Obama, McCain Pulling Critical Ads On September 11

WASHINGTON — Presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain plan to pull ads on Sept. 11 that criticize each other, a respite from the political fray to honor the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The campaigns made their decision known on the same day that a group backing community service on that day called on the candidates to refrain from partisan campaigning. The group, MyGoodDeed.org, wants Sept. 11 to become a national day of voluntary service and asked that Obama and McCain perform acts of community service instead.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said McCain did not plan to advertise at all on the anniversary. "Nine-eleven is not a day for politics," Rogers said.

The Obama campaign said it plans to stop airing anti-McCain commercials on Sept. 11.

"We hope Sept. 11th is a day when Americans come together and reaffirm our resolve to address the common challenges we face together," Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan said.

Both campaigns have been running tough ads against each other, with negative commercials outnumbering their positive spots.

MyGoodDeed.org is also among a number of organizations and families of Sept. 11 victims who plan to hold a ServiceNation Summit on Sept. 11-12 in New York. Sponsors invited Obama and McCain to attend a presidential candidates forum on Sept. 11.

McCain has agreed to appear. Obama's campaign said it is talking with event sponsors about the possibility of an appearance.

In a letter to both candidates Tuesday, MyGoodDeed.org founders David Paine and Jay Winuk noted that the country seemed to forget partisan differences in the days after the attacks and were unified by a sense of compassion. The group planned to announce their appeal to the candidates on Wednesday. The campaigns revealed their intentions when contacted by The Associated Press.

"We ask you to help us rekindle that sense of unity by suspending your campaign activity on 9/11, and engaging in your own personal expression of charitable service in honor of those who perished and those who rose in service to help rebuild our nation," Paine and Winuk wrote to the candidates.

Paine, the president of the group, runs a marketing firm in California. Winuk's brother, Glenn Winuk, was a lawyer and volunteer firefighter who died after rushing to the World Trade Center to assist victims.

In an interview, Paine said: "We didn't feel that it was appropriate for those individuals who want to lead our country to engage in divisive political activity on 9/11. Nine-eleven needs to be a day that is forever preserved as a day of unity and day of remembrance and day of compassion when we put aside our differences and we think about how we can help others in need."

Comments

[hopefulinpa]

McCain doesn't care anymore about 9/11 victims than he does about the 4,000 + dead and maimed servicemen he helped send to Iraq. Ones that he wants to keep there. His run for presidency this time around is also based purely on his ambition.. like he said his first run was.. not on wanting something better for this country. I bet he picks Leiberman for his running mate because Leiberman is the only one that makes McCain not look so bad physically. Both are trolls, in looks and spirit. I bet he shows up for this event and if Barak doesn't he will make him out to be anti American...yada yada yada. I am to the point I can barely look at McCain. For someone to so boldly tell lies to the American people knowing full well that most of us know better makes me ill. Who would want that for president. He has flipped so many times who could believe what he says and what he would do in office. Of course, like Bush who has taken off more than 2 years of vaction since he has been in office, he will be taking off every weekend. God help us if the red phone rings on a Sat. night. I think everyone shoud be putting the OBAMA 08 signs in their yards! Flood your communities! Mine is there!

[debrouillard]

Vote M cCain and there will be another 9/11- esque.This time a reason to go to Iran.

[firewmn]

To honor the victims of 911 and the survivors of 911.. Bin Laden should have been caught..!

That's honor you can believe in..

[jurr]

Sorry we gotta secure Iraqi, then Iranian oil first, gotta pay the bills you understand......

[happypup]

Can we believe McCain this time? After all, he once pledged to run a positive campaign and we all know that sure ain't true!

[larry278]

To be a Chauvanist & to ignore the evidence of conspiracy buffs, a wordless campaign commercial showing Old Glory with the sounds of taps & the national anthem would be appropiate on 9/11/08.

[personalpolitical]

What McCain? Ruining the Olympics with your constant negative attack ads is ok, but you draw the line at 9/11? Wow, so thoughtful...

http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2008/08/ruining-my-olympics.html

[Charmed]

I'm tired of the media twisting things and saying Obama is running divisive ads......What is so hard about telling the truth. McCain is the one that is being politics as usual. There is a lot of work for us Obama supporters to do between now and November...it's not going to be easy but nothing worth having has ever been easy.

[RatgurlSD]

It's pretty funny, considering the public is actually watching t.v. & seeing the ads for themselves. I have yet to witness a negative Obama ad - they all express his desire & plan to make the country better for Americans to live in. McCain's, on the other hand, just come out & attack Obama. Is it different in other parts of the country?

[MzTexas]

How about suspending them forever?

[thegloriouscause]

big effing deal. if they really want to honor the anniversary, they can announce a complete withdrawal of forces from the middle east. it was our presence in the region that led to the attacks in the first place. don't buy obama's anti-war rhetoric. he wants to leave all of the private military contractors/mercenaries (Blackwater and friends) in Iraq - that's 140,000 right there. He wants to leave an additional 35,000 to 80,000 troops in Iraq to protect U.S. interests (hmmm...what interests? big oil? halliburton?), as well as move a "strike force" to Kuwait. That doesn't sound like a withdrawal to me. It sounds like smoke and mirrors. He continues to support a strike-first interventionist foreign policy with regards to Iran. Oh, and Obama wants to increase the size of our military by 92,000 - we're already the largest in the world - what empire is he trying to maintain? it's bankrupting our country, creating inflation, high taxes and a weaker dollar. not to mention weakening our defenses here at home. Obama is a wolf in sheep's clothing. If he's elected, he will completely change his position on Iraq claiming it's based on new information he was not privy to as a candidate. That's not me talking, it's his former foreign policy adviser who resigned from his campaign. Kudos to her for her integrity and honesty.

