Bush won't pull 9/11 campaign ads (Using bodies of victims for politics)

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/08/1078594268110.html

President George W Bush's re-election campaign said Sunday it had no plans to withdraw campaign ads with footage of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks despite furious criticism from Democrats and some victims' relatives. snip

Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot defended the use of the brief images of September 11 as "entirely appropriate" to highlight Bush's leadership qualities and said he was "very comfortable" with the public reaction. snip

Senator John McCain, who opposed Bush for the Republican presidential nomination four years ago, also said it was "perfectly appropriate" to use September 11 to remind voters of the incumbent's leadership.

But he added on ABC television, "I might not have used the ad of the coffin coming out, or the body coming out of the ruins with a flag on it."

more

[carrowsboy]

1. huh?

what "leadership"?

Reading a book to kids?

Flying around with your tail between your legs?

[NNN0LHI]

2. I like McCain's answer. He might not have used the bodies? Say What!

He might not have used the bodies? These are all some sick motherscratchers. I tell you.

Don

[Beetwasher]

8. IOW, The Ads WEREN'T Appropriate In His Opinion!

He wouldn't have used those images because it's friggin' innapropriate! The cognitive dissonance in these people is staggering...Can you imagine?

[pinto]

3. I hear Kery used the "stonewall" word today, hope he keeps it up.

Whatever the sensibility of the ads - I think they're tacky, maudlin, and empty - Busboy has opened the question of this personality cult he and his handlers have woven and made it more than fair game. Let's do talk leadership.

[wryter2000]

4. Good -- keep the ads, *

And keep Cheney, too. See you in November.

[Old and In the Way]

5. Fair enough.....if he can use 9/11 for his personal exploitation, we

should remind the american public what he was actually doing on that day.

http://www.takebackthemedia.com/true911.html

[Galley_Queen]

34. Yuppers!

that clip should be played over and over and over and over again.

It would be monumentally embarassing to the Squatter. Unfortunately, it would also be monumentally embarassing to we citizens if the rest of the world saw that clip.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

6. I guess that would make it fair game to superimpose his face

over the falling towers and remind people that it happened on HIS watch.

[mazzarro]

7. Can democratic leaning group(s) come up with our own 9/11

ad that shows * sitting & reading in a classroom after being alerted, while planes plunge into World Trade Center buildings - as the true demonstration of *'s leadership? I bet that will equalize the view of his leadership skill!

[AspenRose]

9. All the more rope to hang himself with.

[Kolesar]

10. "A vote for George Bush is a vote for Osama"

Some GOP creeps were saying that about John Kerry. I say that the Bushies have more in common with the Bin Ladens. Was not Old Bush dining with Osama's uncle on 9/10/01? They have huge, long standing business ties.

[jmowreader]

11. Then we run this ad...

Music: Theme from Clockwork Orange

First panel: A sepia-toned image of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Text printed over it: "President Bush's grandfather Prescott Bush was a banker in the years before World War II. On (insert date) the United States Government seized Prescott's Union Bank. His crime: Financing Adolf Hitler's government."

Second panel: Manuel Noriega's mug shots. Text printed over it: "When President Bush's father was director of the CIA, he put Manuel Noriega on the CIA payroll even though it was well-known at the time that Noriega was a drug kingpin. We had to invade the country to shut down his reign of terror."

Third panel: Osama bin Laden. Text printed over it: "After the Soviet Army invaded Afghanistan in the early 1980s, Vice-President Bush was instrumental in arming and training 'freedom fighters' to get the Soviets out of Afghanistan. One of these men was Osama bin Laden."

Fourth panel: Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam. Text printed over it: "After Iraq invaded Iran in the 1980s, Vice-President Bush was instrumental in providing money and weapons to Saddam Hussein. This included chemical and biological weapons, at a time when we knew Saddam was using these weapons on a daily basis."

Fifth panel: The first WTC tower collapsing. Text: "National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice was briefed by the outgoing Clinton Administration that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist organization would require most of their time to deal with. The Bush administration proceeded to largely ignore al-Qaeda until this happened."

Sixth panel: An open field with 550 crosses, the kind you might see in a World War II cemetery, planted in neat symmetrical rows. Text: "The Bush administration lied us into a war against Iraq based on the concept that they had weapons of mass destruction and were responsible for 9/11. Neither was true, and this is the result."

Seventh panel: Solid black, with these words: "President Bush's grandfather, father and President Bush himself are all murderous thugs. Don't vote for murderous thugs. Vote anyone else in 2004."

Run that, and let's see him try to fuckin' deny it.

[iamjoy]

17. A Little Offensive

But perhaps if we skip #1 (the Hitler comparisons are just so old, and just anger people, including moderates)

Also, #2, should Dubya be accountable for his father's errors?

Now #3 & #4 are relevant, even though that was Reagan/Bush 1 because it shows how we built up and financed these men, then called them terrorists when we no longer needed them.

I think we need to make a bigger issue of the stuff Dubya ignored, like the report released by the Hart-Rudman commission in Jan/Feb 2001 which specifically warned of 9-11 type events.

What's Bush ignoring now? What future terrorists is he creating?

[rocktivity]

12. Glad to hear it, to tell you the truth

It gives us a reason to take a closer look at what Bush was doing beforehand, and ask what the connection between 9/11 and the Iraqi invasion was.

:headbang:
rocknation

[devinsgram]

13. What leadership?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. He sure led us into a mess...

If he wanted to, he could have mentioned his "leadership" after 9/11 without the use of images from NYC.

Of course, to be fair, he ought to mention the fact that he virtually manufactured the events of 9/11.

