Something about this 9/11 ad fuss smells like a donkey

The International Association of Fire Fighters, which has endorsed and campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, denounced the spots as "hypocrisy at its worst."

"I'm disappointed but not surprised that the president would try to trade on the heroism of those fire fighters," the union's general president, Harold Schaitberger, said.

Fox News has shown clips of Schaitberger announcing the IAFF union's endorsement of John Kerry, and standing behind him on the podium in a number of appearances.

images of Schaitberger with Kerry from IAFF site

While some survivors probably do have heart-felt objections (just as some survivors of those killed at Pearl Harbor probably cringed when politicians mentioned it), most of this smoke is pure politics.

A caller to this morning's Fox and Friends said he's a member of the IAFF union, and every mailing he's received from the union endorsing John Kerry has included 9/11 images. (Do your job, Fox. -- Find a copy and show it on the air.)

See this video clip of John Kerry talking about 9/11 and what he's done about it (SIC) in front of a fire truck, at the IAFF site.

Someone observed that many more Americans died in Vietnam, but John Kerry has not hesitated to capitalize on his role in that war, and the medal he garnered for his heroism in leaving the Swift Boat he commanded and delivering the coup de grace to an adversary wounded by .50 caliber fire (see an earlier ACE post for details).

Rudolph Giuliani, the Republican who was mayor of New York when the attacks occurred, issued a statement defending the ads.

"His leadership on that day is central to his record and his continued leadership is critical to our ultimate success against world terrorism."

An editioral in today's WSJ (don't see an author) says (among other things):

We write this from offices that are 200 yards from Ground Zero and were rendered uninhabitable for almost a year by the attack. (The photo nearby was the view from our windows.) The threat of another such assault, and how to prevent it, has dominated our politics for three years. From tax cuts designed to save the economy from the double-whammy of terrorism and recession, to the Patriot Act, to regime change in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of Mr. Bush's "forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East," just about every recent major policy is inextricably linked to the event so mildly depicted in these Bush ads. Isn't an election supposed to be about such things?

Even Democrats know that it is, so they are manufacturing this outrage for a political purpose: President Bush still polls extremely well on his handling of the war on terror, and Democrats are trying to define the debate in a way that keeps him from playing to his strengths. The polls also show that Mr. Bush scores well as a "leader," so Democrats are also trying to stop him from reinforcing that image.

Where, for example, was the tut-tutting about the former President "exploiting" the Oklahoma City bombing by giving an election-year speech there in April 1996? We'd also take the current handwringing a bit more seriously if we heard any similar worries about John Kerry "exploiting" his service in Vietnam.

So the Bush campaign is being presented with something of a Catch-22: Any attempt to talk about the President's own record will be branded "exploitative," while any talk about Mr. Kerry's will be called an attack on his "patriotism."

Greyhawk at the Mudville Gazette sums up the Kerry Camp's DON'T MENTION IT stance regarding 9/11 with a photo and a statement:

I'm John Kerry, and when I'm your president I'll make 9/11 go away.

Survivors of those who died on 9/11 have come out on both sides of the issue. One can understand their positions either way. But 9/11 and the reaction to it is the single most significant thing defining the Bush presidency. I also believe, as painful as it is to all of us, and as ESPECIALLY painful it is for survivors to see it used as a political football BY BOTH SIDES, we have to keep the image of 9/11 in front of us, to remind us we are not yet secure against attacks on our homeland. Apparently the majority of Americans agree. The Bush Campaign would pull the ad (in a heartbeat) if feedback said it was generally having a negative impact.