement to The Associated Press. She said that Raese had attacked her father when he unsuccessfully challenged Byrd’s 2006 bid for a record ninth Senate term.

Among other issues, Raese had criticized Byrd’s age — he was 88 then, and 92 when he died — and his decision to bury his wife of nearly 69 years, Erma, in Virginia near their Washington, D.C., area residence. A grandson is buried at the same cemetary. Byrd was interred alongside his wife after a July funeral.

Moore said Manchin contacted her about the ad. Manchin campaign spokeswoman Sara Payne Scarbro said the governor apologized to her after getting calls about the ads.

Scarbro said the memorial was meant as a bipartisan, nonpolitical tribute to history’s longest-serving member of Congress.

“To use that photo just truly shows the character of Mr. Raese,” Scarbro said Sunday. “It shows what we can expect from Mr. Raese, and that is negative ads and negative campaigning.”

But Dornan dismissed the flap as an attempt to distract from the ad’s overall message: that Manchin would support Obama administration policies if elected, while Raese would not. Obama lost West Virginia in 2008 and is not considered popular there.

“He’s bringing up these ridiculous non-issues,” Dornan said of Manchin.

Dornan also noted that the image shows Obama and Manchin smiling. “I think I would be more offended that Obama and Manchin were smiling and laughing at Byrd’s memorial service,” he said.

Dornan said the campaign also stands by its characterizations of this year’s federal health care overhaul, which it also seeks to link to Manchin.

The ad calls the new law “government-run health care.” Such a system is not established in the legislation. Dornan echoed other critics of the overhaul who fear that a government-run insurance system is its inevitable consequence.

The ad also alleges that the overhaul will cut $400 billion from Medicare, which is a government-run program covering seniors. Dornan said that refers to estimates of reduced payments to private insurers who provide supplemental coverage to seniors through so-called “Medicare Advantage” plans.

The actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has said that the legislation could slow the growth of Medicare spending by $571 billion through 2019, mostly by cutting those extra payments and eliminating fraud.

“Social Security and Medicare are part of the fabric of this country,” Dornan said. “We ought to be working to save Social Security and Medicare... We don’t think cutting (Medicare) to the bone is the correct way to make sure that people get health care in this country.”