Posted on 03/04/2004 8:59:42 AM PST by The South Texan
9/11 Victims' Kin Angered by Bush Ads 12 minutes ago Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo!
By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Relatives of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and a firefighters union said Thursday they're angry that President Bush (news - web sites)'s new campaign ads include images of the destroyed World Trade Center and firefighters carrying a flag-draped stretcher through the rubble.
They say the ads are in poor taste and accuse Bush of exploiting the attacks. Bush's campaign defended the commercials as appropriate for an election about public policy and the war on terror, saying they were a tasteful reminder of what the country has been through the last three years. The campaign had said in the past that it would not use the attacks for political gain.
"It makes me sick," Colleen Kelly, who lost her brother Bill Kelly Jr., in the attacks and leads a victims families group called Peaceful Tomorrows, said Thursday. "Would you ever go to someone's grave site and use that as an instrument of politics? That truly is what Ground Zero represents to me."
"September 11th was not just a distant tragedy. It's a defining event for the future of our country," Karen Hughes, a Bush campaign adviser, told "The Early Show" on CBS on Thursday. "Obviously, all of us mourn and grieve for the victims of that terrible day, but September 11 fundamentally changed our public policy in many important ways, and I think it's vital that the next president recognize that."
The first ads started running Thursday on broadcast channels in about 80 markets in 18 states, most of which are expected to be critical to the election, and nationwide on select cable networks. The ads do not mention Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites), focusing instead on improving Bush's image after criticism by Democrats in recent months. Bush is expected to spend a large part of his $100 million war chest on ads.
One of the ads shows the charred wreckage of the twin towers with a flag flying amid the debris. Another ad — and a Spanish-language version of it — use that image as well alongside firefighters carrying a flag-draped stretcher through the rubble as sirens are heard. Firefighters are shown in all the ads.
Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, on Thursday called the ads disgraceful and said they should be pulled.
"We're not going to stand for him to put his arm around one of our members on top of a pile of rubble at Ground Zero during a tragedy and then stand by and watch him cut money for first responders," Schaitberger said. He said his union is politically independent even though it endorsed Kerry and has donated money to Republicans.
Barbara Minervino, a Republican from Middletown, N.J., who lost her husband, Louis, in the attacks, questioned whether Bush was "capitalizing on the event."
David Potorti, an independent from Cary, N.C., whose brother Jim died in the north tower, called the campaign's use of the images audacious.
"It's an insult to use the place where my brother died in an ad," Potorti said. "I would be just as outraged if any politician did this."
Until Bush cooperates with the federal commission that is investigating the nation's preparedness before the attacks and its response "by testifying in public under oath ... he should not be using 9/11 as political propaganda," said Kristen Breitweiser, of Middletown Township, N.J., whose husband, Ronald Breitweiser, 39, died in the World Trade Center.
"Three thousand people were murdered on President Bush's watch," Breitweiser said. "He has not cooperated with the investigation to find out why that happened."
It's outrageous that PETA users Abused Animals to get their message out.
It's outrageous that CBS uses All sorts of people to get their message out so they can sell advertising. They are motivated by pure capitalistic greed!
And what about the Democrats? Here is their largest "independent" group. Here is one site they link to. The DNC is trashing Bush much worse. Which is easy since Bush has not said a word about Botox Boy.
Thank you for posting the obvious! 9/11 was an attack against America; this looks like a clever orchrestrated hijacking by DeMocRATS!
I understand why you may have said that, but if you think it over you can see it's absolute nonsense.
Did FDR forget about Pearl Harbor during the Second World War? Of course not. He constantly reminded Americans of it, to remind them why they were fighting.
Do the Jews forget the Holocaust? Of course not.
We will remember 9/11 forever. The proper response for Kerry and his sycophant media is not that 9/11 is out of bounds, but that he remembers it too, and plans to do something about it. But the very thought is laughable. No wonder AP doesn't want Bush to talk about it.
And exactly how would he do that without mentioning 9-11?
Who took charge when this tragedy happened? How would they feel right now looking back had Clinton still been in charge?
Maybe we need to air the terror attack more so they can remember who flew our own planes into the towers & Pentagon. AND, who took charge of the matter, defied people, countries, the UN, took action without world-wide approval, and has sent our people around the world to root-out terrorist and those responsible.
HE SHOULD GET CREDIT! He has the right to remind people. Never Forget!
They are attempting to muzzle the White House on all issues, while challenging him to debate the issues and telling the electorate that Bush will be avoiding the issues!
The coverage of 9/11 has been intentionally sanitized from Day One. After the first live feeds showing people jumping to their deaths to avoid burning to death, and the recovery of the first bady parts, we were never shown that again. Yet that footage is readily available to the rest of the world. The first and second anniversaries of the attacks (yes, we really are at war) are presented as great tragedies, like killer hurricanes and other natural disasters.
These are the same media rat bastards that are whining that they can't show American coffins returning home, or interview the families of the dead and wounded. This policy was instituted by the klinton regime to prevent embarrassment to them, but is actually a wise policy.
These leftist haters are trying to rewrite the history we all saw, just to benefit bringing the klintons and/or their flunkies back to power, forever. I say "F'em" is too good for what they've done.
That's what you think. It's only March. They will sink far, far lower before all this is over. It's gonna be UG-LY.
The ads were tastefully done, and the brief mention of 9-11 was in context.
Have you seen the ads?
Sorry, but this isn't some regular guy. He has a politcal bent (anti-Bush peace-nik), see below..
BUZZFLASH: Could you give our readers some background about how September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows got started?
DAVID POTORTI: I think we owe all of that to the Internet. After the bombing of Afghanistan began, the core members who would eventually form the group were bothered by the bombing campaign as a response to Sept. 11. I think we had an almost identical reaction........
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Baloney. It's the defining moment of Bush's 1st term. He absolutely needs to remind Americans of his leadership in that darkest hour.
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