NEW YORK, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- A new ad from the Media Fund, a liberal 527 group, uses what the New York Times Friday called guilt by association to attack President Bush.
The spot alleges that the Saudi royal family "have invested tens of millions of dollars in Bush business ventures," and that "Rich Saudis bailed out George W. when his oil company went bust" before asking whether the president and the Saudis are, "too close for comfort?" The Times called the assertions "tenuous."
"The spot taints the Bushes with guilt by association," the Times said, pointing out that Saudi businessmen, "not necessarily members of the royal family," have invested in companies with corporate boards that included former President George H.W. Bush, but that, "This is not quite investing in 'Bush business ventures.'"
The Times also called an image used in the spot, in which former U..S. Secretary of State James A. Baker is juxtaposed with the Saudi flag, "inflammatory and misleading."
Comparing the ad to Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," the Times said the Media Fund ad, while it, "does not make the leaps that the movie did ... some of its assertions are tenuous."
The 30-second commercial, which began airing nationally on Thursday, is the first set in what the Media Fund said was a series of spots on Bush-Saudi ties that would run through Election Day.
