Sept. 11 Families Disgusted by Bush Campaign Ads

Yahoo (Reuters) ^ | 3/4/04 | Mark Egan

[The_Victor]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Families who lost relatives in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks voiced outrage on Thursday at President Bush (news - web sites)'s first ads of his re-election campaign that use images of the devastated World Trade Center to portray him as the right leader for tumultuous times.

"Families are enraged," said Bill Doyle, 57, of New York, who is active in several Sept. 11 family groups. "What I think is distasteful is that the president is trying to use 9/11 as a springboard for his re-election."

"It's entirely wrong. He's had 3,500 deaths on his watch, including Iraq (news - web sites)," said Doyle, whose 25-year-old son Joseph died at the trade center.

Long time Bush adviser Karen Hughes defended the four commercials -- which began running on Thursday in at least 16 important battleground states -- as "tastefully done."

"September 11 is not some distant event in the past," Hughes told ABC's "Good Morning America."

"It's a defining event for our future and important that we learn the lessons of that day. All of us feel deeply that tragedy but it's also important to recognize the impact it had on our national public policy," she said.

Two ads refer to the hijacked airliner attacks as the Bush campaign seeks to present him as a leader who rose to the challenge. One ad shows World Trade Center ruins behind an American flag. Another shows firefighters removing the flag-draped remains of a victim.

Ron Willett of Walnut Shade, Missouri, said he was disgusted when he saw the ads. Willett, who lost his 29-year-old son, John Charles, when planes hit the trade center, said he is now so upset, "I would vote for Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) before I would vote for Bush."

"I think it is an atrocity," his wife, Lucy, added. "He should not be allowed to use those images at all."

STAY AWAY FROM GROUND ZERO

With Republicans holding their political convention in New York in late August, victims said they hope Bush does not make it worse by speaking at the site now known as Ground Zero, which many view as sacred.

"If he does, there will be a protest and it could get ugly," said Doyle.

Several family members said their annoyance at Bush's using the emotional images stems in part from his refusal to testify in open session before the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"There is really a hypocrisy here. The Bush administration will not cooperate fully with the 9/11 commission and at the same time they are trying to invoke and own 9/11 and use it for his re-election," said Stephen Push from the Washington office of "Families September 11th." His wife died on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon (news - web sites) that day.

The International Association of Fire Fighters, which endorsed Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites), also denounced the campaign spots as "hypocrisy at its worst."

"I'm disappointed but not surprised that the president would try to trade on the heroism of those fire fighters," the union's general president, Harold Schaitberger, said.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he had not yet seen the ads but had no objections.

"I haven't a problem in reminding people in the country and the world of the sacrifices that the New York City fire department and police department and civilians made," Bloomberg said.

And not all relatives of victims were upset by the ads.

"I don't have a problem with his pointing to his leadership at that time. He helped us weather it. To me it was a tasteful ad," said Patricia Reilly, who sister Lorraine Lee died in the New York attacks. (additional reporting by Larry Fine)

[Republican Wildcat]

Ron Willett of Walnut Shade, Missouri, said he was disgusted when he saw the ads. Willett, who lost his 29-year-old son, John Charles, when planes hit the trade center, said he is now so upset, "I would vote for Saddam Hussein before I would vote for Bush."

Sounds more like it is these families that are using their lost loved ones for political gain. It's sick as it gets.

The media is attacking Bush for running positive ads.

[Toespi]

WOW, your good.....

[Republican Wildcat]

Very true. They are sick and disgusting people. Using their dead family members for partisan politics. Sick, sick, sick.

[highlandbreeze]

I thought the threat of terrorism was exaggerated. Now we find out that he knew all about the threat years before 9-11. Will he ever get his story straight?

[Toespi]

Can you forward these tidbits to the various media outlets that are using Willett?

[Warren_Piece]

*on his watch* is the new catch phrase....

THe new "gravitas"

[GOPrincess]

I'm appalled that the Dems and the media are succeeding in making this an "issue." Of *course* it would be part of an ad. Are we supposed to have collective amnesia about the most significant event on American soil in the last half-century? Does the leadership role our President played at that time mean nothing?

As LiteKeeper says, the families quoted were doubtless anti-Bush before 9/11. And I'm sure the media know this...they just love to play their role in making a mess when it comes to the President.

