Mock Outrage
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AN ARTICLE in the New York Daily News claims that 9/11 widows and family members are steaming mad over a new Bush campaign series of advertisements featuring some video clips from the past three years – including September 11, 2001.
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.
The article includes a somber photo of 9/11 widow Kristen Breitweiser, holding her husband’s ring. She is very upset about the new ads. “After 3,000 people were murdered on his watch, it seems to me that that takes an awful lot of audacity. Honestly, it's in poor taste.”
Breitweiser is a co-founder of the group September 11th Advocates and a member of the Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Independent Commission. Last September, she wrote the following in an article for Salon.com:
Remember the aircraft-carrier photo op? Bush is a man of action; in fact, he is an action hero. Except, of course, when it really counts, like in those early morning hours when this country was under attack and our commander in chief was drinking milk and eating cookies with second graders.
Another 9/11 widow quoted in the article is Monica Gabrielle, whose husband Rick perished in Tower Two of the World Trade Center.
It's a slap in the face of the murders of 3,000 people…It is unconscionable.
Gabrielle is also a member of the same Family Steering Committee, and the founder of Skyscraper Safety, a campaign to upgrade building codes in New York City. In a letter to the editors of the New York Times last July, she wrote the following:
Lest we forget, the responsibility of our leaders is to protect our citizens from harm. On Sept. 11, 2001, our leaders failed miserably. The reason for the failures has yet to be fully determined. Our recovery will not be enhanced simply because the Republican Convention will be held near ground zero.
If President Bush is “politicizing” the events of September 11, 2001, he isn’t the first person to do so. |
