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Bush campaign ads using world trade center Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/politics/8110181.htmhttp://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/politics/8110181.htm
Posted on Fri, Mar. 05, 2004
BUSH CAMPAIGN
Ads' use of 9/11 upsets families
Some firefighters and relatives of Sept. 11 victims are angry over Bush reelection ads using the World Trade Center as a backdrop.
BY WILLIAM DOUGLAS
bdouglas@krwashington.com
WASHINGTON - President Bush's new campaign ads drew a sharply negative reaction Thursday from families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and from a firefighters union that supports Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.
The Bush campaign began broadcasting four ads Thursday in Florida and 16 other states that are expected to be battlegrounds in November. One of the ads shows the smoldering wreckage of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, with a flag flying in the rubble. Another ad shows firefighters carrying a flag-draped stretcher.
The International Association of Fire Fighters, which is backing Kerry, denounced the ads and demanded that Bush pull them.
The ads triggered angry charges that Bush was exploiting others' misery for political gain.
''Using my dead friends and my dead brother for political expediency is dead wrong,'' said Chris Burke, whose brother, Tom, died in the North Tower. ``It's wrong, it's bad taste and an insult to the 3,000 people who died on Sept. 11.''
White House and Bush campaign officials defended their use of the images, saying Sept. 11 is part of American history and a major moment of the Bush presidency. Bush's leadership in the aftermath of the attacks is the cornerstone of his reelection campaign.
The Bush campaign issued a statement from former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani -- whose actions on Sept. 11 vaulted him to hero status -- defending the images.
Karen Hughes, a Bush campaign advisor and confidant to the president, said on ABC's Good Morning America that the ad is a ``tastefully done reminder of our shared experience and what we have all been through as a nation.''
''It would be somewhat out of touch to ignore the reality of that day and how it forever changed our nation's policy,'' Hughes said.
Some firefighters saw it differently.
''I find it disgraceful and disgusting that they are going to use these images,'' said Harold Schaitberger, general president of the 265,000-member union. ``They [the White House] have failed firefighters for the last two and a half years.''
Burke, whose brother died in the attacks, said he wouldn't have minded Bush using the imagery if the president hadn't obstructed an independent commission that is investigating the attacks.
Bush initially opposed formation of the bipartisan commission and balked when the commission asked that its May 27 deadline be extended by two months. With the deadline recently pushed back, the commission and the White House are now wrangling over the scope of interviews with Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
Anthony Gardner, whose brother Harvey died in the World Trade Center, said the alienation runs deeper than the campaign ads.
Gardner and others say the administration has been unresponsive to concerns raised by Sept. 11 families, ranging from their asking for help in ensuring that the ''footprints'' of the fallen towers -- box beam column remnants -- are historically preserved, to getting assurances that Ground Zero will not be used for political purposes during the Republican National Convention in New York.
Rori Patrise Smith, a Republican convention spokeswoman, said, ``No events are planned at Ground Zero during the convention.''
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