Rob, an apparent Bushie commenting on a Michael Moore post on this blog, gave me a nice, big easy one right over the plate, and I wanted to share it at more than just the deep-comment level.

His question was, “WHO WOULD A TERRORIST VOTE FOR, BUSH OR KERRY?” The all-caps thing is his, by the way. And he obviously expected me to meekly admit that yes sirree George Bush has them terrorists on the run and they just tremble in their sandals when they hear his name, and would love nothing better than for Kerry to get elected, what was I thinking?

Yeah. Right.

Here’s my reply:

Boy, are you a Kerry supporter or something? Because that question so obviously works against Bush, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. Let’s see….

Given that Bush’s actions have sent a tidal wave of eager applicants to the doors of al Qaeda (whose ranks swelled to 18,000), that Bush has overseen a dramatic record-breaking surge in terrorist acts around the world, has opened up an entire country for terrorists to swarm to and kill Americans (837 and counting) without having to go far from home, and has gotten terrorists incredibly effective media coverage all over the world…

And on the American front, they get a president who has horribly underfunded local and state efforts to prevent and fight terrorism domestically so that it has become a macabre, ugly joke; who has a history of dropping the ball and ignoring his top intelligence and counter-terrorism officials when they warn of terrorists planning to attack–and they get a president who kindly obliges their wishes to frighten the American people and deprive them of their liberties, whilst making America a pariah around the world, after the entire world had boundless sympathy and friendship for the U.S. after 9/11. A president who takes the greatest advantage of the terrorist attack and pisses it away to the outrage of the world and plays right into the terrorists’ hands.

Not to mention a president who approved of a policy of torture and humiliation which sent millions of Arabs ballistic, unspeakably furious that such a thing could happen even if the president had not known of it directly (as it now seems certain he did). Not to mention a president who is best buds with Saudi Arabia and is willing to cover for them while they remain one of the world’s leading supporters of terrorism–and has abjectly failed to catch the one man held most responsible for 9/11, Osama bin Forgotten-by-Bush.

Al Qaeda is far better off now than it was the day after 9/11. There is no question whatsoever that these guys are hoping, fervently praying with every fiber of their being that Bush gets re-elected. That would be their greatest victory.

And Bush is probably hoping that Osama helps him out by pulling off a terror attack on U.S. soil within a month of the election–that way he could stoke up the people’s fears even more, scare them into voting for him, but best of all for Bush, he could simply ignore Kerry and claim that it was an election between himself and al Qaeda–yes, if al Qaeda attacks, Bush will feel like giving Osama a big wet one right on the lips.

So, thanks Rob, good question.