Still Lost in the Desert

Gary Pearce posted on January 23, 2006 11:18

Friday, January 20, was the 25th anniversary of a dramatic example of events in the Middle East driving American politics: 25 years ago, Ronald Reagan was sworn in as President and Iran released the hostages.

Same day, 2006, our news is dominated by Osama bin Laden’s latest threat against the U.S.

Last time we heard from Osama was just before the 2004 election. That didn’t help John Kerry at all.

What happens next – or doesn’t happen – could have more to do with the 2006 election than Jack Abramoff, the Medicare drug debacle and anything else.

If Osama makes good on his threat – and America, God forbid, gets hit again – one of two things will happen:

• Americans will rally around the President – again.

• Or, Americans will conclude that Bush really did go after the wrong enemy when he invaded Iraq instead of finishing off Osama.

Either way, this year’s elections would suddenly become about fighting terrorists rather than lobbyists.

Posted in: General

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# Gary Pearce

Thursday, March 30, 2006 6:55 PM

6 Comments »
Did anyone else notice that big chunks of Bin Laden’s tirade seemed to be lifted almost verbatim from Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Ried, et.al.? I swear, if the text of his message had not first been identified as coming from Bin Laden himself, I would have thought I was listening to the Democrat’s daily talking points.

Comment by Jim Stegall — January 23, 2006 @ 3:55 pm

nice try Jim. Parroting the Bush administration’s talking points doesnt work anymore. Did you see that there are some question about whether the latest ‘tape from Bin Laden’ is even real.

Comment by Spitfire — January 23, 2006 @ 6:51 pm

‘A Duke professor says he is doubtful about Thursday’s audiotape from Osama bin Laden.

‘Bruce Lawrence has just published Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama Bin Laden, a book translating bin Laden’s writing. He is skeptical of Thursday’s message.

‘”There’s nothing in this from the Koran. He’s, by his own standards, a faithful Muslim,” Lawrence said. “He quotes scripture in defense of his actions. There’s no quotation from the Koran in the excerpts we got, no reference to specific events, no reference to past atrocities.”‘

Comment by Spitfire — January 23, 2006 @ 6:56 pm

speaking of Jack, according to the latest updates over at Wikipedia, Abramoff spent ten years in Hollywood, producing such movies as Red Scorpion, an anti-communist film made in 1988 just after his term with the College Republicans ended. This movie was filmed in South-West Africa (now Namibia) and was funded by the apartheid regime in South Africa through the International Freedom Foundation.

Comment by Spitfire — January 23, 2006 @ 7:05 pm

More on the International Freedom Foundation over at Wikipedia.

“The IFF’s first chairman was Duncan Sellars. Its Washington lobbyist/film producer, Jack Abramoff, was said by Newsday to have recruited willing – but perhaps unwitting – Republican politicians including: Senator Jesse Helms; Rep. Dan Burton; Rep. Philip Crane; Rep. Robert Dornan; and, Alan Keyes. None of these five politicians – and neither Sellars nor Abramoff – admitted to being aware of any South African funding. Had they known that they were effectively working to further the interests of a foreign government.”

Very interesting dont you think Carter?

Comment by Spitfire — January 23, 2006 @ 7:10 pm

“Spitfire,” your posts are their own best counter-arguements.

Comment by Jim Stegall — January 24, 2006 @ 11:11 am

Still Lost in the Desert

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