It was honestly a coincidence that Bush’s ads came under fire last week as I discussed that joke of a commission that he put together for the Sept. 11 attacks. For a while, I just took it as a matter of fact that Bush, Mr. PR Stunt himself, would make the same kind of cheap tear-jerking sideshow out of 9-11 that one could find on the late-night lineup of The Bible Network.
And right on cue, Bush played what he thought would be the trump card of his hollow presidency – his “leadership” after that day of infamy, September 11. The ads that Bush put out depicted scenes of firefighters, flags, and the rubble in which thousands met an early grave – symbols to surely tug on patriotic heartstrings. What they didn’t show you, and what they never will, was Bush’s real record of “leadership.”
Bush critics were generally right in describing those ads as inappropriate. What bothers me is that many did not go into detail as to why. His ads exploited the Sept. 11 attacks, not because he was simply depicting American tragedy, but because his representation of it was not only a lie, but also a blatant hypocrisy, given how he really handled 9-11. He was expecting you, the typical American, to be too stupid to see through his melodrama and ask the real questions.
First of all, what Bush’s patriotic appeal won’t show you is that after the attacks happened, he couldn’t even get his own story straight. According to a CNN transcript, Bush actually claimed to have seen live coverage of the first plane hitting the tower! Initially he said that he dismissed this as a “terrible pilot,” and was eventually notified that a second plane had hit the tower.
Bush, however, didn’t realize that he was seen on videotape in a Florida classroom reading a book about sheep, while those “terrible pilots” were committing the atrocities that he claimed to have witnessed firsthand. And he accuses John Kerry of “uncertainty”?
What other points of pride does Bush flaunt for his “leadership in times of change” in his shameless ads? He has no problem getting in front of a camera and putting his arm around a bunch of firefighters. But what did Bush do to support all those “heroes”? According to one firefighter, Michael Mohler, “The president has merely been using firefighters and their families for one big photo opportunity.”
You see, widows are made in New York, while heroes are made in Washington. Instead of our “hero-in-chief” giving the firefighters of New York better funding to do the job that he pats them on the back for, they get a slap in the face. Bush bends to the Hooverist anti-union ideology of his corporate tennis partners and actually refuses funding for first-response rescue workers.
The bill, already passed in Congress both by Democrats and Republicans, would have given $5.1 billion in much needed funding to rescue workers nationwide, according to Reuters.
These “first-responders,” not only went into the crumbling WTC to save lives, but over 300 died as a result. The rejected bill appropriated $100 million to ensure better radios for firefighters all over the country, but all they got was a lousy ceremony honoring those who died, ironically as a result of poor radio equipment.
As if that wasn’t a big enough slap in the face, they came under fire from conservatives who basically called them a bunch of sniveling babies for demanding unions and better equipment! According to the Newsmax, an overbearingly conservative news source, “left-wingers are cleverly using the long-term crisis to con politicians into believing now is the time to act on legislation that would force locally controlled firemen and police into collectives.”
You see, it’s perfectly okay to use 9-11 for political gain, but when those who risked their lives go and invoke 9-11 for better working conditions, it’s tacky, tasteless, and shot down with some good ol’ fashioned red-baiting, left over from the McCarthy era.
According to the International Association of Firefighters, “Two-thirds of America’s fire departments remain under-staffed because Bush is failing to enforce a new law that was passed with bipartisan support in Congress that would put more fire fighters in our communities.”
If and when there is another terror attack, do you think that Bush and Karl Rove are going to be there with hoses and helmets? Do you think that Homeland Security will show up to carry people down all those flights of steps?
The only people who will be up to the job are the kind of blue-collar Americans that Bush has used only as a photo opportunity. Even that little appearance at the NASCAR race was done to coddle blue-collar Americans at taxpayer expense, diverting from the fact that he ultimately leaves them in the dust.
Alongside the issue with firefighters, there are countless other reasons why Bush’s classless ads are a joke. The only problem is that describing them would take the space of a whole book. Oil interests in Afghanistan, the puppet-president Hamid Karzai, our military adventure in Iraq, Halliburton’s crony capitalism, CIA leaks, the Patriot Act, a 9-11 commission that had less priority than Janet Jackson’s right breast – the list goes on!
Sorry, Mr. President. It looks like you’ll have to do a lot better than a bunch of pseudo-patriotic ads about 9-11 if you want to get the chance to screw us over for another four years.
Mark Ostroff is a Collegian Columnist.
