August 29, 2004 in Nation/World

Ground zero in cross hairs of political debate

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Associated Press photo

Rachel Hoeffel rings bells Saturday at the site of the World Trade Center in New York during the “Ringout” observance. Hundreds of people circled the site and rang bells in memory of the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as well as all other victims of violence. Some said they were also ringing in protest of the Bush administration.
(Full-size photo)

NEW YORK – Staring at the hole in the ground where the World Trade Center once stood, Joan Stermer wondered how anyone could question the war against terrorists that President Bush has waged.

“We have to stop them somehow,” said Stermer, a self-employed businesswoman from Chenango Forks, N.Y. She was taking some of her children to ground zero, following a trip to Long Island, where her daughter is in college.

That may be exactly the reaction Republicans are hoping for as they gather here this week to nominate President Bush for a second four-year term. Almost three years ago, Bush stood on the smoking rubble of the World Trade Center and promised vengeance. With the election about two months away, he is staking his presidency on whether Americans believe he can defend the country better than his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

And though the GOP is coming to a city that overwhelmingly supports Democrats and to a state that Kerry is heavily favored to win in November, echoes of Sept. 11 will resonate all week. While memories of the day are fresh around the country, few sights seize the emotions like ground zero, less than three miles from Madison Square Garden, the convention site.

Republicans will honor Sept. 11 victims and their families on Monday, when former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani addresses convention delegates. Nothing official is scheduled at the former World Trade Center site.

“Everybody who says they don’t want a war – this reminds them of why we’re over there,” Stermer said, waving at the empty pit.

Very little remains of the mess of steel and concrete that covered the site for months after Sept. 11. Only a single steel girder in the shape of a cross still stands. Construction equipment rings the site, but the memorial that will eventually sit there is far from complete.

Across the street from where the twin towers stood, peace signs and posters protesting the war in Iraq – with slogans like “Dissent is Patriotic” and “No More Lies” – dot the windows of an office building that overlooks the site.

For some visitors to ground zero, it’s best if the convention stays uptown.

“I just don’t like to see this politicized,” said Kerry Waldee, 52, a dentist from Davie, Fla., who was moved by the size of the destroyed area. He plans to vote for Kerry in November.

Many Democrats say politicizing Sept. 11 is exactly why the Republicans came here.

“What are they doing in New York if it’s not about 9/11?” said Matt Bennett, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee. Democrats argue that Bush squandered his image as a strong leader by invading Iraq, which nearly half of Americans now think was a mistake.

Republicans say they have only good intentions.

“It’s a sign of respect and our reverence for, first, all of those who suffered here and all of those who responded here,” said former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, Bush’s campaign chairman. “They showed us as a nation what Americans can rise up to be.”

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