WASHINGTON (AP) -- The father of a firefighter killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, praises President Bush as ``a leader, a war president'' in a new television commercial by a conservative interest group.
``On Sept. 11, terrorists murdered nearly 3,000 Americans, including 346 firefighters, one of which was my son, Michael,'' Jimmy Boyle says in the ad by Citizens United. ``I lost my son. I spoke to him that day. He went to work that morning, and he had died for a reason: because somebody hates America. And that day, George Bush became a leader, a war president.''
Citizens United is headed by David Bossie, a former Republican congressional aide who was one of President Clinton's harshest critics. The group is spending at least $100,000, a modest amount, to run the ad for a week starting Wednesday in select media markets in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.
In the ad, a bell tolls as smoke billows from the twin towers, firefighters carry flag-draped remains from the wreckage and an American flag flies in front of the towers' metal shell.
Bush stands at ground zero, one hand holding a bullhorn, the other on the back of a firefighter. Another photograph in the ad shows him at a podium flanked by rows of soldiers, one arm waving. ``I feel very comfortable with him as president,'' Boyle says. ``We want a guy who's going to lead us to victory in this war.''
