Politics
Bush to Do 9/11 Remembrance, Fund-Raising
Thu Mar 11,
topplebush.com
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites), caught in a controversy last week over campaign ads using images of Sept. 11, 2001, will attend groundbreaking ceremonies for a 9/11 memorial on New York's Long Island on Thursday, then attend a campaign fund-raising event.
Bush will visit East Meadow, New York, for an Eisenhower Park ceremony breaking ground for the Nassau County 9/11 memorial. Nearly 300 people with ties to Nassau County were killed in the attacks that brought down the World Trade Center towers.
The White House said Bush's attendance at the event was not in response to the controversy that sprang up last week over television advertisements put out by his re-election campaign that showed a blasted World Trade Center tower building behind an American flag and images of firefighters carrying a flag-draped coffin.
"This was an invitation that was extended to the president in mid-February," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. "The president is honored to accept the invitation and pay tribute to those who tragically lost their lives on that September day."
Some families of the 9/11 victims and a firefighters' association had protested the Bush ads and Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites)'s presidential campaign had accused Bush of exploiting the 9/11 tragedy for political gain.
Bush is expected to appear with New York Gov. George Pataki and other officials to pay respects to the Nassau County victims of the attacks and is expected to turn a shovel of dirt to mark the beginning of the construction.
Later, he is to attend an Eisenhower Park reception to raise money for his re-election campaign, which has already taken in about $150 million, far surpassing his own $100 million record from the 2000 campaign.
Some Republicans are concerned about the appearance Bush is leaving -- attending a 9/11 event then a fund-raiser -- particularly in light of last week's flap over the ads.
"It is politically awkward -- and quite surprising," said one Republican strategist with close ties to the White House.
This Republican and others, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there is a broad sense among Republican circles in Washington that the campaign ad controversy was a debacle that served to create a controversy while consuming several million dollars of badly needed campaign funds.
"It's hard to say there is anything other than fund-raising that they're doing well," said one Republican.
The Republicans said there is unease in the White House about the direction of the campaign, with Bush down in the polls to Kerry and seemingly on the defensive at every turn, and suggested that changes could be in the offing.
Bush, under fire for slow growth in U.S. jobs, will also speak at an economy event while on Long Island to stress that the U.S. economy has underlying strength and that he supports job-training programs for unemployed workers. |
