GOTTA HEAR THIS
Given the continuing SELF-SERVING nonsense in the media - A reminder of music and sound ~ 3 megabytes
=====> (click here, or download with right mouse button)
Posted on 03/08/2004 3:38:07 AM PST by kattracks
President George W. Bush's re-election campaign said it had no plans to withdraw campaign ads with footage of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks despite furious criticism from Democrats and some victims' relatives.Debate over the images has dominated the early days of Bush's race against Democratic challenger John Kerry, who criticised Sunday the president's handling of the Haitian crisis and said he would likely send a fact-finding mission to Iraq.
Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot defended the use of the brief images of September 11 as "entirely appropriate" to highlight Bush's leadership qualities and said he was "very comfortable" with the public reaction.
"We have not thought about pulling the ads," Racicot said in an interview on Fox News Sunday.
The ads, particularly brief footage of two firemen over a flag-draped coffin, have drawn sharp criticism from the Kerry camp, the leader of a large firefighters union and several relatives of the victims.
But Racicot said Sunday: "Recalling this moment is about the president's record of service during a very, very difficult moment. And it's also about what we're going to do about terrorism in the future."
Senator John McCain, who opposed Bush for the Republican presidential nomination four years ago, also said it was "perfectly appropriate" to use September 11 to remind voters of the incumbent's leadership.
But he added on ABC television, "I might not have used the ad of the coffin coming out, or the body coming out of the ruins with a flag on it."
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a prominent Democrat, called the ads "a little bit over the line."
"Those ads were politicizing the situation," he told CBS television.
Bush has opened his campaign for the November election with frequent references to the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center and Pentagon. He signaled Saturday he had no intention of stopping.
"I have an obligation to those who died," Bush said. "I look forward to the debate about who is the best to run this country in the war against terror."
Part of the anger over Bush's readiness to discuss September 11 on the campaign trail has been fueled by his decision to spend only an hour with a congressional panel investigating intelligence failures before the attacks.
Tad Devine, a senior adviser to Senator Kerry, said Bush's use of the images was "unfortunate" but added: "I think it's even more troubling this president appears to be refusing to cooperate with the 9/11 commission.
"I mean, he can only find one hour on his schedule to meet with them, when he spends countless hours traveling across this country raising money," Devine said on ABC television.
But Racicot, former governor of the western state of Montana, called Bush's agreement to meet with the commission "unprecedented" and said the panel had been provided with all the documents it requested.
"I believe that at the end of the day everyone would conclude that there's been a high level of cooperation," he said.
While Bush rested Sunday at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, Kerry campaigned in the southern state of Mississippi ahead of a new slate of Democratic contests this week for the nomination he effectively wrapped up last Tuesday.
In an interview with the New York Times, Kerry lambasted Bush for failing to back the ousted president of Haiti, Jean Bertrand Aristide, who fled the Caribbean state last weekend amid an armed revolt and waning international support.
"I would have been prepared to send troops immediately, period" the Massachusetts senator said. He added the Bush administration had sent a wrong signal with its refusal to back a government it called flawed.
The United States "had understandings in the region about the right of a democratic regime to ask for help," he said. "And we contravened all of that. I think it's a terrible message to the region, democracies, and it's shortsighted."
Kerry, who first voted to authorize US military action in Iraq but has sharply criticized Bush's prosecution of the war, told Time Magazine he would "almost certainly" send his own team of fact-finding experts to Iraq.
"I may ask some Democratic colleagues and experts to go to Iraq and make this assessment so I have a strong basis on which to proceed," he was quoted as saying in an article scheduled to hit newsstands Monday.
Hillary lifts her head up from a plate of cheesecake and says, "Oh...really?"
Arkancide ahoy!
Given the continuing SELF-SERVING nonsense in the media - A reminder of music and sound ~ 3 megabytes
=====> (click here, or download with right mouse button)
Haiti is/was Kerry's idea of a democracy. Aristide is a third world punk dictator of the first order, and Kerry would send in our troops, in a minute, just like Clinton did.
The Bush camp ought to pick up on this and make it an issue.
And Pres. Bush should pull the add because of what??
While not related to the story they manage a double punch on behalf of Kerry in one sentence - good one.
Gee, Mr. Kerry, isn't it a bit late in the game to be looking for facts? Does this mean your positions in the past have not been based on facts? Hello? Hello?
He hopes we forgot that he made a campaign ad of him visiting a grave at Arlington National Cemetary.
I will be calling his office today to remind him that I remember very well.
1-877-762-8762 US Capitol
Well, Hillary has managed to confirm all our assumptions. . .
Her eyes; glazed in thoughtful consideration; Hillary finally responds to the interviewer who has asked her 'what qualifications should a VP have?
Hillary responds that whomever is chosen; that person should, of course, have the qualifications to be able to carry the responsibilities as President - in case something happened. . .if ever something happened. . .to the president.
The desire for Presidential power, so consumes Hillary; she can no longer hide it; it is there, embedded in her every response. Even her laugh - when she is forced to deny the truth of her presidential ambition.
John Kerry has entered the zone. . .
Does Hillary know or see how transparent she is? Her answer, put her right inside the Oval Office :^)
They should; but save for a couple of hits; political correctness will rule.
...and an even greater obligation to those who did not.
President Bush must intensify this message. It is essential.
What else would anyone expect of the Democrats? Of course they'll attack the President, the ads, any thing. The will do anything and say anything in their grab for power.
The American Mainstream Newsmedia--and the French, as this article shows--will aid and abet the Democrats in any way they can.
President Bush must balance Newsmedia propaganda with constant, hard hitting, truthful messages. This is part of it.
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