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Observations on the world today.

Thursday, March 18, 2004

Appeaser Teasers 

FOXNews.com - Top Stories - Report: Group Claiming Madrid Bombings Calls Truce With Spain for Troop Pullout
The Islamic militant group that claimed responsibility for last week's Madrid train bombings has called a truce with Spain to give the new government time to withdraw troops from Iraq, a London-based Arabic-language newspaper said Wednesday.
That is the headline and lead on Foxnews.

The story goes on to tell how, "A U.S. counterterrorism official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday the latest statement should be viewed with skepticism because the group has made false claims in the past." Now arguably, this should be the lead of the story. After all, we all know that the right has been trying to steer public perception that the Spanish were al Qaeda appeasers for voting out the pro-Bush Popular Party leadership. Certainly after reading the lead as it is written, this is the perception one would have if one were to stop reading and turn to the sports page.

But there is an even more egregious sin in the Foxnews piece. They completely left out the part of the statement that shows the idiocy of the right's attempted spin on the events in Spain's elections.

Again, remember, the right wants desperately for us to think that swinging the vote toward Spain's anti-Iraq-war Socialist Party was exactly what al Qaeda wanted when they set off the bombs in Madrid, and they will use the story of this "truce" to illustrate that point. But it would be much harder for them to make that point if Foxnews had done what Reuters did and posted the rest of the statement as well.
The statement said it supported President Bush in his reelection campaign, and would prefer him to win in November rather than the Democratic candidate John Kerry, as it was not possible to find a leader "more foolish than you (Bush), who deals with matters by force rather than with wisdom."

In comments addressed to Bush, the group said:

"Kerry will kill our nation while it sleeps because he and the Democrats have the cunning to embellish blasphemy and present it to the Arab and Muslim nation as civilization."

"Because of this we desire you (Bush) to be elected."
So the next time your republican friends are trying to convince you that we need Bush to be reelected to successfully win the war on terror, you can look them straight in the eye and say, "Sure, that's exactly what the terrorists want you to think." And try doing it with a straight face. It will drive them nuts.

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