Will Osama Help W.? Mo Dowd chimes in, and nails it.

[jefferson_dem]

ASHINGTON — Some people thought the October surprise would be the president producing Osama.

Instead, it was Osama producing yet another video taunting the president and lecturing America.

After bin Laden's pre-election commentary from his anchor desk at a secure, undisclosed location, many TV chatterers and Republicans postulated that the evildoer's campaign intrusion would help the president.

O.B.L., they said, might re-elect W.

They follow the Bush strategists' reasoning that since President Bush rates higher than John Kerry on fighting terror, anytime Americans get rattled about Iraq and Al Qaeda, it's a plus for the president. And Republicans can keep claiming that Al Qaeda wants the "weak" Democrat elected, even as some intelligence experts suggest the terrorists prefer that the belligerent Mr. Bush stay in power because he has been a boon to jihadist recruiting, with his disastrous occupation of Iraq and his true believer, us-versus-them, my-Christian-God's-directing-my-foreign-policy vibe.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/31/opinion/31dowd.html

[Robbie67]

1. Dupe, but I like your title better

n/t

[soggy]

2. this isn't the normal "rally round the president" time

normally, like say on 9/11, we don't have any option BUT to "rally 'round the prez"... he's all we got. now, however, we find ourselves in position to choose. it'll be interesting...