[oscartucker]

thegloriouscause--Read what you have written. Aren't you talking about Geroge Bush and John McCain? You are bitter and upset but at the wrong person. If Obama has to do anything with the military, it will be to clean up the MESS that GWB has made. McCain will make a bigger mess. "What empire is he trying to maintain?"--McCain is saber rattling at the Russians,saying that Russia is trying to go back to the Russian Empire. If the Russians come toward us, McCain would ask for everyone to join the military! "It's bankrupting our country, creating inflation, high taxes and a weaker dollar, not to mention weakening or defenses here at home"--Do you KNOW who is in the white house NOW? GWB and his administration have done this and are still doing this to us. Be angry, but be angry at the right source.

[thegloriouscause]

No, Bush and McCain are more overt in their intentions to maintain a military presence in the middle east. Obama is not. You make the incorrect assumption that I support the neocon agenda - nothing could be farther from the truth. Bush and Cheney should be impeached. But that's beside my point. I suggest you re-read what I have written and let it sink in. They are facts. Obama has stated that he will leave the private contractors and a reduced troop force in Iraq. He has stated a plan to move a strike force in Kuwait or some other nearby country. He has refused to take the option of a nuclear strike of Iran off the table. He has stated his alliance with right-wing Israeli leaders. Obama has stated that he attributes the cause of the 9/11 attacks to blowback (CIA term for the unintended consequences of our foreign policy) yet he does not pledge to eliminate the cause by closing the permanent military bases and facilities in the middle east. Do you honestly believe that he can sweet-talk that region into not resenting us for keeping troops in their backyards when Iraq has clearly stated they want us completely out of their country?

[thegloriouscause]

Please don't insult me by associating me with the neocon agenda. I think Bush should be impeached. But the facts remain that Obama has stated he will leave troops in and around Iraq after the "withdrawal". He's stated he wants to increase the size of the military. He's not taken a first-strike option off the table with Iran. He's admitted the cause of 9/11 was blowback (cia term for unintended consequences of invasive foreign policy) yet he has not addressed the root cause of the attacks - our presence in the middle east. What does a withdrawal of wartime troop levels do? It brings us back to where we were on 9/10: a country who's government is still bought and paid for by big oil and the military industrial complex. What other "U.S. interests" do we have in the middle east? None. I suggest you re-read what I wrote and let it sink in.

Do you agree or disagree that the United States should have permanent military bases in Iraq and throughout the middle east? Do you agree or disagree that the United States should be the policemen of the world? If you agree with that statement, then you support empire. If you disagree, it's time to consider the candidates (and former candidates) who truly support peace.

[thegloriouscause]

no, i am not talking about bush or mccain. the former should be impeached and the latter should never have been nominated by the republican party. that said, i'm talking about obama's plan. i'm upset at the situation and looking for the solution. obama has not provided it. once you identify the problem of our failed foreign policy in the middle east (a little lesson: it's been going on for at least 50 years since the CIA overthrew the democratically elected government in Iran and replaced it with a brutal dictatorship that would allow the U.S. and Britain to control the oil there) you will see that for yourself.

[RatgurlSD]

Our military is NOT the largest in the world. China's is.

Please do a little research before spouting of mistruths.

[thegloriouscause]

I didn't intend to mispeak. Yes, china has more active troops. U.S. has more reserves, tanks, nukes, and our military expenditures are nearly 10 times those of China. Care to comment on Obama's statements on leaving troops in Iraq?

[emmaspeaks]

I'll bet McCain speaks politically at this event as he did at the forum in California...where he tried to listen through the walls of the Cone of Silence. Will he ask when the topic of the Supreme Court comes up, or will he just have an agenda, vs, talking with someone and letting the public get to know him, not his campaign?

[Blakecr]

I find it laughable that one of McCain's stooges said, "nine-eleven is not a day for politics."

I am perplexed by this statement.

[mabinog]

Exactly, this whole thing is stupid considering the general level of political ads is only slightly above the dog doo in the gutter.

The whole "it is cool to put spin, lies, exaggeration and b-s on the air on any but 9/11" is disingenuous and frankly laughable.

If you are throwing mud and that is an unethical, shady, bad, whatever you wish to call it, then it does belong on the air at all.

The hypocrisy is particularly pungent with the Republican party. They spent the last 7 years using 9/11 as a platform for fear mongering, using strategically to maintain their power.

[CtJean]

So, we can expect Mc to run the biggest negative smear yet on 9-11.


Oh, I know, he and r o o d y will pose at ground zero.

Good Grief!

[barackobama4prez]

I expect O to honor this the same way I expect McMeanGuy to break his word.

[meanguy]

i ecpect obama to spend the day whining about mccain-as per usual..."It's not fair..."

[Totto]

so much bile, so little time, meanguy

[oscartucker]

You are meanguy; how silly of you. Please capitalize "I" when speaking about yourself, but wait, your selfesteem is low. Okay, I understand.