Lenin Would Be Proud

Yes, it was the first terrorist who declared that everything is political.

Previously, Osama Bin Laden appeared pontificating on videotape just before a major terrorist attack. And so, when Bin Laden appeared Friday, there was reason for concern, especially in the Kerry camp.

[O]n Saturday, while avoiding the mention of the tape itself, Mr. Kerry found himself battling with the president about the best way to protect America against terrorism.

The attempt by the Kerry campaign to play down the topic came as no surprise.

The videotape - in which Mr. bin Laden taunts the president and makes vaguely threatening remarks about the nation's security - could well reinforce what has been the defining rationale of Mr. Bush's re-election candidacy since the morning that planes slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon: that the nation is at war, and that this Republican president can best protect it.

"The more these images are out there now, the more it helps Bush," said Joe Trippi, who was the campaign manager for Howard Dean, one of Mr. Kerry's rivals for the Democratic nomination.

So, the Democrats do find the tape threatening, to their own political aspirations and to hell with the possibility that thousands of Americans might be murdered again.