Remember the Bin Laden tape released a few days before 2004 election?

[Jara sang]

Boy that was a spot of good luck for 'ole King George, wasn't it? Dang, Bin Laden had not released a videotape in over three years. Golly gee, what are the odds?:eyes:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/29/binladen.tape/

[autorank]

1. Good one jara sang!

Oh yeah, like this is news:

"Bin Laden: Al Qaeda motivated to strike U.S. again" CNN

When wasn't he motivated to strike the U.S.?

Wow, lets roll out a color coded alert!

:shrug:

[texpatriot2004]

2. It's as if it were scripted or right on cue or something? n.t

[Birthmark]

3. I think it's purely coincidental

...that we would have an Administration bereft of enough of decency to use such tactics and a media incompetent enough to repeat it without investigation. Oh, wait. I take that back. :)

[Neil Lisst]

4. Osama LIKES Bush. They're fighting for the same team.

Osama must have thought he won the lottery when W started that stupid war in Iraq. Afghanistan had fallen, he was on the run, surrounded, then - oops, snuck away while we were rearranging our backpacks.

Then we had to take all those crack troops and send them to Iraq, leave behind a few thousand to direct traffic and keep our puppet in power.

[BrotherBuzz]

5. People that fell for that tape were as dumb as Custer was

General Custer: What do you think I should do, Muleskinner? Should I go down there or withdraw?

Jack Crabb: General, you go down there, there are thousands of Indians down there, and when they get done with you, there won't be nothin' left but a greasy spot. You go down there if you got the nerve. General

Custer: Still trying to outsmart me, aren't you, Muleskinner? You want me to think that you don't want me to go down there, but the subtle truth is, you really don't want me to go down there.

[FreedomAngel82]

6. I wouldn't be surprised

if Bush used a tape recently. Lots of crap going on for him.

[emulatorloo]

7. Media Matters: Pundits spin Osama tape for Bush

http://mediamatters.org/items/200410300002

<snip>

On the October 29 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, following the release of a taped message from Osama bin Laden, Newsweek chief political correspondent and NBC news analyst Howard Fineman spelled out how partisans of President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry each might plausibly interpret the political impact of the tape as benefiting their side in the final 72 hours of the presidential race. But while Fineman did not endorse either interpretation, a slew of cable pundits and reporters Friday night did -- and they were unanimous and mostly unequivocal in adopting the partisan Bush line. NBC's Andrea Mitchell went further, saying "it almost makes it more difficult" for Kerry to continue pointing to the administration's failure to capture or kill bin Laden.

The basis for most of these assessments is the assumption that Bush's opinion poll numbers would likely climb with terrorism back in the news. Yet a FOX News/Opinion Dynamics poll, conducted October 28 and October 29 and released late Saturday, showed Bush's support falling three points, from 50 to 47 percent. Kerry's support was unchanged at 45 percent. An article about the poll on FoxNews.com noted: "Polling was conducted Thursday and Friday evenings, so about half of those interviewed would have had the opportunity to hear reports of a new tape from Usama bin Laden." And according to Salon.com's "War Room," Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg told reporters in a call on the afternoon of October 30 that voters split 46-36 in favor of the view that the bin Laden tape makes them think Bush "took his eye off the ball in Afghanistan and diverted resources to Iraq."

While it's not possible to know what motivated bin Laden, conservatives, resurrecting their months-old "terrorists for Kerry" smear as documented by Media Matters for America (for example, here, here, here, here, here, and here) charged that the tape was designed to help Kerry, ignoring entirely the possibility that the tape was intended to help Bush. As the Bush campaign attacked the Kerry campaign for politicizing the tape, Republican National Committee (RNC) adviser Peggy Noonan appeared on FOX News Channel's Hannity & Colmes and did just that, saying, "Do you think he wants George Bush to have a nice day on Tuesday? I don't think so."

<snip>