Sept. 11 Families Disgusted by Bush Campaign Ads
Thu Mar 4, 2004 03:07 PM ET
By Mark Egan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - 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.
"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,"
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." "All of us feel deeply that tragedy but it's also
important to recognize the impact it had on our national public policy."
Two ads refer to the hijacked airliner attacks that killed about 3,000 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
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 stemmed in part from Bush's
refusal to testify publicly before the federal commission investigating the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"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
that day.
The International Association of Fire Fighters, which has endorsed and
campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, denounced the
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.
U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat, said the use of the
images "demeans and dishonors those who died."
"I urge you to direct your campaign to immediately withdraw these
advertisements," Lautenberg wrote in a letter to Bush, adding that elected
officials "must maintain standards of dignity and respect that prevent us
from exploiting national tragedies for political purposes."
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he had no objections. 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.
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| User: "Woodswun" |
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| Title: Re: Sept. 11 Families Disgusted by Bush Campaign Ads |
04 Mar 2004 06:20:37 PM |
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In article <ZUN1c.18110$qA2.1057476@news20.bellglobal.com>, "Ex." <Eat.Healthy@Turdmail.com> wrote:
Sept. 11 Families Disgusted by Bush Campaign Ads
Thu Mar 4, 2004 03:07 PM ET
By Mark Egan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - 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.
Didn't he go running with his tail tucked behind his legs while Giuliani calmed
a nervous nation? IIRC, Bush was nowhere to be seen for quite a while.
Woods
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| User: "sUSAn B Anthony" |
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| Title: Re: Sept. 11 Families Disgusted by Bush Campaign Ads |
04 Mar 2004 07:24:28 PM |
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Yep! That's our Bush.
Tacky - tacky!!
Has anybody seen the anti-Bush commercial where the cowboy keeps pulling
the rug out from under the old people?
CLASSIC!
sUSAn
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| User: "Saint Isidore of Laytonville" |
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| Title: Re: Sept. 11 Families Disgusted by Bush Campaign Ads |
04 Mar 2004 09:47:40 PM |
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He's the most ignorant president in the history of the USA!
Well, it's time to give up on this for the night, roll another one-- fire it up
and watch the Scifi channel.
The Psychedelick Pope
Saint Isidore of Laytonville
^Ö^ Patron Saint of the Internet ^Ö^
°°^Ö^ °°
http://apple2.org.za/gswv/me
AOXOMOXOA and ENESSA QUA ONNICA
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