Flag-Draped

If I remember correctly, it was Democrats and liberals who complained about a Bush campaign ad from 2004 that exploited 9/11. It features firemen carrying what appears to be a flag-draped casket, set against the wreckage of ground zero in New York. Now the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee has an ad making the right-wing nutballsphere go, well, nuts. It includes a shot of flag-draped caskets, intended to represent Iraq casualties, and unsubtly remind the viewers that Americans are dying in Iraq more than three years after Bush foolishly declared victory. It is a valid point, but done in a way that may offend some families of those who died in Iraq.

I'm guessing, however, that the Republican Echo Chamber is indulging in mock-outrage to score political points. NRO's Katheryn Lopez parrots a Republican Congressman's attempt to exploit the ad that is despicable. Congressman Jeb Hensarling raves:

"The families of the fallen heroes of the War on Terror deserve our utmost respect and compassion," said Hensarling. "They do not deserve to see the deaths of loved ones exploited by Rep. Emanuel and the DCCC."

"As former executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, I have seen the Democrats employ a lot of low-brow political tactics over the years, but Rep. Emanuel has sunk to a new low with this video," Hensarling said. Using images of flag-draped coffins of American heroes in this sort of video is shameless and disgusting, and I ask that Rep. Emanuel apologize to military families for any pain that he has caused."

If Hensarling were genuinely concerned about sparing the feelings of "the families of the fallen heroes of the War on Terror"--as oppossed to say, clinging to power-- he would have appealed to the better better nature of Congressman Emanual. Instead he chose to spout partisan invective in a way that is exploits the suffering of Iraq War casualties as much as the Democrats did.