Bush's 9-11 Photo Profiteering
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL
With September 11th approaching and the prospect of Bush using the anniversary events to make political gains for his ailing ratings, we thought it would be important to show how Bush has previously used the tragedy of 9-11 to advance his far-right political agenda and, most despicably, to make a quick buck for the GOP.
In May, Bush and the GOP started selling a three-photo collection of Bush's first year in office, which included a photo of "a telephone call from Air Force One to Vice President Cheney the afternoon of September 11."
Besides
the fact that the photos are mislabeled (the second photo is "Bush
speaking to Congress on Feb. 27, 2001, well before the Sept. 11 attacks")
and misleading (the 9-11 photo gives the impression that Bush was in charge,
when we know he finished reading his children's book -- even after the
second tower was attacked -- and then ran away from D.C. like a scared
chicken), it took the Democrats to rightfully call this kind of fund-raising
what is was: "troubling," "grotesque," and the "cynical
use of a photo of that period."
(See: http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/national/kerr05152002.htm,
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/
DailyNews/fundraising_020514.html and http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/2002/06/11_Booker.html)
As
Al Gore said in a statement about the photos, "While most pictures
are worth a thousand words, a photo that seeks to capitalize on one of
the most tragic moments in our nation's history is worth only one - disgraceful.
I cannot imagine that the families of those who lost their lives on September
11th condone this - and neither should the President of the United States."
(See: http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.15I.Gore.911.Photos.htm)
But that hasn't stopped the Bushistas and their GOP Global Domination Money Vacuum.
In
spite of the obvious callousness of Bush's publicly-funded travels to
raise money for the GOP, the AP reported on August 29, 2002, "President
Bush blazed new records in raising campaign cash Thursday as events in
two states -- his 49th and 50th fund-raisers of the year -- pushed his
total to nearly $110 million and provided fresh evidence that money is
the oxygen of American political life."
(See: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020830/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_18)
On his many fundraising trips to gather this "oxygen of American political life," does Bush tell people that Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar and the anthrax terrorist are still free, the economy has tanked, the surplus is gone, unemployment is rising, and the international community laughs at his simple-mindedness one minute and fears his warmongering unilateral actions the next?
Does he mention that he wants to send our friends and family into a war with Iraq that he has not justified and either his stupidity or arrogance has prevented him from hearing the voices of the U.S. citizens, those in Congress and the rest of the world who wholeheartedly disagree with his dangerous plans?
Is it part of his stump speech to remind America that his agenda has never been compassionate and his policies are radically conservative?
So, we ask, what could Bush possibly be telling people that would make them give him more money?
See the pictures yourself and, perhaps, you can determine why anyone would support George W. Bush for anything but an award for bad taste.
Invitation to the June 19, 2002 Fund-Raiser
Card hawking the photos of Bush
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL