Bush campaign asked to pull 'offensive' ad

WASHINGTON, March 30 (UPI) -- A newly formed group wants the Bush campaign to pull or change an ad it deems racially offensive.

The group, 2004 Racism Watch, says the ad makes reference "to terrorism and terrorists while highlighting a photograph of an anonymous man of Middle Eastern descent" and wants it changed or taken off the Bush-Cheney 2004 Web site.

Actor Ed Asner, a spokesman for the group and member of its advisory committee, called the use of the picture "disturbing," and, in a statement, compared it to a controversial ad used by the 1988 Bush-Quayle campaign to highlight problems in the Massachusetts prison furlough system.

Other members of the group's advisory committee include actors Ed Begley Jr., and Susan Sarandon; former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga. and authors Noam Chomsky and Barbara Ehrenreich.