For years, McCain has said terrorism is a boost for Republicans

[DogPoundPup]

Back in 2004, as McCain was stumping in Connecticut on behalf of GOP Rep. Chris Shays, McCain said flatly that the recent release of an Osama Bin Laden tape had likely given the GOP a "little boost."

This is courtesy of The Hour, a daily paper in Norwalk, Connecticut, in November of that year (also verified in Nexis)...

But as McCain greets two breakfast-eating business partners, one from Stamford and the other from Bridgeport, the topic turns to the presidential race. The two men tell the senator they support President George W. Bush, and to that end, McCain says, "(Osama) Bin Laden may have just given us a little boost. Amazing, huh?"....

The two men, who requested anonymity, nod their heads in agreement. Later, while riding with Shays on an RV to a rally at the Stamford Government Center, McCain further explains, "(The video) is helpful to President Bush because it puts the focus on the war on terrorism."

The reference was to a tape of Bin Laden that had emerged a few days earlier. The McCain camp didn't immediately return an email.

Of course, it's perfectly possible that McCain believed that the specter of another terror attack on the U.S. helped the GOP back in 2004, and no longer believes that it would. But clearly, in the past a little light bulb has gone off over McCain's head and he's had the thought that the possibility of an attack would help Republicans. The thought isn't exactly foreign to him.

Black also said that the assassination of Benazir Bhutto had also helped McCain, something the McCain camp also disavowed. But back in December, when the assassination happened, he said it could "serve to enhance" his "credentials."

The point, again, is that McCain does believe, or has believed, what Black said, even if he's now saying he doesn't. After all, he told us so himself -- twice!
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/mccain_in_2004_bin_laden_may_h.php

[Mz Pip]

1. The way the GOP has

hoodwinked the American people, it's certainly true that terrorism is a boost to them.

But the American people need to do some critical thinking here. Just because the GOP says so, it doesn't make it true. I think Obama is hitting the right notes with this. He's saying that both parties want to protect America from terrorism and that it should not be an issue that is politicized.

No one party or candidate holds all the cards on this. If there is anything that had made me despise the Bush administration more it has been the endless playing of the terror card. That subtext of "If you vote for the Democrats, we'll get hit again." is appalling.