Posted on 10/30/2004 10:35:46 PM PDT by gorio
With his typical flair for drama, Osama Bin Laden inserted himself directly into the presidential election yesterday, and both parties believed it would boost President Bush's reelection hopes. Bin Laden popping up like a malignant jack-in-the-box four days before the balloting may bolster John Kerry's argument that Bush should have finished wiping out Al Qaeda before turning his attention to Iraq.
But it also refocused the nation on terrorism, which polls show helps Bush. And it reminds voters of their horror on Sept. 11 and Bush's well-received response, as well as obliterating the recent flood of bad news for Bush.
"We want people to think 'terrorism' for the last four days," said a Bush-Cheney campaign official. "And anything that raises the issue in people's minds is good for us."
A senior GOP strategist added, "anything that makes people nervous about their personal safety helps Bush."
He called it "a little gift," saying it helps the President but doesn't guarantee his reelection.
In the closing weeks of the campaign, Kerry has accused Bush of "letting Bin Laden escape" when he was cornered at Tora Bora by "outsourcing" the job to unreliable Afghan warlords instead of using U.S. troops. And he has mocked Bush for never mentioning the Al Qaeda leader after pledging to get Bin Laden "dead or alive."
But the new tape - which is so nakedly political that it should end with the words "I'm Osama Bin Laden and I approved this message" - makes it difficult for Kerry to keep hammering Bush on the subject without appearing to be capitalizing on terror. Kerry eliminated those lines from his speeches yesterday evening.
"If Kerry had been making this a bigger issue, as he should have been, it would definitely translate to his benefit," said a Democratic strategist with ties to the Kerry camp.
Kerry's staff looked somber.
"It's very important for us to move forward. We're going ahead and doing our events as we would," said spokesman Mike McCurry.
"A vote for Kerry is a vote to die in your own bed at the hands of Dick Cheney"...IMHO one of the best Onion lines ever.
In retrospect, I do believe for respectable (D)s (who are rooting for the donkey-for-prez), their worst nightmare has unfolded before them. We are in a shooting war.
Rhetorically, Kerry and Osama are using the same ammuntion to attack our Commader-in-Chief.
I saw this one coming a year ago;
just not OBL putting out a tape to illustrate to the world that he and John Kerry are on the same debate team.
To tell the truth, I have actually begun to become more fearful of Kerry winning than OBL attacking. OBL can do short-term physical and economic damage, but Kerry will push us closer to a secular marxist state where freedom of religion and speech are replaced by religious intolerance and hate crime laws that legislate not only free speech, but free thought.
I'm sure he knows that another attack is the wrong thing, so this is what he chose to do. I'm afraid it actually might help Kerry a wee bit.
There was a poll question the Dems asked (see Drudge for details), that says that a large percentage of people associate seeing Osama on tape as a Bush failure.
It does give Kerry an opening to talk tough, which might help him.
It's time to get every member of our base to the Polls.
Let's Roll.....
Watch out - there's a hidden hook in this (liberal) NY Daily News story. That anonymous Republican strategist (probably nonexistent) calling the Osama tape "a little gift." Some of the RATS are already jumping on this. This isn't about political calculation. Osama is evil, and our guy is the best to bring him down. It's about the best way to fight terror. Leave the political calculation aside; that takes care of itself.
Re your comment "Putting the fear of death into the American people is going to help us. The VP couldn't have done it better himself".
Don't you think we should stay above that type of thinking? It's not Christianlike to wish fear on our fellow Americans - we should stay positive.
Problem is, many Americans voting for him do not know who he truly is - the MSM has done an excellent job of making it appear that the "reborn" Kerry that they see now is the one that has existed all along. RNC should have done better job of putting together ads with Kerry's contradictions in his own words.
Sweet.
By the way, I guess I have have slandered the NY Daily News as liberal. I can't believe they're endorsing Bush, based on how they've covered the campaign.
I agree...like the communist said "if you control the media, you control the people" Stalin, I think! Thank God for the new media!
Also, if you tell a lie long enough the people will buy it (Kerry). Much of DNC strategy is combination of Stalin and Hitler and Mao.
Exactly. Who the heck's editing the NYDN?
Mustn't forget about Rather and the WE - B - S netwok. When this is all over, they'll have to pay the piper.
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