Holy Double Reversi, Batman! While plenty of Bush-bashers have speculated that the administration would pull Osama out of a top hat in the weeks leading up to the election, this new videotape (transcript here) might work even better. Right-wingers are already spinning bin Laden's criticisms of Bush as a backhanded endorsement of Kerry, and the terrorist's familiar critiques of Halliburton's greed and the American media's complicity with Bush are enough to give any Michael Moore fan a moment of pause.
Enough light and noise from Fox news flacks and their groupies might just obscure the point that this videotape drives home: Bush's policies are spawning more violence and threats of violence. This just in, straight from the horse's mouth.
Of course, Kerry can't respond by saying "See? Told you." But I can.
Obviously, the answer is not to capitulate to bin Laden's demands for total troop pullout, or to hew to his three-month warning--he's a murderous madman. But his eye-for-an-eye insanity pivots on a basic observation that holds wide appeal around the world: America under Bush does not value life or human rights, despite pious protestations to the contrary.
Until we elect leaders whose policies draw closer to their rhetoric, we'll all be watching our backs.
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Jessica Clark is a writer, editor and researcher, with more than 15 years of experience spanning commercial, educational, independent and public media production. Currently she is the Research Director for American University’s Center for Social Media. She also writes a monthly column for PBS’ MediaShift on new directions in public media. She is the author, with Tracy Van Slyke, of Beyond the Echo Chamber: Reshaping Politics Through Networked Progressive Media (2010, New Press).
