From WNYKRs in New York, this is NPR's On the Media. I'm Bob Garfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone. The Bush administration has inaugurated its TV ad campaign with four new commercials.

And here's what one prominent ad critic had to say, and I quote,

the first official Bush-Cheney ads are on the air, and holy smokes, we want to vote for him, we want to work for him, we want to have his baby.

That critic is Bob Garfield, who in addition to being the co-host of this program, is the long time and much feared ad critic for ad age, and he's followed election ads since how long, Bob?

I guess since the midterm elections in 86.

So we thought we'd save time and money and tap him for his expertise rather than for his

golden voice and good cheers as we usually do.

So, Bob, what's so great about these ads?

Well, first of all, as a matter of full disclosure, I am no George Bush fan, but as political

advertising, which I would say historically has been pretty much a stain on our democracy,

this is really outstanding and generally inspires you with optimism and you see a man who

would appear to be a confident, able leader in full charge with a vision for the future.

I know exactly where I want to lead this country.

I know what we need to do to make the world more free and more peaceful.

I know what we need to do to make sure every person has a chance at realizing the American dream. I know what we need

to do to continue economic growth so people can find work. These are beautifully shot, beautifully

edited, and I think it's admirable for what they don't say is for what they do.

And what they don't use are a lot of images of the burning towers, just a few seconds, but that's been

enough to spark outrage from some firefighters and families of the victims.

First of all, it's not a few seconds. It's actually less than one second in two separate

commercials. And secondly, the fact is that it is certainly central to the campaign, certainly

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