Today at a campaign event, with Vice President Dick Cheney looking on, House Speaker Dennis Hastert made claims that Al Qaeda may attempt to influence
the U.S. elections with an attack similar to the bombings in Madrid prior to the Spanish national election last March. When asked by a reporter if Al
Qaeda would operate with more comfort if Kerry was elected, Hastert responded "That's my opinion. Yes." Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic National
Committee Chairman responded on CNN's "Late Edition", calling Hastert's comments "disgraceful."
www.cnn.com
Hastert's al Qaeda comment draws fire
Idea that terrorists want Kerry to win called 'silly,' 'disgraceful'
Sunday, September 19, 2004 Posted: 7:50 PM EDT (2350 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Top Democrats slapped back Sunday at a remark by House Speaker Dennis Hastert that al Qaeda leaders want Sen. John Kerry to beat
President Bush in November.
At a campaign rally Saturday in his Illinois district with Vice President Dick Cheney, Hastert said al Qaeda "would like to influence this election"
with an attack similar to the train bombings in Madrid days before the Spanish national election in March.
When a reporter asked Hastert if he thought al Qaeda would operate with more comfort if Kerry were elected, the speaker said, "That's my opinion,
yes."
Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe called Hastert's comments "disgraceful," saying there was "no room for this in our political
discourse."
"The president of the United States, on August 6th of 2001, was told in his briefing that America was going to be attacked by al Qaeda and they may
use airplanes," McAuliffe said, referring to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
"He didn't call the FAA. He didn't leave his monthlong vacation. He sat down there."
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Hastert is another Republican playing the fear card for political gain. Just 9 days after Vice President Cheney clarified comments regarding similar
comments he made regarding a potential terrorist attack "if we make the wrong choice on election day", Hastert is making similar claims which are sure
to draw fire.
It is obvious the Republican media strategy is to get the comments out in the media for public impact, and then make a half-hearted retraction mixed
with a campaign pitch days later when the story is old news.
The fearmongering seems to work, being that quite a few polls show that many feel safer with Bush in the White House. It is interesting to note
however, that terrorism around the world has increased to record levels during George Bush's tenure in the White House and as Terry McAuliffe notes in
his rebuttal of Hastert's comments, 9/11 occurred on Bush's watch.
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