CODDLING SAUDIS

Someone has finally started to take Bush to task for his family's coddling of the Saudi royal family in a new series of ads. (Besides Kerry's "sucker Saudi punch" in late May, that is.) The Media Fund announced it would spend $6.5 million to run its damning ads in Ohio, Florida and Wisconsin.

The ad helpfully reminds us that 15 of the 19 hijackers implicated in the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. were carried out by Saudis, among the world's most repressive regimes and funders of extremist madrasas, or Islamic fundamentalist schools, and close friends of the Bush family.

Not surprisingly, a spokesman for the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., didn't care much for the ads, the Times tells us.

Mr. Jubeir had harsher words for the Media Fund advertisements, one of which calls the Saudi royal family "close Bush family friends" who are "corrupt." It goes on to note "even though 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis, top Bush adviser James Baker's law firm is defending Saudi Arabia against the victims' families." The spot includes images of President Bush holding hands with Crown Prince Abdullah and mug shots of the Sept. 11 hijackers superimposed above a shot of rubble from the attacks.

The positive spin from this is: At least Bush isn't afraid to hold hands with a dude.