Political Ads

The Virginian-Pilot has picked up an Associated Press Report that relatives of 9/11 victims are sickened that a Bush campaign ad actually shows scenes of Ground Zero.

"It makes me sick," Colleen Kelly, who lost her brother Bill Kelly Jr., in the attacks and leads a victims families group called Peaceful Tomorrows, said Thursday. "Would you ever go to someone's grave site and use that as an instrument of politics? That truly is what Ground Zero represents to me."

With all due respect, Miss Kelly, politicians use grave sites for political purposes all the time. From the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to the beaches of Normandy, presidents have honored the dead and forever. President Clinton filmed at a D-Day beach making a cross out of pepples was a totally contrived political event at a gravesite. In fact, President Bush has been criticized for not attending the funeral of every soldier killed in Iraq. Isn't that exploiting the dead for political gain as well?

I have great sympathy for the relatives of the victims, but at some point they have to realize that they cannot control what is or isn't built in New York, and they can't tell the public what images of the tragedy are or are not acceptable for public use. Period.