As a matter of fact, yes. IIRC that’s how he was caught. His brother read the transcripts and said “Wow, that sounds like Teddy.”
But you’re not newsworthy. That’s all the difference in the world.
How do you know that? Who are you to decide? Who in the media gets to make this call? In which way is he trying to influence our elections - for Kerry or for Bush?
Let’s assume that the video will actually have an effect on the elections. If you don’t air it you are influencing the outcome because you are witholding important information from the voters; if you do air it you are influencing the outcome because you have given them some additional information to chew on.
It could work if Kerry had an epiphany and tore into the issue like a gut shot wolverine, but his attack mode is more along the GI Joe Kung Fu Grip lines of effectiveness.
This is where we see Kerry’s true character. He’s a fighter. He’ll come out and say “here OBL is, making fun of Americans, making fun of the President, and making a mockery of us Americans. I won’t let that happen and its a shame that the man is still out there scaring us. He shouldn’t be free now, and if I were in charge he wouldn’t be free much longer.”
/wishful thinking
But Bush’s strong suit is indeed the war on terror, John, but what effect will this have on it? Will it make Bush seem ineffective on terror? Will it simply remind people of terror and nothing else? Who knows.
I think it is a wash, and will have no effect on the elections. I will see it as proof positive that Bush’s policies have failed, those on the other side will see it as proof that Bush needs to remain in office to fight evil. The only possible affect this could have would be to supress turnout, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Everybody’s too fired up.
Kerry should continue his current line of attack. He’s already saying that Iraq was a distraction from the real fight against al Q. He’s right, and this only reinforces it.
For whatever reason, fear plays into Bush’s hands. I was listenning to NPR today in the car, and they were discussing a survey of students. Most students would prefer Kerry as a teacher, but most would prefer Bush as a father or a boss. Bush is seen as more of an authority figure, I guess.
So, let’s see…If it helps Bush, then it means that ObL wants Bush which means we should vote for Kerry. Ah, but maybe that may be exactly what ObL is expecting us to think and so he figures it will help Kerry, so we should vote for Bush…
How it affects the election depends upon how the candidates react to it, of course.
Kerry will most probably use it as an excuse to continue hammering Bush for taking his eye off the threat. It’s a pretty good argument, after all, that three years after 9/11 the man responsible for the murders of 3000+ Americans is still out there plotting to do it again due to the incompetence of the Bush team.
Bush will use it to remind voters of the threats we face from people who hate our freedom, that Kerry won’t protect America from terrorists, that invading Iraq was vital to the war on terrorism, and that–wink wink, nudge nudge–the things bin Laden says on that tape sound an awful lot like what my opponent has said.
I guess we can put ObL firmly in the undecided camp. It also takes most, if not all, of the steam out of the idea that the terrorists want Kerry to win.
OBL did Bush a huge favor by pushing the explosives fiasco off the front page. Other than that, I don’t see a difference, particularly since he didn’t express a difference between the two. Those who have the impression that Bush is better against terror were going to vote for him anyway.
He basically threatened the people of the US to look for more trouble here if we don’t leave the middle east. Now that ain’t gonna happen no time soon.
I look for Bush to put the heat on this weekend and Osama will probably turn up in a couple of days (dead or alive) They already said they knew where he was, it was simply a matter of pinning him down. There will be some clue on the tape they can use and just bomb the shit out of it. This threat just gave him an excuse to do it.
