Democratic state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer on Thursday warned Republicans not to "dare" use the memory of 9/11 for political purposes when they convene for their convention in New York City next month.
"Do not go there," Spitzer said at a breakfast he sponsored for the New York delegation at the national convention Thursday. "We have seen in the 9/11 report how many errors were made and opportunities were missed. No one, and I mean no one, should use it for politics. It would not be fair or right," the attorney general continued. "And we will not let you do it."
Here's the thing: I do agree with Spitzer that the event should not be used in the way he fears.
But ... what's he going to do about it? It's pretty clear that the GOP convention plans to use the event for political gain if they can (although they seem to have been talked out of having Our Glorious Shrub accepting the nomination at the World Trade Center, and I'm sure that many people are relieved thereby). Moreover, the GOP doesn't remotely care about offending New York state -- it votes Democratic, for all that New York City seems to keep electing Republican mayors these days. Those electoral votes are already counted as lost, so there's no downside to offending New Yorkers somewhat.
Somewhat.
In this area, at least, after a few initial flurries, we haven't seen much of Bush's 9/11 ads. Granted, it may be simply that once the Illinois GOP fell apart, there was no longer any reason for them to pay attention, so the ads aren't being played here while maybe they're still in rotation elsewhere. On the other hand, the national reaction was fairly negative; it may well be that they're discovering the limits of how far they can push the political aspects.
One can but hope, anyway.
Posted by iain at August 03, 2004 06:49 PM
