http://www.dccc.org/multimedia/archives/new_directions/
I remember the flap when photos of coffins of US soldiers were embargoed. It was suggested that they might be exploited for political purposes, and indignation ruled. NEVER!
Now, those photos are in a DCCC video.
Do they belong there? Do you condemn this exloitation?
Please share widely!
I don’t think that they should be shown in the video, but embargoing them was/is not the answer. I do believe the media does have the right to show them.
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FYI: I was for the war in afganistan and vehemently opposed the war in Iraq.
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…but I do not regard the DCCC as media either.
He hasn’t been to a single funeral for a U.S. casualty from Iraq. It’s good to be reminded how many of our forces have died: they are heroes and deserve honor, not the implication that they can be tossed aside and forgotten — much though the President is trying to do that. After all, ‘Mission Accomplished’ some time ago; everything else has just been a regrettable misunderstanding and really no one’s fault, right.
I hate it when people raise good issues that don’t work in my favor. This is a legitimate question and I am not sure how I feel. I watched the video and the image lasts about 1 second so that makes me happy. However, it is a political ad and that does make me a bit queasy. But then again I have no problem with a US Senator or Representative keeping a running total of the number of fallen soldiers on their website to illustrate that person’s opposition to the war. That would be politicizing the death of soldiers which isn’t any different than putting coffins in an ad, is it?
Why did I get a four? I thought I answered the question legitimately. I thought the question was a good one and very challenging. Does that constitute a four these days?
It’s a great way of giving stabs without making “personal attacks”. I can rate you a three all the time and basically I’m saying everything your say is “worthless”. Now if I posted and said everytime that your comments are worthless, the editors would (rightfully) come down on me.
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This way we can stab each other in a much more “civil” manner. Only problem with that is, it’s so much easier to click a button than it is to explain your objections. It is for me.
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Lastly, Peter has proved himself as being a hypocritical conserative who, unless you totally agree with him, has no use for your opinion. And look on the bright side, if he rated your even-handed comment a “4”, what will he rate mine?
He now has a Six for my mistake.
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You, sir, I shall leave Unrated.
how a picture of a flag-draped coffin invades anyone’s privacy? They all look the same, no matter what war they’re from. Maybe if someone did a painting of a bunch of flag-draped coffins, that would be OK? As for the DCCC “exploiting” this, they are running against Republicans who have absolutely no shame in exploiting anything, including video of the 9/11 attacks. And if you say they should have higher standards…that’s fine for people not in the thick of things. Right now, higher standards=loser.
Alice – a parent or family member who has lost a loved one fighting will wonder, however briefly, is THAT my child? To a military family, they really DON’T all look the same.
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The nanosecond of time may cause genuine grief, and may disincline voters to support a party they see as ‘disrespectful’, no matter how well intentioned it might be (and I’m being generous there).
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Live people, live military? They get to speak for themselves (look at the soldier sueing Michael Moore!) and their image can’t be used without thier consent.
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Cindy Sheehan is NOT a typical Gold Star/Blue Star military mom, and the alienation factor is huge.
You think that doesn’t cause pain to thousands of New Yorkers who lost loved ones in the attacks? I see you don’t address that issue. Anyway, it is transparently obvious that this new rule about coffins had nothing to do with families and everything to do with the Bush propaganda machine, which is utterly shameless in their expoitation of soldiers and their families. I suspect an awful lot of military families are tired of exploitation from the right as well as the left.
Yes Peter, it is wrong to use the emotional pictures of draped coffins of dead American soldiers by the DCCC.
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But when Bush used 9/11, with draped covered coffins, in his reelection ad, I don’t remember you posting anything deploring that insensitive move.
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When accusations were made of a decorated Veteran creating self-inflicted wounds to get his medals, I don’t remember you running a poll on that. (Yes, Peter, that would be John Kerry).
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Peter, you’re a complete phony, full of self serving drool. You make no attempt to seek truth or spawn worthy debate. You just want to find the wedge issues, manlipulate the truth and crush opposing views. (Yes folks, that is a “personal attack” but how else can one respond to such a two-faced, deceitful move?)
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All you other posters who took his bait and replied sincerely to his ploy–whoops! (That was my polite version to falling for Peter’s ploy.)
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2. Peter I disagree with you (and most commenters) that using coffins in context is in bad taste. I agree with this guy, quoted in Times story, who is at least somewhat ironically Bush’s ad maker, stepping up to defend the DCCC:
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…conseratives see no problem with using 9/11 or U.S. troops to prop up their failed policies.
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But when the Dems do it, it’s “shameful” and unamerican.
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Peter doesn’t want to have an honest debate, he just wants to make the Dems look bad and ignore that the Rep are just as bad. To say the least–that is dishonest. An when he says it with a gleeful tone–it gets me that much more aggressive.
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Personally I think it’s wrong for both sides to use these images in advertisments. And it makes me feel good that I’m on the other side of the agrument with Mark McKinnon.
In fact, I didn’t have a blog until April of 2005.
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So I can’t get in my Way Back Machine, Mr. Peabody, and answer your poll retrospectively.
and I come from two military families (mine, and my wife’s). What’s the uproar? The coffins are anonymous — hell, they could be a staged shot for all I know. They’re a cost of war. A real cost. A cost that the other party has done everything in their power to hide.
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Exploitation is sending other people’s children off to die, when you did everything in your power to not serve given the chance, and sure as hell haven’t encouraged your own children to enlist.
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Exploitation is not showing a very real cost of war in an effort to prevent more Americans coming home in boxes.
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What am I missing?
over the first Gulf War, so my feelings on the subject may be colored by that experience.
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I, personally, think that photos of caskets are completely appropriate as they are the true cost of war. When you enlist in the military, you relinquish much of your individuality. Indeed, that is the nature of military training; you become a cog in a larger wheel, ceasing to be a wheel of your own. To me, that status is intact in service-related death, and, as cold as this sounds, families are not any more a consideration then than they were during the soldier’s training and performance of his/her duties.
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Sanitizing war by withholding images of coffins is what’s offensive, in my estimation. Those images belong to the nation as a whole, and are the cost borne by all of us. If the DCCC wants to use them, fine. If the Republicans choose to use them, fine.