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The president made no remarks...But earlier at a factory in another part of Long Island, Bush said the lesson of Sept. 11 is that "we must deal with threats before they fully materialize."
Pat Kiefer, mother of a 25 year old victim of the attack on the World Trade Center said the government should have done more to prevent them.
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"No one's been held accountable for anything about 9-11," said Bill Doyle, who lost his 25 year old son, Joseph, at the World Trade Center.
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"I have a problem with exploiting death for political gain," (Mr. Doyle) said. I'd have the same problem if Democrats used images of body bags coming back from Iraq in one of their ads."
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A couple of things: first of all, Bush just reiterated his pre-emption doctrine in his remarks at the factory. To me, what that means is that those who have said that 4 more years of Bush = 4 more wars, are not apparently all that hyperbolic in saying so. He still thinks that it is the right way to go, despite all that has happened in Iraq. This is very much in character for President Bush - once he's on that train, he will not get off of it no matter what happens during the ride.
The second thing that I think needs to be paid attention to here is Mr. Doyle's statement about exploiting death for political gain. The Democrats need to be sensitive to this issue, and not guilty of the same kind of exploitation the president is guilty of. It will only hurt Big John's campaign, in my opinion, if he and other Democrats do not show a great deal of sensitivity to both the families of the 9/11 victims, and the families of the casualties of the Iraq War. Actually, all the families of the military who have been sent to Iraq need the kind of sensitivity and understanding that someone like Kerry, himself a veteran, is capable of showing them.
link to story is here