War on terror is now the only issue

Globe and Mail ^ | Oct. 30, 2004 | SHAWN McCARTHY

[FairOpinion]

Osama bin Laden became the "October surprise" of the 2004 presidential election yesterday with a videotaped message to Americans yesterday that shifted the focus in the final days of the election campaign to the war on terrorism.

Political analysts said yesterday the bin Laden videotape will likely provide a significant boost to Mr. Bush as he heads into the final weekend.

Mr. bin Laden criticized the President for misleading the American people about the war on terrorism. He also charged that Mr. Bush had failed to respond immediately to the attacks on the World Trade Center, and instead listened for several minutes to a girl reading in a classroom. That incident was highlighted in Michael Moore's anti-Bush film, Fahrenheit 9/11.

The re-emergence of Mr. bin Laden reinforces the implicit message of the Bush campaign -- one that has been almost explicitly stated by Vice-President Dick Cheney -- that voting for Mr. Kerry is tantamount to giving in to terrorism.

U.S. commentators were harshly critical of Spanish voters for "giving in to terrorists" by voting in the opposition Socialist Party, which vowed to remove Spanish troops from Iraq after a deadly train bombing in Madrid.

Americans like to think they are not like Spain," Prof. Sabato said. "In this case, fighting back [against Mr. bin Laden] may mean for many people voting for Bush."

However, John Kenneth White, a political scientist from the Catholic University of America, said that initial reaction could subside over the weekend. He said voters may not like to be reminded that the man responsible for Sept. 11 remains in a position to threaten them, despite the President's vow after the attack to hunt him down.

"There is enough time for this to play out and boomerang on Bush," he said.

[FairOpinion]

I think the Dems are running scared -- this provides a wake up call to everyone: do you vote for "self preservation" by reelecting Bush, or do you vote for politics and Al Qaeda, by voting for Kerry.