Democrats Angrily Call on G.O.P. to Withdraw Bush Ad

The advertisement shows President Bush delivering his State of the Union address in January. As he speaks, such phrases as "Some are now attacking the president for attacking the terrorists" flash across the screen.

The ad urges viewers to call members of Congress and ask them to "support the president's policy of pre-emptive defense."

Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, denounced the advertisement as "repulsive and outrageous."

His comments, made on the NBC News program "Meet the Press," drew attention to what could be one of the most contentious campaign themes in the 2004 presidential contest: the question of which party has a better response to terrorist threats to the United States and its interests abroad.

Several Democrats, including the presidential hopefuls Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut and Gen. Wesley K. Clark, have strongly criticized the advertisement. Some have said that Republicans were violating a presidential promise not to use the campaign against terrorism for political gain.

General Clark, like Mr. Daschle, called for the advertisement to be dropped. He said on the CBS News program "Face the Nation" that it violated "the pledge the president made to not exploit 9/11 for political purposes."

Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, speaking on the ABC News program "This Week," said that by challenging Democrats' patriotism the advertisement amounted to an "attempt to stifle dissent."
Some Democrats have taken a sort of perverse comfort in the advertisement, saying that it demonstrated that their criticisms of Mr. Bush, on his handling of the war in Iraq and on the larger battle against terrorism, were beginning to be felt.

Senator Lieberman, who has been criticized by some of his fellow Democratic candidates for supporting the war in Iraq, criticized the Republican advertisement as "very misleading" and said today that if anything, Mr. Bush was not doing enough to fight terrorism.

"I don't know of anybody who's attacking the president for attacking the terrorists," Mr. Lieberman said on the CNN program "Late Edition."