Do you think a lot of people thought Osama was dead?

[clydefrand]

Do you think his reappearance will change anyone's vote? Not ours, I'm sure; but how about the undecideds and those who were sure he was gone for good?

[GreenPoet64]

1. Many are confused . . . have him confused with Saddam. . .

I'm hoping it will cause some to pause and think "Oh that's who Kerry is talking about." Kerry is right, we did go after the wrong guy.

[Quixote1818]

2. I was 99% sure he was Dead!

Now I know he is not and I blame Bush!

[PATRICK]

9. I was but most people presumed he was

still alive. I mainly fumed that no pressure at all was brought to bear on the simple issue of whether he was alive. The search for OBL seemed as empty as Homeland Security and the news media did no good analysis of its own. It was always a peripheral as is most reality in America these days.

Pressure to make the idiot OBL prove his existence earler would have spared the idiot Bush the current enmbarassment. Now that I compare the verbal tapes with the latest ramble, the shoddy intellectual thumbprint of Osama is shown to be the main culprit in fogging up the issue.

I was wrong, but no one tried to settle the issue one way or the other. The same goes for other so-called tin foil hat theories. We are wallowing in a perpetual Bush fog. Occasionally the mist clears and it never is pleasant.

The biggest one left is LIHOP, its reality and degree. Judging from the Bush team bobbling of this predictable ploy I would say it would tend to be a LOW degree of LIHOP, namely dumb pre-occupation with greed over defense of the nation. Our enemies shrink like a confronted nightmare.

[TransitJohn]

12. Isn't this like the 3rd or 4th tape

he's released since 9/11?

[Quixote1818]

19. Yes but none of the others had any references of present day news

Many people thought he had made those tapes before he was killed. This tape actually mentions John Kerry and Bush so it had to have been made in the past few months.

[Hog lover]

3. I didn't think he was dead, just forgotten by Shrub - eom

[d_b]

4. Talking point:

"Oh, he's probably dead anyway". - Conservative blowhards

That has to hurt.

[Steelangel]

5. mAnn Coulter repeatedly stated that he is dead D-E-D

I wish I can see her face when Osama video came out...

[Quixote1818]

6. I thought he was Dead because all the previous tapes did not mention

anything from Current events. This one does! I was very surprised when Usama showed up on TV and my gut reaction was "Wow, Bush never got him." I think a lot of people who thought he was dead and were giving Bush credit for him being dead are now wondering "what the fuck!"

[DaveinMD]

7. I thought he was dead

for sure

[IChing]

8. three thing I want to know

[RafterMan]

10. Yes

Many people thought he was dead. Many people were completely certain he was dead. I have been called an "idiot" and a "tool" for not thinking he was dead. I have been told I just "believe everything they want you to believe". I've had this discussion many times.

Unfortunately for voting purposes, I don't think it will swing anything. There seem to be two factions in the bin Laden dead camp. One is the people on the left who believed bin Laden was dead but his ghost was being kept alive by Bush as a means of social control. They already want Bush out, so the resurrection will not change their minds. The other is on the right, who seem to have developed this theory as a defense against the idea that a living bin Laden represents their hero's failure. These people will just see his revival as more proof that Bush is needed in this dangerous world.

In both cases, I think the conviction that bin Laden was dead sprang from some other, deeper conviction. His reappearance will not alter those deeper convictions.

[MADem]

18. Hey, fellow idiot and fellow tool!

When I heard the audio tapes as they trickled out post 911, I KNEW IT WAS HIM. He has a unique, mesmerizing way of speaking. It is unusually soft and grandfatherly, almost, as he gently says that we should all die a thousand deaths, like he is reading a happy story about say, a Pet Goat or something. His voice is quite unique. Even when he exhorts, he does it in that same mild (no, no, sweetheart, don't pull kitty's tail) tone.

I figured he was wounded (perhaps when the shoulder was wounded, it was from a concussion blast, and he took some damage to the side of his face as well), or was not in a location where they could make a "generic locale" video. But damn, when the miserable bastard came back, he came back in rather spectacular fashion. The robes, especially--from grubby, fatigued insurgent to confident, ultra-clean, lecturing, desert warrior-king.

There were a thousand messages in that tape, and many of them were pure visuals. They were directed not just at us, but at the Saudis as well. I swear he has visions of overthrowing the House of Saud--he has always had them, of course, but this time I think he has visions of not only throwing them out, but rather than turning the country over to the mullahs, instead assuming the mantle as the leader of the wahabbi and guardian of the holy places, himself, whilst leaving the mullahs to manage the internal clerical issues and local governments.

Desert warrior king, indeed. He sure dressed the part!

[meisje]

11. He is dead

[The Chronicler]

13. Osama bin Laden is really a cab driver living in NJ (nm)

[liberalmuse]

14. I sure as hell did.

But apparently he's been kicking back--probably with a computer and internet access in a little chateau somewhere with a web cam. It's kind of a surprise, but not really.

[TwilightZone]

15. A lot of people still think he's dead.

Many of them post on DU. They think the tape is a fake, etc.

I'm not one of them. I think we let bin Laden get away, intentionally or unintentionally, and he's been avoiding our half-hearted attempts to find him ever since.

[NoPasaran]

16. I thought he was dead

Although I never doubted that his lieutenants continued to be up to no good.

[nonconformist]

17. I thought it was highly possible, but I know others that were sure he was

I think that it will wake up some undecideds and make them realize that Bush hasn't really made them any safer, and maybe anger them at the fact that this piece of shit is still alive and well 3 years later. I think that it will cause some Bush supporters that were sure he was dead to pause, but I don't know that it will change their vote. If they were soft supporters with some doubt anyway though, it might.

[phish420]

20. I do I do

Ive been thinking that...anyone who thought he was dead or caught is now saying 'Damn, he really doesnt know where the hell he is!" and is going to vote for Kerry!

[lizzieforkerry]

21. My step brother is in Afgan.

and for about two months they went on daily/nightly hunts for BL and then one day they just stopped looking- no explanation or anything. I think we have him. My family has been joking that Rove is under the table saying "OK Osama, one more time but with more feeling..." He is then going to walk out of the mtns with his arms raised tomorrow- the last day in October.