You make my argument for me. President Bush's statement didn't translate as, "Those who are not with us are ideologically aligned with our enemies." It translated as, "Those who are not with us are helping our enemies."
At some point you care. When push comes to shove you can't afford to.
I will agree with you on one point, the rhetoric does not serve unless lives are believed to be on the line.
Shalom.
So it is your contention that he should have elaborated. I don't see why there needs be any "translation." The logical implication behind the statement is that states which do not support us are theoretical enemies. His speech implied some kind of action he was going to take. Your translation is to simplistic and obvious, if thats all he was saying the retort is, "yeah, whats your point?"
When I watched that speech I was in a room with some fellow conservatives and some democrats. At that line, it wasn't the conservatives who where pounding their fists on the table it was the dems. One of them grabbed me and said, "thats what we need to hear," and then something about being Christian but still believing in revenge or words to that effect.