Posted on 10/29/2004 6:44:11 PM PDT by RecallMoran
The airing of a tape of Osama bin Laden capped a week of bad news for President Bush that threatened to derail his candidacy in the final days of the presidential election.
For Mr. Bush, it was one piece of bad news after another – reporting of hundreds of tons of explosives looted in Iraq, tens of billions more for the war. And late this afternoon, a tape of bin Laden airing nationwide, where America’s chief adversary appears in good health and secure.
Even before the latest bin Laden tape, Sen. John Kerry had put President Bush on the defensive in the final week of the presidential election.
Outside of there being an “October Surprise,” the frenzied week did underline Kerry’s indictment of Mr. Bush: that the president mismanaged the war in Iraq and took the eye off the “real threat ” -- al Qaeda. Meanwhile, it seemingly undermined Mr. Bush’s message that the war effort was proceeding as planned and that the invasion of Iraq did not siphon resources from the Afghan war on al Qaeda and its leader bin Laden.
“I can’t believe the president or his campaign would have wanted to spend the last week of the election playing defense, answering questions for his mismanagement of the war in Iraq, having to deal with the serious facts on the ground of what happened there,” said Kerry's chief strategist Tad Devine, in a conference call with reporters Friday.
Speaking prior to the release of the bin Laden tape, Devine said the week’s events have hurt the Bush-Cheney campaign because it supported the Democratic nominee’s criticism that Mr. Bush did “rush recklessly into war with no plan to win the peace.”
On Monday, The New York Times and CBS News reported that 377 tons of highly explosive material was looted from a munitions complex apparently left unguarded by U.S. troops.
After days of back-and-forth between the two campaigns, Mr. Bush fired back Wednesday, saying that Kerry was “denigrating the action of our troops and commanders in the field without knowing the facts.” Vice President Dick Cheney insisted the explosives were gone by the time U.S. troops reached the weapons site. The Pentagon attempted to substantiate the claim.
But after a Minneapolis ABC affiliate broadcasted a time-stamped video Wednesday night showing U.S. troops at the facility nine days after the fall of Baghdad, the Bush-Cheney campaign defense seemingly unraveled.
“[The candidates] were like opposite ends of a pole, and as each attacked the other they would be more dug in, in what for each are ridiculous positions,” said former U.N. weapons inspector David Albright, president of a nuclear disarmament think tank in Washington, the Institute for Science and International Security.
“[The Bush-Cheney argument] that the high explosives weren’t there when the troops got there – and remember the Pentagon floats that picture yesterday implying that but the satellite photo says nothing – it’s absurd,” Albright said.
Yet the former arms inspector is critical of Kerry as well. While Albright said “the looting is symptomatic of inadequate troop protection and lack of concern about monitored items by the U.N.,” he added “Kerry clung to that too much.
“It’s one thing in the heat of the moment to say 'Well, this could have killed our troops.' But then you want to step back and say let’s find out,” Albright said. “But the political conflict made it very hard for anybody to step back.”
Still, there is no concrete indication that the bad news this week had tangibly damaged President Bush’s chances at reelection. Bush-Cheney Campaign Chief Strategist Matt Dowd, in fact, said the campaign's own tracking polls show this week’s events have helped Mr. Bush.
“If the question is the war on terror, if the question is Iraq, the public has already responded. They support the president by double-digit margins on these issues,” Dowd insisted. “We are comfortable with the discussion this week.”
It is far too early to tell how the airing of the bin Laden tape affects this presidential race. As with the week’s events in Iraq, the news could remind undecided voters that the United States is at war and many Americans could be inclined to stick with the commander in chief who has polled consistently better on national security than Kerry.
Alternatively, the bin Laden tape, combined with news of hundreds of tons of missing munitions, may also bring to bare questions regarding whether Mr. Bush “rushed to war” in Iraq without sufficiently planning, as his Democratic opponent claims. Consistently, about half of Americans have disapproved of the war.
Bin Laden's message, broadly translated, was in part that "Sept. 11 would have been less severe if Bush had been alert." It is unclear when the al Qaeda leader recorded the message. Apparently speaking directly to the American people, bin Laden added that "Bush still practices deception and is misleading you."
In a rare showing of unity among the competing candidates, Mr. Bush and Sen. Kerry both denounced the tape.
“As Americans we are absolutely united in our determination to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden and the terrorists,” the Democratic nominee said. “They are barbarians.”
President Bush told reporters that “Americans will not be intimidated or influenced by an enemy of our country.” Mr. Bush added that “we are at war with these terrorists” and that he was “confident that we will prevail.”
