According to the
NYTimes just now:
The Bush re-election campaign and the White House stepped up today their defense of three new advertisements that use images of the smoldering remains of the World Trade Center, arguing that the device is appropriate in an election campaign that will be waged, in part, on the candidates' abilities to fight the war on terror.
"Because of that day, we are at war against terror," Karen Hughes, a campaign adviser for President Bush, contended on the ABC program "Good Morning America." "The race for president is now on, and it's important that we look at how the two candidates would approach that war against terror."
Where to begin?
In a classic gaffe, Karen Hughes has just confirmed that the Bush administration was asleep at the wheel before 9/11. Well before that day, the Clinton administration was focused on foiling terror--and did a pretty good job, in retrospect, especially considering how its hands were tied by Republican smear campaigns. But it wasn't until The Day That Changed Everything that the Republicans stopped daydreaming about missile defense and ...
... wait a minute, what have they done, exactly?
Kerry should just say: "The Republicans woke up to terror on 9/11. We Democrats have been fighting it for years ... catching the Oklahoma bombers, and foiling the Millenium plot. President Bush refuses to meet with the 9/11 investigators. Why? Why has the administration been stonewalling the investigation, refusing to share papers it has showed to friendly journalists? Could it be because the true secret of the Bush administration is that its anti-terror policy is as inept as its foreign policy?"