WASHINGTON – The father of a firefighter killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, praises President Bush as "a leader, a war president" in a new television commercial by a conservative interest group.
"On Sept. 11, terrorists murdered nearly 3,000 Americans, including 346 firefighters, one of which was my son, Michael," Jimmy Boyle says in the ad by Citizens United (search). "I lost my son. I spoke to him that day. He went to work that morning, and he had died for a reason: because somebody hates America. And that day, George Bush became a leader, a war president."
Citizens United is headed by David Bossie (search), a former Republican congressional aide who was one of President Clinton's harshest critics. The group is spending at least $100,000, a modest amount, to run the ad for a week starting Wednesday in select media markets in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.
In the ad, a bell tolls as smoke billows from the twin towers, firefighters carry flag-draped remains from the wreckage and an American flag flies in front of the towers' metal shell.
Bush stands at ground zero, one hand holding a bullhorn, the other on the back of a firefighter. Another photograph in the ad shows him at a podium flanked by rows of soldiers, one arm waving. "I feel very comfortable with him as president," Boyle says. "We want a guy who's going to lead us to victory in this war."
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