Castor assails Martinez on terrorism

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Tue, Oct. 12, 2004



Sami al Arian, center, and family members pose with
then-candidate George W. Bush and his wife, Laura,
in Plant City in a March 12, 2000, family photo.

Castor assails Martinez on terrorism

BY MARC CAPUTO

[email protected]


Calling Republican opponent Mel Martinez a ''hypocrite,'' Democratic Senate hopeful Betty Castor released on Monday her harshest attack ad yet, one that claims Martinez ''allowed'' George W. Bush to campaign and be photographed with an accused terrorist professor in 2000 -- years after Castor had been criticized for not firing him when she was a university president.The photograph of Sami al Arian and his family standing with George and Laura Bush was snapped at the Plant City strawberry festival as candidate Bush campaigned for the Muslim vote in Florida. Arian was later invited to the White House in 2001.

But while the snapshot's authenticity has yet to be challenged, the way in which Castor's campaign is using it is questionable -- as is the role that Arian played in Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and in the 2000 presidential race and beyond.
(snip)

''As chair of George Bush's Florida campaign, Martinez allowed suspected terrorist Sami al Arian to campaign with Bush,'' the Castor commercial says, momentarily superimposing Martinez's likeness into the photo as if he had been there.

Martinez's campaign, which has hammered Castor for not firing Arian when she was president of the University of South Florida in the mid-1990s, was quick to call the ad ''absolutely false,'' saying Martinez never knew Arian.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/9895502.htm
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[The Backlash Cometh]

1. I think there is something you should know about Florida Democrats

I've never understood why, in the local elections, they resort to using the same tactics as Republicans, when they can make better points just by citing the truth and by expressing honest outrage.

[Orangepeel]

2. she was expressing honest outrage. it wasn't working

in response to Martinez's attacks on the Al Arian issue, she had a rebuttal commercial with the chief of police of USF arguing that she handled the situation appropriately. But, it wasn't doing enough to stop Martinez's advance on this issue. So, she's fighting fire with fire. Good for her.