Bush said he wouldn't play politics with 9/11, saying he had "no ambition whatsoever to use this as a political issue."

But in his very first set of 2004 campaign ads, there were the towers and the firefighters.

Just so happens that firefighters and the families of the victims are a bit peeved about this.

Monica Gabrielle lost her husband on Sept. 11, 2001. She told the New York Daily News that the ads are "a slap in the face" to the victims and "unconscionable."

One woman whose brother died in the attacks say the ads make her "sick." A man who lost his brother in the twin towers says using the images in a campaign ad is an "insult.

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The International Association of Fire Fighters said the ads are disgraceful and should be taken off the air. They say the ads are in poor taste and accuse Bush of exploiting the attacks.

David Potorti, an independent from Cary whose brother Jim died in the north tower of the World Trade Center, called the campaign's use of the images audacious.

Potorti said it's an insult to use the place where his brother died in an ad. He said he'd be just as outraged if any politician did it.

Tom Roger's daughter died on American Airlines flight 11. He says the ads are an offensive attempt to "grab people by the throat."

But Bush campaign adviser Karen Hughes disagrees. She told "The Early Show" on CBS that 9/11 is a "defining event" for America's future and it's "vital" that the next president recognize how it has changed public policy.

Bush's campaign is defending the commercials as appropriate for an election about public policy and the war on terror.

Queens firefighter Tommy Fee also blasted the ads, calling them "as sick as people who stole things" out of the World Trade Center.

The "Vote for me: I was president on that particular day" strategy is in full force.