Value Judgment: A question for Bush supporters and surrogates...

Value Judgment is a daily weblog written by two independent voters on the eastern seaboard of the United States. VJ will focus on the 2004 U.S. Presidential campaigns, including strategy, tactics, and substance. The authors supported Howard Dean in the Democratic primary. Accordingly, his activities will be a prominent topic on this site.

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October 17, 2004

A question for Bush supporters and surrogates...

If electing John Kerry would "make the world a more dangerous place"... if it's so self-evident that Bush will do such a better job 'fighting the Global War on Terror'...

Then why are the two places in America that were actually hit on 9/11 and which so clearly remain juicy targets - New York and the D.C. Metro area (Northern VA if you want to get really specific) - so solidly supporting John Kerry?

And can you explain why, say, Southerners who really aren't facing the same level of risk of attack are the ones who are so adamant that Bush is essential for America's safety?

I'm curious.

Posted by V at October 17, 2004 10:17 AM

Comments

Al Qaeda endorsed Bush earlier this year. Really. So why isn't the "liberal" media all over this?

Posted by: Nanovirus at October 18, 2004 09:39 AM

Here's what I tell people:

I'm not a counter terrorism expert. I haven't spent my career thinking about Al Qaeda and Islamic fundamentalists. Neither, frankly, have Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al.

But Richard A. Clarke is an expert; maybe America's foremost expert. He was the "counterterrorism czar" for two presidents. Here's how he judges Bush:

"George W. Bush, who failed to act prior to September 11 on the threat from al Qaeda despite repeated warnings and then harvested a political windfall for taking obvious yet insufficient steps after the attacks, and who launched an unnecessary and costly war in Iraq that strengthened the fundamentalist, radical Islamic terrorist movement worldwide."

Clarke, by the way, made this assessment before Abu Ghraib came into the public consciousness, and before the most recent violent phase of the Iraqi insurgency.

Yes, Bush STRENGTHENED the fundamentalist, radical Islamic terrorist movement worldwide. STRENGTHENED!

The Kerry campaign should take a page out of Karl Rove's playbook and attack Bush's perceived "strength" on the Global War On Terror -- they should put Clarke's quote on every TV in the country...

Posted by: Jeff Kandt at October 18, 2004 03:04 PM