Posted on 03/11/2004 11:21:26 AM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON -
President Bush (news - web sites) isn't backing down. His response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is a centerpiece of his campaign for re-election, and he underscores the point Thursday with a visit to a new victims' memorial, before headlining a campaign fund-raiser.
Bush used images from the World Trade Center's smoldering wreckage in his first re-election TV commercials last week, and refused to retreat when critics called them crass exploitation of those killed in the attacks.
Bush was to be among the first digging shovels of dirt at the groundbreaking for a new Sept. 11 memorial in East Meadow, N.Y., a Manhattan suburb on Long Island.
The quarrel over the ads was shadowing Bush, as at least two groups announced plans to protest his visit.
"No one's been held accountable for anything about 9/11," said Bill Doyle, who lost his 25-year-old son, Joseph, at the World Trade Center. Doyle, who also criticized the image in Bush's campaign commercial of the flag-draped remains of a victim being carried from ground zero, said he intends to be at the demonstration.
"I have a problem with exploiting death for political gain," he said. "I'd have the same problem if Democrats used images of body bags coming back from Iraq (news - web sites) in one of their ads."
The $750,000 memorial will feature two semitransparent aluminum towers, representing the World Trade Center, rising 30 feet from a reflecting pool. It will also have a wall with the names of 281 victims who lived in or had ties to Nassau County, N.Y., and two pieces of steel from the trade center's wreckage.
It is expected to be completed in time for September's third anniversary of the attacks.
Besides Bush, New York Gov. George Pataki, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (news - web sites), and Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., were also attending the commemoration. Both Pataki and Giuliani have defended Bush's use of Sept. 11 in the campaign.
Afterward, the group of politicians were making the five-minute trip to Bush's fund-raiser. Bush has raised more than $160 million for his re-election and shows no sign of slowing down as he approaches his stated goal of $170 million.
Both Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) and his wife, Lynne, were on separate money-raising trips as well.
Bush had long planned his Long Island fund-raiser, and when the organizers of the memorial groundbreaking heard the president was coming, they invited him, aides said.
Bush started the day by tending to his conservative base with satellite remarks to the National Association of Evangelicals Convention in Colorado. He used the occasion to issue a fresh appeal for support of his national-security agenda, with a special emphasis on his "compassionate conservative" goals.
"America is a nation with a mission," Bush said. "We're called to fight terrorism around the world, and we're waging that fight. As freedom's home and freedom's defender, we are called to expand the realm of human liberty, and by our actions in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and Iraq, more than 50 million people have been liberated from tyranny."
The economy is another pillar of Bush's re-election bid and he was carrying his message of tax cuts and trade to Long Island as well.
He takes a 10-minute tour of USA Industries, which makes automobile parts in Bay Shore, N.Y., and hosts a "conversation on the economy," where managers and workers typically extol the benefits of his economic agenda.
___
Associated Press Writer Frank Eltman in Garden City, N.Y., contributed to this report.
Just another subtle way to give the impression that anything Bush says or does about 9-11 is for personal gain.
How about John Kerry, who by the way served in Vietnam, using the Vietnam war in his advertising. 50,000 US toops died there -- should Kerry stop running those ads?
A google on "bill doyle 9/11" doesn't immediately indicate any membership in groups like Peaceful Tomorrows, but his name is linked off of similar sites ("Bush knew/lied", "coverup" nutjobs) and his name pops up all the time in 9/11 related stories.
NEVER FORGET
Yet Bill Doyle doesn't have a problem in exploiting his 9/11 professional victim status to protest Bush at a memorial for 9/11! Where's the logic in that?
U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) hugs the relative of a victim of the September 11, 2001 attacks, as he participates in the groundbreaking ceremony of the Nassau County 9/11 memorial, at East Meadow on Long Island, New York, March 11, 2004. The memorial is being built for the 281 residents of Nassau County who died in the attacks. REUTERS/Jason Reed
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