Posted on 11/23/2003 11:03:50 AM PST by areafiftyone
Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle is demanding that Republicans stop showing their first television ad of the 2004 presidential race, which he called "repulsive and outrageous."
The 30-second ad, featuring clips of Bush during his State of the Union address last January, portrays the president as a fighter of terrorism as Democrats retreat from the fight.
"It's wrong. It's erroneous, and I think that they ought to pull the ad," Daschle told NBC's "Meet the Press" program on Sunday.
"We all want to defeat terrorism," the South Dakota senator said. But "to chastise and to question the patriotism of those who are in opposition to some of the president's plans I think is wrong."
The Republican National Committee has no plans to honor Daschle's wishes.
"We have no doubt that Sen. Daschle and others in his party who oppose the president's policy of pre-emptive self-defense believe that their national security approach is in the best interests of the country," RNC spokeswoman Christine Iverson said. "But we also have no doubt that they are wrong about that, and we will continue to highlight this critical policy difference as well as others."
Other Democrats on the Sunday talk shows joined Daschle in his criticism.
Presidential candidate Wesley Clark said the ad is wrong and ought to be pulled. It violates "the pledge the president made to not exploit 9-11 for political purposes," Clark said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy called it an "attempt to stifle dissent." On ABC's "This Week," Kennedy said "dissent is a basic part of what our whole society is about."
Speaking on CNN's "Late Edition," presidential candidate and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman said the ad was misleading, nothing more than an attempt "to get the public's mind off the joblessness in America, the bad prescription Medicare drug bill ... the energy bill, which sells out to lobbyists."
Republicans countered that there was nothing wrong with the ad, which was airing Sunday in Iowa, the day before the Democratic presidential debate in Des Moines.
"It's portraying the president's leadership that he's displayed since Sept. 11, which I support," Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said on ABC. "I think it's a very legitimate statement to be made in the coming presidential election."
The ad will air through Tuesday in Iowa, and then may run again in New Hampshire during the next Democratic debate in December, said the RNC's Iverson. She said the party plans to run ads in conjunction with the Democratic debates, but the decision hasn't been made whether to simply run the current ad or new ones supporting the president.
Little girl picking flowers in a field.
Cut to Dubya on carrier in flight suit looking strong.
Cut to clip of Dubya in oval office with black marker inking out killed terroriest.
Suitable voice over....The President will unmercifully hunt down and kill terrorists....
Back to more flower picking...
Why can't they say it?
Amen to that.!! A recent poll, I believe it was a CNN Time Poll, of registered voters showed GW beating any and all of the dim contenders. This poll was done before the AD started running, I believe. Go GW!!!
Why don't the RNC folks make an ad showing a little girl picking daisies until a terrorist blows her up.
It's funny how the rats can run ads accusing the pubs of lynching, church burnings, truck draggings, etc., and the media ignores them, but when the pubs tell the truth, let the whining begin.
The dims are conveniently identifying themselves as people who are opposing the war on terror. I think this will be a big plus for GW in 2004 if they continue to do this.
ROTFL! Yep, that about sums it up.
Kennedy says the war was "cooked up in Texas", calls Bush "A LIAR! A LIAR!", implies that Bush started the whole war for personal profit... as if THAT isn't an out and out accusation of treason... and he does so without Censure...
And then when Bush gives his side of the story, Kennedy whines it's "stifling dissent"?!?!?!?
Is there -any- lengths these scumbags won't go to to be utter hypocrites!?
We do, we do ~ we can vote those terrorist loving traitors right out of office!
The RATS Are In Disarray ~ Eradicate The Rodents!
Fire Democrats ~ Hire Republicans!
I think Ann Coulter has helped clear the way for this ad. Before she published "Treason," the Democrats would have screamed "McCarthyism!" and it would have worked. Now they can only mumble weakly about the right to "dissent"--itself a negative word for most people other than leftists.
Sorry if you've already seen this. Daschle is repulsed and outraged! : )
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Good thinking, GeorgiaYankee! 
"Some" could refer to elements of the media, to Barbra Streisand, or to the entire country of France. 
The Dems doth protest too much, no doubt due to guilty consciences. Rather like the guy who gets pulled over by a cop, and immediately blurts, "Officer, I didn't run that red Buick off the road four blocks back," to which the officer responds, "I never said you did, but now that you mention it..."
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