One of the most disgusting tactics the Republicans have used is exploiting the 9/11 attacks for their own gains. As my wife (when she was 8 months pregnant) yelled at Republican delegates to the Republican Convention in 2004, "Shame on you for turning our tragedy into a photo op!" The delegates were none too pleased being chased down the street by a very pregnant woman accusing them of exploiting our tragedy. I was in Manhattan when those planes hit... I heard them hit, though it was only later I realized what I had heard. My wife was in the subway right under the WTC when the first plane hit. That first plane also instantly took the life of a co-worker's spouse. So 9/11 is very personal for me, as it is for many Americans. When the Republicans twist it for their personal gain, I resent it.

Well, as I reported yesterday, Rudy Giuliani (the man despised by the firefighters who were the TRUE heroes of 9/11) is the latest Republican to use this disgusting tactic. Not only was Giuliani's claim that only a Republican can prevent a terrorist attack a disgusting exploitation of a national tragedy, but it is demonstrably wrong. Clinton's administration prevented the millenium attacks. He also warned the nation that al-Qaeda was going to attack again. Bush's administration ignored these warnings and the 9/11 attacks happened on HIS watch. Giuliani is wrong. Republicans have failed America and they continue to fail America as we escalate in Iraq while Osama bin Laden, the man who planned the attacks on us, goes free.

Howard Dean is taking on Rudy, urging us to reject "anti-firefighter" Giuliani's exploitation of the attacks on our city and to demand an apology from him. This is Howard Dean's message and call to action:

Rudy Giuliani should be ashamed.

The former New York City Mayor is politicizing September 11th in his 2008 presidential bid. Here's what he said at a recent campaign stop in New Hampshire:

"If a Democrat is elected president in 2008, America will be at risk for another terrorist attack on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001... Never ever again will this country ever be on defense waiting for (terrorists) to attack us if I have anything to say about it. And make no mistake, the Democrats want to put us back on defense!"

I won't let this wannabe Republican nominee get away with remarks like these. Send a message to Rudy's campaign headquarters and tell him to stop politicizing 9/11:

http://www.democrats.org/TellGiuliani
More than anyone, Rudy should understand the offensive meaning behind his remarks. When he stood at ground zero that tragic day, there weren't any Republicans or Democrats -- only Americans.

After trying to convince everyone that he was "America's Mayor," he now shows this sort of "leadership."

I will not sit quietly while he takes the fallen heroes of September 11, 2001 to the campaign trail with him. It might win over the Republican Party, but it won't win over the American people.

Rudy should know better.

Join me and send a message to Rudy's headquarters and tell him that our country deserves better from a presidential candidate:

http://www.democrats.org/TellGiuliani
President Bush, not the Democratic Party, failed our country by never capturing the true culprit of the 9/11 attacks: Osama bin Laden.

Now, Rudy thinks he can take a page from President Bush and Dick Cheney's playbook, using fearmongering to gin up support. The American people didn't buy this sort of garbage in the 2006 midterm elections, and they're not going to buy it in 2008.

Show Rudy -- and all Americans -- that the Democratic Party won't stand for this sort of attack. We're delivering this petition personally to the Giuliani for President campaign headquarters, so give Rudy a piece of your mind.

Demand an apology now:

http://www.democrats.org/TellGiuliani
Sincerely,

Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.

I wrote Giuliani's HQ and told them that I am joining with the firefighters in saying "not just, 'No,' but, 'Hell no'" to Rudy Giuliani. Please join me in standing with the heroes, not with the people who failed to stop Osama bin Laden.