I’m really torn about the controversy about the Bush campaign ad using an image from the World Trade Center.
On the one hand, if you have trouble setting your moral compass, assuming Bush and his cronies never do anything without it being evil, self serving and the morally wrong thing to do is a good first approximation.
On the other hand, this event is the defining event of the Bush presidency, if not of the last 20+ years. Bush’s presidency is going to be judged on how he handled it, and on how he used it as an excuse to settle old scores in Iraq, make his cronies richer with tax cuts, and make the single greatest assault on the Constitution and our civil rights in the entire history of the US, while tearing up the blank check of international goodwill that got handed to him on the day.
Much of the controversy seems to be coming from the victim’s families. I remember reading the fuss the victim’s families were making over the memorial at the WTC site, and I kept thinking “man, what a bunch of whiners”. You’d think they were the only people who’d ever died unjustly. I hope Rick Zipper, as the husband of the only victim I knew, is not one of whiners. Yeah, what happened to them is horrible, but that doesn’t give them “ownership” of this tragedy. It is America’s tragedy, the world’s tragedy, not just theirs.
If I have a conclusion, it’s that images of the events of September 11th are going to be part of the campaign, and there’s nothing we can do about that. On the other hand, I feel that images of victims being removed from the rubble should not be used, just out of good taste and respect. Which is why I think Bushco will continue to use such images for the whole campaign.