The final week, in all, was a striking reminder of how this longest of presidential elections was dominated by one issue: national security.
With Democrats admitting that Kerry failed to captivate voters, they point out that polling suggests the Democratic nominee did successfully present himself as a viable alternative.
It leaves a presidential election where the winner could be decided by the very issue political observers throughout the year predicted it would be: Americans view of how Mr. Bush’s handled of the war in Iraq, as well as the larger war on terrorism. And if voters disapprove, the questions remains, should the commander in chief be fired?
Speaking to CBS, Dowd remains confident. “We think we have a slight wind at our back,” he said. Though, the chief strategist for Mr. Bush bases his optimism on polling. He would not speculate on how Americans would react to the bin Laden tape so close to the Nov. 2 election.
But for political observers, the week certainly seemed to work to Mr. Kerry’s advantage. The inclination was that for the final week to be saturated with questions belying Mr. Bush’s effectiveness as commander in chief – specifically when he had stacked his reelection on such – it would likely damage President Bush’s hopes for reelection.
“This will help [Kerry] with some voters; the question is how many voters,” said Leo Ribbuffo, a presidential historian at George Washington University.
“But for those who are worried about Bush’s competence as a war manager, they will sway,” he added. “This does underscore Kerry’s message that whatever your view on Bush’s justification for the war, he has bungled it.”
Better change the headline SEE BS ..a little stale
Dan Rather calling it for President Bush will be a priceless clip.
Didn't work in 2000, won't work now.
Somebody check the typeset on this story...I think Karl Rove may have forged it. :-) he he he
(Dick Cheney's response in the well of the Senate)
Sure, there are Americans who think this way, but none of them were voting for W anyway. The OBL tape will NOT send swing voters to F'n. It will push them back into the secure arms of the GOP.
The tape may wind up helping our Senate and Congressional candidates even more than it helps GWB.
C.B.S.: See Bin Laden Supporters?
I am battling with that myself. "Vengence is mine sayeth the Lord".
Are you sure I can't help just a bit in the department Lord?...please?
I agree it wont work. It's just so sad they forget their duty to the country..helping promote fair elections...in place of their political beliefs.
The media frenzy over Al Qaqaa may have helped Kerry escape scrutiny over the reports of his working with the North Vietnamese in 1971, and to get all the way to election day without any demands for him to sign the 180...but the media would have probably covered for him on those issues anyway.
Not as bad as the year for CBS News!!!
And if Kerry wins, there'll be no rough weeks for him. His media friends will see to that (wink wink).
Here's a thought to ponder.
Remember when Hollywood & the ABB flooded the streets and airwaves in 2002 & 2003 in the lead up to the Iraq war? America responded very negatively.
Since then their antics rarely lift an eyebrow. People are dismissive of what they say. The American people have gone from outrage to apathy. They ignore them now unless they do something that cannot be ignored.
It used to be their opinions carried some weight, now they are a running joke or object of derision.
Just as Michael Moore has become.
If the MSM keeps this up, the same fate is going to await them. CBS is already starting to feel this effect. NYT's is beginning to as well. Once the appetitite for outrage has been reached, we slip to apathy and mocking.
If your desire is to shape the news to fit the opinion you wish the American people to hold, becoming a source that is either ignored or made fun is not to be encouraged.
We haven't yet reached that level for the entirety of the MSM, but eventually their influence is going to decline permanently of their own making if they continue on the ABB Michael Moore course.
I figured that the freepers would enjoy the Osama/CBS/Kerry crap. They have gone completely over the edge. I am a little worried about Tradesports though but it could be rigged.
Wow do you sound down! Asama Bin Laden is the best thing that could have happened.
All Bush has to say is; "I am his (Osama) worst nightmare and because of our policy's, instead of hitting us with bombs he can only lash out with words. He's in hiding and sending out threats against our country and your President because that is all he can do! We will continue to do everything humanly possible to keep our citizen's safe. We are in a War of civilizations and we will prevail. I will continue to hunt him down, keep him and the terrorist's on the run and we will win this war."
Now if he would only say something like that tomorrow this can work to his advantage.
How about Connecticut? ;-`
Uh, Mr Kuhn! Doesn't it matter to you that Kerry admitted to Brokaw yesterday that he lied about releasing his military record? This man (Kerry) could have very well been less than honorably discharged from the US Navy! You are truly disgusting........
Not as bad as the year for CBS News!!!
CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC and the winner isn't ABC
(Excuse me while I scratch my Dan Rather)
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