Presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain plan to pull ads on Sept. 11 that criticize each other, a respite from the political fray to honor the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The campaigns made their decision known on the same day that a group backing community service on that day called on the candidates to refrain from partisan campaigning. The group, MyGoodDeed.org, wants Sept. 11 to become a national day of voluntary service and asked that Obama and McCain perform acts of community service instead.
McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said McCain did not plan to advertise at all on the anniversary. “Nine-eleven is not a day for politics,” Rogers said.
The Obama campaign said it plans to stop airing anti-McCain commercials on Sept. 11.
“We hope Sept. 11th is a day when Americans come together and reaffirm our resolve to address the common challenges we face together,” Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan said.
Both campaigns have been running tough ads against each other, with negative commercials outnumbering their positive spots.
MyGoodDeed.org is also among a number of organizations and families of Sept. 11 victims who plan to hold a ServiceNation Summit on Sept. 11-12 in New York. Sponsors invited Obama and McCain to attend a presidential candidates forum on Sept. 11.
McCain has agreed to appear. Obama’s campaign said it is talking with event sponsors about the possibility of an appearance.
In a letter to both candidates Tuesday, MyGoodDeed.org founders David Paine and Jay Winuk noted that the country seemed to forget partisan differences in the days after the attacks and were unified by a sense of compassion. The group planned to announce their appeal to the candidates on Wednesday. The campaigns revealed their intentions when contacted by The Associated Press.
“We ask you to help us rekindle that sense of unity by suspending your campaign activity on 9/11, and engaging in your own personal expression of charitable service in honor of those who perished and those who rose in service to help rebuild our nation,” Paine and Winuk wrote to the candidates.
Paine, the president of the group, runs a marketing firm in California. Winuk’s brother, Glenn Winuk, was a lawyer and volunteer firefighter who died after rushing to the World Trade Center to assist victims.
In an interview, Paine said: “We didn’t feel that it was appropriate for those individuals who want to lead our country to engage in divisive political activity on 9/11. Nine-eleven needs to be a day that is forever preserved as a day of unity and day of remembrance and day of compassion when we put aside our differences and we think about how we can help others in need.”
Does “Hundreds of Beavers” Reflect A New Path Forward In Cinema?
Hard as it may be to believe, changing the future of cinema was not on Mike Cheslik's mind when he was making "Hundreds of Beavers." Cheslik was in the Northwoods of Wisconsin with a crew of four, sometimes six, standing in snow and making his friend, Ryland Tews, fall down funny.
"When we were shooting, I kept thinking: It would be so stupid if this got mythologized," says Cheslik.
And yet, "Hundreds of Beavers" has accrued the stuff of, if not quite myth, then certainly lo-fi legend. Cheslik's film, made for just $150,000 and self-distributed in theaters, has managed to gnaw its way into a movie culture largely dominated by big-budget sequels.
"Hundreds of Beavers" is a wordless black-and-white bonanza of slapstick antics about a stranded 19th century applejack salesman (Tews) at war with a bevy of beavers, all of whom are played by actors in mascot costumes.
No one would call "Hundreds of Beavers" expensive looking, but it's far more inventive than much of what Hollywood produces. With some 1,500 effects shots Cheslik slaved over on his home computer, he crafted something like the human version of Donald Duck's snowball fight, and a low-budget heir to the waning tradition of Buster Keaton and "Naked Gun."
At a time when independent filmmaking is more challenged than ever, "Hundreds of Beavers" has, maybe, suggested a new path forward, albeit a particularly beaver-festooned path.
After no major distributor stepped forward, the filmmakers opted to launch the movie themselves, beginning with carnivalesque roadshow screenings. Since opening in January, "Hundreds of Beavers" has played in at least one theater every week of the year, though never more than 33 at once. (Blockbusters typically play in around 4,000 locations.)... Read More