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)

[StarFan]

When Linda Vester asked the reaction of one New Yorker to the ad, she spoke for many of us: (Paraphrasing) If you blinked, you would have missed the reference and that's sad because it's something we should never, ever forget!

Freep the New York Daily News poll on right hand side .

[Gringo1]

I'm pissed that I donated money(and not a small sum on my salary and with a wife in the military) to these fools. I just hope my cash went to a non-hater among the families .

[Reelect President Dubya]

Why would anyone pay any attention to anything published by Reuters?

[Dog]

Meet the Willet family.

Willets..

[Lancey Howard]

Screw these ungrateful scumbag "families".

It's just a handful of them anyways. And I'm sure these pathetic mice were carefully scrounged up by the DNC and hooked up with a compliant Reuters specifically for this preemptive smear job.

Most 9/11 victims' families honor George W. Bush and appreciate his efforts to stomp out the cockroach terrorist gangs who were responsible for, and plotting more, attacks on innocent US civilians.

[an amused spectator]

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."

Joseph Doyle and John Charles Willett would be ashamed of their fathers.

What manner of man would put his partisan hatreds ahead of the lives of his children and grandchildren?

[BigSkyFreeper]

These are the same folks who said a long time ago that the media should replay the images of the planes hitting the towers now and again just to remind everyone just what we're up against.

I'm not trying to minimize their loss, and I don't think anyone else here is either, but some who did lose loved ones were saying this all over the media, including The O'Reilly Factor in the days and months afterward.

[Libertarian444]

Mr. Doyle is in the liberal media rolodex. Every time they need a quote attacking Bush, he's there with fresh new material:

May 17, 2002 (USA TODAY): http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/05/17/families.htm

NEW YORK (AP) — While some relatives of Sept. 11 victims refused to cast blame, many others were outraged as they learned that President Bush had received advance warning Osama bin Laden's terror network might hijack U.S. planes. "I believe our whole government let people down," said Bill Doyle of New York, whose son, Joseph, was killed in the World Trade Center. "It's shocking, every time you turn on the TV, to see what's coming out in the wash."
Doyle said Thursday he has received numerous phone calls from other victims' relatives, all distraught over revelations that Bush was told in August about potential hijackings. Officials said the president and U.S. intelligence did not know that suicide hijackers were plotting to use jetliners to slam into buildings.

"If our president was told in August, someone had to drop the ball at the airports," Doyle said. "Were they alerted by the FBI or the CIA?"

---

Sept 4, 2003 (NY Daily News):
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/114953p-103715c.html

"Quite honestly, he probably would have gotten booed," Bill Doyle, who lost his son Joey in the attack, said of a Bush visit. (Responding to fact that President Bush did not personally attend the anniversary of 9/11).

[mystery-ak]

Tell me, Mr and Mrs Doyle, did you accept money from the government as compensation for your son's death?.....

[theDentist]

Ron Willett of Walnut Shade, Missouri,... said he is now so upset, "I would vote for Saddam Hussein before I would vote for Bush."

OK. Fine. He lost a son and he has a right to blame the US along with the terrorists. But here's a perfect example of why it's best to never talk with the Press when you are upset. When you are emotionally distraught you will always say something thoughtless and stupid. And the press will print it with glee.

[Dog]

Last year, the county commission made national news when it turned down the request for a memorial plaque for Willett. During his tenure, the young treasurer had stirred up political wrath by accusing other Republican officials of wrongdoing. One of the commissioners, Ron Herschend, relented after a public outcry - and agreed to pay for the plaque from his pocket.

Taney County's Presiding Commissioner Chuck Pennel said that on Tuesday, the county quietly hung the plaque along with a flag that flew at the courthouse on the first anniversary of the attacks: "It's in the hallway right where you go into the treasurer's office."

Ron and Lucy Willett, meanwhile, have made up a new set of T- shirts to keep John's memory in the public eye. They have an old set, with the silhouette of the New York skyline and a photograph of John, saying "Remember America's Trade Center: September 11, 2001."

"We wear those a lot," said Lucy Willett, who will wear to this year's anniversary a bright-yellow version. "There a big picture of John on the back and it says, 'We love you, son.' John would be mortified. He'd say, 'Mom, you know better than that.'"

Seems the Willet family may be Democrats...

[Skooz]

"Families are enraged," said Bill Doyle,

No, they're not, Bill.

The press actually wants us to think all the families are outraged over this. As soon as they heard about the ads, they started scrounging for some family member who would say what they wanted. All they have to show for their efforts is this schmuck.

This will be a long seven months.

[Ichneumon]

"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."

But hey, it's *perfectly* okay for these handful of people to leverage their 9/11 victimhood into nationally-syndicated political attacks against Bush and for Kerry, right?

Flaming hypocrites.

[Dog]

See 24.....Mr. Willet is in the rolodex also..

[VOA]

Families who lost relatives in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks voiced outrage on
Thursday at President Bush'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.

"Forgotten what?"
-- what this band of folks would say when hearing the "Have You Forgotten" song...

[an amused spectator]

"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.

I'll bet that Schaitberger is a fat union slug who was nowhere near either Ground Zero on September 11, 2001.

[jimbo123]

Reuters writer here:

mark.egan.reuters.com@reuters.net

+1 646-223-6190,
fax +1 646-223-6289)

[freeperfromnj]

Because it's not just Reuters. It's been all over the NYC media and newspapers and it's just shameful. It's been almost 3 years since 9/11 and I believe the red states understand the impact and are willing to continue the fight more than those up here who were directly affected.

[BikePacker]

Somebody needs to talk to the Firefighters and Police who BOOOED The Witch off the stage, right after 9/11

[Paradox]

I did some digging and found the same stuff. Democrats, and Democrats pissed at Republicans for resisting the idea of putting up a plaque for their lost son.

Sad that people would turn their sadness into anger like this.