Pat Dollard

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Politico:

House Republicans are using images of the Pentagon burning on 9/11 and President Obama’s “bow” to the Saudi leader in a video that accuses the president of making America less safe in his first 100 days.

The video is part of a new offensive by Republicans, who are in the midst of a party rebranding effort, to question the Obama administration’s national security policies.

“What are Democrats doing to keep us safe,” Republicans ask in the video, titled “Day 101,” released Thursday morning.

Complete with dreary background music, the video challenges Obama on his decision to close Guantanamo Bay and release memos detailing the Bush administration’s policies on torture. The video also shows Obama’s handshake with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, airs a bunch of headlines and news clips about CIA interrogations and flashes of terrorist training videos.

The image of the Pentagon in flames on 9/11 appears for just an instant at 1:14 in the video, and it’s spliced with images of flag burning protesters and other violent footage from the Middle East.

House Minority Leader John Boehner defended the video today, saying it was perfectly fair game.

“What is the overarching strategy?” Boehner asked. “I’m trying to push the administration to describe what their overarching strategy is.”

And Boehner spokesman Michael Steel says the imagery was appropriate: “The events of Sept. 11 happened. Pretending they didn’t won’t make America any safer. And ignoring the facts would be even worse.”

“Republicans are once again resorting to fear tactics because they have no new ideas or constructive policies to offer,” said Katie Grant, a spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). “The American people have already rejected their politics of fear, and this will be no different. Democrats are providing real change and real solutions, which is exactly what the American people expect and deserve from their leaders.”

The 90 second video hits Obama on his decision to close Guantanamo Bay without a plan for the detainees and cite the memo from Obama’s Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, saying that “high value” information resulted from enhanced interrogation methods.
The video is posted on Boehner’s Web site and YouTube.

“The real question is, what is the president’s strategy to confront this threat from radical jihadists?” Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the Intelligence committee asks in the video.

“After 100 Days do you feel safer?” the video asks in closing.