Ummm...
I've been extremely hesitant to say this, but... barring the tasteless shot of the flag-covered stretcher, I don't see how Bush can be expected to have a campaign commericial that does not somehow refer to the 9/11 tragedy.
Yes, we all (on the left) know about the irony involved with Captain Codpiece using images that portray what history will surely show as his greatest failure in order to boost his image to voters, but this was (to conservatives and much of middle-America) the defining moment of his presidency. It was, to those who do not know any better, a moment when all Americans stood with Bush, united against a common enemy, and united with each other by the bonds of fear, pain, anger, and hope.
Firefighters, relatives and friends of victims... indeed, all Americans have a right to be pissed about the stretcher shot. That's just typical, bad BushCo. We've all got a lot of baggage where 9/11 is concerned, and rightly so.
To expect Bush to pretend that 9/11 never happened as he campaigns for election, however, is ludicrous. He'd be (even more of) an idiot not to somehow reference the terrible events of that day.
Let the firefighters and families of the victims take him to task for using 9/11 as a backdrop to his campaign. What we should be doing is hammering on how Bush screwed the pooch before, during, and after 9/11. Let's make the utter irony involved be the issue. To say that there's a lot to work with is an understatement of epic proportions.
If 9/11 had happened on Gore's watch (which is doubtful) he would have handled the aftermath in a fashion that actually kept Americans united, kept the world on our side, kept our freedoms secured, and began dismantling the core causes of the threat.
Would you have expected Gore to ignore the significance of 9/11 as he campaigned for re-election?