washingtonindependent.com/14218/mccain-advisers-freaked-out-by-al-qaeda-preference-for-mccain
who publicly connected Iraq to the 9/11 attacks without any evidence in 2001, and senior foreign-policy adviser Randy Scheunemann spent more time whining about the Washington Post's standards of fairness than on the logic of why Al Qaeda might prefer Sen. "An amazing piece of journalism, and I use journalism in quotation marks," Scheunemann said, going on to list barely approving quotes of Sen. Barack Obama from Hamas, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, which he said he wasn't going "to characterize." Woolsey, for his part, peered into the mind of what he called "one individual Islamist blogger from one terrorist Islamist blog" and determined that he was "clearly trying to damage John McCain" and "not speaking from his heart." What was absent from the call, oddly enough, was any discussion about why Al Qaeda might want McCain to win.
as the CIA eventually concluded, Bin Laden tried to help George W Bush's reelection in 2004 by releasing a late-October tape. McCain pledges basic continuity with Bush on the Iraq war. As Scheunemann put it, "John McCain will spend what it takes to win." Yet the idea of Al Qaeda preferring a US strategy that strengthens it confounded the McCain camp. "It is ridiculous to believe that in its heart of hearts, Al Qaeda wants John McCain to be the president," Woolsey said. But the only thing that's ludicrous is Woolsey's expectation that the American public will keep falling for this sort of misdirection by the same blinkered analysts who blundered the US into Iraq in the first place.
In 2004 they told us that Al Qaeda wanted John Kerry to win, and that's why we had to vote for Bush. They tell us that Obama is friends with terrorists and that's why we must vote for McCain. But actually, the terrorists want John McCain for President. If they wanted Obama, the Republicans would be telling us that shows that Obama is bad for America. Well, John McCain and Sarah Palin ARE bad for America, and that's exactly why the terrorists want them to win.
Bin Laden did try to help Bush out in 2004, and some on the right might try to argue that by endorsing McCain these jihadists are actually trying to pull a bin Laden double-reverse and boost Obama instead, like Woolsey says.. What matters though is where the message is coming from. Bin Laden's tape was political theater, whereas these messages on jihadist websites are presumably these guys speaking in what they believe to be a forum where they can express themselves bluntly because the only people reading are other jihadists. If they say they want McCain to be President, that's what they really want, and the logic is painfully obvious.
Hi, Dianne, Maybe the media isn't running negative reporting on Obama because there's not much negative to report. After all, when media make stuff up and we find out, we blame the media for not doing their job: think Judith Mitchell at the New York Times and all the water she carried for the Bush administration to convince us that war in Iraq was justified. Don't blame Obama and his supporters for McCain's and Palin's follies in making their negatives so blatant. Who, after all, would claim to represent the middle class when all he has known is a life of wealth and privilege? Who would claim to be running an ethical campaign after putting into place the exact same personnel and tactics that smeared his far more honorable, year 2000 candidacy? Who would call herself the new hope for American feminism after enforcing a policy, as mayor, of charging rape victims (mostly, if not all, women) the costs of the forensic kits (up to $1200 each) used to gather evidence in their cases? Who would claim to be vindicated of abuse of power allegations by an ethics investigation that concluded she had, as governor, abused her power by actively seeking--and allowing her unelected husband to pressure state officials--to fire her ex-brother-in-law? After reading about Palin's income tax shenanigans--claiming over $21K of travel reimbursement for minor children who were not traveling on state business, as Alaskan law requires for travel reimbursement; claiming per diem from taxpayers for nights spent in her own home; not claiming travel reimbursement as income on her federal forms--most reasonable people would conclude the woman is corrupt, a tax cheat. Now we learn she has received $150K in clothing gifts from the RNC: how much do you want to bet she will neglect to declare the value of these gifts on her tax forms next year? Why, oh why, would anyone look at this woman and conclude, "There's the role model I want my daughter to follow"? What happened to living with integrity--making one's deeds match one's words--and following the law, yes, even the tax code to pay one's fair share? Obama is certainly no messiah, but he has the virtue of integrity. His entire career has been dedicated to elevating the living conditions and social power of those less fortunate. If doing so has brought him into contact with people who espouse radical ideas, he has nonetheless remained unimpressed by those ideas: please notice that Obama is not the candidate out there singing "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran" or anybody else, no matter what he might have heard from Reverend Wright or "washed up terrorist" (McCain quote) Bill Ayers. In fact, Obama has condemned the violent ideas espoused by both men, and the fact that you don't trust his word on this says far more about you than it does him. Yes, you're right about one thing: it's exactly like high-school bullies all over again, but it's the bullies of the right wing that are smearing Obama with lies and innuendos about his supposed "unAmerican" and "anti-American" character and policies. There is no credible evidence to support claims that Obama is a Muslim or an Arab or a terrorist while there is plenty of documentation to show that McCain has changed his positions on taxation and other issues and that his political stances, as revealed by his votes in Senate, more often support the George W Bush agenda than they oppose it. McCain's campaign practices the politics of character assassination by raising unfounding concerns about Obama's character, but you are more charitably concerned about how McCain feels about Democratic challenges to his policy proposals that benefit the economy's supply side to the detriment of workers and consumers whose demand for products and services is the real engine of economic progress. Fine, you don't want to vote for Obama: please be my guest and vote for anyone you wish. But at least use facts, not right-wing myth or wishful thinking or misinformation or rumor or gossip or smears or lies, to support your choice. We have rights in this country to informed opinions, not half-assed ones.
From now on, whenever I come across some wacko spouting their ridiculous smears about Obama, all I'm gonna say is "Al-Qaeda endorsed John McCain". This is the only kind of political discussion the right understands; No more reasoned debate, no more pleas for civility, no more being careful with the facts. Just hit them over the head with the Al-Qaeda endorsement over and over and over until they shut up and go away.
The Bush Administration has been the gift that keeps on giving to Al-Qaida: a strong recruitment and motivator for would-be jihadists. Bush administration has cultivated a new generation of terrorists with every one that gets killed. An Obama administration will drain the swamp of polarization and hate on which Al-Qaida thrives.
Al-Qaeda would love to have a reactionary hothead like McCain elected president, who could be easily duped and provoked into rash and ill-conceived military misadventures like our current one in Iraq. All the better to increase the national debt and weaken our country economically. History has proven time and time again that overextended military occupations and out-of-control military spending doom empires to eventual collapse. It happened with Rome and the Soviet Union, and it will happen with the US of A unless we get this ship steered in the right direction. McCain is like an old, ill-tempered dog who doesn't think things through and ...
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