The seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks is supposed to bring the heated presidential race to a screeching halt. But just for a day.

Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama were appearing together twice Thursday and agreed to suspend all TV ads critical of each other in honor of the day terrorists forced four airplanes to crash into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon in Washington, killing nearly 3,000 people.

Neither candidate had any political events scheduled for the day. The 2001 attacks transformed the nation in many ways, and one is that every anniversary since has found those holding or seeking office struggling for ways to appropriately pay homage.

A joint statement from the campaigns announcing their decision to visit ground zero together said they wanted to do so in thanks for all emergency responders who served during and after the attacks as well as the military troops still defending the nation.

Sad that Repubs will not honor the memory of those people by stop using the attack as a campaign slogan.  McCain is becoming a typical Repub using fear and confusion as tools to win elections.