Okay, so it has been a while. Deal with it.

Today, I want us all to take a moment and celebrate the one year anniversary of the passing of St. Rachel of Pancake (nee Corrie), whose selfless sacrifice and courage reminded us all of one simple rule in life: never lay down in front of a bulldozer.

In other news, the Spanish government has now effectively surrendered in the face of terrorism. Yes, the Spanish population was against the war in Iraq; however, the government was leading in the polls until the bombings. The sudden switch of four points in the electorate will be interpreted by the terrorists as a victory (heck, I know I would put that spin on it). The scary thing is, the Spanish have now encouraged the terrorists to try the same thing in other countries. I would not be surprised to see a few terrorist attacks in the United States immediately before this year's presidential election. The most effective would be for teams of terrorists, using automatic weapons, to simultaneously attack shopping malls on the Saturday before the election, killing as many men, women and children as possible, then either melting away into the distance or going down in a blaze of glory against law enforcement. The resultant panic and turmoil would be tremendous. The question is, would it work?

My gut reaction is that it not only would not work, it would buttress George Bush's political position. His strongest argument for re-election is the war on terror. If the bad guys attack us, Americans will (as shown throughout our history) demand retribution. George Bush is already credited with being a president who is not afraid to go after the bad guys.

And what could Kerry possibly say in reaction to such an event? Criticism of the President would incur a negative backlash amongst moderate voters. Calls for understanding and multilateral actions would be derided as cowardice. Kerry would be trapped in a box, unable to join the calls for immediate retribution (for fear of alienating his liberal base and putting himself in a position of running against Bush solely on national defense), and yet he could not call for calm and reasoned action, working through our allies and the United Nations without risking losing nearly every state in the general election. That is the trouble with his position on the war on terror and national defense, and it is a problem of his own making.

Frankly, Kerry would be better served if the terrorists sat home and did nothing. But can he rely on that given the huge impact of the Spanish bombings?

Somehow, I doubt it.

Steve
- posted by MrSpkr @ 16:11