Another bin Laden tape won't do it.  BigO's margin will be too big by then.

Other scenarios I'll leave for other commenters :-(

One imagines -- indeed, one has no doubt -- that the Obama team is already thinking this through right now.

Thought about it, wrote analysis on it, created contingency plan for it.

Good. Get this kind of thinking out there. Get people talking about it. That way, if something does happen (please God, nothing will), it won't be the shocker that it might have been.

O/T: Ben Smith at Politico is reporting this:

My colleague Amie Parnes tells me the McCain campaign says they won't release crowd counts any more.

No, I'm guessing they won't, particularly the size of audiences when McCain is alone.

Goddamn, Greg - I was really hoping to make it through this election without having to relive everyone's goddamn 2004 nightmares.

But here they are: right down the line.

*sigh*

I saw this last week.
Kerry's blunder was not using it and pivoting it in his favor by asking "why hasn't this Administration captured bin Laden dead or alive as it promised? This is why we need a change in the White House."

A similar response by Obama would quell any Republican rally cry on this type of issue.

The Obama camp needs to stay infront of this one. Clarke saying this helps. They probably should have one of their talkers mention something to this effect every day, and get their Narrative on it out there *now*.

John

Al Qaeda would not like it if there were a popular American president again.

Am I reading this right?

A vote for McCain is a vote for Al Qaeda?

Don't give stupid people the benefit of the doubt here! Even if they lose their shirts in the stock market, the second they hear Bin Laden's name, they'll run screaming to the Republicans to save them!

All I can say is - look at what happened in Spain. There was an attack right before the election. Aznar was defeated. And the left took over.

CNN had something last week about the White House/Pentagon sitting on a Bin Laden tape. No one knows how old it is, but they're for damn sure sitting on it for the last week of October...and "stupid is as stupid does" voters will piss themselves in fear all the way to the voting booth.

People, Richard Clarke is hardly in cahoots with the Republican party! They kicked his non-partisan ass to the curb because of his warnings of attack. He's written books chastising the Bush Administration for their ineptitude in defending this country. And now I'm reading talk backs here that Clarke is a part of grouping hiding a video so McCain can win???

Please!!

3 years after 9/11, people were still scared. Plus, in Fall 2004, the Iraq War wasn't nearly as unpopular as it has become today and the economy wasn't in a shambles. In 2008, people will be more likely to ask, "Why is this guy still on my teevee screen?" And then they'll punish the party who, in 7 years, hasn't brought this guy to justice.

And who has been the candidate talking most about focusing our resources on Afghanistan/Pakistan, where UBL lives.

Finally, this is 2008 and Barack Obama, not 2004 and John Kerry.

Sorry, UBL, if you try it, it won't work.

OT but check out the GOP's oppo research dump on Ayers:

http://www.gop.com/News/NewsRead.aspx?Guid=768aa784-72f3-4b43-acb6-c5fe81d901cd

Two questions about this:

1) Is there anything new here?
2) Is there anything here at all?

Seriously, that's all they've got?

Seems to me team Obama ought to be emphasizing that the Bush admin. has frittered away seven years without making America any safer from another terrorist attacks. Make it clear that it's entirely possible we could be attacked again. List all the vulnerabilities and what has to be done to eliminate them. Say over and over that this will be a top priority of Obama's first term. This would, in a sense, predict a terrorist attack and at the same time lay the blame for it squarely on Bush and those who voted for his calamitous policies. Then, if there is an attack, the groundwork will have been laid to argue that Obama foresaw it and told us what we should do about it while Bush and McCain obsessed over foreign military adventures.

simple:

vote for mccain = vote for al qaeda

you don't like al qaeda, do you??

Attention from us to STOP THEM - just wanted to clarify my comment in the second paragraph below.

I completely agree with you! Just stating my case on why Clarke goes overboard with Al Qaida, even he's not in government service.

The information he has from when he was in service is still something MANY respect and listen to. Except now he's not filtered or muffled by the Bush Administration so no one can hear him.

But I do agree with you that talk like his and with these supposed Bin Laden videos bring on unnecessary fear in people. Unfortunately, Republicans know this tactic works and they'll keep on it until it no longer works for them.

People fell for this bullshit in 2002 and 2004...2008 will see far less falling for it, thank God!

I know Clarke coming out with this information works better for McCain than Obama, but Clarke isn't suddenly talking about it to move the election one direction or another. If it does, then that is not his intention. His intention is to protect, first and foremost.

If he would have kept a lid on this supposed Bin Laden video, then someone else would have brought it up, like Fox News with a far more positive slant towards benfiting McCain.

I debated in high school and college, so I'm an expert at saying very little with a lot of bullshit word play.

These days, that's called the Palin Doctrine!

What are you all smoking? This is good news.

If a video comes out, the talking point should be exactly that al-Qaeda is trying to swing the elections for the Republicans.

This is my worst fear. Bin Laden has more sway than McCain at this point. And you KNOW the media would go crazy, beg The Maverick's forgiveness and hand him the election. The O-Man had better be prepared for the inevitable video and slam the shit out of the GOP for Bin Laden's continued existence.

Well, a vote for Dubya four years ago was a vote for Al Qaeda.

Just like a vote for the dems eight years ago was a vote for Al Gore.

I know. Bad joke.