Recorded on September 9, 2011
NEW YORK CITY- (NYP)
Red-faced House Democrats were forced to yank offensive images of a jet buzzing around lower Manhattan in a planned TV ad attacking GOP congressional candidate Bob Turner — just as New Yorkers prepare to observe the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
In the 30-second ad, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sought to rap Turner for a quip he made that he “never met a tax loophole I didn’t like.”
But it was too clever by half.
The ad shows a “Bob Turner for Congress” corporate jet approaching the lower Manhattan skyline — an ominous image approaching the anniversary of 9/11. After complaints, the DCCC quickly removed it.
BAD IDEA: This TV ad was meant to mock congressional candidate Bob Turner as a private-jet elitist — but the imagery of lower Manhattan was reminiscent of the Sept. 11 attacks.
A spokesperson said it “made a small tweak to remove the brief image of the skyline.”
The Turner campaign, facing off against Democrat David Weprin in Tuesday’s special election for the Queens-Brooklyn House seat vacated by disgraced ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner, said it was a boneheaded move.
“This was as dumb as President Obama sending Air Force One over the Statute of Liberty for publicity shots,” said Turner spokesman William O’Reilly.
