I consider myself a fairly moderate individual.

I haven’t stuck to any particular party lines, and I try to hear all sides of a story before making a decision.

However, I became disgusted with the Republican Party after the September 11, 2001 “tribute” that played during their convention.

The terrorist attack on Sept. 11 has been used over and over by both parties as propaganda, but I have never felt angry with one until the one shown at the Republican National Convention.

For those of you who haven’t seen the video, I urge you to look it up.

The sad piano music and dramatic narrator really help remind you of everything you forgot.

Terrorists are always out to get us.

Buildings collapsed and it will happen again unless we elect someone who isn’t afraid to take the fight to them.

The narrator even helps remind us the twin towers collapsed Sept. 11, as if we couldn’t remember.

The video goes on to show images of people mourning, of fires, of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani walking with firefighters.

Finally the narrator ends with “…and we will never let it happen again,” over a backdrop of the twin towers still standing.

As I sit there with my mouth open, and I watch the video get a standing ovation.

Are people too afraid that if you call out a “tribute” to Sept. 11 you will seem insensitive to the men and women who lost their lives that day?

All the video did was reinforce that terrorists are out to get us, and we have to do everything in our power to enforce peace, even if it means taking away some liberties. 

Sept. 11 is not some event that should be used by parties to reinforce their beliefs, its something that happened to everyone, not just democrats and not just republicans.

For them to invoke these images only brings fear and distress, something that propaganda is meant to do.

If the Republican Party continues to use this fear of terrorists as a means of getting their candidate elected, I can only see the same thing happening during the presidency of John McCain.

The McCain of 2008 is not the same as the McCain of 2000.

He hasn’t done much to reinforce the idea of “maverick” that seems to be thrown around too often these days, and the convention only reinforced this to me. 

Between the fear mongering and the “same old Rove tactics” being used, I really can’t see much of a change between the Bush administration and the McCain administration.

When you see these videos, ask yourself what the purpose of them is.

When the Republican National Convention shows it, and explicitly states we need a competent leader during the video, ask yourself what that means.

It’s fairly clear they are exploiting the fears and memories of audience members, but hey, if that will get their candidate elected it’s all fair game, right?

People shouldn’t be using the terrorist attack as a platform to campaign their candidate. The victims of that day should be remembered, but not in a campaign video.

Go to Ground Zero, talk to people who remember the day, ask them what they think. Don’t listen to a voice on a tribute promoting any presidential candidate –it’s not something that should be used, and is insulting to Americans.

Remember the day, but don’t use it as propaganda.

While McCain might not have explicitly made the video himself, his convention created it, which in my eyes reflects poorly on McCain.

Edward Sztukowski, a junior journalism major from Chapel Hill, is a news reporter.

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