posted on March 4, 2004 09:05:08 AM new9/11 Victims' Kin Angered by Bush Ads
WASHINGTON - Relatives of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and a firefighters union are angry that President Bush new campaign ads include images of the destroyed World Trade Center and firefighters carrying a flag-draped coffin 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.
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 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.
posted on March 4, 2004 10:56:33 AM new
Bush should clean up his image by not lying to the American people. Bush should start working to solve poblems instead of creating them.
Marriage is a Human Right not a Heterosexual Privledge
posted on March 4, 2004 12:08:00 PM new
The only thing Bush has going for him is the war on terrorism. He hasn't done much else in his 3+ years, so he has to have some kind of platform. If he can convince people he's getting rid of all the bad guys, it's the only way he'll get votes. Keep terrorism alive!
posted on March 4, 2004 12:16:03 PM new
I'm not sure about his war on terrorism.
Iraq is going to be a Shiite radical Islamic dictatorship just like Iran as soon as we leave.
Afghanistan will probably never be able to be anything but a region ruled by barbarians and peopled by terrorists as soon as we leave.
But the great generator of terrorists and the "Whahabi" radical Islamic sect Saudi Arabia remains unchecked and unchanged and exporting terrorism everyday.
posted on March 4, 2004 01:21:56 PM new
I do not think it would have made one iota of differance who was in the white house on 911. They would have made their strike against the U.S. no matter what.
Bottom line is that there is enough blame to go around. Everyone was asleep at the helm.
The warning signs where out there for all to see for years.
Unless there are radical changes things will not get any better just worse.
No matter who "you" like running for office one must remember that they are people and not gods. They all screw up! Some more than others.
So if you like Bush then vote for him. Same goes for Kerry. Neither one is perfect nor are they pure evil either.
posted on March 4, 2004 01:49:10 PM new
Reamond, I'm not saying terrorism doesn't exist. I feel it's like a virus that needs to be dealt with. The problem is how it's dealt with. You don't kill people who have a virus to prevent it from spreading, you kill the virus itself. In this case, the virus is a radical religion hell-bent on a holy war. Bush's platform is that he's saving everyone from further strikes by going to war with some selected bad countries. A costly band-aid, imo, when the root of the problem is a better understanding of what causes these people/countries to become radical in the first place. Until that's dealt with, the terrorism will continue.
posted on March 4, 2004 01:50:41 PM newThe only thing Bush has going for him is the war on terrorism. He hasn't done much else in his 3+ years, so he has to have some kind of platform. If he can convince people he's getting rid of all the bad guys, it's the only way he'll get votes. Keep terrorism alive!
I don't know how Bush can claim this is a positive. The only good thing was Saddam was captured. Major combat operations were over almost a year ago and we are still looing 1 or two troops a day. There were no WMD. There does not seem to be an end to this war.
Oh yeah where's Waldo?, oops I mean Osama. Bush wouldn't be able to find him if he came knocking on the White House door.
Marriage is a Human Right not a Heterosexual Privledge
posted on March 4, 2004 01:51:43 PM new
kraft? what are you saying then, banish Islam????? you said:
You don't kill people who have a virus to prevent it from spreading, you kill the virus itself. In this case, the virus is a radical religion hell-bent on a holy war
__________________________________
"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."- Carl Sagan
posted on March 4, 2004 03:00:31 PM new
LOL replaymedia - VERY good.
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A response from Karen Hughes
I can understand why some Democrats might not want the American people to remember the great leadership and strength the president and first lady Laura Bush brought to our country in the aftermath of that," she said.
posted on March 4, 2004 04:01:21 PM new
Near, I think more has to be done to improve relations with other (religious) countries. It should never have gotten to the point where war is an option. Communication is the only way to solve anything in any relationship, not war. The Afghani and Iraqi wars have solved nothing and bombing more bad countries won't either.
Linda, I agree about the way Bush handled things after 911- admirably. At first, I thought he was a complete idiot. When 911 happened, I thought it was his saving grace from idiothood, and thought he might turn out OK afterall. Even though it didn't happen, I still feel he handled that part pretty well.
posted on March 4, 2004 05:09:50 PM new
I joked in my previous post about Jihads, but I think many people, especially the "liberal minded" folks, don't really understand the true power of religion. Just look at the "passion" stirred up by that movie. Religion is still a very strong force in this country, and it is FAR stronger in many other lands.
Kraft mentioned improving relations with these countries. It's not the politics or the diplomats that cause the trouble in the middle east (well, not mostly). It's the religions. And there is no amount of "politics" or "education" that is going to change them. These are simple beliefs that cannot be argued away.
