The Bush cabal's TV ad blitz (CODENAME: "Operation
Carpet Bombing")has already blown up in their faces.
The ad shamelessly expoit the tragedy of 9/11 by
showing flag-drapped remains being carried from the
rubble. The families of the victims are, of course,
outraged. The "US mainstream news media" (at least the
network news I heard on the car radio in the
pre-dawn)are actually reporting the story.
Here's some hard hitting journalism from the best
newspaper in NYC...
MAGGIE HABERMAN, THOMAS M. DeFRANK, New York Daily
News: The Bush reelection campaign yesterday unveiled its first three campaign commercials showcasing Ground Zero images, angering some 9/11 families who accused President Bush of exploiting the tragedy for political advantage. "It's a slap in the face of the murders of 3,000 people," said Monica Gabrielle, whose husband died in the twin tower attacks. "It is unconscionable." Gabrielle and several other family members said the injury was compounded by Bush's refusal to testify in open session before the 9/11 commission.
But there is even more to the story if anyone has the
wit or the courage to make the connection -- the Bush
cabal refuses to permit photographs of the
flag-drapped caskets of US soldiers arriving home from
Iraq, so that these images do not show up on the air
waves. There's some context for you...
Here is some
more...
President of the International Association of Fire
Fighters, AFL-CIO (IAFF), Harold Schaitberger
(2/27/04): “The creation of the Department of Homeland
Security was a step in the right direction. But one
year after its creation, our nation’s fire fighters
and emergency medical personnel are still operating
with too few staff, outdated equipment and the need
for training to appropriately and safely respond to
all of the emergencies, disasters and possible acts of
terrorism we need to be prepared for today. The result
is that our communities are more vulnerable because of
Bush’s failure in Homeland Security...The result is
that if you go into any firehouse in the country today
and ask to see what the new federal commitment to
homeland security has meant for first responders, no
one will be able to point to anything. This all adds
up to what I call Bush’s Homeland Security sham.”
Miami Herald (3/1/04): Although important steps have
been taken to make the nation safer than it was before
the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, critics say
homeland security weaknesses still make the country
vulnerable to a variety of threats, including the
smuggling of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons
through porous borders. Most air and sea cargo is
still not properly screened, for example, and
airliners remain vulnerable to easily obtained
shoulder-fired missiles. Moreover, the DHS has not
developed a comprehensive strategy to defend the
United States against various terrorist scenarios, and
its intelligence unit is woefully understaffed.
New York Times (3/2/04): "The independent commission
investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is refusing to
accept strict conditions from the White House for
interviews with President Bush and Vice President Dick
Cheney and is renewing its request that Mr. Bush's
national security adviser testify in public,
commission members...The members said the commission
had also decided to continue to press the national
security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, to reconsider her
refusal to testify at a public hearing. Mr. Bush and
Mr. Cheney are expected to be asked about how they had
reacted to intelligence reports before Sept. 11, 2001,
suggesting that Al Qaeda might be planning a large
attack. Panel members want to ask Ms. Rice the same
questions in public."
Guardian/UK (3/3/04): David Kay, the man who led the
CIA's postwar effort to find weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq, has called on the Bush
administration to "come clean with the American
people" and admit it was wrong about the existence of
the weapons.
Reuters (3/3/04): The world's second-largest reinsurer
Swiss Re warns that the costs of global warming
threaten to spiral out of control,
forcing the human race into a catastrophe of its own
making. In a report revealing how climate change is
rising on the corporate agenda, Swiss Re said the
economic costs of global warming
threatened to double to $150 billion (81 billion
pounds) a year in 10 years, hitting insurers with
$30-40 billion in claims, or the equivalent of
one World Trade Centre attack annually.
Repudiate the 9/11 Cover-Up and the Iraq War Lies,
Show Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/170291p-148587c.html
New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
Furor over Bush's 9/11 ad
By MAGGIE HABERMAN in New York
amd THOMAS M. DeFRANK in Washington
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Thursday, March 4th, 2004
The Bush reelection campaign yesterday unveiled its
first three campaign commercials showcasing Ground
Zero images, angering some 9/11 families who accused
President Bush of exploiting the tragedy for political
advantage.
"It's a slap in the face of the murders of 3,000
people," said Monica Gabrielle, whose husband died in
the twin tower attacks. "It is unconscionable."
Gabrielle and several other family members said the
injury was compounded by Bush's refusal to testify in
open session before the 9/11 commission.
"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."
Mindy Kleinberg said she was offended because the
White House has not cooperated fully with the
commission and because of the sight of remains being
lifted out of Ground Zero in one of the spots.
"How heinous is that?" Kleinberg asked. "That's
somebody's [loved one]."
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 said.
But Jennie Farrell, who lost her brother, electrician
James Cartier, called the ad "tastefully done,"
adding: "It speaks to the truth of the times. Sept. 11
... was something beyond the realm of imagination, and
George Bush ... led us through one of the darkest
moments in history."
The gauzy, upbeat spots, aimed at shoring up Bush's
sagging approval numbers, begin airing today on
national cable networks and 50 media markets in 17
states that Bush-Cheney strategists consider electoral
battlegrounds.
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.
One, titled "Safer, Stronger," also features a
one-second shot of firefighters removing the
flag-draped remains of a victim from the twisted
debris.
Both ads reinforce the 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.
Bush officials defended the imagery as totally
appropriate.
"9/11 was the defining moment of these times,"
campaign manager Ken Mehlman told reporters. "Because
of that day, America is at war and still is."
Charging Democratic rival John Kerry with politicizing
the attacks by alleging Bush has turned his back on
the city, Mehlman added: "The President's never
forgotten. It's a central part of his leadership."
The spots, pegged to the theme of "steady leadership
in time of change," do not mention Kerry. Instead,
their uplifting message hopes to refurbish Bush's
battered image after two months of harsh Democratic
attacks and a series of missteps by the normally
surefooted White House political apparatus.
"We've been off our game for weeks," a senior Bush
strategist conceded. "Thank goodness, there's plenty
of time to get well, and plenty of grist to chop Kerry
down to size."
With Kenneth R. Bazinet and Michele McPhee