If it’s wrong for the DCCC to use the images of soldiers’ coffins in promoting Phil Kellam, was it wrong for President Bush to use such images in his 2004 reelection commercial? If you think the DCCC should apologize, should President Bush also apologize? If not, why?
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Eh, while I’m on the same political page as you, you could just as easily ask if it’s OK for the DCCC to use the images after they decried them when Bush used them.
That’s an equally good question.
Anoop makes a good point.
I remember George Bush saying during his first term after 9/11, that he wouldn’t use those events (or was it images?) in his re-election campaign. He made the statement as though it were a moral position that he was taking. Then in 2004 he did use them.
Politics and politicians being what they are, Bush opened the door wide open for the use of such images. Turn about is fair play.
This entire issue as is being raised by Republicans strikes me as sour grapes. It’s a typical reaction from Republicans when Democrats are able to adopt and successfully use traditionally republican themes and tactics against republicans.
The Chicago Tribune also has a story on the subject.
Somebody needs to read Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ “On Death and Dying” again.
How can we have a meaningful dialogue about the wisdom of this war without talking about the dead and wounded. Given that few Americans read anymore, and given that television is the medium that most Americans use to get news and information, it is necessary that the caskets be shown.
Republicans just want to hide the scale of the human costs.
I’m guessing that all of this is a moot point now. It looks like the DCCC pulled the video ad from their website. It can’t be found anywhere. Googling it only gets their cached version of the page with no video, and the link now hooks up to a radio ad about the minimum wage.
What wimps.
Fatal mistake. If you’re going to do it, stick with it. Running the ad and then backing down in the face of criticism only makes the other side more willing to attack the next ad. What did Truman say? “Never apologize.” D-Trip blew this one.
Hold on a minute here.
When Bush uses the backdrop of US service men and women or an aircraft carrier or some other forum that Rove can contrive, the message is that he is the office of the President and that the military is supporting that without question. The men and women of the US military will always support the President. He gives the orders and there is never any question but that the Presidets orders will be obeyed. What gets muddled is that the “photo op” is supposed to convey the impression of actual support for his policies.
Lets be honest here, you don’t find Bush at a funeral for someone who gave their life. You don’t find Bush at the Veterans Administration touring the rehab wards.
This is war. People die and people are mangled in body and mind. No one is really showing the cost of war. It is time someone does.
We live in a sanitized version of the war. We don’t see the mangled bodies or the screaming combatants in the hospital wards. We don’t even see simple coffins at the end of the pain. We don’t see the heartbreak of familes.
Sometimes the real cost of war is justified. Sometimes it is not. Either way, we should always know the cost and let people make up their own minds if it is worth it.
Should a politician “use” the pain and suffering of families to promote the opposition to this particular war? Somebody has to or who will speak for them?
An apology at this point would be meaningless from either the Dems or Bush…since its catalyst is bad press. What chaps me here is its fine to use those images for elections, but most on both sides of the isle voted to hide the soldiers (live coverage and any subsequent images/video)arrival from the American people.
I dont know if you allow links in comments Waldo, but I wrote something concerning this a couple weeks ago. It gives one persons point of view based on watching it during Vietnam
http://blog.cvillekeystrokes.com/index.cfm/2006/7/4/July-4th-2006
I don’t just allow links, I encourage them. I like to keep people moving to other blogs, particularly when folks have something to add to the discussion that’s best done by posting it on their own blog.
@Tim: While you’re providing links, how about providing one to support your contention that hiding the arrivals of the caskets at Dover is something that Congress voted for? It’s a Bush/Rumsfeld Dept. of Defense policy, period.