<Montgomery Burns Voice>Excellent!</Montgomery Burns Voice>

Anytime you can put these guys on the defensive is a good thing.

NEW YORK (AP) - President Bush's re-election campaign on Thursday defended commercials using images from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, including wreckage of the World Trade Center, as appropriate for an election about public policy and the war on terror.

Some families of the victims of the attacks are angry with Bush for airing the spots, which they called in poor taste and for the president's political gain.

A reasonable argument could be made that, given that one of Bush's main arguments for his re-election is his performance in the war on terror, that it is only natural that he would should use images from the most significant event in that war. And I think many people would, under normal circumstances, be willing to cut any president some slack on this point.

Therefore, the fact that Bush is getting heat for this means that many people have lost patience with his performance in that war. They are no longer willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this point. This is very significant regardless of how "fair" it is to Bush.

After all, if Bush can't use images of 9/11 to sell his candidacy without suffering this kind of criticism then it will make it that much harder for him to remind people why they might want to re-elect him. He's stuck in a tough spot and frankly he has only himself to blame for it.

Good!