Posted 1:08 AM by Paul
New York Exploited

Inevitably Bush and co. are exploiting the September 11th attacks as part of the Presidential re-election campaign. His early TV ads show the aftermath of the fall of the Twin Towers. Shots of firefighters picking through the rubble with a voice-over stressing the decisiveness of the President. You get the picture. Relations of the victims have been vocal in their condemnation of what they see as as cyncial exploitation of their grief.

Bush's attempt to get re-elected on the backs of 3,000 dead New Yorkers should surprise no one, despite the fact that public services in New York have been slashed as part of a package of budget cuts brought in by Republican Mayor Bloomberg. Fire stations have closed and New York may even be a more dangerous place than it was on September 10th 2001. Maybe the new ads will backfire and some voters will re-coil from such a blatant attempt to manipulate their emotions. I hope, so but I doubt it.

I suspect that Bush's people expected a backlash from New Yorkers and the victims' families, but did't really care. New York has been discounted because it is already in the bag for the Democracts. Instead, the Republican machine is using New York as a symbol of America's insecurities and fears. Some real. Many imagined. The victims of September 11th are now pawns in a wider political game. The Big Apple is more symbol that city. Kerry can have its electoral college votes because the Republicans expect to clean up in the Heartland where there is often no real affection for the cosmopolis on the Hudson.

The message of the ads is clear. Without Bush you could be next.