Friday, October 29, 2004
Osama
Okay. Let's work through this.
Mass-murdering terror mastermind Osama bin Laden has released his first tape in over a year, addressed directly to the American people, just days before our Presidential election. (For the sake of this discussion, let's assume it's not a hoax, and that the video will be authenticated.)
Why would he do this? There are three possibilities. 1) Osama, as he claims, genuinely doesn't care who's in office, and is just trying to scare us before Halloween. 2) Osama is hoping to sway the election to help Bush. 3) Osama is hoping to sway the election to help Kerry.
The first possibility is the easiest to discount, due to the timing of the broadcast. You wouldn't choose your first message in over thirteen months to be days before the election, with a topic about the election, addressed directly to the American people, if you weren't trying to sway the outcome. Period.
The second possibility is laughable to all but the most maniacal conspiracy buffs. Although he claims it wouldn't matter if Kerry or Bush proves the victor, the tape looks like it was scripted by Michael Moore. From the transcript:
So, we can conclude with certainty that Osama bin Laden is trying to sway the election for Kerry. Any other interpretation is illogical.
Why would he do this? Well, I suppose I can insert the typical "because they know he'll be soft on terror" talking points, but really, I don't know. And, at least when it comes to making a decision on election day, I don't care. Osama bin Laden just got on international television and told us two things: 1) There will be more attacks on your country no matter who's elected, and 2) I'd really really really like it if you elected John Kerry.
Gee, I wonder which way we should vote.
(also posted to defeatjohnjohn.com)
Okay. Let's work through this.
Mass-murdering terror mastermind Osama bin Laden has released his first tape in over a year, addressed directly to the American people, just days before our Presidential election. (For the sake of this discussion, let's assume it's not a hoax, and that the video will be authenticated.)
Why would he do this? There are three possibilities. 1) Osama, as he claims, genuinely doesn't care who's in office, and is just trying to scare us before Halloween. 2) Osama is hoping to sway the election to help Bush. 3) Osama is hoping to sway the election to help Kerry.
The first possibility is the easiest to discount, due to the timing of the broadcast. You wouldn't choose your first message in over thirteen months to be days before the election, with a topic about the election, addressed directly to the American people, if you weren't trying to sway the outcome. Period.
The second possibility is laughable to all but the most maniacal conspiracy buffs. Although he claims it wouldn't matter if Kerry or Bush proves the victor, the tape looks like it was scripted by Michael Moore. From the transcript:
"It never occurred to us that the commander-in-chief of the American armed forces would leave 50,000 of his citizens in the two towers to face these horrors alone. It appeared to him that a little girl's talk about her goat and its butting was more important than the planes and their butting of the skyscrapers. That gave us three times the required time to carry out the operations, thank God."There is no way, with passages like that, that this could be some kind of bizarre Karl Rove conspiracy to scare people into voting for Bush. If Osama or a fake Osama wanted Bush to remain in office, they'd simply say "we're going to attack you soon" (or, attack us). Instead, Osama quotes from Farhenheit 9/11? No rational person can view this tape and deduce it's meant to help the President.
So, we can conclude with certainty that Osama bin Laden is trying to sway the election for Kerry. Any other interpretation is illogical.
Why would he do this? Well, I suppose I can insert the typical "because they know he'll be soft on terror" talking points, but really, I don't know. And, at least when it comes to making a decision on election day, I don't care. Osama bin Laden just got on international television and told us two things: 1) There will be more attacks on your country no matter who's elected, and 2) I'd really really really like it if you elected John Kerry.
Gee, I wonder which way we should vote.
(also posted to defeatjohnjohn.com)
