Bush Campaign Defends Gratuitous Use of Others' Loss

"It's a slap in the face of the murders of 3,000 people," Monica Gabrielle, whose husband died in the twin towers, told the New York Daily News for its Thursday editions. "It is unconscionable."

Two of the spots show the destruction at the World Trade Center and include an American flag flying amid the debris. They also feature images of firefighters working through the wreckage.

"It's as sick as people who stole things out of the place," said Firefighter Tommy Fee of Queens Rescue Squad 270. "The image of firefighters at ground zero should not be used for this stuff, for politics."

...

"I would be less offended if he showed a picture of himself in front of the Statue of Liberty," said Tom Roger, whose daughter perished on American Airlines Flight 11. "But to show the horror of 9/11 in the background, that's just some advertising agency's attempt to grab people by the throat."

[Karen]Hughes said the ads are a tasteful reminder of what the country has been through the last three years.

"I can understand why some Democrats might not want the American people to remember the great leadership and strength the president and first lady Laura Bush brought to our country in the aftermath of that," she said.

First of all, Karen Hughes is back? Does this mean they're trying to salvage their relationship with gays, lesbians, and transgenders?

But I find it interesting that Karen Hughes equates the widows and parents of the victims -- along with the firefighters who lost comrades that day -- as "Democrats."

But the more they bludgeon us with images of the WTC and flag-draped coffins, the more we'll be reminded that 1.) the administration continues to stonewall the 9-11 Commission, and 2.) the Miserable Failure has yet to attend the flag draped funeral of a serviceman or woman fallen in Iraq.