Families who lost relatives in the September 11, 2001, attacks pressed President George W. Bush's re-election campaign on Friday to stop running political ads that use images of the devastated World Trade Centre to show him as a strong leader in troubled times.
"As a fire-fighter who spent months at Ground Zero, it's deeply offensive to see the Bush campaign use these images to capitalise on the greatest American tragedy of our time," New York fire-fighter Tom Ryan said at a news conference.
The Bush campaign began running television ads on Thursday, in battleground states, in the opening salvo of a long campaign ahead of the November 2 presidential election. Two ads referred to the hijacked airliner attacks that killed about 3,000 as the Bush campaign seeks to portray him as a resolute leader.
One television spot shows the ruins of the World Trade Center behind an American flag while another shows fire-fighters removing the flag-draped remains of a victim.
The commercials have angered many victims' relatives, outraged at what they say as an attempt to politicise the nation's darkest hour.
The Bush administration has defended the ads as relevant and "tasteful." Bush's campaign has said it will not pull the ads despite calls from families, fire-fighters and Democrats to stop using the images.
"You have to let people react the way they want to react," Rudolph Giuliani, the Republican mayor of New York during the attacks, told CNN on Thursday in defence of the ads.
Among those angered was Bob McIlvaine, who lost his son Bobby when hijacked planes destroyed the Twin Towers.
The latest anti-Bush volleys came at a news conference held by September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. Other victims' relatives said that group was politicising the issue and had its own political agenda.
Friday's New York Times ran an editorial headlined "September 11 and November 2," warning politicians to be wary of seeking political gain from the emotions generated by the attacks.
"Any political candidate who attempts to piggyback onto those emotions deserves to be shunned by the electorate," the Times said. "Speaking of 9/11 in January 2003, President Bush told the Associated Press that he had 'no ambition whatsoever to use this as a political issue.' We applaud that sentiment."
Comments
Comments are closed.