>>Another attack will be viewed as a sign of deep incompetence
Timing of the attack would seem to be critical. As one of the pundits said while discussing the recent Homeland Security announcement, if the attack comes a week before the election, I think people will tend to rally round the president. If it comes a few months before the election, then there is time for people to begin asking why the present administration could not stop the attack.
Would Kerry/Edwards do better? HIGHLY doubtful, but considering how many people are swayed by the media w/o using their gray matter, such an attack could be used by the lefties to get a considerable number of people to vote for Lurch.
For our enemies to win they must defeat us and our allies. They have already defeated the Spanish and other lessor allies. In order to defeat us they must defeat the party that is willing to fight (GOP) to defend us. So one can easily conclude that what ever attack happens it's target will be the GOP.