Firefighters, Relatives Ask Bush to Pull 9/11 Ad

On the way to the Berkman Bloggers meeting we were listening
to that rabid libertarian Jay Severin ranting on about the meaninglessness
of the news that the New York Firefighters Union had a) endorsed Kerry,
and b) objected to Bush using film of dead firefighters being pulled from
the ruins of the World Trade Center in a campaign commercial which debuted
yesterday (see following story).

Jay said that it was just the Union leaders who supported Kerry, and
that almost to a man (he neglected to mention the female firefighters)
the rank and file supported the President. He went on to say that this
is perfectly natural, as George Bush is the man much more likely to wake
up each morning thinking about our firemen and policemen and soldiers.

He then went on to laugh at the idea that anyone in Washington had anything
to do, either overtly or covertly, with the expedited exit of President
Aristide from Haiti, because "no one in Washington gives a rats ass or
even cares enough about what is going on in Haiti" to intervene. Enlightened
political analysis, for sure.

Excuse me, but my impression is that George Bush spends very little
time in the company of or even thinking about ANYONE whose net worth
is less than a million dollars. Say what you will about John Kerry, and
there is certainly much to say, but the man loves firefighters, and the
feeling appears to be mutual.  Maybe he wanted to BE a fireman when he was growing up. At every Kerry event we attended,
and most we see on TV, firefighters are there.

We’ll never forget an interview we heard on the radio, with the sister
of a firefighter who was burned horribly in a famous, tragic warehouse
fire in Worcester in December, 1999. Six firefighters died.  While
this woman’s brother was hospitalized she said John Kerry came to his
bedside, not once, but many times, over weeks, without any press coverage,
or publicity, or an election to win, and just sat with the family and
fellow firefighters, and talked.

This is starting to shape up as the best Presidential election match
up since Kennedy-Nixon, or maybe even Lincoln-Douglass, like a knife fight
between between octopi on MDA. A much better matchup than last time,
even though that one went the distance, and then some. It should be
a memorable slugfest, full of low blows, backstabbing, dirty tricks and
bizarre plot twists. One would expect no less from two Yale guys…

WASHINGTON (AP) – President George W. Bush’s day-old campaign commercials
drew sharp criticism Thursday from relatives of the victims of the Sept.
11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and a firefighters union with ties to Democratic
rival John Kerry demanded the ads be pulled.

The White House defended the ads, which include images of the destroyed
World Trade Center and firefighters bearing a stretcher through the
rubble. "It
makes me sick," said Colleen Kelly, who lost her brother, Bill Kelly, in
the attacks and leads a victims families group called Peaceful Tomorrows. "Would
you ever go to someone’s grave site and use that as an instrument of politics?
That truly is what Ground Zero represents to me."

In Bal Harbour, Fla., the International Association of Fire Fighters Union
approved a resolution asking the Bush campaign to pull the ads, spokesman Jeff
Zack said.
The resolution also urges Bush to "apologize to the families of firefighters
killed on 9/11 for demeaning the memory of their loved ones in an attempt to
curry support for his re-election."

from the CBC