Heroes as Props

Mr. Bush has not attended the funeral of a single solder who was killed in Iraq. But Mr. Bush was more than willing to associate himself with the "Mission Accomplished" by the sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

Mr. Bush also prohibits news organizations from photographing flag-draped caskets bearing fallen soldiers home from Iraq. But Mr. Bush unabashedly uses the image of a flag-draped casket from 9-11 in his new television ads.

Mr. Bush does not seem to understand that the President of the United States should view the lives and deaths of America’s heroes as more than mere political theater.