"I understand the intent (want to create a society where terrorism is so rare and impotent that nobody has to worry about it)..."
Actually, I don't think that's what he means at all. I think he means that we ought to believe him when he tells us that terrorism won't be a threat once we pull troops out of Iraq. He wants us to stop talking about terrorism and simply accept the "fact" that a thousand or so Americans will die every ten years or so.
Wow--finally got "100"
We have a WINNAH!
That's EXACTLY what he meant.
And it's not like there's no history behind the sentiment.
Consider Israel. That's been America's attitude about their endless terrorism until 9/11.
Consider Clinton. He regarded terrorism as a "law enforcement" issue and I ask you, isn't reducing terrorism to law enforcement like calling it just a pesky nuisance?
America was lucky on 9/11. I only wish more Americans would realize it. That was an attack that was fully intended to bring down the country. They were hoping our economy would dive, we'd have civil disturbance, we'd cower in our homes and be non-productive, we'd beg our government to take the ball and let's all go home.
There's another factor overlooked by Kerry's oh so cool and fluid misstatement...terrorism by its very nature tends to , well terrorize.
Now suppose there were, oh say, 8, well planned car bombs on November 2, that blow up right outside of a polling place? There would be some casualities but let's consider, those eight bombings would hit the American public on its election day with a greater grip that the DC snipers never knew.
Maybe 10 people would die, maybe 25 hurt. That's peanuts in a country this size. Yet such "nuisance" (assuming nuisance refers to casualties) terrorism can change the course of a nation's election.
In fact, I'll stop but I've tons more to say about this stupid statement that will bring this man down, it was because Clinton treated terrorism as a nuisance that caused 9/11.