When God tells you to kill your neighbors, who are you to argue? What is giving up your life here on a Earth when a paradise of 75 (or however many) Virgins await you? Spend eternity in paradise- all you have to do is strap on a bomb and go to the mall.
You cannot stop these people. These people are not military. They are just like you and me, only their religion goes deeper than most of us.
There is no amount of talking that is going to stop this.
You want to stop terrorism? Then we have to kill every man woman and child who believes in Islam. They cartainly want to kill us.
Sounds pretty bad, doesn't it?
Got a better solution? Bush doesn't have it. Kerry doesn't have it. This is a problem that cannot be solved without GENOCIDE. And we either don't have the stomach for it or we have the morals not to do it. Either way, we cannot win this fight in the long term.
posted on March 4, 2004 05:46:10 PM new
Replay, that's my point. Fighting a religious war with bombs isn't going to solve anything. If Jerry Falwell & Co. committed terrorist acts against the middle east, and in retaliation the U.S. was bombed, how would that help get rid of the Jerry Falwell types?
posted on March 4, 2004 06:31:21 PM new
I just saw one of the Bush ads today. LOL !! I can't believe they are trying the Reaganesqe "morning in America" type commercial. It is hilarious.
posted on March 4, 2004 07:05:18 PM new
Bush is using the tragedy of 9-11 to promote his presidential election. How does 9-11 relate positively to George Bush. He did nothing to prevent it, nothing to investigate it and failed to deal with it in an effective manner. Instead of focusing on terrorists, he went off to fight a war with a defenseless country, Iraq that had no part in 9-11.
Neither did anyone else. It could have happened to anyone. If it had been a year earlier, it would have been Clinton.
"nothing to investigate it"
They had identified the 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists within just a few days. They were pretty sure of Afghanistan's role that very afternoon. What more needed to have been investigated?
"and failed to deal with it in an effective manner."
I think anyone in NY would argue that point.
"Instead of focusing on terrorists, he went off to fight a war with a defenseless country, Iraq that had no part in 9-11. "
I think you forgot the left out of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the country that was DIRECTLY responsible for the attack.
The Iraq invasion was a whole different thing, only loosely related to 9/11, despite what liberals claim. The attack against Iraq was to remove A POTENTIAL threat.
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We do not stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing -- Anonymous
Like many issues surrounding the Bush presidency the past six months – no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq, questions about his service record in the Texas Air National Guard and a skyrocketing deficit – his new advertising campaign has caused a flurry of controversy, with criticism coming from a number of family members of those who died in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
As Team Bush's strategists were shaping up his re-election strategy, it was clear from the outset that the president's war on terrorism would take center stage. Despite early warnings that the president would use actual footage from Ground Zero to market his re-election, in early March when the first advertisements rolled out on television screen across the country, some family members of the victims of 9/11 were outraged by what they saw.
The ads, aimed at boosting the president's flagging poll ratings, began airing on national cable networks in 80 media markets in 18 states that Team Bush feels are "electoral battlegrounds." The New York Daily News reported that "Two ads, including a Spanish version, show fleeting images of the World Trade Center devastation. The 30-second spots include a poignant image of an American flag fluttering defiantly amid the WTC wreckage."
The use of the footage seemed insensitive to some family members, coming only a few weeks after the president finally gave in to pressure and agreed to extend by two months the time for the independent commission investigating 9/11 to complete its work. The fact that the president reluctantly agreed to testify before the commission, albeit in a closed door session with a few members that will be limited to one hour, also rankled some 9/11 families.
In addition, according to the Times of London, "the White House has also been accused by the commission of blocking its progress by being slow to produce Bush's intelligence briefings from before the September 11 attacks."
While the president hasn't appeared all that curious about getting to the bottom of how and why 9/11 occurred, he evidently has no compunctions about using 9/11 to enhance his re-election possibilities.
"It's a slap in the face of the murders of 3,000 people," Monica Gabrielle, whose husband died in the twin tower attacks, told the newspaper. "It is unconscionable."
"I would be less offended if he showed a picture of himself in front of the Statue of Liberty," said Tom Roger, whose daughter was a flight attendant on doomed American Airlines Flight 11. "But to show the horror of 9/11 in the background, that's just some advertising agency's attempt to grab people by the throat."
Firefighter Tommy Fee in Rescue Squad 270 in Queens was appalled. "It's as sick as people who stole things out of the place. The image of firefighters at Ground Zero should not be used for this stuff, for politics," Fee told the Daily News.
Mindy Kleinberg, another relative, said the image of remains being removed from the rubble was particularly offensive. "How heinous is that? That's somebody's loved one," she said.
