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Postcards with a 9/11 edge
The postcards apparently were meant to encourage residents to vote today. But the cards, emblazoned with two pictures of Osama bin Laden, actually ended up angering some of the residents who received the messages by mail last week. Most recipients saw the message as a poor attempt to increase voter turnout, but in Middletown, which lost 37 residents in the World Trade Center attacks, they said the postcards were just plain cruel. On one side of the white postcard with black lettering there is a picture of bin Laden pointing his finger accompanied by the message: "Donât Vote. Osama bin Laden says democracy is a meaningless, insignificant process in which you have probably already decided not to participate. Help Osama bin Laden. Donât vote on Tuesday, Nov. 4." On the reverse side is another bin Laden photo and the words, "Show the world that you donât care about America. Support Osama bin Laden."
Exceedingly Poor taste.
There was no disclaimer on the cards to say who paid for the mailing, which was sent to residents in nine towns. The cards carried a 23-cent stamp instead of the usual meter postage used in mass mailings, and candidates up for election in the area said yesterday they knew nothing about the postcards.
Sounds like it wasnât an individual â since they stamped each and every one.
The cards did not blanket the towns, but instead were addressed to specific people at particular addresses, and they appeared not to target any particular political party affiliation. Assemblyman Joseph Azzolina Sr. (R-Monmouth), who said he learned of the cards on Saturday, has asked for an investigation to determine their source, but Middletown police and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said that, while the cards may have been in bad taste, they did not break any laws. "Our office has looked at them and found there were no violations," said Heidi Mathern, an inspector for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. She said some customers called complaining that they felt threatened by the message.
| It's a picture. They felt threatened by a picture? We might as well surrender now. Where's my turban? Which way's Mecca? |
Middletown Police Chief John Pollinger said residents are particularly upset because of the townâs heavy casualties on 9/11. "The message is ill-conceived and ill-timed considering the wounds are still raw here after 9/11," he said. "This is a terrible distraction. It is a hurtful thing because the person or persons responsible didnât think this thing through."
| Probably they didn't. It's a picture. It won't hurt you. Really. If you drop it in the trash now, next week you prob'ly won't even remember it... |
He said his department logged several dozen complaints since Saturday.
| "I'm sorry, Mrs. Johnson. We can't come and get the rapist out of your attic. We've got too much to do, chasing down who sent the turban pictures..." |
The targeted area straddles the 12th and 13th legislative districts. Azzolina, a Republican who is running for his 12th term in the 13th District, said residents in Keansburg, Hazlet, Holmdel, Keyport, Red Bank, Marlboro, Freehold and Colts Neck reported receiving these cards. Some residents in Old Bridge in Middlesex County also reported getting the cards. Azzolina, who sent out his own patriotic campaign literature over the weekend extolling his naval career, estimated thousands of the bin Laden postcards were mailed. Yesterday, his Democratic opponent, Thomas Perry, said he received one of the postcards at his Aberdeen home, but does not attribute it to his political opponents. "I understand the intent of the person who was sending it ... but personally I was dismayed that they would use Osama bin Laden to convey that message," said Perry, a former U.S. Army captain.
| Personally, I'm dismayed anybody ever noticed. "Are there no trash cans? Are the dumpsters all full?" |
Representatives for candidates in the bitter Senate race in the 12th District, where Democrat Ellen Karcher is trying to unseat embattled state Sen. John Bennett, said they had no knowledge of the postcards.
| Maybe they didn't notice. Maybe their heads are screwed on straight... |
Dennis Walters, 25, of Keansburg, said he viewed the postcard as a message to support bin Laden, not as a get-out-the vote campaign. "I thought, âHow could this be? How could this come through the mail?â" said Walters, who is a registered independent. "It was saying not to vote and to support bin Laden."
Mary Wilson of the Leonardo section of Middletown said she was initially offended by the message, especially because her son, Robert, is a gunnery sergeant with the 3d Marine Division who fought in the Middle East in 1991. The card didnât change the minds of Walters or Wilson because they already planned to vote today, as they have in the past, they said. Wilson said the card arrived at her house a few days ago addressed to her, a registered Republican, not to her Democratic husband. After studying it briefly, she realized its intent. "It was very thought-provoking," she said. "I said, âYou know its real message here. Iâm sorry they had to use this type of message.â"
| I think I'll go have some Tums. I feel queasy... |
Posted by: CrazyFool 2003-11-04 |
