He could be alive even if some of the tapes are fakes. Of course, a fake tape that he doesn't publicly disown would imply either that he is unable to respond for some reason or that he feels it's bait that he would be better off not to take.
For example he seemed to know details about the 'Goat Story' that did not even appear in the US press.
I recall that being in the news about that time because it was featured by Michael Moore in Fahrenheit 9/11. As I recall, it was referred to quite a bit on liberal talk shows, in letters to the editor by Kerry supporters, and that sort of thing.
To quote Mark Steyn:
Many reporters commented
on his reference to My Pet Goat
made famous by Fahrenheit 9/11
as the book President Bush
and that Florida grade-school were deeply immersed in
on the morning of September 11th.
But only Tim Blair
the great Australian wag
noticed the most salient fact.
This is what the bin man said:
“It appeared to him
[Bush]
that a little girl’s talk about her goat
and its butting
was more important
than the planes
and their butting of the skyscrapers.”
Blair pointed out
that unlike Michael Moore
who just used the book’s title
as a cheap gag
at the President’s expense
Osama went to the trouble of mastering the plot.
In My Pet Goat
the eponymous hero prevents his little friend’s dad’s car
being stolen
by butting the thieves.
If you go down to a polling station tomorrow
and talk to the anti-Bush crowd
you’ll notice
that despite having been doing
the “Shrub sat there reading My Pet Goat for seven whole minutes!”
cracks to like-minded chums
for six months
your average leftie windbag hasn’t been motivated
to find out anything about the book
beyond the title.
Maybe Osama
or his doppelladen
just took a lucky shot:
If it’s a book about a goat
it’s bound to involve plenty of butting.
Don’t forget
this is a guy
who lives in a cave in Waziristan
so he’s no stranger to goat-butting.