# ObL Tape: Will it affect the election? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 29, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915 "2004-10-29T20:04:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/21 "2004-10-29T20:46:51Z")
> [@SimonX](#): > > What if it’s old footage? > I’ve not heard of anyone mentioning anything that shows the video is of a recent vintage. He mentions recent attacks in the video. ---
**Author:** ![Leonard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@Leonard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leonard)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/22 "2004-10-29T20:47:00Z")
Is there a transcript anywhere? I’ve looked at Yahoo, Reuters, and Google and all I see is a few short quotes. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/23 "2004-10-29T20:49:56Z")
> [@SimonX](#): > > What if it’s old footage? > I’ve not heard of anyone mentioning anything that shows the video is of a recent vintage. It’s at least as old as the DNC, that’s when Kerry was offically named. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/24 "2004-10-29T20:51:30Z")
> [@SimonX](#): > > What if it’s old footage? > I’ve not heard of anyone mentioning anything that shows the video is of a recent vintage. He mentions Kerry as the Pres. candidate. That dates it to within less then a year. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/25 "2004-10-29T20:52:41Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > …in which he told Americans their security does not depend on the president they elect, but on U.S. policy. > > I hate the man with a million burning passions, but this is a pretty rational statement. It does? Our policy is independent of our president? ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/26 "2004-10-29T20:53:20Z")
thanks all. any news on a transcript yet? ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/27 "2004-10-29T20:54:35Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > It does? Our policy is independent of our president? I guess UbL doesn’t care which president implements policies he’s discussing. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/28 "2004-10-29T20:55:17Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > This will help Bush. Every poll shows that Americans think that Bush will handle the “War on Terror” better than Kerry, this will push it back to the front burner. Note that I said “War on Terror”, not Iraq. Osama has just killed that missing explosive story and has pushed even Iraq out of the picture, returning us to just the “War on Terror” where Bush wants it. > > Osama just cemented Bushs victory. That’s kind of what I was thinking, except it does remind people that Bush didn’t get Osama, doesn’t it? All-in-all, though, I tend to agree with you that this helps Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/29 "2004-10-29T20:56:32Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > It does? Our policy is independent of our president? Yeah, that’s a pretty good point, but I think that the issues that OBL has with our foreign policy aren’t likely to change based on whomever is the sitting president. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/30 "2004-10-29T20:58:33Z")
> [@Merkwurdigliebe](#): > > How? By reminding America of how Bush let him go at Tora Bora? > > I may be wrong here, honestly, but I don’t see this as a defenite Bush positive Bush is salivating at this. He gets to be a hero again and it takes away attention from everything else. Don’t forget that all of the Democrats were even saying that Bush has done a great job on the “War on Terror” a few months ago. This will be the push that a large number of the undecided need to get to go for Bush. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/31 "2004-10-29T21:03:06Z")
Can Kerry legitimately use this tape against Bush? Would that backfire? What about Bush? I guess neither candidate can mention it. Yeah… this is indeed the October surprise. And no one here has blamed Rove for it yet!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/32 "2004-10-29T21:04:23Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > And no one here has blamed Rove for it yet!! 🙂 Shocker, that. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/33 "2004-10-29T21:04:32Z")
Well, it looks like I was wrong about UBL being dead. ---
**Author:** ![Monocracy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monocracy/32/4493_2.png) [@Monocracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monocracy)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/34 "2004-10-29T21:09:22Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Oh, bull. Do you think all of the Unabomber’s demands to print his treatises should have been published? > > I’m issuing a statement right now, and I demand CNN air it. They’re not? My first-amendment rights are being denied! :rolleyes: You are confusing freedom of speech with gaurantee of publication. You have a right to speak your mind, but no one is obligated to repeat it for you. If someone decides they want to quote your public statements, it’s their right to do so. > [@](#): > > bin Laden is trying to influence our elections. If you let him, you’ve given him a lot of power. And the terrorists have won! ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/35 "2004-10-29T21:10:31Z")
> [@Monocracy](#): > > You are confusing freedom of speech with gaurantee of publication. > > You have a right to speak your mind, but no one is obligated to repeat it for you. If someone decides they want to quote your public statements, it’s their right to do so. Do you do irony? ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/36 "2004-10-29T21:16:11Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Well, it looks like I was wrong about UBL being dead. Three words: _Weekend at Bernie’s_😃 ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/37 "2004-10-29T21:16:14Z")
How the heck can this be good for Bush? It shows that OBL and Al Qaida are alive and well, and that Bush’s policies have been utterly unsuccessful at deterring them. I don’t see this helping Bush at all. It see it as undermining Bush’s claim that we are safer now than we were before Sept. 11, as well as undermining the credibility of the Iraq War having anything whatever to do with the War on Terrorism. One quote from OBL is interesting, and actually true, I think, though not at all the way that bastard means it: > [@](#): > > Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands. Fundamentally, this is true. I am not in the least suggesting that OBL is doing anything other than trying to play “good cop.” Shithole motherfucker, he can go to hell and rot in his own filth. However. We are worring way to much about whether we’re safer under Bush or Kerry. That’s basically stupid. We should not abdicate our control of the government just because we’re afraid of terrorists, regardless of who is president. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/38 "2004-10-29T21:20:32Z")
The Fox team is already trying to spin the “he’s still alive” problem, saying it took 20 years to find the Unibomber. Of course, the major problem there was that we didn’t know his name or general location for 20 years, but nevermind! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/39 "2004-10-29T21:20:36Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > How the heck can this be good for Bush? It shows that OBL and Al Qaida are alive and well, and that Bush’s policies have been utterly unsuccessful at deterring them. Kerry has constantly reminded us of that, and yet Bush still polls considerably higher when asked who would be better at dealing with terrorism. You may not agree with that, but the polls are what they are. ---
**Author:** ![Avenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Avenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avenger)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915/40 "2004-10-29T21:21:23Z")
> [@](#): > > How the heck can this be good for Bush? It shows that OBL and Al Qaida are alive and well, and that Bush’s policies have been utterly unsuccessful at deterring them. You’d think, wouldn’t you? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-tape-will-it-affect-the-election/271915.md?page=3)