Back in 2004, Republicans used the terrorism issue to hammer Democrats. Dick Cheney said that if we elected John Kerry, it would only be a matter of time before the terrorists would hit America again, and every call to withdraw from Iraq was greeted by jeers of retreating from the terrorists from Republicans.
We now have a real way to hit back at them on this issue that should be very easy for our media to understand.
More below:
Just before the 2004 election, Osama bin Laden released a tape that seemingly indicated he wanted John Kerry to win the election. However, the news that the CIA later concluded that the bin Laden tape was designed to support Bush generated almost no coverage in the media. Also making little news was the fact that Iran also endorsed Bush in 2004.
And, since 2004, Republicans have continued to hammer away at Democrats on this issue on things like domestic spying and torture.
While the facts on terrorism indicate that Republican policies have increased terrorism and made our country less safe, the media has seemingly decided that just because Republicans talk tough on terrorism, it means they are strong on terrorism. And, of course, the fact that John McCain linked Hamas to wanting Obama to win the election got a lot of media coverage.
However, so far the fact that Al Qaeda’s mastermind, Ayman al-Zawahari, has endorsed McCain and his policy of confronting and bombing Iran has received little media attention outside of a few blog entries. You would think that the real number two guy in Al Qaeda endorsing John McCain would make the news.
Of course, to John McCain, bombing Iran might be the same as bombing Al Qaeda since he cannot tell them apart.
But, here is the article from Juan Cole on the Al Qaeda endorsement of John McCain:
Actually it occurred to me to ask who is endorsing McCain in the Muslim world.
Well, it turns out that al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri has declared that he is actually on McCain's side in wanting to destroy Iran. Al-Zawahiri is hurt that McCain keeps confusing hyper-Sunni al-Qaeda with radical Shiism: "Ayman al-Zawahiri said al-Qaeda wants to see the destruction of Iran - a Shiite nation battling the terrorists . . . "The dispute between America and Iran is a genuine struggle, and the possibility of the US striking Iran is real," al-Zawahiri said. . ." Al-Zawahiri hopes that the US struggle with Iran will destroy the latter and weaken the former, putting al-Qaeda in a position to administer the coup de grace.
In essence, al-Zawahiri is endorsing McCain's plan to "bomb, bomb, bomb/ bomb, bomb Iran."
http://www.juancole.com/...