If this is how far the Democrats have sunk already, with eight months still to go before the election, 2004 is going to be a very dirty Presidential campaign year indeed.

In answer to the vicious attacks constantly being levied at him by the Democrats, President Bush released a series of quiet, thoughtful tv commercials this week.  The ads were designed to remind the viewer that America has been faced with some serious hardships and challenges in the last few years, and that America -- led by President Bush -- has risen to meet them.  As part of a series of photographs that flash by in a montage, there is a brief shot of the American flag flying over the World Trade Center wreckage of 9/11, and an even briefer shot of one of the thousands of flag-draped stretchers that were carried out of the buildings' remains.  Since 9/11 was one of the challenges Bush helped the country survive, the defining moment of his Presidency and our generation, and arguably the greatest disaster this country has ever faced, it's entirely right and proper for him to allude to his leadership in its aftermath.  9/11 redefined this country, and redefined George W. Bush as well.  But the Liberals, as we know, see the worst terrorist attack in history as a hiccup, a fluke, a one-time thing rather than part of an ongoing campaign against us.  They refuse to see that it was an act of war, and that war against terrorists and their supporters was the only appropriate response.  While the rest of us were saying "Remember 9/11", they were -- and still are -- telling us, "remember 9/10".

The media (reduced to being the pets of the Liberals these days) immediately attacked the ads with everything they had, and in the sickest way imaginable.  Within hours of the ads' release, "news" stories began circulating such as "Victims' Families Press Bush to Pull 9/11 Ads" and "9/11 Victims' Kin Angered by Bush Ads" which ran quotes from people mostly identified only as relatives of 9/11 victims.  But the stories somehow neglected to identify nearly every person quoted as someone who has either contributed to John Kerry's campaign, works for John Kerry's campaign, or is a member of an organisation that's either "anti-war"... or just anti-Bush.

"It makes me sick," said Colleen Kelly, who lost her brother Bill Kelly Jr. in the attacks and leads a victims families group called Peaceful Tomorrows. "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."

Ms. Kelly, it turns out, protested the liberation of Iraq in NYC alongside actress and activist Susan Sarandon.  Her group also visited Iraq before the war to stage a protest against the US.  The news story forgot to mention that.  But wait!  There's more!  This Peaceful Tomorrows group (which also opposed the war in Afghanistan), is "a project of the Tides Center" according to their own web site.  The Tides Center, in turn, is funded by the Vira Heinz Endowment and the Howard Heinz Endowment -- both chaired by Teresa Heinz Kerry.  Got all that? 

David Potorti, quoted as saying, "It's an insult to use the place where my brother died in an ad," is also a member of Peaceful Tomorrows.  So is Bob McIlvane, who said, "To argue that using footage of the wreckage of the towers to further someone's political career is 'tasteful' really needs to be rejected outright, and I condemn it."  Yet he is allowing the media to use his son's death to further the political career of John Kerry, whose wife's foundations contribute money to his organisation.  The media neglected to report any of this in their "outrage" stories.

Two members of the International Association of Fire Fighters Union are mentioned as being angry about the ads, Jeff Zack and Harold Schaitberger .  The IAFF gave their endorsement to Senator Kerry.  Schaitberger, in September 2003, gave the endorsement speech.  In fact, Harold Schaitberger is "co-chair of the Kerry for President campaign", according to the Firefighters for Kerry website.  The news media must have just forgotten to mention that.

Are you feeling sick yet?

Tom Ryan, who said, "As a firefighter who spent months at Ground Zero, it's deeply offensive to see the Bush campaign use these images to capitalize on the greatest American tragedy of our time," is an active campaigner for gay "marriage" as an officer of FireFLAG.  President Bush recently called for a Constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Coincidence?  I wonder. I think I hear the scraping sound of an ax grinding.

Kristen Breitweiser, who also attacked President Bush for "using 9/11 as political propaganda," was not identified as the woman who decided "to wage a battle against the United States government" in the "ad" story.  However, that is the way she was introduced in an interview with Phil Donahue in 2002.  In both interviews, she attacked President Bush for not panicking a schoolroom full of children by personally overreacting while preparations were made for his departure.  That meme -- "how dare he react with such calm?" -- seems to be resurfacing again as a Democratic talking point. 

But that's what makes a President a leader, not rushing around in a hysterical panic.