I find the comments he quoted quite telling about the mindset of some in the loony left.

No, no; some of those comments have infected the mainstream, which is what bothers me so damn much.

Geraghty is unfortunately right.

And that is exactly the way Bin Laden wants it. Drive a wedge between the people of the west, use Michael Moore as a stooge and then capitalize on the resulting divison.

The only way he can win is by splitting us. And shamefully, the usual suspects are buying right into it.

The fact that Kerry is almost certain to win at least 43% of the popular vote is what bothers me.

I don't know if I agree with Bill that the comments have infected the mainstream left. Moore didn't make all that money from just the bats in the belfry crowd, but far fewer on the left are basing their votes on the Kosite and Atriette crowd noise than you might think. There are still many folks on the left making considered decisions to vote against Bush. I think they are wrong, but then they think I am. It won't be the mainstream left or moderate democrats that go ballistic 11/3. It may seem so, just as it has seemed that the whole left has been mad since Dean or earlier. But it really has been just the very vocal and acidic far left that have poisoned the discourse, and it will be those same folks who do so after the 3rd by contesting the election.

Just Passing Through -

Terry McAuliffe, Wesley Clark, Howard Dean, Madeline Albright, and yes, John Kerry, are the mainstream left. And all of them have used talking points from F 9-11.

Textbook: Amen. I am incredulous that the best my old Democratic Party could come up with was the widely despised traitor to Vietnam veterans. Sad times for old style liberals like me.

Textbook + mikem,

The sad fact of the matter is that if it hadn't been for a certain scream and an endorsement from Al Gore, those 43% would now be voting for Howard Dean.

hm: I could stomach Dean better than Kerry, although I would still vote for Bush. Dean was a 'politician', with all the negative connotation that implies, as is Bush. But Kerry is a caricature of a politician's politician. I'm sure there are a lot of Democrats and MSM types who are pissed that they have to publicly support him.

mikem,

I agree, that's the whole problem this time around. The Establishment decided long ago that Bush would not be allowed a second term so the entire discourse has been reduced to the "anybody-but-Bush" formula.

As I wrote a few days ago, the problem with this kind of approach is that sometimes the part of anybody is filled by a pathological liar.

43% of the vote for Dean wouldn't be nearly as depressing.

I disagree with Dean's positions (or at least the ones he took in the Presidential race), but he's not a traitor.

The bin Laden video is an indictment of the political left, for it shows the confluence of thought between the political left and our sworn enemies.

From now on when people see Michael Moore I hope they see Osama's favorite filmmaker.

GADS!!!! MSNBC is now broadcasting "John Kerry" on Headliners and Legends. Pro Kerry, timed just right.

This makes me sick. Stolen Honor gets not a mention but these shilling mouth breathers broadcast this junk unapologetically.

This is about to make me sick!

Yes they have used them Bill, but they are NOT infected by those talking points. They no more believe that Bush was AWOL, a liar, the war is about oil, Bush had prior knowledge about 9/11, or any of the other batshit crap that Moore peddled than you or I do. The people you name pander to the far left and give lip service to their beliefs, but they do not buy into those beliefs. (Dean possibly the exception, and even Dean didn't start out that way. The adulation got into his head.)

The fundamental difference between the far left and the far right is that the far right cannot be pandered to. They have no interest in the discourse. They are separatist, they are not elitist. The far left IS elitist and needs the validation that control of the dialog gives them to maintain the delusion that they are better and smarter. One scan through an Atrios comment thread and the elitism leaps out at you. That elitist delusion can be used and is. The far left are merely the same useful fools that they have always been and unscrupulous characters have always found the useful fools to be very useful tools indeed. But there is a vast difference between pandering to the beliefs that the far left embrace for the political currency they offer and buying into or being infected by those beliefs.

Popped quickly over to Atrios. First post, 11 comments into almost 300 total:

"Bush supporters certainly are the illiterate, inbred and very, very scared townsfolk."

This is elitist crap. McAuliffe, Albright, Kerry, Wesley Clark - they do not believe this for a moment. They will echo the sentiments to capture the support of fools professing them, but they would never have attained the positions they did if they were susceptible to actually believing in them.

Uh, I'd wager Terry McAuliffe does believe it. I mean, have you seen what he's done to the Democratic party? Heh.

It's not like he got that job due to "extreme competence" or anything.

Yeah, this Bin Laden guy is really starting to make some sense.

It does make you wonder though, where are all the Koranic verses and whatnot? Did he even use the words "infidel" or "jihad" even once? And what was in the footage that hasn't been aired yet?

GOTV folks.

I worked 10 hours today on this...and will work 10 hours tomorrow!

Every Bush supporter you talk to, get them to find 1 or 2 more to get to the polls.

The "silent majority" either SHOUTS this time...or we may really be silenced!!

I agree with OBL too. Kerry is the right choice for terrorists.

Funny Photoshopping on this very topic:

Bin Laden endorses Kerry, tours with Springsteen

When OBL says, "Vote or Die," he means it.

hm, Most of us already know who we're voting for. I voted Thursday and the OBL tape would not have changed anything. And the OBL tapes don't seem to have given either candidate a bounce. The wedge was driven long ago.

So why jump to conclusions? Unless this is just another opportunity for cynicism for the sake of rhetorical points. If so, go for it.

Well I agree with those who could stomach Dean more than Kerry. I think Dean would be disastrous for our military and foreign policy, but at least he can point to a track record on fiscal conservatism, something Kerry can't do.

And I also agree that the liberal left are elitist.

But did u check Pollwrap this AM? Yikes - the OBL swingvoters are moving to JFK

Dean had positions. (Granted, positions I strongly disagreed with.) Kerry merely has conveniences.

They no more believe that Bush was AWOL, a liar, the war is about oil, Bush had prior knowledge about 9/11, or any of the other batshit crap that Moore peddled than you or I do. The people you name pander to the far left and give lip service to their beliefs, but they do not buy into those beliefs.

And you know this how? Alien space bats told you? Pardon my skepticism, but these people talk and act, consistently, as though they believe these things. They are respectable things to say in mainstream Democratic circles. Those who initiate such things are not frowned at and ignored, the way, say, Pat Buchanan is when he starts ranting. On the contrary.

I don't think it's unreasonable to deduce from all this that mainstream Democratic party leaders mean what they say.