OSAMA [Jonah Goldberg]
I just got back from CNN and I haven't seen the interview and only a few items from the transcript. Still this kind of reminds me of the old joke from SNL News which went something like this "And today 'Siskel and Ebert" officially changed its name to 'The fat guy and the other one.'"
No matter how you slice this, George W. Bush is the man Osama's worried about and Kerry's "the other one."
I know it's not like Osama endorsed Kerry, but short of saying "You, the one who agrees with me about so much, you say you will 'destroy us'; well, we laugh at your summits!"
I don't think it's obvious the tape will play this way politically, but I see nothing wrong with the Bush campaign trying to make that happen.
Again: no matter how you slice it or how unfair it might be to Kerry, a vote against Bush will be seen as a repudiation of everything Bush stands for around the world. That's why the PLO has basically endorsed Kerry. That's why the Guardian is desperate that Kerry win. That's why El Baradai and his friends at the New York Times want Kerry to win. That's why Michael Moore is such a loyal Democrat all of a sudden.
And that's why al Qaeda wants Bush to lose.
This doesn't automatically mean by any stretch of the imagination that Kerry voters are pro-al Qaeda, anti-American, wimps or any of the rest. It does mean, in my humble opinion, that they're wrong.
nationalreview.com
"OSAMA WANTS BUSH TO WIN" [Jonah Goldberg]
One of my more enduring lefty email critics, but an altogether decent guy, writes me to say that NRO is "taking the bait." And that in reality Osama is taunting the American people because he knows that will get a rise out of us and, thus, Osama really wants Bush to win (as John Hillen mentions below).
I think this is an interesting interpretation and since this guy is something of a canary in the coalmine for lefty arguments, it's worth considering or at least anticipating.
First, I don't buy it. The one thing we've known about Osama for a very long time is that he doesn't understand American politics. He honestly thought -- as far as we can tell -- that America would fold from the 9/11 attacks. He constantly talked about our glass chin and how we were the weaker superpower viz a viz the Soviet Union. The constant refusal of American to treat terrorism as anything other than the "nuisance" John Kerry preferred is what emboldened those guys further (that, alas, includes Reagan's decision to bug out of Beirut).
The tragically regular successes terrorists have enjoyed in recent years when it comes to changing Western policy are probably what he has in mind. The tragic decision of Spain to elect an antiwar party and withdraw from Iraq being the biggest and best example. But the kidnappings which chased the Phillipines out of the coalition, the bribes paid by countless coalition partners, etc all have probably reinforced Osama's views. I find it hard to believe that Osama's goal here is throw the election to the guy he considers a deranged Christian crusader. What Osama needs now is not a reinvigorated, ratified war on terror from Bush and Cheney, what he needs is a time out to reinforce, regroup etc. It might be unfair to Kerry (though I doubt it), but he almost surely thinks he gets a time out from Kerry not from Bush.
Moreover, if what we hear is true, Osama's been in a cave somewhere which would incline him toward, literally, a bunker mentality.
nationalreview.com
OH AND FOR THE RECORD [Jonah Goldberg]
If Bin Laden's aim is to get Bush elected, that doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong to vote for Bush.
I truly don't mean this in the partisan way it sounds. It's just that, going back to 9/11, one of my biggest peeves has been the argument that doing This or That is "exactly what Bin Laden wants us to do." Opponents of the war in Afghanistan said it. Opponents of bombing during Ramadan said it. Etc.
It is possible, you know, for Osama Bin Laden to be wrong about what would be good for his cause. If he wanted a war in Afghanistan he was stupid because he got one and he lost it and now women are voting there and the one-eyed cleric is is twirling his propellor beanie in a dank cave. It is a strange glitch in human logic to always assume that the laws of unintended consequences only apply to your side and not to your enemies. History is full of losers who got exactly what they wanted.
nationalreview.com |
