[onedoug]

Liberal outrage connotes the ad's effectiveness.

Let 'em stew.

[UB355]

http://www.iaff.org/politics/us/content/images/govaffs%20files/issues%20book%202003.pdf

Firefighters union uses 911 image on their issues paper

[WL-law]

Article equates "firefighters" with "Firefighter's Union". False. Firefighters are made up of democrats and republicans, like any other workforce.

And, like most unions, the Firefighter's Union is run by political operatives who are a fully-owned subsidiary of the Democrat party.

[KellyAdmirer]

Perhaps the Bush campaign is taking the same road as Mel Gibson. Stirring controversy gets free media attention and multiplies the reach of the ads themselves. Expressions of "outrage" often backfire on the "offended" person and their cause. People aren't stupid and know when a comlaint is valid and when it isn't. These complaints clearly aren't valid, at least for most people and non-partisans.

[arkfreepdom]

These ads were perfect and I think missed conservatives missed the intended effect. It certainly changed the subject didn't it? Now the libs have to trot out these dim hacks to criticize a tastefully done ad.

[jaime1959]

What the article didn't say, courtesy of the Baltimore Sun (of all places!).

Democratic officials called attention yesterday to statements from New York firefighters and families of Sept. 11 victims who said they found the commercials offensive. The International Association of Fire Fighters, a powerful union closely allied with Kerry, called for the ads to be removed, labeling them "disgraceful."

In a letter to the Bush campaign, the union president, Harold A. Schaitberger, accused Bush of "trading on the heroism of those 343 brothers of mine who were FDNY members who fell in the terrorist attacks, not to mention the [other nearly] 3,000 people who lost their lives at the World Trade Center." Schaitberger also complained that some of the ads included close-up images of actors in firefighter uniforms.

[jolie560]

It's amazing how many Media articles and Media reports concentrate on anti-Bush comments. It's the same as comments from Iraq--some people in media-land must be seeking out this stuff, and, upon finding it, they publish it.

[Conspiracy Guy]

I will post this everytime. Why doesn't the media interview me? I could tell how offended I am by John Kerry's traitorous activities since coming home from Nam. I could discuss the fact that I have no idea where Kerry stands on any given issue at any given time since he appears to have no stand.

Though I feel for the families who lost someone on 9/11, the attacks are not their private property. The attacks were aimed at every American. I am sick of people acting like because they lost someone, this is private. Their loss is private but the attacks were not. I will never forget that it was an attack on me, my family, my friends, my nation. I take it personal as should every American.

If George W. Bush wants to use 9/11 in his campaign, that is his right. He was attacked too. His response to the attacks shows the character and courage his predecessor did not have when we were attacked so many times during those 8 dark years.

God Bless America and George W. Bush.

Conspiracy Guy 3/5/4

[1Old Pro]

Firefighters and some relatives of those killed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks yesterday said they were furious about Bush-Cheney campaign ads

Out of the 20,000 or so directly effected by this tragedy, a few upset amounts to about 0.000001%, yet the media runs with it as if it were a majority. How predicable.

[theDentist]

They're mad becuase the only photos of Kerry that day probably show him waiting it out an a bunker, or running for his Limo.

So, let's see if we can find photos of Kerry during the attack. Where was he? What was he doing?

[b-cubed]

Everyone should have to sit down and read this at least once a month.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/520255/posts?page=1,50

[Stallone]

More lies from the Unholy Left.

President Bush, DO NOT FALL FOR THIS SCAM.

America supports you wildly on this issue, and the 'Rats are running scared.

RUN THE ADS T*W*I*C*E AS OFTEN, AND PROMOTE SUPPORT FOR THE ADS IMMEDIATELY.

Time for full court press, not retreat.

[Eva]

The Wall Street Journal has a different view of the issue, including a picture of their own view of the scene of the 9/11 attacks from their own windows. They think that the Democrats should shut up, unless they have some positive suggestions for handling the war on terror.

Is 9/11 an Issue?
President Bush talks about his record, and Democrats demand that he shut up.

Friday, March 5, 2004 12:01 a.m. EST

September 11, 2001, marked the worst foreign attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor--the bloodiest ever on the American mainland. It's certainly been the defining event of George W. Bush's Presidency. But according to Democrats and their media echo chamber, it now shouldn't be a campaign issue.

Yes, that was the message being peddled in yesterday's papers by reporters provided with outrage-laden quotes from a single firefighters' union and activist relatives of victims of the World Trade Center attacks. With a series of new campaign ads featuring fleeting images of Ground Zero, they charge, Mr. Bush is "exploiting" the tragedy.