According to the Daily News, the two thirty second "ads reinforce...Ground Zero imagery with frontal shots of two firefighters. Unlike the paid actors and actresses in most of the footage, they are not ringers, but their red headgear gives them away as non-New Yorkers. The Bush campaign declined to reveal where the burly smoke-eaters actually work."
As with the MoveOn.org anti-Bush advertisement rejected by CBS for airing on Super Bowl Sunday, the Bush ads received a great deal of attention from the cable news networks before they aired. However, unlike MoveOn's rejection, which generated a great deal of support for the organization, the Bush's ads were getting an immediate thumbs down from 9/11 families. The negative reactions of 9/11 family members put administration officials on the defensive and they were forced to take to the airwaves to defend the administration's strategy.
Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman told reporters that using images of Ground Zero was fair game because "9/11 was the defining moment of these times. Because of that day, America is at war and still is."
"With all due respect, I just completely disagree [with the families], and I believe the vast majority of the American people will as well," Karen Hughes, a Bush campaign adviser said on CBS' "The Early Show."
"September 11th was not just a distant tragedy. It's a defining event for the future of our country....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."
Exploiting 9/11 is the centerpiece of the president's re-election campaign. That was made abundantly clear when the Republican Party decided upon New York City for the site of its national convention and scheduled it for the week before the tragedy's third anniversary.
In January 2003, President Bush was quoted by Associated Press saying that he had "no ambition whatsoever to use this [9/11] as a political issue." Just a few weeks ago, Newsday reported that Bush-Cheney spokesman Kevin Madden responded to charges that the White House has overtly politicized 9/11 by saying "I can't believe [they] said that. They are playing politics with national security."
MoveOn.org claims that Bush is doing precisely that. In an e-mail letter to its members MoveOn is suggesting that supporters write letters to the editor of their local newspapers expressing disappointment in the president's decision to exploit 9/11 for "partisan political gain."
The first series of Bush re-election advertisements doesn't mention Sen. John Kerry by name. However, according to ABC News, "The next round will not be so polite."
posted on March 4, 2004 07:29:48 PM new
Replay, how come they could identify the terrorists in 3 days, but were so blind as to not see this coming if it was 20 years in the making?
Afghanistan's role in this was nothing more than a poor country with no real government that was over-run by crooks. The actual people had nothing to do with anything, let alone 911. Neither did Iraq.
posted on March 4, 2004 07:41:37 PM new
On the ads - Yes there's going to be a lot of whining from the democrats, on these ads and future one's to come.
They'd just as soon continue to forget what happened to our nation on 9-11....to down play it, if you will.
They'd like the ads to be removed because they're very much aware they show this President and what a GREAT leader he was in the aftermath of 9-11.
posted on March 4, 2004 07:58:51 PM new
helen - posted on March 4, 2004 12:15:41 PM
It's great to see so many posters butting heads with the butthead so skillfully.
It should make everyone question the slogan, "Re-elect President Misleader".
Helen
posted on March 4, 2004 08:06:01 PM new
Do you not understand that remark, Linda?
I'll bet that the ads will be removed. Once again, the Bush administration has underestimated the intelligence of the American people who will not be swayed by Bush lies - not even visual ones.
posted on March 4, 2004 08:09:12 PM new
helen - posted on March 4, 2004 12:15:41 PM
It's great to see so many posters butting heads with the butthead so skillfully.
It should make everyone question the slogan, "Re-elect President Misleader".
Helen
"Bush is calling on the biggest disaster in our country's history, and indeed in the history of the fire service, to win sympathy for his campaign. Since the attacks, Bush has been using images of himself putting his arm around a retired FDNY fire fighter on the pile of rubble at ground zero. But for two and a half years he has basically shortchanged fire fighters and the safety of our homeland by not providing fire fighters the resources needed to do the job that America deserves.
"The fact is Bush's actions have resulted in fire stations closing in communities around the country. Two-thirds of America's fire departments remain under-staffed because Bush is failing to enforce a new law that was passed with bipartisan support in Congress that would put more fire fighters in our communities. President Bush's budget proposes to cut Homeland Security Department funding for first responders by $700 million for next year and cuts funding for the FIRE Act, a grant program that helps fire departments fund equipment needs, 33 percent by $250 million. In addition, state and local programs for homeland security purposes were reduced $200 million.
posted on March 5, 2004 04:43:23 AM new
Those ads are in such poor taste. I would personally be outraged no matter which candidate chose to use them to further their political career.
Compare it to this - Roosevelt using pictures of Holocaust victims or the victims of Pearl Harbor in a re-election campaign.
Tacky, tacky, tacky! I suppose he has no other choice. He certainly can't do a campaign ad on the increase of jobs in this country, or a thriving economy, or a healthy budget, now can he?
