Bin Laden tape
Josh Marshall thinks the public's response to the new video will be markedly different than it would have been just a year ago: "Things have changed."
I'm inclined to go with him here, albeit cautiously. The number of Americans who believe the badness of Iraq has anything to do with the badness of Osama bin Laden has been decreasing ever since the initial Iraq buzz wore off (I believe 60-70 percent of Americans believed Saddam was direclty involved in 9/11 in early 2002 compared to 20-30 percent now. See Pew for the numbers). Moreover, if there's one thing John Kerry has done well in this campaign, it has been differentiating the Iraq war from getting Osama bin Laden. Either way, Americans today are less inclined to believe that the bin Laden threat has anything to do with what we've been focusing on recently than they were.
By deliberately obscuring the issue for the past three years, the Bush administration has ensured that a videotape like today's isn't an automatic point in the President's favor.
P.S. I just watched the Wall Street Journal editorial roundtable thing on PBS. The real problem for the 2004 election in their view? The lawyers. Why is PBS running this garbage??? I guess you have to credit them for coming up with this line first, which we are sure to see first thing on Novemver 3rd: "Why are these liberal trial lawyers holding up Bush's reelection?" Holy Shit. Tucker Carlson is now on. This man is such a freaking idiot. Or as Jon Stewart said, a DICK!!! Why, PBS, why?
I'm inclined to go with him here, albeit cautiously. The number of Americans who believe the badness of Iraq has anything to do with the badness of Osama bin Laden has been decreasing ever since the initial Iraq buzz wore off (I believe 60-70 percent of Americans believed Saddam was direclty involved in 9/11 in early 2002 compared to 20-30 percent now. See Pew for the numbers). Moreover, if there's one thing John Kerry has done well in this campaign, it has been differentiating the Iraq war from getting Osama bin Laden. Either way, Americans today are less inclined to believe that the bin Laden threat has anything to do with what we've been focusing on recently than they were.
By deliberately obscuring the issue for the past three years, the Bush administration has ensured that a videotape like today's isn't an automatic point in the President's favor.
P.S. I just watched the Wall Street Journal editorial roundtable thing on PBS. The real problem for the 2004 election in their view? The lawyers. Why is PBS running this garbage??? I guess you have to credit them for coming up with this line first, which we are sure to see first thing on Novemver 3rd: "Why are these liberal trial lawyers holding up Bush's reelection?" Holy Shit. Tucker Carlson is now on. This man is such a freaking idiot. Or as Jon Stewart said, a DICK!!! Why, PBS, why?
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