"I'm disappointed but not surprised that the President would try to trade on the heroism of those fire fighters in the September 11 attacks," said International Association of Fire Fighters President Harold Schaitberger, who happens to have endorsed John Kerry way back in September. "It's a slap in the face of the murders of 3,000 people," said outspoken victims' family activist and litigant Monica Gabrielle. The theme was quickly picked up by television talkers.
Please. We write this from offices that are 200 yards from Ground Zero and were rendered uninhabitable for almost a year by the attack. (The photo below was the view from our windows.) The threat of another such assault, and how to prevent it, has dominated our politics for three years. From tax cuts designed to save the economy from the double-whammy of terrorism and recession, to the Patriot Act, to regime change in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of Mr. Bush's "forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East," just about every recent major policy is inextricably linked to the event so mildly depicted in these Bush ads. Isn't an election supposed to be about such things?

Even Democrats know that it is, so they are manufacturing this outrage for a political purpose: President Bush still polls extremely well on his handling of the war on terror, and Democrats are trying to define the debate in a way that keeps him from playing to his strengths. The polls also show that Mr. Bush scores well as a "leader," so Democrats are also trying to stop him from reinforcing that image.

But what is Mr. Bush supposed to do, stop being President? Incumbency clearly has its large (and sometimes unfair) advantages. Yet try as we might, we can't seem to recall similar outrage about Bill Clinton's use of incumbency when he was running for re-election--at least not outrage that got any media traction.

Where, for example, was the tut-tutting about the former President "exploiting" the Oklahoma City bombing by giving an election-year speech there in April 1996? We'd also take the current handwringing a bit more seriously if we heard any similar worries about John Kerry "exploiting" his service in Vietnam.





One of the oddest things about the hullabaloo over the Bush ads is that these are precisely the kind of campaign spots the self-appointed media referees always say they like: positive, and focused on the candidate's message and record, not on tearing down the other guy. Despite Mr. Kerry's crocodile tears about the Republican "attack machine" and "smear" campaign, neither the President nor any other high-ranking Republican has so far taken a serious jab at either Mr. Kerry's character or his record.
Yet in case they eventually do, Democrats are also busy trying to take that off the table. When Georgia Republican Saxby Chambliss recently talked about Mr. Kerry's Senate votes against most U.S. weapons systems, he was assailed for attacking Mr. Kerry's "patriotism." This is an extension of the Max Cleland-as-martyr myth, asserting that it was somehow unfair for Republicans to attack the former Georgia Senator and Vietnam vet in the 2002 elections for his vote against the Homeland Security department.

So the Bush campaign is being presented with something of a Catch-22: Any attempt to talk about the President's own record will be branded "exploitative," while any talk about Mr. Kerry's will be called an attack on his "patriotism." Our advice to Mr. Bush is to choose his message and ignore the whining.

As for Democrats, they'd be wise to get over the idea that Mr. Kerry's Vietnam biography will cover them on the defense issue. For most Americans, 9/11 was the defining event of a generation, and they'll want to hear a serious debate about which candidate has the best policies to keep them safer in the years ahead. The more Democrats complain about Mr. Bush running on national security, the more voters may suspect that Democrats don't have any serious anti-terror ideas of their own.

[goldstategop]

The Democrats want voters kept in ignorance of 9-11. They're the ones who want to thrust it down the memory hole so they can go back to weakening our military, appeasing our enemies, and trusting our national security to the U.N. Which incidentally, is John F. Kerry's idea of what to do in response to the threats America faces in this century.

[isthisnickcool]

George W. Bush action doll.

John F. Kerry action doll.

[aShepard]

F#%k all these RAT objectors.

Let the second set of commercials show the jumpers.

Let the American citizens recall the horror of allowing ourselves to go to sleep while we're surrounded by cockroaches.

Let's show Kerry throwing somebody's Nam medals over the fence.

[backhoe]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1091208/posts
BUSH TRADE CENTER AD SPARKS CONTROVERSY--Judge for yourself
various FR links | 03-05-04 | The Heavy Equipment Guy

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

The WHORES OF DEATH were coached by somebody because they all used the same talking points.

[Intolerant in NJ]

Absurd - 9/11 was a national tragedy and Bush's handling of it affected us all -what arrogance for these few people to think they have exclusive right to the pain and outrage inflicted on the whole country by that event.......

[RightWhale]

the strongest comments yesterday came from some families of Sept. 11 victims.

If it was husband or wife we might listen sympathetically; if it was an in-law or 4th cousin, forget it. Victim mentality as a way of life. Where is Trump? Fire them all.