Senate Democrats used to parade victims of various diseases or social concerns or poverty up before congressional committees and let them testify, and they were infallible. You couldn't criticize them.

It was the same thing with the Jersey Girls after 9/11, and in the period of time when the 9/11 commission was meeting publicly. Victims are infallible. Whatever they say cannot be challenged. I don't follow the script anymore.

--Rush Limbaugh denouncing Michael J. Fox's campaign ads

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Now, a word about Lynn Faulkner. He's a grieving 9/11 widower, yes, but he's a politicized 9/11 widower, on the conservative side.

He became a director of the anti-immigration group 9/11 Families for a Secure America.

More recently, his political focus seems to have changed somewhat. He was heard calling Rush Limbaugh to defend Bush ads that included 9/11 imagery....

--me, May 6, 2004

Lynn Faulkner is the first face you see in this ad:



I don't recall Rush ever denouncing this ad starring one of his listeners and on-air guests. I guess Rush's moral outrage at the use of victims in political ads evolved slowly, over a long period of time, and -- regrettably -- hadn't fully evolved in 2004.

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(The links in the 2004 post don't work, but this blogger also caught the Lynn Faulkner appearance on Rush's show and this shows Faulkner's membership in a group linking 9/11 to immigration.)