I read this thought elsewhere today -- many many more Americans died in Vietnam than on 9/11, yet Kerry thinks nothing of using *that* in his ads, and he has for months. He gets a pass from the media, of course.

[Catalonia]

Now THAT deserves a quick letter to the author of this article, as well as to Reuters.

[Republican Wildcat]

I'm sure they are more than aware of this. Liars, all.

[Republican Wildcat]

"I don't have a problem with his pointing to his leadership at that time. He helped us weather it. To me it was a tasteful ad," said Patricia Reilly, who sister Lorraine Lee died in the New York attacks. (additional reporting by Larry Fine)

As you can see, there were positive comments about the ad. Therefore, an honest headline would have been 'Debate emerges over Bush ads' (although this isn't really news at all). However, the writer and the headline writer were deliberately trying to create a false impression. Again, liars all.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

To no one's surprise (even Puky Katie) Bill Doyle is linked to the 9-11 Visibility Project, a rabid anti-Bush, "anti-war" web site. 9-11 Visibility Project claims that Mr. Doyle invited the link to his son's memorial web site

"tastefully done."

Screw "tastefully" done! If I lose a loved one on a highway I don't own the freaking highway! Others are remiss if they don't address the problem of accidents on that highway.

We are not doing our duty if we hand over 9/11 to a few who feeeeeeeeel that they own the "event" that took their loved ones. I believe that these few represent just a tiny fraction of those who suffered losses in the attacks upon America that day. The few sickos are making this political, not Americans who are defending against radical Islam.

On a related subject, to wit our national security vis-a-vis dem Rats: yank their chains harder!

[NYCVirago]

I wrote him an email commenting on his biased story. We'll see if we get a response.

[NYCVirago]

Scratch that -- the email address you posted doesn't work -- my email was just returned.

[hershey]

Reuters is nuts, and I don't believe for a minute that anyone grieving for a 9/11 victim would make such a stupid comment. We won't defeat the monsters who planned 9/11 by mincing words and avoiding facing what happened. It was horrible, obscene beyond belief, but we have two clear choices in Nov.. Kerry will treat 9/11 and the aftermath as a legal problem. They committed a felony, so we'll arrest them...if the UN says it's okay. This will mean more attacks on US soil, but those are the breaks. We'll hire a hundred thousand more policemen. Bush will hunt down terrorists wherever they are. Period. So far, we've liberated two countries and scared several terrorist states out of their wits. And we're not done yet. The RATs don't want Bush to show any ads depicting reality. Sorry, this won't work. He'll show the aircraft carrier incident, too. Flight suit and all. Kerry can show an ad for botox.

[Carolinamom]

Dog, the clip in Kerry's ad that shows him in SC making his 2nd announcement of his candidacy is on the wharf BESIDE a decommissioned aircraft carrier.

President Bush landed on an aircraft carrier at sea!

What's w/Kerry's carrying a gun in the jungle? He was in the NAVY.

Kerry is also often seen wearing a leather pilot's jacket. He was NOT a pilot.

[aruanan]

Sept. 11 Families Disgusted by Bush Campaign Ads

They should be disgusted with Clinton for doing nothing before and following the first World Trade Center bombing. But then, how difficult would it be, out of the almost 3000 families represented by folks killed on 9/11 to find some rabid Democrats willing to do this? I'd like to see some campaign ads featuring 9/11 families who support the President for what he's done since then.

[HungarianGypsy]

Are we supposed to have collective amnesia about the most significant event on American soil in the last half-century?
No, not collective. Just selective. We just need to remember it during the events when we are supposed to ask ourselves, "What did Bush know and when did he know it?" Otherwise, we're supposed to forget about it the rest of the time. </putting away Dimwit Handbook of Good Socialist Robot Citizens>

[Dog]

Little known fact Kerry went back to the spot of his famous firefight....and did a reenactment of his heroism he used an 8mm camera .....he showed the tape to a Boston Globe reporter.

[NYCVirago]

Take a tiny few Bush haters and say that they represent ALL of the families who lost loved ones in 9-11. Yea, THAT is fair and in good tast.

The thing that irritates me about these articles is how it's so blatantly obvious that the people quoted are biased sources -- they run organizations designed to bash Bush on 9/11, for goodness sake, yet they're quoted as representative victims' families. A simple google search reveals a huge paper trail for all of these people. Yet they're quoted as if they're typical 9/11 family members. Absolutely sickening.