JOINT STATEMENT FROM BARACK OBAMA AND JOHN MCCAIN

John McCain and Barack Obama issued the following statement on coming together to mark the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks: “On September 11, 2008, we will join together to mark the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks at Ground Zero. “All of us came together on 9/11 — not as Democrats or Republicans — but as Americans. In smoke-filled corridors and on the steps of the Capitol; at blood banks and at vigils — we were united as one American family.

On Thursday, we will put aside politics and come together to renew that unity, to honor the memory of each and every American who died, and to grieve with the families and friends who lost loved ones. We will also give thanks for the firefighters, police, and emergency responders who set a heroic example of selfless service, and for the men and women who serve today in defense of the freedom and security that came under attack in New York City, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.”