[DebJ]

15. I heard Guiliani on CNN talking about 9/11 as if Dubya should get hero

status. He was giving GW the credit for the country coming together as he said it never has been together.
DUBYA didn't do that.....OSAMA did! If Mickey Mouse had been President, all of our citizens would have felt united after the 9/11 attack. (Maybe we'd have been better off with Mickey, come to think of it!)
I found myself yelling at Guiliani on the TV that yes Osama united and ignited patriotic concerns, but Dubya has been undermining and blowing all that away. Dubya is a divider, not a uniter!
Sorry. Just thinking about that Guiliani interview made me need to vent.

[iamjoy]

16. Has Anyone Noticed...

That all this controversy is giving the Rove exactly what he wants....

The Bush ads are now airing as news, meaning, the campaign doesn't have to pay for these spots.

[NNN0LHI]

18. I promise that this is not the kind of free press Bush was hoping for n/t

[legin]

19. Could be a bit of Rove in this decision

<<snip>>

Rove is both a fox and a hedge-hog. He is the detail man of all detail men, but he also makes a point of doing more long-term strategic planning than other political consultants. For especially important campaigns, he produces written plans far in advance, mapping out the race in its entirety, and he's famous for sticking precisely to the plan no matter what.

<<snip>>

http://bnfp.org/neighborhood/Lemann_Rove_NYM.htm

[NNN0LHI]

21. That could very well turn out to be their fatal flaw?

Only time will tell.

Don

[ArnoldLayne]

25. Rove Shmove can kiss my ass!!

I get tired of hearing about Rove. To quote Gen.Grant "You would think according to our generals Robert E.Lee could do somersaults right into to the middle of our camps. I am tired of hearing what R.E.Lee can do I want them to say how they are going to whip him." :spank: :crazy: :crazy:

[legin]

30. Good post ArnoldLayne

:evilgrin:

Although we do need a good idea of Rove's playbook so we know what to expect.

[fire1234]

20. he

He has nothing to talk about the economy is in shambles. The two countries we are in are not working like they should be. What else does he have? Ohhhh I know what he has going for him Hugo calling him an a**hole!

[Auntie Bush]

28. Welcome Fire 1234

He can campaign as the worlds champion divider.
Plaster his face on the Wheaties box.

[newyawker99]

37. Hi fire1234!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Q]

22. Notice the Bushies have to speak in generalities...

...when it comes to bragging about Bush's* so-called leadership? They can't give specifics because he was AWOL before, during and after 9-11.

- And yes...if they want to make 9-11 an issue in the campaign...then so should we. Let's call it what it was: a FAILURE of leadership.

[young_at_heart]

23. I remember Marc Racicot from 2000......a good Republican spokesman!

I'd never heard of him until he appeared on TV berating the Democrats unmercifully in what had to be one of the nastiest speeches I have ever heard.

[opihimoimoi]

24. Leadership?? He kept reading to the kids for 20 mimutes

Then he flew around the world for 15 hours and left us hanging. What freaking Leadership? They got balls for bringing up that angle. What nerve. He is a coward of the worst degree.

[ArnoldLayne]

26. 9/11 Campaign Ads

:kick:

[Spazito]

27. I only hope the families of the victims of 9/11 from the 59 other ....

countries become vocal at how disgusting it is that Bush is using their loved ones for his political agenda. He is, simply, a ghoulish grave robber!

[MrBenchley]

29. I hope he KEEPS running it...

Every honest American will also recall that the unelected drunk ran and hid when the events acctually occured.....and that he's done all he can to hamper any investigation into 9/11.

[Barkley]

31. 9-11 ads and the debate about them, distract attention from the economy

The Democrats need to focus on the economy not 9-11.

-21,000 jobs created last month
-588,000 dropped out the labor force;
-1.6 million dropped out last year
and 1000s of jobs going to India.

These are the votes we need to win.

Not all unemployed people will not
automatically vote to unseat Bush.

[Bridget Burke]

35. Your message says we should ignore 9/11, not just the ads.

That's not true. And I'm not saying it just because of of the campaign.

Don't you think it's worthwhile to have a real investigation about the crime that killed almost 3000 people on American soil? The event that's been the excuse for two wars, so far?

[Barkley]

38. I'm saying the Republicans are setting the tone for the election

and making 9-11 an issue (the issue are the ads in good taste) intentionally distracts from the economy.

Of course 9-11 rightly deserves to be addressed but the Democrats need to frame it as follows:

1. After 9-11, the U.S. had the world'd empathy but Bush its all got turned to anomosity with the Iraq war. What happened? Poor presidential leadership that's what!

2. Right after 9-11, the U.S. public was united behind Bush, not because he was Bush but because he was president. In the ensuing weeks he passed the Patriot act laws which have been subsequently repealed in parts by over 100 municipalities and states. Again poor presidential leadership.

But even as Kerry has said himself they're stonewalling the 9-11 investigation. And the commission Bush set to look into to the tragedy will not report until after the election.

9-11 and jobs are not mutually exclusive. I just think the Democrats will get more political traction from forcing Bush to address the later.

[The_Casual_Observer]

32. The ads will quietly disappear

Bush will stand tall in public, but the ads will be removed, not to be seen again. Just like his claims that THE WEAPONS will be found.

[Crachet2004]

36. I think you are right, but I hope you are wrong...

America knows it's wrong to take political advantage from tragedy...at least the way Bush is doing it.

I hope the GOP is stupid enough to keep running the adds. And then I hope that NY City Firefighters picket the GOP convention with great big banners saying that is why they are protesting.

That would look great on the five o'clock news!

[Jackpine Radical]

33. You get jumped on for making Bush-Hitler comparisons, but

one thing they have in common is their inability to admit a mistake of any kind, their inability to publicly retreat after making blunders.

Narcissism can be a blessing in an enemy.