Tuesday, March 09, 2004

That Explains It: The New York Post gets to the bottom of issue of the 9/11 families who were supposedly outraged by Bush's inclusion of World Trade Center footage in his campaign ads. (via InstaPundit).

These families have been opposing President Bush since 9/12 and also have been campaigning for Sen. Kerry. They opposed military reaction to the terrorist attacks. Not just military action in Iraq, but also in Afghanistan.

While we share in the grief of these people who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks, it appears that some of them are partisans who are using their victim-status as a bullhorn to spout their political rhetoric. They have a right to say whatever they please. But it is not representative of how other victims or their families feel, and it should not be considered news.

Remember, some families of victims criticized the idea of constructing new office buildings in and around the destroyed buildings at Ground Zero. They wanted to keep it a barren landscape, claiming anything else would be "disrespectful" of their loved ones. That's why the first round of proposals to rebuild Ground Zero didn't include any skyscrapers. But finally other people spoke up and said we need to reach for the sky again.

Unfortunately, Democrats are clinging to the words of those on the fringe, and the media is characterizing all of Bush's ads as "controversial", even though they're just typical, bland, feel-good ads. Most people, including 9/11 families, don't see a problem with Bush's ads.

9/11 and the war on terrorism is the most important issue facing America today. Many other issues also need to be addressed, but the war should be front and center, and both candidates should be engaged in the discussion.