Bal Harbour, Fla.
WHEREAS, September 11, 2001 was a day that will stand in infamy—a day when terrorism reigned on our shores and many innocent lives were lost;
WHEREAS, this horrendous event left an indelible imprint not only on New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, not only on the United States, but throughout the world;
WHEREAS, in response to this crisis, our country came together to mourn, to grieve and to rebuild, putting aside our differences;
WHEREAS, 9-11 marked a very solemn occasion in our history, one that must stand above partisan motives and divisive forces in order to honor those who so valiantly died and to honor our country which so valiantly withstood the attacks;
WHEREAS, George W. Bush’s campaign ads have breached this unity by defiling the memory of those we lost and the destruction we suffered by using images and words from this national tragedy in order to further his political goals;
WHEREAS, while there is nothing we can do to change what occurred on that terrible day, we can reaffirm that we will respect and honor the losses and the pain and protect the memory from the politicization of the kind perpetrated by the Bush campaign;
WHEREAS, there are some things that ought to be beyond the reach of ad agencies and political operatives;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the AFL-CIO calls for the Republican National Committee to cease and desist from airing these and similar ads and for George W. Bush to issue a formal apology to all of those who suffered and/or lost loved ones in our terrible national tragedy.